Middle School French Lesson Plans

If you're teaching middle school French, lesson plans and activities that encourage kids to talk in a way that doesn't embarrass them are hard to come by. If you're looking for some creative ideas to incorporate into your classroom--keep reading!

Make middle school French fun!

Foreign language is particularly challenging to teach at the middle school age. You have to get the students to talk and yet they are at the height of feeling self conscious whenever they make a mistake--and of course they are going to make mistakes as beginning foreign language students. The trick is to make things fun, and mix the familiar into new concepts to keep kids talking. LoveToKnow's French Lesson Plans is a great place to start to begin to put together a solid class template on which you can build the rest of your lesson plans.

The idea is that when learning is fun, they don't necessarily realize that they are learning. Difficult concepts become easier and while not every class can be a barrel of laughter, if you incorporate enough games, and hands-on activities into what you're teaching, your students will come away not only realizing that learning French can be fun, but also that they can actually learn the language.

If you need ideas on how to infuse life and energy into your lesson plans--keep reading!

WWIT is a great edition to any foreign language classroom. You can pick your language, then pick your country and watch anything from news, to informational channels. This is a great opportunity to have students understand a native speaker. Another advantage is that they can hear and compare French from different countries like Africa for example.

Just for something fun for the students to do, this page lists the lyrics for several songs in French from the movie Aladdin. If you can get a copy of the movie in French, and provide the lyrics to the songs, this is a great activity to note only build vocabulary but to get used to listening to a native source with the advantage of having familiarity with what's being said.

Another fun source for students to use to explore the culture of today. This site lists the lyrics (and in many cases the audio files) of various popular artists in French. Have students listen to the words, and hear the type of music that kids their age are learning.

French culture is rich with history and celebrations. It only makes sense to take advantage of these special days to have a party or two through the year. In addition, don't be shy about having cooking days where students get to sample local food. Here are a few ideas for effective celebration days:

Yum! Having a couple of food days throughout the year where students make, sample, and share information on various aspects of food in France will leave your students talking (which means that they're learning) about the lesson for weeks to come. Here are a few concepts to teach during food day:

• How is French food culture different than ours? What do they eat that we do not eat and how do people get their food there?
• What are various regions of France known for?
• Share French recipes for holidays and discuss how the holidays are celebrated.

Middle school students should be able to work on some independent projects. Allowing them to do so will not only foster researching skills (which should be an overarching goal of all of their classes) but it will also encourage a deeper understanding of the culture and ideas of Francophone countries. Below is a list of possible projects that would be suitable for a middle school classroom.

• Research a major historical event and present to the class.
• Research a famous artist, musician, or explorer.
• Have students write their autobiography telling about their family, their likes, their dislikes and school.

One effective way to incorporate projects into your middle school French lesson plans, is to assign groups of students (or individual students) to certain things that you'd like to cover throughout the year. Then assign the project in advance. This way you don't spend an entire week just listening to projects.

Remember the ultimate goal is to get kids speaking and thinking in the language. The more opportunities you provide in various forms, the more the students will be able to grasp the concepts.

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