Stating the obvious first: throughout the year our classes should include Black voices, with an emphasis on #OwnVoices and Black joy.

With my Novice 7th graders, we are wrapping up a major unit on Francophone people with the following essential questions: What do I have in common with francophone people?

I have created a culminating project which we will exhibit for Black History Month. The project is simple: leveraging Carla Tarini’s wonderful “Qui Parle” series and/or articles from Le Petit Journal Francophone, my students will select a Black Francophone person and create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the person to themselves. I believe I heard about the Venn Diagram idea from Alana Considine in our wonderful CI for French teachers group on FB.

I also ask them to find a picture of their person in action and to create or find a product that represents the contributions of their person. These additions really make the exhibit come alive!

The whole idea is to READ and MAKE CONNECTIONS. Here I am sharing the project description and rubric, along with the list of Black Francophones present in Carla’s books and the Venn Diagram template. Feel free to adapt/modify.