Cheerful French Christmas lesson plans

This time of year is so busy at schools, with many teachers looking for French Christmas lesson plan ideas. For high school French teachers, final exams are looming and we are torn between getting students ready for the test but also wanting to relax a little bit and have some fun at the same time. We also want to be careful to recognize that some students do not celebrate Christmas, and they need to be included in our lessons.

One thing that I always consider when planning my French Christmas lessons is to make sure that the focus is on cultural information rather than observation of a holiday. Rather than focusing on the origins of the holiday (the nativity story), I focus on the cultural. Just as we learn how people in the Francophone world greet each other or how they commemorate holidays such as La Toussaint, we can teach how they celebrate the winter season. Sharing the different foods and traditions is important for students to understand the French culture. For this, I often use a simple lesson such as Le Noël French Christmas lesson for beginning students or the French Christmas magazine for more advanced students.

I also teach the vocabulary associated with the holiday, and winter in general. Whether or not students celebrate the holiday, they can still use words for items associated with winter customs and foods – candy cane, gingerbread man, present, snow, holly and more are useful in the winter season as these items are everywhere. Keep in mind that while France is a very secular country, there are still Christmas displays and celebrations everywhere. That doesn’t mean there isn’t conflict – the “Nativity war” is a thing that pops up nearly every year.

New French Christmas activities

There are a couple of new French Christmas activities that I’ve made in the past year, so if you’re looking for something new for your classes you may find these interesting.

French Christmas unfair game

Have you played the unfair game with your students? If not, you’re missing out! Your students will love it – and hate it – because it is UNFAIR. Basically, students will play in teams. Questions are chosen and teams can answer the questions. Easy enough – but here’s where it gets unfair. The team can choose whether to keep the points for each correct response, or whether to give them to another team. The twist is that they don’t know the value of the points until after they make their choice, and the points could be negative!

The French Christmas unfair game comes in two different versions, in both French and English – so four different ways to play. There is a multiple choice version and an open-ended question version. Use the multiple choice version when introducing the material, or the open-ended version for a review activity. Each version has the same 16 questions. The game board is a PowerPoint, so no prep for you – just project it on the board and navigate using the links in the game.

French Christmas escape game – Boom cards

If you enjoyed the Halloween or Thanksgiving escape games, you’ll love the Christmas game! It’s on the Boom learning platform – so you can play with a free account, or track student activity with a paid account. The game is called “Les Clés du Père Noël” and the premise is that an elf has hidden the keys to the sleigh. If you don’t solve the puzzles, you won’t be able to get the presents delivered.

There are several tasks in the game. The first task is a verb conjugation activity. Students will need to fill in the blanks with the correct form of pouvoir, aller, avoir and ER verbs. If they get stuck, there is a handy verb chart they can refer to.

The second task requires students to match the description of the holiday food with the image of the food. It includes 5 of the popular French foods for this time of year – lobster, oysters, ham, turkey and foie gras.

The third task is to sort the presents into the correct bag. Students will see a list of gifts in French for three different children and need to read the list to determine where the gifts belong.

The fourth task is a vocabulary activity. 6 different holiday terms are scrambled and students will need to unscramble them. If they get stuck, there is a reference page with a variety of vocabulary words that they can use.

The finalh task is a listening activity. Students will hear three short French statements about the holiday and will need to select the correct response from a multiple choice selection.

The game is entirely self-grading, and students will need to find the correct answer before moving on to the next task.