Although the teaching guide has been developed by practising French teachers and includes a range of online resources to support the use of the short films in the classroom,
I felt that more ideas for sequences of activities could have supported lesson planning more effectively.
The shorts turned out to be fantastic resources suitable for students from a wide ability range. They challenged students visually and linguistically and created a lot of debate. I also found them useful to get students to focus on extended chunks of language.
I used the film called "Le génie de la boîte de ravioli" to consolidate the topic of food with a middle ability year 8. I deliberately told the students the story to prepare them for watching the video without subtitles. The students were then asked to write down as many food items or other food-related words as they could see or hear in the video. I chose to challenge them by turning the subtitled off to get them to focus on the French language. However, as they had been told what the story was about and warned about the unusual style of the film, students really responded positively to the challenge.
I also used the film called “Un bisou pour le monde” with a mixed ability Year 10. As we were studying the topic of work and careers, the film provided a very interesting introduction to the French educational system and lead into discussing teaching as a job and the qualities a good teacher should have.
Although at £47.30 for a DVD and small booklet this can be seen as a pricey resource, I certainly would recommend it as it is so wonderfully versatile and can be used with a much wider age range than what it advertises.
As a taster, have a look at “Les crayons” and get inspired…
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