Chanson de dimanche returns
Finally, I'm back. I took a little hiatus as I got back into the swing of things with the end of summer (always a busy time in my house with multiple family birthdays and other events) and back to school. And now, I'm looking to continue my weekly feature of a great French song with ready-to-go activities for the classroom.
Of course, all songs may not suit all classrooms, and certainly all activities aren't going to work as well with students at one level as they would with another. I'm open to your suggestions, as always!
I think I found a real winner this week - at least, for my class. Fingers crossed.
There are many serendipitous things at play here. I love that there's a video from last spring's South by South-West music festival - in Texas! that's pretty unplugged and musician-focused. I love that the song is called "Fox" since the kids in my class are going crazy singing this silly English song from a cuckoo Norwegian group that you may have - or may not have heard. With almost 47 million views, I'm not sure if you could have possibly avoided it. If you care to see Ellen perform it with Ylvis, for an extra laugh, please be my guest! Sorry, I just couldn't resist that little sidebar!
It's a great song! From what I understand, this musician Karim Ouellet is involved in all aspects of creating his music, and he seems really, truly talented (in my almost tone-deaf, untrained opinion). Fox is a very clear song to follow, and I'm going to ignore the fact that the message might not be totally appropriate for my class' grade level ("Donne-moi ta rose?" Oh! I guess he really likes flowers, and would like to keep herflower ROSE as a reminder of her. Plaster innocent expression on face ... and moving on!)
You can play a very good quality version right from the artist's website. Ouellet lives in Quebec by the way, but has a very multicultural background. He was born in Dakar, and raised in several countries, including Canada. I'm sure there is a very interesting, likely sad story there, but since it's already late in the afternoon, I won't do further research now.
On to the goodies! You can download my package of activities for free, which includes:
Hope you enjoy it!
Of course, all songs may not suit all classrooms, and certainly all activities aren't going to work as well with students at one level as they would with another. I'm open to your suggestions, as always!I think I found a real winner this week - at least, for my class. Fingers crossed.
There are many serendipitous things at play here. I love that there's a video from last spring's South by South-West music festival - in Texas! that's pretty unplugged and musician-focused. I love that the song is called "Fox" since the kids in my class are going crazy singing this silly English song from a cuckoo Norwegian group that you may have - or may not have heard. With almost 47 million views, I'm not sure if you could have possibly avoided it. If you care to see Ellen perform it with Ylvis, for an extra laugh, please be my guest! Sorry, I just couldn't resist that little sidebar!
It's a great song! From what I understand, this musician Karim Ouellet is involved in all aspects of creating his music, and he seems really, truly talented (in my almost tone-deaf, untrained opinion). Fox is a very clear song to follow, and I'm going to ignore the fact that the message might not be totally appropriate for my class' grade level ("Donne-moi ta rose?" Oh! I guess he really likes flowers, and would like to keep her
You can play a very good quality version right from the artist's website. Ouellet lives in Quebec by the way, but has a very multicultural background. He was born in Dakar, and raised in several countries, including Canada. I'm sure there is a very interesting, likely sad story there, but since it's already late in the afternoon, I won't do further research now.
On to the goodies! You can download my package of activities for free, which includes:
- a fill in the blank version of the lyrics, with the verbs identified on the same handout but requiring students to decide which form of the past tense to use (passé composé ou imparfait)
- a lyrics sorting activity to be used while listening - but with a twist... I translated it into English, so students really need to understand what they are hearing
- a vocabulary activity based on 10 words I selected from the song (probably too easy for my students, but hopefully useful & fun for other teachers
- answer keys for all of the activities.
Hope you enjoy it!
