French-Speaking Countries Activities and Teaching Resources
Let me start by stating the obvious: I love France. It is my native country and there are countless things I truly adore there. Most of us French teachers get excited about Paris, French food and have plenty of options to help our students discover what France is all about. However, when it comes to French-Speaking countries, it gets way harder to find teaching resources.
Here, I compiled a list of no prep, easy to use activities about la Francophonie:
French-Speaking Countries and Territories Map Labeling
Most students don’t realize that there are so many French-Speaking countries and territories. I think a good introduction is map labeling. It really makes them visually aware of the French-Speaking world.
Find my map labeling activity (includes 42 French-speaking countries and territories) here!
You can have students work individually or as a team on this assignment.
French Virtual Field Trips – Les DOM TOM
Virtual Field Trips are fun! My students love them and get super excited when I bring the little passports that help us keep track of our work when discovering the Francophone world.
There are 20 - 35 slides in each TERRITOIRE D'OUTRE MER field trip. With my middle schoolers, on Zoom, they take approximately 15 - 30 minutes, depending on how many questions I ask and how far we go answering them. They are great for French Immersion or an Advanced Level Core French.
So far (February 2023) my bundle includes:
FRENCH Virtual Field Trip to L'île de la Réunion! Excursion Virtuelle
FRENCH Virtual Field Trip to La Martinique! Excursion Virtuelle. Francophonie
FRENCH Virtual Field Trip to La Polynésie Française! Excursion Virtuelle
Francophone Music and Artists
Watching video clips, reading lyrics: there is a lot to do with Francophone music. Here are a few well known Francophone artists with very different styles and backgrounds:
Aya Nakamura
This Malian French singer is well known for her urban Afrobeat sounds. You definitely want to check the lyrics before sharing with your students and see what you feel is appropriate or not.
Cœur de Pirate
This Francophone from Montreal is a true pop-icon through the French-Speaking world. Her song “Comme des enfants” was named best original of the year at the 25th Victoires de la Musique.
Célia Wa
Celia Wa moved to Guadeloupe as a child. She learned how to play the Ka (traditional drum) and later focused on the flute.
Amanda from Clements Classroom has an amazing bundle Les musiciens Francophones with biographies of Celine Dion, Indila, Stromae and GIMS.
Parfaitement Bilingue came out with a fun project about Francophone music where students pick their own song and presentation style to dig into French-Speaking music material.
“Loved this resource! Throughout the year I did musique Mercredi with my students. So I did this activity at the end of the year as a way to end off. The kids really enjoyed it and I was surprised at the creativity in so many of the presentations!”
Sarah M.
French-Speaking Countries Scavenger Hunt
If you are looking for a 0 prep activity to add to your unit about la Francophonie this is for you! I created this scavenger hunt over La Francophonie to be completed using the internet in a computer lab, a mobile lab, or by allowing students to use their own electronic devices. This activity includes cultural facts over French-speaking countries/territories and can be completed individually or as a group.
