Chantons, Dansons, Parlons Le Français

Chantons, dansons, parlons le français

Marian Rose

Thank you for coming to this workshop. It is my goal to leave you with songs, games, dances and inspiration to use in your French immersion classroom. First of all, here are some of the ways in which music and movement can help in learning a second language:

Language is an inherently rhythmic pursuit, and thus learning is greatly enhanced when combined with rhythmic activities, especially those that require a variety of physical movements.
Musical skills such as intensive listening, pitch discrimination, imitation and improvisation are also essential when we are learning a second language.
After we sing and move to a song, it continues to play in our heads, providing extra hours of effort-free practice.
Music and movement address diverse learner characteristics such as intelligence, aptitude, learning styles, personality and motivation.
Humans are emotionally attracted to music, a fact which has proved beneficial to advertising, the film industry, religion and politics. Why not L2 teachers?
Songs present a wide range of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.
Music is intimately linked to culture and history.

Introducing a song

The ultimate goal in using music in the language class is to develop fluency by hearing and singing the words many times. However, it can take awhile for the words to sink in, and children and adults alike can be reluctant to sing if they are unfamiliar with the music. Therefore, I like to find ways for my students to hear a song several times in different contexts before they are asked to sing.

§ Play the song in the background as you do other activities.

§ Use a recording of the song to do your warmups.

§ Give them a cut-up version of the song which they must put in the correct order.

§ Do a passing game with the song (see below)

§ Clap the beat and the rhythm of the words. Beat = pulse, rhythm = words.

§ Mouth the words.

§ Do exercises in dynamics: loud/soft, fast/slow, different styles

§ Call and response

Rhythmic Passing Game

Everyone sits on the floor with one shoe (or other object) in front of them. While singing, everyone makes the following rhythm: tap-tap-pass, tap-tap-pass, tap-tap-pass, etc. Continue until everyone gets their own shoe back. Then try the opposite direction.

This game works for a large majority of children’s songs in 2/4 or 4/4 time, although you may have to adjust the rhythm of the passing pattern a bit. If the song is in 3/4 time, your tapping rhythm will be: tap tap tap pass (2,3) etc. This tends to feel much slower.

Songs in 4/4: Passe passé passera / Lundi matin / Sur le pont d’Avignon / C’est l’aviron /
Ah vous dirai-je maman

Songs in 3/4: Un Canadien errant / Fais dodo / Partons la mer et belle / La laine des moutons
La Cloche du vieux manoir / Sous le ciel de Paris / Isabeau

Concentration

I use this as a warm-up for the grammar or vocabulary lesson I have planned.

Start by setting up the rhythm: tap – tap – snap (claque en français). Then take turns naming things in a category such as numbers, ordinal numbers, days of the week, months of the year, colours, animals, verbs, opposites, masculine/feminine, etc. Try to always say the word as you snap.

This can also be done in pairs facing each other. One partner calls out a word and the other person replies with the matching word.

Time ballet

Students show the time presented by moving their arms to the position of the hands of a clock. The exercise as presented here assumes that your students know how to tell time on a conventional clock. I use the William Tell Overture (about the last four minutes) and play the powerpoint file, (see resource section). You can easily adjust this to the level of your students.

Napoléon

Na- hands in a V over head to make a hat,

po- right hand on left shoulder

léon left hand on right shoulder

avait clap twice

cinq cents pat one thigh, then the other

soldats two marching steps

Marchant du même pas March in place.

Je ferme la porte

Clap hands together.

Je ferme la porte, je la barre comme faut

Slowly hide the key behind your back.

Je cache la clef derrière mon dos

Bring the key back into view with the other hand.

Je retrouve la clef encore une fois

Turn the invisible key.

Et je tourne et je tourne et je tourne comme ça

Have your hands together by the time you say ‘puis’

Et puis, je rouvre la porte - AIEEE!

Buvons un coup

I have met a vast array of francophones, both Canadian and European who know this song. It is one of those goofy tongue-twisters that people learn at summer camp when they are young and later on they sing to each other after having a few too many beers, and then later they teach it to their children. Par hazard, it is also a great phonetic workout.

The idea is to sing the song first as written, and then substitute all of the vowels for one vowel. The first verse is done for you, and the rest you can work out for yourself. Attention! Some of these can be tricky!

A, E, I, O, U, OU, É, È, OI, UI, OUI, AN, IN, ON, UN, OIN…

Buvons un coup – les possesives

To the same tune, here is a great workout for the possessive determiners.

Mon, ton, son, ma ta sa, mes tes ses

Notre, votre, notre votre

Mon, ton, son, ma ta sa, mes tes ses

Notre, votre, nos vos leur(s)

London Bridges - prepositions

Camille la Chenille

J’ai appris ce jeux de doigts d’Anaëlle Morin, une woofeuse / chanteuse / Bretonne.

La Danse du Limousin

Formation: Circle, with hands loose.

As you sing, step sideways to the left. On the repeat, step sideways to the right..

Then one person says: “Et le petit Limousin a dit: tenez les mains.”

Each time you do the dance, hold on to a different body part (within reason).

Il court, le furet

This song is included in almost every French song collection and the classic children’s game that goes with it exists in many cultures.

Players stand in a ring holding on to a string on which a ring has been threaded and which has been tied to form a continuous loop. While singing the song, the players move the ring around the circle and one person in the middle must guess where the ring is.

To make things easier for the guesser (and harder for those in the circle), add more rings, or rings that are harder to conceal. I like to use large hair elastics.

Tout là-haut

based on the singing game Old King Glory

Holding hands, the circle turns clockwise while the leader walks counterclockwise around the outside. The leader taps three consecutive people, who then join the outside line.

Pomme de reinette

A linguistic twist on an old favourite, with a focus on phonological awareness.
Many variations are possible:

§ Stand up when you hear a word that begins with the letter P. The next time you hear a word beginning with P, sit down. And so on….

§ Do the same thing with the letter R and the letter T

§ Teams – the P’s, T’s and the R’s

§ Same game, only you move every time you hear the letter, no matter where it is in the word.

Try this exercise with Passe Passe Passera, La Cloche du vieux manoir, Fais dodo, La tourtière, Mille après mille or any short song with words that repeat.

Note that sitting down and standing up can become quite vigorous, and may be difficult for some people. A variant would be for each person to create an ‘up’ position and a ‘down’ position. Could be as simple as lifting a finger or an eyebrow.

Dans les Monts Valin

Dancers walk in pairs in promenade position counterclockwise around the circle, singing:

On the words Scie! Scie! Scie!, dancers change directions three times thus:

Keeping your hands joined, turn to face each other and continue turning until you are both facing in the opposite direction from where you started. If you do this three times, everyone should now be facing clockwise.

Repeat the entire dance, and everyone will (hopefully) be back in starting position.

Promenons-nous dans les bois

You may know a more complex version of this game, but I prefer to keep it simple. It can be used simply as a listening exercise – give the students the words cut up and have them arrange them in the correct order while you sing the song several times.

The game: everyone walks randomly around the room, singing the song, while the wolf hides behind something close by. At the end of the song, a conversation takes place.

Children: Loup y es-tu?

Wolf: Oui

Children: Que fais-tu?

Wolf: Je lis (marche / me lave / joue / danse)

At which point there is nothing to worry about, so the singing and dancing resumes. At some point, the wolf decides it is ready for dinner and says ‘Je mange!’, and then tries to tag one of the dancers, who will become the new wolf.

This is, of course a very simple version. The wolf can be much more erudite, depending on the level of your students. In some versions, the wolf puts on articles of clothing before deciding that he is ready for dinner.

Trois poules

This is sung to the tune of «Ah vous dirais-je maman / Twinkle Twinkle ». Three people stand single file and take on the attitude of a chicken. The appropriate person stands up when their position is named.

Quand trois poules vont aux champs
La première va devant
La deuxième suit la première
La troisième vient la dernière
Quand trois poules vont aux champs
La dernière passe par-devant

La Planète

based on the singing game Circle Round the Zero

Dancers stand in a hands-free circle. One person walks around the outside and on the word ‘arret’, they stop and stand back to back with another person. Then they execute the moves in the song and the new person becomes the leader.

Dos à dos

Stand in a circle, partners back to back. Dos à dos

Partners turn to face each other Face à face

Partners do as the words say.

Donnez-moi les mains changez de place

Dancers then back up to stand back-to-back with a new partner and the dance begins again.

Faisons la ronde

In a circle, hands joined, circle to the left

Faisons la ronde pour contenter le monde

Les grands et les petits se quitteront ici!

Each person individually goes for a walk anywhere they please.

Faisons la ronde pour contenter le monde

Les grands et les petits...

On the words «se trouveront ici!», everyone arrives back in the circle.

The challenge is to keep the music going in your head so that everyone arrives back at the circle at the same time. To extend the exercise, challenge your students to find other reflexive verbs that suggest an action to do during the second part. Such as: se figeront / se tourneront / se marcheront / s’accroupiront / se coifferont, etc. Whatever the action you choose, at the end of the second half everyone must be back in a circle, holding hands and ready to circle left.

Can you make the song work with a verb that is not reflexive?

Mon Papa

Pairs of dancers scattered around the room

Facing your partner, place one hand (doesn’t matter which) palm up out to the side in a gesture of resignation. Mon papa

Place the other hand palm up on the other side ne veut pas

With hands on hips, kick alternate feet out to the front que je danse, que je danse

As above Mon papa ne veut pas

kick as above, then point both fingers at your partner que je danse avec toi

Hook right elbows with your partner and swing around once or twice. (8 beats)

Look for someone else and hook left elbows with them. (8 beats)

This new person becomes your new partner for the next time through the dance.

Il dira ce qu’il voudra

Moi, je danse, moi je danse

Il dira ce qu’il voudra

Moi, je danse la polka.

Ah si mon moine

This song is a good one to include when talking about French culture, especially about religion.

The dance is done in a circle, holding hands. Give each pair of dancers a name:

Calgary CTCA

1. capuchon

2. ceinturon

3. chapelet

4. froc de bur

5. beau psautier

6. bien d’autre choses.

Calgary CTCA

A All take three steps into the centre and back

Ah si mon moine voulait danser Ah si mon moine voulait danser

Again, take three steps into the centre and back

Un capuchon je lui donnerai, un capuchon je lui donnerai

B Those who have been named (capuchon, ceinturon, etc..) go into the centre and
swing with their partner, while the rest join hands and circle to the left, singing:

Danse, mon moine danse, tu n’entends pas la danse
Tu n’entends pas mon moulin lon la, tu n’entends pas mon moulin marcher.

C As everyone sings an exaggerated AHHHHHH, those who were in the middle must find their original place in the circle. The dance then recommences.
In each of the subsequent verses, replace ‘capuchon’ with one of the other
vocabulary words.

Chansons

There are hundreds of great songs in French that are fun to sing and full of teachable content. Here are just a few that appeal to me.