French Teaching Resources. Les 24 Heures du Mans. Le Mans. Motorsport. Cars.

These resources are designed to give the students a taste of the thrilling Le Mans ambience and an appreciation of the prestige, dangers and challenges of the event! It uses exciting YouTube clips, colourful slides, matching cards, a video worksheet and a poem/writing template to imagine being a driver in Le Mans. A great end of term lesson!

Slide 2 states the objective:
Objectif: To learn facts and vocabulary related to Les 24 heures du Mans.
All: Will learn 7 new facts and French words.
Most: Will learn 9 new facts and French words/ phrases.
Some: Will learn 10+ new facts and French words/ phrases.

Slide 3 is the warmer and lesson hook. It asks : Qu’est-ce que c’est Les 24 Heures du Mans? There is then a link to the fantastic 1 mins 25 sec trailer for The Journey to Le Mans. The students can then share facts and French vocabulary which they already know.

The students then match 9 x English- French cards with facts about Le Mans e.g.

Les 24 Heures du Mans sont une course automobile d'une durée de 24 heures.
Le Mans est dans le département de la Sarthe en France.
La première course s’est déroulée en 1923.
Elle est une des courses les plus prestigieuses au monde.

Slides 5-11 allow you to run through the information on the cards and elicit the English.

Slide 12 links to the worksheet in the resources. The students match French-English vocabulary:
1. Un mécanicien
2. Le podium
3. Un accident
4. Un casque
5. Le coucher du soleil
6. Le lever du soleil
7. Le drapeau à damier
8. Une voiture hybride
9. Un pneu
10. La nuit

They then watch the Michelin 2015 Le Mans Highlights (3 minutes 14 secs), ticking the vocabulary they see (I’ve added a couple of additional words to the worksheet). The extension task is to list other things they see.

Slide 14 is to be used with the (more detailed) support sheet. It sets out the final creative task:
All: You are a Le Mans racing driver! Write a poem/ account of your 24 hours at Le Mans! You may wish to use the suggested template below:
Il est 14h59. J’attends. Je suis prêt/ prête. Je suis calme. (time + verb + adjective)
Il est 15h00. Le Tricolore! On commence! Je suis confiant/ confiante. Je suis fier/ fière.
Il est 22h00. Le coucher du soleil…..
Most: Build in negatives e.g. je ne dors pas.
Some: Build in:
adverbs e.g. parfois and toujours…
connectives e.g. et, mais, cependant…
other tenses e.g. je voudrais + infinitive.

The final slide then gives the opportunity for reflection.

I hope you enjoy using these resources!