Looking for resources for Black History Month (February) for your French classroom? In this post I will highlight some of my favorite lessons and share some links to some additional great resources I have found. In the spirit of not limiting your Black History lessons to February, I have also included resources that would be more pertinent at other times during the year.
Back in 2020, I blogged about my Halloween/All Saints Day lesson and how I modified it during Covid. While the post could use a refresher to update it to how I teach it today, one resource I want to highlight from the post is this wonderful video about All Souls Day in Martinique. While quite old, it does a great job showing how the occasion is observed in Fort-de-France. The residents talk about their traditions, and the pastor also explains the African influence in their beliefs. Prior to watching this video, students watch a couple of short videos about All Saints Day and All Souls Day in France, which they can compare and contrast to this one. A lot of students associated All Souls Day (also known as Day of the Dead) with Mexican culture, so this provides an opportunity to showcase how it looks in various parts of the French-speaking world.
This past Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my students watched this wonderful video (with English subtitles). Then, they did the translation activity below, where they matched quotes from the video with their translations. This is really the only type of translation activity I like to do in my class.
In the week leading up to Mardi Gras, my students learn the history of Mardi Gras and Carnaval and see how it’s celebrated in different parts of the world, including in Martinique and Nice, France. Then, they learn about Black History in New Orleans. Click here to read the post about Mardi Gras, Carnaval, and Black History in New Orleans.
Last year I blogged about a lesson I taught around a video of a young boy, Mansour, in Senegal and his typical day. In the lesson, students see what Mansour eats, what his school day is like, and his extracurricular activities. After we watch the video, we compare and contrast life in the U.S. with Mansour’s life in Senegal. Finally, in this video, students see some cultural similarities between life in Senegal and life in France, notably their school system and what they eat for breakfast. While I’m not a history teacher so I don’t delve too deep, I do introduce bits of history into my lessons from time to time. During our lesson about Black history in New Orleans, students learn that the first Africans to come to the city were enslaved people from the Senegambia region of Africa. In this lesson, I explain to students that many of the aspects of French culture that they see in Senegal, including the use of the language itself, are due to the fact that the country was a French colony for several centuries. Click here to read even more in depth about this lesson.
Last year for the first time, I introduced my students to the music of Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo. Kidjo is a multilingual, multiple Grammy winning musician and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Her work incorporates many influences. I chose the songs “We Are One” (“Nous sommes un”) from The Lion King 2 and “Bomba” to show to my students. Students learned about Kidjo, then watched the music videos for the two songs and discussed the messages in them. Click here to learn more about this lesson.
My favorite cultural resources for food and meal-taking include videos about boulangeries in France, Haiti, and Benin and a video about a Senegalese restaurant in Burkina Faso. Click here to learn more about these resources and how I use them.
Back in October, I gave a presentation at the New York State Association for Language Teachers (NYSAFLT) Annual Conference in Albany on Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Classroom Environment and Curriculum. Within this presentation are several suggestions for activities that decolonize the curriculum, that is, center other regions besides just those with primarily white populations. Click here to view the presentation.
Finally, I want to close with some links to additional resources I have found helpful.
Black History Month Ideas for French Class from La Libre Language Learning
Remarkable French Black History Month Activities for the Classroom from FLE avec Mme D
Le Mois de l’Histoire des Noir.e.s from AATFrench on Wakelet
Remember, you should not limit your Black History lessons to February. As a French teacher, there are many opportunities throughout the school year to center Black History.
Do you have any additional resources to share? Please put them in the comments!
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