3 YouTubers to Use in French Class
Harness pop culture for world language instruction! The same students who tune you out will spend long periods of focused listening to understand a funny Youtuber!
The average High School student spends 3.5 hours per day listening to media.
This statistic is courtesy of 171 of my former High School students who responded to my survey in 2017. Kids also shared what they believed teachers should know about students’ listening habits. Some comments:
“Students like humor!”
“You will get a student’s attention much faster when you are discussing things that pique their interest.”
“Watching YouTube videos aren’t always for entertainment, but for information on hobbies like video games or fishing. Listening to music is an easy way to relax and think about the day.”
“Keeping up with current trends and things students are interested in will allow for more engaging lessons.”
“It’s different from how you guys listened to media as a kid.”
Ouch, that last one hurt a little. It wasn’t that long ago, I used to crank up my newest cassette tape on my Walkman and… OK. I’m old.
I also asked my students:
The top three responses were:
Music
On demand TV / movies
You Tube Channels.
I can only imagine that since Covid, and with the explosion of on-demand media, the times students spend with earbuds in has only increased.
So, I asked the question I always ask when there’s a new fad or cultural trend: How can I harness that for world language instruction?
In the case of listening, the connection is easy - have students listen in the target language! Unfortunately, good listening activities can be challenging to curate and develop. I’ve already written extensively about incorporating music; both instructional techniques and some of my favorite songs for classroom use. (Click here to read more).
What about YouTube? Here are some of my favorite French YouTubers, along with a few suggestions and free resources to add to your listening library.
Warning: Always preview every video for appropriateness for your classroom. I’ve given my honest assessment, but you know your students.
YouTuber For Use with lower levels:
Your novice students will love French Youtuber Rémi Gaillard.
Channel Focus: elaborate pranks and practical jokes
YouTube Subscribers: 7.3 million
Rémi Gaillard videos don’t have a ton of language, which makes them better for novice learners. Your kids will laugh, and pick up some cultural references along the way.
Here’s Gaillard crashing the French national volleyball team during the national anthem: the commentators are pretty easy to understand as they marvel, “La personne qui chante la Marseillaise n'est pas un membre de l'équipe de France! C'est quelqu'un qui s'est invitée à la fête. On connaît pas son nom il n'a pas de numéro… c'est un plaisantin qui a réussi son pari en tout cas!” (The person who is singing the Marseillaise (French National Anthem) is not a member of the French team! He’s someone who invited himself to the party. We don’t know his name, he doesn’t have a number… he’s a prankster who won his bet in any case!)
And here is the prank that catapulted Gaillard to YouTube stardom, the widely-known moment when Remi pretended to be a member of the winning team in the 2002 French soccer finals. Remi took victory laps with the team, signed autographs, and was personally congratulated by French president Jacques Chirac! More than 20 years later, this prank is still worth watching!
Remi’s motto, “C’est en faisant n’importe quoi qu’on devient n’importe qui” is a good phrase for illustrating the pronoun ‘on’ and the question words “quoi” and “qui”
Youtubers for use with upper levels
Cyrpien accompanies his clever French with engaging videos (just be sure to preview and select school-appropriate clips!)
Channel Focus: Irreverent social commentary
YouTube Subscribers: 14.4 million
Cyprien’s videos are highly visual and full of contemporary references. Unfortunately, they can also be somewhat profane. If you have the ability to download and edit out school-appropriate clips, (or just show selected clips to your class under your control) there’s a lot you can do with these videos. A couple of my favorites; the pub vs. reality series (full of great vocabulary and relatable cultural references!) and this video on ‘Quand j’étais petit’ which I use along with this activity to introduce the imparfait
This is a wonderful and highly engaging video to introduce the imparfait… just start at 2:09 for school appropriateness! The viewer comments are good examples of imparfait too!
McFly & Carlito perform amusing social experiments (such as falling down in public to gauge strangers’ reactions).
Channel Focus: Social experiments
YouTube Subscribers: 7.19 million
I owe gratitude to my exchange student, Hyppolite M., for introducing me to McFly et Carlito’s Youtube channel. One of my favorite video series to use with upper levels is the “ont-ils un coeur’ videos where these two goofballs film themselves falling down on public streets and then award themselves ‘points’ for each person who stops to help (complete with video game sound effects!).
I like to give my students the following list of phrases that appear in the video:
Qu’est-ce que vous faites tous dans ma chambre?
Vous voulez que j’appelle l’ambulance ?
Vous avez fait 3 mètres de recul comme ça
ça fait bizarre, quand même
Je suis debout, je suis debout…. Je suis pas debout
On est quel jour, monsieur ? On est… rouge ?
On ne fait pas le rugby ? non, aucun sport…
Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé ? Vous êtes tombé
Combien tu as des doigts ? Ah, deux, deux. J’ai passé mon bac.
Tu ‘as pas un carambar (un bon bon au caramel)
Il y a heureusement qu’il n’y a pas de camera !
Students must listen to match the phrase with the person who said it (such as “la femme au manteau rouge”, “un policier”, or “McFly (au pull jaune)”. Give it a try yourself! (Note; there is one ‘gros mot’ in the video, but I don’t highlight it and it usually goes over students’ heads).
Here’s a link to copy your own editable Google Form of this activity.
Students will work for 30 minutes plus of close listening to accomplish this task!
McFly et Carlito have a new series, “On appelle des gens au hasard” that has similar potential for a matching exercise! I’ll be developing this soon; subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss it!
One last tip: Get your students to help you! I have a standing offer of extra credit if any student brings me a French Youtuber, Tik Tok Video, or song to use in my instruction. (The fact that some students will spend hours listening to French to find media for me is just icing on the cake!)
Do you know a great YouTuber for French instruction? Share in the comments!
Image attributions:
Remi Gaillard: Yves Tennevin, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Cyprien: Rodrigo SEPÚLVEDA SCHULZ, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
McFly & Carlito: Bruno Bosse, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
