Music :
– general discussion about music
– “Fill the blanks”
– Imagine the video of the song

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I think music is a fun way of tackling a foreign language because it is something universal, so even if they had never heard of the song, chances were that they liked music and thus found this class interesting. Music is also a nice way of learning about a country’s culture. And since I wasn’t really sure about their level, I chose a rather easy song to test it.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Group discussions (in groups of 3)
Handouts – lyrics of the song with blanks to be filled by the students

How did students react?

Really well, they all talked to each other for 10 minutes about music, French songs, etc…
As for the song, nobody knew it. They understood most of the lyrics, though.
And they had good ideas about what kind of video they would have made to go with the song.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. All of them talked to each other and then tried to guess the lyrics, and suggested a possible video.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Computer (youtube), handout

Below are the lyrics of the song, and 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.

09/03 Advanced

1) warm up : 5-10mn
– qu’avez-vous fait depuis mardi ? etc…

2) Introduction of the topic:
– Do you know French music?
– French singers, bands?
→ they had to ask each other 4 questions about their favorite bands, singers, songs, etc…

3) Introduction of the song and the band
– Téléphone bio

4) Song without the lyrics and without the video:

– I give them the lyrics with the blanks, they read it and ask for what they don’t understand.
– Song again, they have to fill in the blanks
– Correction and explanation (expressions)

questions to ask:
– Qu’est-ce qui est arrivé à Cendrillon ?
– Pourquoi ?
– Que se passe-t-il à la fin de la chanson ?

5) Try to imagine how you would create the video for this song

–> Discussion in groups and then comparison with each other’s ideas