So you’re teaching French and today you’re looking for an article or video in levelled French to show your students.
You want to engage them with a short 2 minute piece they can understand, drum up conversation and then explicitly teach a concept.
Great.
Say the piece you need has to explain Canada’s government, or describe something prescribed by your curriculum. Maybe today is about Canada’s First Nations, or climate change, pollution, or about teenagers who invented ground breaking solutions to help curb global warming.
Or you’re looking for a science piece covering space exploration’s contribution to society, or the rock cycle, electricity, or the difference between animal and plant cells for your French immersion students.
Maybe you need a short reader for your grade 7-8 FSL class or a complete unit to cover Le carnaval de Québec, or a practical unit on how to order in French in a restaurant. Where do you start?
The only resource that offers weekly Canadian news videos in levelled French and curriculum-based French courses is Planet French.
Planet French has over 600 resources cleverly integrated so that you can tie one resource to the next and build your own course, based on your particular student’s needs. Or you can go ahead and use Planet French’s 40 pre-structured curriculum-compliant courses about French culture, everyday situations, science, and social studies.
You can share Planet French with all your students, and with all other teachers and students from your school. A school subscription gives everyone in your school access on all their devices from anywhere.
Planet French isn’t the only French resource, there are others, but they don’t offer weekly Canadian news articles and videos in levelled French. They don’t have different levels of French within the same unit, which allow you to quickly find differentiated texts for students at different proficiency levels, as Planet French units do. Some resources even remove content from their platforms, because they’re aggregators, they don’t own indefinite full rights to the content. This puts a wrinkle in your pants if you’ve created lessons around this content. Planet French never does that. We create and own all our content.
Surely, this must cost a fortune. After all there are over $5000 of resources on Planet French (and growing).
But, no. International schools pay $1700/year, Canadian schools pay just $399/yr (when ordering here using promo code BP25399), and school districts get bulk discounts dropping the price to a few dollars per school. You could replace all or most of your French programs with Planet French, and be ahead financially and pedagogically.
Thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of students in schools and boards across the country are using Planet French. Here is what some of them have to say (please scroll down). To subscribe your school click here.
Reviews from French teachers using our products:
“I have been using ‘Les nouvelles’ with my French as a second language students at the beginning of class. Your news sets the tone for the hour and the students look forward to seeing M. Pina Colada, as they refer to you =) We listen to the selection twice and the students report out what they understood or they ask questions about what they did not understand. So it is for speaking and listening purposes. They enjoy seeing different parts of Canada as well as the cultural information provided.”
Merci beaucoup, Nori
“First and foremost I want to say thank you to whomever I spoke to on the phone during the last few days. You have excellent customer service—were genuinely helpful and not just trying to sell a product. It was greatly appreciated. As a teacher buying this out of pocket, the customer service really is one of the factors that made me take the plunge. I will be sure to spread the word on these products as I learned about them on Facebook.”Merci,Alicia Mancuso
“I love your site and it is my favourite for listening activities for sure.
My students also love you and they say, bonjour! Thanks.” Tara Lee Carpenter, 4-8 French/Arts, Primary and EY Prep Coverage
“I have been using this resource with my French class and it has been awesome! The students especially enjoy the e-books and videos. 🙂 Cheers, Bridget” Christ The Redeemer School District, AB
“Love the videos for Valentine’s day. So love having something theme related to watch, in FRENCH !!!!! Thank you” Lise Callahan
“Hello Planet French, I love your products. They are visually appealing and relevant. Thanks. Jo-Anne Hass, Basic French Teacher École Stanley Knowles School”
“You are awesome! Thank you Guy:)” Laura Harrison, French Consultant, SD68, Nanaimo, BC
“Toi, tu es fantastique!” Josée Boutin SK-12 French as a Second Language Consultant Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB, ON
“I am new in this role and I haven’t really had the time yet to look at and try out all of your resources. So far I have just been using some videos, which are just great for my grade fours with the slow, clear French. I like how the videos are seasonal or related to current events. e.g. The videos about Ouragan Irma were very topical and interesting for us. Keep up the great work!” Clare, CESD73, BC
“I am truly enjoying having access to all of the videos and lessons and ebooks on Planet French. Thanks for all you do! Your materials are excellent and are very much appreciated! Bonne Journée!” Debbie Blais Jaffray Elem/Junior Secondary, BC
“I’ve been using Planet French for the past 4 months and I really like it. My students can access most resources (videos, news, e-texts,…). Both Core French and French Immersion students can access resources. And my students love the fact that they can actually understand when I show them a video or when we read a book. We just finished the unit (=Booksmarts kit) about Bonhomme Carnaval, which comes with a teacher’s guide (with an AOT = culminating task), an e-book, and videos. My students were engaged and learned a lot. We also had a lot of discussions which was great for their oral French. We will continue to watch the news, and we will use the Booksmarts kit “Le Monde des Animaux” during our study of “Habitats”. There are also videos that I will integrate in my health unit on nutrition. And I haven’t explored all the resources yet! ” Agnes MacNay Gr.4 FI Room 5 Notre Dame School, ON
“I just clicked on one of the stories and videos and it looks perfect for the level of our students. Thanks again, Patrice”
“Hi Guy, Just received the videos and books that we ordered. Just wanted to let you know that these are a wonderful resource for us … Thanks so much!” Colleen Ecole Edwards School
“My students and I enjoy your products… as we get to watch your videos and read the books. …Thank you for your efforts. They support me in mine.” Melinna MacKenzie GP Christian School
“Cher Guy, Mes élèves ont tellement adoré votre livre et vidéo (…) Les élèves s’amusaient beaucoup en faisant ces activités, (…) ! C’était vraiment un plaisir (…) !!! Merci beaucoup! Bien à vous, ” Stephanie Potier West Hills Middle School
“Perfect! …They love it! …Thanks again! Merci Beaucoup!!” Louise OLOF”
“J. Lattanzio, French teacher in Dundas “I really liked the layout of this new book with the three different levels of reading difficulty colour-coded , the interesting historical facts found within, the various dialogues that could be easily acted out by students to practice their oral skills, and all of the colourful pictures. My students enjoyed the video very much and are engaged with all the activities that Guy supplied. They are motivated to practice all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking ) and engage with each other in a much more dynamic way.”
Margie James, French teacher in Ontario, says: With the different color coded levels, it was really neat that I had it all in one pack…it’s hard to differentiate all the time…And the videos really helped as they were able to use all the visual cues…it’s great !
Thanks so much – btw I LOVED the zombies video!” “Madeline Turan
The Halloween videos were very entertaining and students were able to follow along with you. The topics were interesting to my intermediate students and your rate of speech is understandable for them. Judith Ward Thank you very much.
My students and I loved the video les pommes and worked very well with it . Mrs. Mazur
I showed your site at “Parents Night” and they were thrilled! My students love Planet French! We are doing clothes in 8th grade so I had them watch the segment on “Les vêtements de vélo” and answer a questionnaire about it. Merci pour tout! Nicole Baker
The students LOVED the snack bar. We ended up drawing our own snack bars in groups and setting up a conversation around each snack bar. Loads of fun!!! Thank you! Karine Tregear
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