Category: Harry Potter

Goal of the class: Create a conversation around the books and movies, learn new vocabulary (adjectives, qualities and personal attributes such as bravery/honesty/wisdom, etc.; clothing (colors, various clothes, accessories), furniture and the vocabulary belonging to the magical universe of Harry Potter).

Reviewing some grammar/syntactic points such as the phrases to explain/describe people’s personality and personal attributes, their outfit, detailing the layout of the furniture in a room.

In addition to that, the main activity is designed as well to make students review and practice how to express wishes in French and structure their presentation of their houses.

Creating groups: Depending on the number of students one has in their class, the groups can count 2 to 4/5 students. Putting them in group is a good idea as it incites them to do teamwork, share ideas and vocabulary to complete the main task. I personally made this class more challenging for the students as they are advanced ones and therefore are more proficient/comfortable in the language.

Structure of the class

1- Warm-up :(10 minutes)

•What did you do this Weekend?

•Presenting today’s topic: Harry potter. Who is a fan? Which books did you read/movies did you watch? What are your favorite-s one-s and why?

2- Input:(10 minutes) Which words come to your mind when you think about Harry Potter? (in order to introduce new vocabulary, I personally wrote the words they gave me on the board and provided new ones). Since my students were advanced and naturally wanted to know more complex vocabulary and expressions, I showed them two extracts of the first HP movie in French, with French subtitles. I then wrote on the board some words and expressions used in the extracts and which I thought could be very useful for the task and for their personal use (adverbs, common exclamatory expressions in French, idioms, words such as feather, candles, magic wands, snake, etc.)

3-Then I showed them the names of the Hogwarts’ houses in French, we also discussed who had done the internet quiz to know the house they belonged to. Then I had made a detailed PowerPoint slide explaining the main activity for the day: “créer votre maison à Poudlard!” (create your Hogwarts’ house!).

The steps they could follow to create their house were the following:

1) Find a name

2) What are the values qualities specific to your house and required to be a part of it?

3) Which animal represents your house?

4) what sort of uniform/clothing? (Colors, motifs, design, accessories)

5) How does your common room looks like?

This lesson plan can also be used with Intermediate students. I would recommend however providing more input before starting the main activity such as vocabulary lists with expressions and phrases to guide the students in expressing themselves and structuring their argument/presentation.

Below is the PowerPoint I made and used to teach this class to both Advanced and Intermediate students:

4-Main activity:(20-25 minutes)Idivided them in 2groups of 4-5and after explaining to them what the activity was about and thesteps to follow, I handed a vocabulary sheet to them with words, expressions and phrases to help them complete the activity. The handout was designed in accordance withthe guidance/steps I had provided beforehand for completingthe activity.While they were exchanging in groups, I went back and forth between thegroups and projected images with ideas of items they could include in their common room (this way they could also learn more words). Bothgroups made amazing drawings of their House’s uniform, animal, and common room! One group designed a common room with a pool and an aquarium in it. The other one decided the animal that would represent their house would be a mix between a bear and a bird.5-After each group had completed the task, I asked them to come forward and present their house to the rest of the class6-To conclude this class on Harry Potter, I asked them to give me one or two words they had learnt todayWhat technology, media or propsdid you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)I used internet, a vocabulary sheet, and aPowerPoint I had designed myself for this classWhat worked well in this class? What did not work?This class went very well.Like with my intermediate students,even those who were not Harry Potter fans were interested in the class and very engaged into the activity. They all participated and really tried to design a detailed presentation of their house and its specificities.