Life In Occupied France During The
Second World War.
To begin this unit of work:
Read film summary sheet & then
watch ‘Au Revoir les enfants’ (by Louis Malle). This should take 2 / 3 lessons.
Then……..
Lesson 1
Objective: To introduce the key phrases ‘Il y avait beaucoup de’ & ‘Il n’y avait
pas beaucoup de’ ; to discuss important elements of French life during WWII.
Starter: Show pupils key phrases & pictures from ‘Pendant la 2ième Guerre
Mondiale, qu’est-ce qu’il y avait?’ sheet. Pupils match phrases to pictures.
Main: 1. Introduce ‘Il y avait beaucoup de’ & ‘Il n’y avait pas beaucoup de’ &
repeat.
2. Pupils try to write phrases of their own using these sentences +
starter sheet + knowledge of France taken from watching the film.
3. Pupils share some of their phrases
Plenary: Memorise key phrases from starter sheet through repetition &
memory games e.g.’ what’s missing?’
Lesson 2
Objective: To understand key facts relating to the occupation of France; to
revise question words ‘qui, combien de, quand, pourquoi’.
Starter: Pupils colour Europe in 1942 map to show 1) nations at war with
Germany 2) neutral countries 3) occupied countries (use ICT research to
help)
Main: Pupils read question sheet & then use ICT to answer questions
Plenary: Go through answers as whole class
Lesson 3
Objective: To explore the daily life of a Jewish child during the occupation of
France; to practise daily routine phrases.
Starter: Recap daily routine phrases.
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Main: Read the Anne Frank text (maybe focus here on reading skills e.g. use
of cognates to aid comprehension etc.)
Plenary: Pupils complete gap fill to compare their daily life with that of Anne
Frank (e.g. D’habitude je me lève à ______, mais Anne se levait à ________.
Pendant une journée typique je mange _____________. Anne
mangeait___________. Le soir je fais mes devoirs mais Anne faisait
____________).
Lesson 4
Objective: To revise food; to revise ‘il y avait beaucoup de ‘ / ‘il n’y avait pas
beaucoup de’; to use plus de / moins de.
Starter: Introduce key foods which would have been rationed in occupied
France & key foods which would have been available. Repetition & memory
games (see attached notes about rationing in France)
Main: 1. Card sort: pupils have food cards & sort into 2 categories ( il y avait
beaucoup de / il n’y avait pas beaucoup de….).
2. Pairwork : pupils discuss findings using il y avait / il n’y avait pas de.
3. Using ‘Aujourd’hui on mange plus / moins de …’ & ‘ Pendant la
guerre on mangeait plus de / moins de’, model comparisons.
4. In pairs, pupils give their own comparisons (speaking)
Plenary: Pupils write short paragraph about food today & during the war,
using above structures.
Lesson 5
Objective: To answer key questions about the resistance movement: who?
what? why?
Starter: In pairs, pupils tick, from the list provided, activities which they think
members of the resistance movement would have undertaken. They also link
some resistance objects, from a list, to their usage.
Main: 1. Pupils read resistance text & answer comprehension questions
2. Pupils look again at their starter activity & change answers in light of
their reading (if necessary).
Plenary: As whole class, answer the following questions: C’était quoi la
Résistance?; Qui faisait partie de la Résistance?; Quelles étaient les actions
principales de la Résistance?
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