Looking for songs?
- musiqueradio (more indy)
- Le Top 100 (more mainstream)
- Frenchmusicblog (good source of francophone music you can buy in the US)
- Musique Mercredi (FB group with lots of songs, activities, etc.)
What to do with songs?
I have transitioned to a new, more efficient format:
- Monday: I tell my students the story of the artist and/or the song and/or the video clip. Always a story on Monday and then we watch the clip together! Sometimes I do a cultural activity on the video.
- The rest of the week: I give my students a cloze version of the lyrics (including English translation). Each day they listen to the song once and complete the cloze.
- Friday: We complete the cloze together, and if they are up for it, we sing our song of the week!
Artists in alphabetical order:
Note: I have not updated all the activities on this blog to the new format. Sorry…
- Sébastien Agius “Ma chance” (2011) (cloze)
- Amir “J’ai cherché” 2016 (cloze)
- Black M “Je suis chez moi” (2016) (cloze+cultural notes)
- Gilbert Bécaut “L’Orange” (cover by La Star Academy, 2012) (cloze) Perfect for the novel “BB dit la vérité”!
- Amel Bent “Ma philosophie” (2004) (cloze)
- Dorothée “A l’école” (1995) (cloze)
- Caroline Costa “qui je suis” (2011) (cloze)
- Camelia Jordana “Non, non, non” (2010) (cloze)
- Les Enfoirés “Attention au départ” (2013) (cloze)
- Generation Goldman “Famille” (2013) (cloze)
- Gregory Lemarchal “De temps en temps” (2007) (cloze)
- Indila: dernière danse (2014) (cloze) Bonus: Edpuzzle on Paris monuments in the video
- Johnny Hallyday: Autoportrait (2011) (cloze)
- Kids United “Mama Africa” (2017) (cloze) Bonus: cultural activity and short interpretive reading
- Ilona Mitrecey “C’est les vacances” (2005) (cloze)
- Monde des Petits: La Chanson de l’école (cloze)
- Vanessa Paradis “La Seine et moi” (2011)(cloze) Merci Chera Hessenthaler !
- Edith Piaf “Non, je ne regrette rien” (cover by The Voice, 2013) (cloze) Merci Chera Hessenthaler !
- Tal “On avance” (2011) (cloze)
- The Garlics “Tout ce que t’es pour moi” (2012)
- Stromae “Papoutai” (2013) (cloze)
- Petit Papa Noël (daily activities inc. Friday cloze)
- Christophe Willem “Double Je” (2007) (cloze)
- Zaz “Je veux” (2010) (cloze)
Bonjour…Love this! Do you have a list you can share for French 2?
Jeanette, you can totally use this list for French 2 also! You would simply focus on different aspects/vocab/themes of the songs.
Yes, of course! I really am not a music person, but I can totally see this working for me 🙂
Good for you! That’s the PIRATE spirit!
Cecile, my district is requiring we begin all of our classes with bell work. Frustrated by the limitations of written work, I adapted your song idea. It is going very well and I am so happy I took the time to look at your site. Thank you for sharing. I am going to send you the vocabulary gathering sheets I have developed to encourage reluctant volunteers. Merci!
Bravo Brooke et merci!
Do you by chance know how to find French songs organized by grammar points? I’ve been looking everywhere! Thanks in advance, Your themes are great!
This is a very good website, organized by grammar points and by general themes
http://platea.pntic.mec.es/cvera/hotpot/chansons/
Thanks for sharing this Daniela. It looks similar to a site the Spanish teachers in my district use. I know they have had success using it in preparation for eventually taking the AP exam.
This is a very good site I have used in the past, I am glad to see they are updating their songs! I found “Je vole” from Louane 🙂
Hi Lindsey, lepointdufle.net is organized by grammar points and sometimes has songs. Also, this site is pretty good for songs organized by grammar points. Check it out and hopefully it is what you have been looking for: http://carmenvera.eoidehellin.es/hotpot/chansons/index.htm
I thought I would share this site with your followers. I am yet to work with it, but find it nice to know someone else is sharing language acquisition techniques through music.
http://learn-french-free-with-stories.weebly.com/
merci!
This site….. Stromae “Papoutai” (2013) (daily activities and Friday fill_in_the_blanks) does not bring up this song. Is there a way to resend this? Stromae is in the states this weekend, and I was wanting to have this song comme la chanson de la semaine.
Merci.
Done, thanks for flagging it!
Thanks for your AWESOME blog!!! Do you show the you tube videos or just play the audio?
Thanks for your question. Yes! I play the video clip everyday while students are working on their daily song tasks. I have updated my post “Chanson de la semaine – How it works” to reflect the answer to your question. Merci! goo.gl/xCk3D4
Thanks! 🙂
He Cecile,
Thank you so much for all these! By the way, have you ever used lyricstraining.com? If not, I recommend checking it out – it’s fantastic!
I usually do the following with it:
1. Students watch the song karaoke style – they can sing along easily because it shows which word it’s on, and still has the video in the background. I have it playing each day before class start, so those who arrive early get to enjoy watching/singing along. Here’s an example with “Soulman” by Ben l’Oncle Soul: http://lyricstraining.com/fr/play/soulman/H0ZDLkEUg0#k6!Madamesenora2e
2. Analyze full lyrics in several ways like you do. You can print them straight from the website, including with a line index. “Soulman” example here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3fcqpYF44d6ZkMwN3lsMUxZWnM/view?usp=sharing
3. Printed out gap fill (super easy to make) also has the line index option, as well as the option to give a word bank or not. “Soulman” example here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3fcqpYF44d6LTNObm83bEFHLVk/view?usp=sharing
4. Students do an online exercise that I designed, which is targeted to my learning objectives (so easy to make!). All of my students have accounts, which makes it fun for them to compete to see who can get the highest scores. I like how it boosts the confidence of some of my weakest students, since some of them are top scorers for this! I give them bonus incentives if they do it again later at home. “Soulman” example here: http://lyricstraining.com/fr/play/soulman/H0ZDLkEUg0#mSV/c!Madamesenora2e
You probably already knew about this, but otherwise, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! It’s also a great way to discover new music. They are adding songs on a daily basis.
-Amy
Merci Amy for sharing your step-by-step user guide to lyricstraining.com!
Salut! Le lien pour Derniere Danse/activites est casse, et j’aimerais bien l’utiliser avec ma classe. Vous n’auriez pas toujours une copie, ou le temps d’y mettre le bon lien? Merci en avance!
Merci Erin! Je l’ai réparé 🙂
I love this idea and have been doing Song of the week with my French 3’s (using Novice ones now because they are more like French 1s). I have a couple to add- Edith Piaf- Non, je ne regrette rien and La Seine de Vanessa Paradis. I can share via email if anyone is interested.
I would love to add these songs to the list and give you credit for the suggestion/activities. Please send me what you have at cecileflaine@gmail.com. Thank you!
OMG. I wish I had had this amazing list when I was still in the HS French classroom. Great work. Some of these are favorites of mine, but there are some new ones, too!
What level do you teach now? I am now teaching an Elementary group so I am thinking to maybe add a song list for that age group… (It won’t look like song of the week though as I only see them once a week)
Cecile, I haven’t found the Agius video online BUT you can buy a copy on iTunes for 99 cents and have it forever….
Just discovering this now! I’ve struggled with how to make songs interesting-this is so fun and great for vocabulary, too! Merci. I will be starting it tomorrow!!
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Thanks, love these ideas!
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