French Poetry Lesson: Déjeuner du Matin, Jacques Prévert

Looking for a great activity for intermediate level learners of French? This is a lesson that covers reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It’s a fun way to introduce your students to French poetry, and though the poem is spectacularly well known in France, it’s easy to understand. Students will learn new vocabulary, and practice the passé composé.

Included in this lesson:

Watch a 3 minute silent short film with your students (YouTube link provided). The court-métrage is a very well done acting out of the poem.

Students write what they think the poem is about after having watched the short movie, and they identify the feelings they felt. At this point you can encourage students to share with the class.

Before reading the poem there is some new vocabulary to learn. Important vocabulary from the poem is introduced in a multiple choice activity, and after that I’ve included a flashcard set on Quizlet for you to share with your students so that they can revise (link provided).

At this point, there’s a link to another YouTube video to show your students. Again, the poem is being acted out, but this time with the poem being read at the same time. Students will have a much better understanding of what the poem is about at this point.

The next part of the lesson is to practice the passé composé, since that’s the tense that’s used throughout the poem. Students will fill in the blanks with the passé composé form of the verb in parentheses. Regular, irregular, and reflexive verbs.

After you’ve gone over the answers with your students, there’s a reading exercise that could be done either in the classroom with a partner, or even better, in the language lab where students could record themselves reading the poem aloud. At this point, you could offer bonus points for students who want to memorize and recite the poem.