This blog post about popular French songs for level 1 is generic enough that the suggestions or wonderings apply to other World Languages and other levels. The idea of using songs and music in a level 1 language class is universal even if the examples are popular French songs.
The idea of bringing any type of music or song into the World Language classroom is an awesome way to engage our level 1 students! Think about watching the video version of this blog post because I’ll be singing (in French) some of the songs as I explain how I deliver these suggestions to French 1. Want to engage students into your level 1 language classroom right out of the gate in level 1? Popular French music is the answer!
Popular French Songs – Quarter 1
Idea: Make a playlist of 9 amazing songs (with appropriate music videos) and each week, as students are entering class, have the music video playing. Play the same song and same video each day for one week as you take attendance and pass back papers. Put the artist’s name and song title off to the side as “Chanson de la Semaine” (“Song of the Week”). A twist: choose 9 artists and a different song from that artist each day for that week. “Chanteur.euse de la Semaine” (“Singer of the Week”).
This is a low-prep idea because there is nothing else you need to prepare. Just let the music be the music. Answer student questions about the song or the artist, if they ask. If they don’t ask, then just enjoy. Do not feel pressured to “present” the song or artist of the week. No. Too much. Let go of that expectation for yourself.
Idea: Do you teach preferences during quarter 1? J’aime…, Je n’aime pas…, Je préfère… (I like…, I don’t like…, I prefer…). After teaching those expressions within the context of your unit, bring some of the most popular French songs and artists (according to your students) back to use in a speaking activity with partners. Milk the activity! One day, you quickly review the French songs and artists that they’ve heard over the previous few weeks. Then, students make a grid of any 3 or 4 or 5 French songs and they walk around asking classmates, “Est-ce que tu aimes ___?” (“Do you like ___?”). Students ask 6-10 classmates one day and redo the activity to ask 6-10 different classmates the next day.
Once they have their classmates’ responses, they can either move into another speaking activity OR you could have them write about their data by incorporating the plural form of “to like” and the negative. Teach them conjunctions like mais / et (but / and) so they can form complex sentences. Once they’ve written these out and practiced how to say them, they make a quick 30-second recording of their data. Grade it, don’t grade it, but either way, you have built on the music they have been hearing in the background of your French class.
Twist for upper levels: Use the same idea but your conjunctions are cependant, de l’autre part, de plus (however, on the other hand, furthermore). Expect your French 2 students to include others: Robert aime ___ cependant il n’aime pas ___. (Robert likes ___ however he doesn’t like ___.) Or make your comparisons with adverbs plus que, autant que, moins que. Robert aime ___ autant qu’il aime ___. (Robert likes ___ as much as he likes ___.)
Popular French Songs – Quarter 2
Idea: Have you covered different genres of French music? Not sure what popular French songs are at the top right now? Check out the last few Manie Musicale brackets to see what other French students across the country are listening to. Again: do not feel pressured to do anything with the music! You and your students have permission to just enjoy it …. Until you get to those first few verbs …. and then we start to sing.
Idea: Ok, these are not the most popular French songs but … sing verb songs as you learn them. In French class, there are many versions of the basic four verbs that I sing in class. Pick your tune to accompany the verb and just stick to it. I can’t carry a tune to save my life but that doesn’t stop me:
- aller (to go) – theme to the “Pink Panther”
- être (to be) – “Row row row your boat”
- faire (to do, to make) – “If you’re happy and you know it”
- avoir (to have) – “London Bridge”
Whatever your verb tunes, don’t give up the battle. You sing the verb songs by yourself all through quarter 2 and 3 but they start singing quarter 4! Your consistency with singing the verb songs is more important than whether or not they sing them. They eventually absorb my songs by April or May because I can’t stop singing them.
Popular French Songs – Quarter 3
Idea: Manie. Musicale. Microphone drop. What else is there to say about this bracket-style competition of popular French songs that happens each March? Check out Manie Musicale on the web – they are a non-profit organization dedicated to this fun annual French music competition! Your French students of all levels will love this.
Idea: Keep doing the verb songs. More cowbell. Keep watching music videos or playing the music (without the distraction of the video) in the background while they are working.
Idea: It involves a little more prep work but do a brief study of an artist in French. Simple sentences that involve an artist’s background, awards, family, and preferences. Yes, it involves a bit of research on your part but once you have it, you use it year after year. Or ask your French students to research for you and then you create the simple French reading passages. Try these popular French artists: Stromae, Black M, GIMS, Vianney, Bigflo & Oli, Soprano, etc… And don’t forget about the old popular French songs of Francis Cabrel, Christophe Maé, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Renan Luce, Yannick Noah, etc…
Popular French Songs – Quarter 4
Develop your students’ French listening skills. Remember: students need to have successful French listening skills before they can have successful French listening comprehension. There’s a difference between the two skills and neither can be “taught” in two weeks. The skill of listening (picking out specific words from a string of spoken or sung words) needs to happen before they can begin to then understand the overall meaning of an audio (French song, French newscast, French audiobook, French dialogue, etc….).
Idea: Improve your students’ listening skills with popular French songs! This is where my TPT store L’Essentiel French Resources can help! You provide the space and time for the daily French music routine and your students’ listening skills will improve. Hands down, their French listening skills will improve.
How do I use popular French songs during quarter 4 of French 1? My tried and true French bellringer activity for 20+ years is fill-in-the-blank French songs. In fact, I have two entire blog posts on how to start:
- 3 Steps to Use Popular French Music in your classroom – at anytime of year
- 3 Tips for French Bellringer Activities with Popular French Songs
Those blog posts include specifics of how to incorporate my French fill-in-the-blank songs into Quarter 4 of French 1 as well as at any point in French 2, French 3, French 4, French 5, and French Immersion. The French song activities that are in my TPT store is completely differentiated for use at all levels of French or for differentiation within the same class.
As students fill-in-the-blanks to the music they hear, I do not check for their comprehension of the song’s meaning. I check to see that the word that goes in the blank is in the vicinity of the correct blank. Listening skills are developed, not graded. And I explicitly explain this to my students. Check out those blogs above for more details and my philosophy on how I’ve been using French music for over two decades in my French 1-5 classes.
Students love music. French students will love (almost all) the French music that you present to them. Before you know it, they will find the new release for a French singer before you do. That’s when you know that a student is engaged and you’ve made another connection with that student.
My name is Lisa and I love being your new French colleague! How can I help you tomorrow?
