Famous French people
How did you pick this theme or topic?
I didn’t know who they knew or considered as famous in France so I thought it might be interesting to “test” their knowledge about famous people in France, and to make them discover famous French names (artists, sportsmen, etc…).
How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
Group work
Game
General discussion
How did students react?
They reacted well, they knew many famous French people (some of them really knew a lot) but all did not know all the French people I introduced so they could learn more about them.
Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes. They tried to guess when they knew, and asked questions about the people they didn’t know. When each group had to confront the other for the final “contest”, they spoke a lot, found good arguments and replied to each other.
What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Computer (youtube), handout.
Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class.
Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, I think they liked it and they were all able to participate in the discussion.
Advanced 09/10
Famous people in France
1) Warm-up: 5 min
2) 1st activity: 15 min
– I show some videos of famous people
– They need to find who they are
• Nicolas Sarkozy
• Edith Piaf
• George Brassens
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Johnny Hallyday
• Charles Aznavour
• Luc Besson
• Zinédine Zidane
• …
3) Jeu « Who Am I » 15 min
– Use some of the famous people discussed
– paper stuck on everyone’s forehead
Procedure: Have all the students stand up. Pin a paper to each forehead without the student seeing what is on it. Then tell the students that they must show their sign to other students in the class without trying to see it themselves.
– They should then ask the other students questions to determine who they are/what the word on their back is.
– Students may only ask yes/no questions.
– When someone answers “no” to their question, they need to ask someone else.
– The winner is the first one to finish, but the game may continue until everyone has figured out who they are.
– Finally, have the students tell the rest of the class who they are.
4) 3rd activity: 10 min
– they are in groups of 2 or 3
→ distribution of a longer paragraph on two famous French people
→ explanation of the words
→ need to fill in the blanks (they have different blanks so they need to read the paragraph aloud so that the others can fill in their blanks and vice versa)
– Georges Brassens: Brassens1 et Brassens2
– Serge Gainsbourg: Gainsbourg1 and Gainsbourg2
5) Award : 15 min
– they need to give a speech to be given the award for the best artist
– 5 min preparation