As a French teacher, I love teaching French culture. As much as I love teaching French verbs, sometimes it’s just so nice to take a break from grammar. Not all students think French verb conjugation is fun, and not everyone loves learning adjective agreement. One thing all students love? Learning about French culture!
With beginning French students, I always spend time helping them discover the Francophone world and the places where French is spoken. We learn about different countries, different foods, and traditions that exist in different cultures. However, another key part of my beginner French classes has always been Paris!
Why Paris? Well, it is definitely somewhere students are all familiar with. It’s so beautiful. There’s SO much you can teach them. And let’s be honest… what French students don’t want to learn about. the Eiffel Tower?
Exciting news: I’ve just released 3 new French culture lessons!
These French culture lessons are perfect for beginning French students who don’t have a lot of French background. But I’ve made a resource with texts in French and English, so you can use this strictly as a French culture lesson or as a way to practice French reading comprehension with more advanced classes.
If you’ve used my other French reading comprehension activities, you’ll find the same types of differentiation as before! There are three reading comprehension activities for each text with both French and English versions of both the texts and questions, so you have a lot of options for differentiation.
Don’t worry about doing the research for these three important French monuments! I’ve done the hard part! With researched information, useful French vocabulary activities, and French reading comprehension, it’s so easy to help your students expand their knowledge of French culture.
Here’s what this French culture resource bundle includes:
- French and English texts about French monuments : the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and Notre-Dame
- French culture worksheets about each monument
- French vocabulary activities to extend the learning
- Fun crafts and color-by-code activities
- Links to videos for each monument – French and English videos included
Here’s how to use this French culture resource:
Pre-teach relevant vocabulary and assess prior knowledge before you read the texts or watch the videos. You’ll find KWL sheets in English and French that will help students prepare for the lessons before you start. The French vocabulary sheets can be passed out ahead of time or used for the follow-up vocabulary activities.
Next, you’ll use the French or English texts to read and discover fun facts about these famous places in Paris.
Follow up the reading with your choice of the included comprehension questions. You can use the French versions with more advanced classes and the English versions with beginners. You can also mix and match the different types of questions based on individual student level.
Finally, watch the videos together and discuss them as a class. I’ve shared multiple links to relevant videos, so you’ll have a lot to choose from.
To follow up the French culture lessons:
After you’ve used the reading activities and videos to discover a lot about the monument you’re studying, you can extend the learning by using the vocabulary activities to help students expand their vocabularies. With varied activities, it’s easy to provide a little more challenge to your more-advanced students while also supporting students who need more practice with basics.
Each pack includes French word wall cards, too, so you can provide visual support for students throughout the French culture lessons.
Follow up with the fun vocabulary puzzles to keep students practicing their new words! With different options to choose from, you can easily add these to your learning centers or use them for fast finisher activities.
Last of all, use one of the fun crafts or color-by-code activities for even more fun. These are perfect for your bulletin boards, and if you have a French club, these would be a fun activity for your students to do there, too!
You can find all of these French culture activities here at my TpT store.
Have fun exploring French culture with your students!
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