What are some best practices to teach a French novel in French without translating words and ideas into English? Keep your instructional delivery of these solid and authentic pieces of classic French literature in French: Le Petit Prince, le Petit Nicolas, les Trois Mousquetaires, Cyrano de Bergerac. (And there are many more, by the way.)
Here are tips #4 – #6 on how to teach a French novel (or a Spanish novel) in the target language. How to teach a French novel tips #1 – #3 are here. This is part 7 in a series of blog posts about how to teach 90% or more in French (or in the target language). This post and the previous post are specifically about recommendations for how to teach reading in French. The other blog posts consider speaking activities, writing activities, and listening activities to teach in French. As always, take, adapt, try, re-adapt, and consider these ideas as they relate to your teaching style, your students, and your curriculum.
Teach a French novel – Tip #4
Only read during class. Yes, this means a novel can last for 20-25 class periods so consider the abridged version of a novel. Pace out the chapters and periodic pauses / reviews so that students, and you, can catch their breath. Give them time to synthesize their comprehension every 4-5 chapters (this does not mean give them a quiz every 4-5 chapters). This means checking for overall learning of main ideas and concepts (themes, textual evidence, character development) with speaking, writing, listening, or drawing activities.
Sending students home with a reading assignment is not fair. Some students have to take care of younger siblings or go to work. Other students just plain struggle with the words not jumping off of the page and need the scaffolding and visual supports presented during class. Keep the playing field / the reading field level for all learners.
Teach a French novel – Tip #5
Yes to teaching vocabulary during a chapter. No to handing out long lists of French words with their English meaning while reading. This will overload learners’ brains, cause them to lose interest after a few chapters of this, and is not effective for the long haul to teach a French novel.
Be intentional with the vocabulary words you choose to present during each chapter. Teaching all the unknown vocabulary is not necessary – and not interesting when the words are out of context and in a list.
Choose scenes or events in a chapter that are make-or-break, meaning that particular scene or event or dialogue exchange is critical to moving the story forward. Focus first on a handful of those vocabulary words. Besides giving students a list of French / English words, consider:
- synonyms to define a word
- antonyms to define a word
- pictures or gestures to define a word and then…
- … act out the event, dialogue, or scene
- use the theme or the character’s emotions to pre-summarize what they are about to read
- know when to summarize 4 pages (instead of reading) and when to keep moving
- a teacher-created summary of a chapter or 4-5 pages (which is then acted out with pictures, gestures, and/or dialogue)
There is no reason for students to fall into discouragement in the middle of a novel because the chapter is difficult. Adapt how you present the chapter with some ideas from above and keep their successes and momentum going. I find it tough to present each and every chapter the exact same way. When I need to change the momentum of the French novel, I start switching my delivery strategies.
Teach a French novel – Tip #6
Know your end goal or outcome. What do you want students to know and be able to do at the end with the knowledge or content of this particular piece of French literature?
- Analyze character development?
- Use textual evidence to support a theme?
- Sequence events to show cause and effect?
- Compare the novel to the movie?
- Contrast one novel or theme to a previously read novel with a similar theme?
- Describe how the historical events of the time period influenced the plot?
As I stated in the previous blog about how to teach a French novel in French, students have the capacity to do any of the previously mentioned language functions with explicit, intentional, and scaffolded teaching. I discourage giving a multiple choice test at the end on the content – yet that could be a formative assessment along the way when reading the chapters.
Again, if the end goal of your unit is a writing sample, then explicitly plan, teach, and scaffold the language needed to speak and write 3-5 paragraphs throughout the novel. Talk throughout the novel about what they will be writing before they write. Speaking precedes writing. Speak often and write often using the language functions that you have chosen for the unit.
Finally, if the end goal is a speaking sample, then explicitly plan, teach, and scaffold the language needed to (for example) discuss character development or categorize textual evidence according to the theme. You drive the boat here and they are water-skiing behind you. Anticipate the waves on the lake. Go at their speed. Know your destination before starting.
Teach a French novel – Final Thoughts
Prioritize reading during class, choose chapter vocabulary with purpose, and clarify the end goal of the unit before starting. How to teach a French novel in French is a little like rocket science: precision, clarity, planning, implementation. Have you ever thought of yourself as a (French) rocket scientist?
Are you just joining this series of blog posts on how to teach in French? Part 1 in this series is all about teaching in French to advanced levels. Later posts cover ideas for how to teach in French at the beginning levels, French speaking activities, French writing activities, and French listening activities.
Now that you have some suggestions, consider using them when you teach Le Petit Prince. I have a complete novel study guide for St. Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince in my TpT store: L’Essentiel French Resources. Focus on your intentional planning and delivery of the French novel NOT the comprehension questions or famous quotes. The complete novel study guide includes task cards, discussion questions, writing or speaking prompts, and comprehension checks that can be used as homework or small group work.
My name is Lisa and I enjoy being your new French colleague. How can I help you tomorrow?
(Looking for video versions of my blogs? Check out my YouTube Channel: L’Essentiel French Resources.)
