And this series continues! A list of French 2 songs that teachers can use to not only engage students in a bellringer activity but also that are just right for our learners at this level. If you missed previous blogs about how to incorporate fun French music and engage all levels of French students, here they are:
- “3 Steps to use Popular French Music in Your Classroom at any time of the Year”
- “Use Popular French Music at all Levels – Easy Instructions for the First 3 Days”
- “3 Tips for French Bellringer Activities”
- “4 Perfect French 1 Songs as Bellringers for Beginning French Students”
In my French classroom (grades 6-8 and 9-12), I have incorporated French music for over 2 decades. This blog represents a partial list of the French 2 songs that I use with students. The perfect part about this list and my other lists is that each song is differentiated within that level of French. There’s no extra work for me to shuffle the French 2 songs down into French 1 or up into French 3.
The routine is to play the song just once each day as my bellringer routine. This allows me to take attendance, answer questions from students who were absent yesterday, and collect tardy slips from the latecomers. Each song, therefore, lasts 8-12 days. Sometimes during the final two or three days, I play the song two times in a row each day.
French 2 Songs – The Why?
Listening skills at all levels are developed and refined over time. Improving French listening skills is a process and not a set of activities within a unit. In the busy world of teaching, there is less and less time to develop dozens of little listening activities that pertain to just that perfect unit vocabulary and topic.
I also noticed that student engagement in those types of vocabulary specific listening activities within a unit was very low. And if I didn’t teach the exact same vocabulary list year after year, then I couldn’t reuse the French listening activity. I felt trapped by the vocabulary within a unit.
However, creating fill-in-the-blank listening activities using French music and using them as bellringers was a game changer for me and for my students. Regardless of the strength or weakness of my students’ listening skills from year to year, I reuse the same set of French 2 songs to engage them and improve their listening skills.
How? Each of the bellringer French 2 songs has 2 versions – one version has more blanks and is more challenging to fill in. The second version has fewer blanks and is less challenging to fill in.
Furthermore, each version of the song has 2 vocabulary lists that I choose to give out. One vocabulary list is alphabetized which makes it slightly more difficult to find the word that one hears. The second list for each version is separated by each section of the song. For example, the first verse might have eight blanks and I put all 8 of those words into a section for students to use.
If I have an entire French 2 struggling group of students (as they did after the pandemic), then I still use the same French 2 songs, but maybe I choose the version with fewer blanks and the vocabulary list that is organized by section.
Even within one class, students can self-select the version that best fits where they feel they are. This provides an entry point for all students within the same class regardless of their listening skill levels. I use the same set of French 2 songs each year and differentiate as needed.
French 2 Songs – The obvious, in my humble opinion
If I wait for my students’ listening skills to develop naturally, I’d be retired and my first set of students back in 1988 would still be working on their French listening skills. I use the French 2 songs (and those at all other levels) to explicitly and directly teach French listening skills.
I give them hints to feel successful. I tell them, “Don’t wait for the word(s) to arrive in your ears. Choose the word(s) that you want to listen for and write them at the top of the song sheet.” For example, listen for only the words with 3 or more syllables or only words that start with the letter “T”. Sometimes listening for the tiny “le” or “la” or “les” is very difficult.
I never test students on vocabulary or meaning in any of the French 2 songs. Testing and memorizing and matching does not go hand-in-hand with developing listening skills. I either want to put points in the grade book or I want to specifically engage them with my French 2 songs and make them self-motivated to improve their own French listening skills.
But I can’t have both. There is no buy-in from students when we have the routine and fun of the French 2 songs and then I toss a matching worksheet in front of them with song vocabulary. Instead, I do not grade any of their final songs. Low risk for students and high return on engagement for me.
Take your pick: points in the gradebook or students’ self-motivation to find personal success and improvement at their own level of French listening skills. When the French 2 songs have the potential to decrease their grade, then students just go to the internet and copy the words.
How about improving French listening skills just for the sake of improving French listening skills?
French 2 Songs – The list
In a particular order that works for my students, here is a partial list of French 2 songs that I use throughout the year and a quick reason why or how I use it. I only play the song once per day and the song lasts for about 8-12 school days.
#1: Ça va Ça va (Claudio Capéo)
This is the first of my French 2 songs and I use it about 15 minutes into class on the first day of school. No syllabus. No rules talk. We jump right into learning. The video is fun and it’s an upbeat song with a title that sets them at ease instantly. They are able to work the first two days just filling in “ça va” and “comment ça va” all over the song.
#2: Ava (Coeur de Pirate)
I have a series of French 2 songs and French 3 songs by this Canadian artist (Béatrice Martin). Her official song videos are charming and her songs are very appropriate for school.
#3: St Laurent (Coeur de Pirate)
Another of the Coeur de Pirate’s French 2 songs with a perfect tempo for students.
#4: J’ai Cherché (Amir)
Very inspirational video clip and I try to fit it in or around the French 2 “Passé Composé” unit. We do not study the song but I mention it over and over while I’m introducing le passé composé and I’ve been known to break out in song and dance during a lesson.
Students roll their eyes.
#5: Je l’aime à Mourir (Francis Cabrel)
He’s the Neil Diamond of France and every French student should know who he is. (Although not everyone agrees with me on this point.) My very first host family listened to tons of Francis Cabrel at their house one summer so I grew to know and love Cabrel very early on.
Additionally, Cabrel’s voice is easy to understand when he sings and students feel successful when they work through one of his songs. There is a high rate of “Oooo, I did it.”
#6: Dommage (Bigflo & Oli)
This is the first of the French 2 songs which is more current and has a fast tempo. Students love the music video and the beat but are sometimes freaked out by the speed of the song. I receive the same reaction each year and so I’ve started to place this song into the second semester list of French 2 songs.
French 2 Songs – Final Thoughts
All-in-all, I have about 12-15 French 2 songs that last us the entire year. Of course, we take a month-long break during March to participate in Manie Musicale.
Also, I am very up front and direct with students about the purpose behind these songs. I explicitly state that they are improving their listening skills. I also directly teach them strategies to help themselves to narrow down their vocabulary lists and how to pick the easiest words to hear. Those specific suggestions are in my next blog about French 3 songs.
Where are these fill-in-the-blank French 2 songs?
The six songs mentioned above are in the “French Song activities” category of my TPT store: L’Essentiel French Resources. Video versions of all my blogs are on my YouTube Channel: L’Essentiel French Resources. Follow me on Instagram: @essentielfrenchresources.
My name is Lisa and I love being your new French colleague. How can I help you tomorrow?
