So this is kind of embarrassing…I have never watched the Tour de France. Never. I have seen snippets of course and I knew the basics about the yellow vest and the hills and the general hard graft. But that was it. So what did I do every summer when my colleagues mentioned a cultural lesson on it? I chickened out. Probably made the kids do a dictation or something equally mean!
This year I was determined to be prepared- but when did the tour even start? June? July? I actually had no idea so I started making some materials in May! It seems I am still a whole month ahead of schedule so there is plenty of time for me to share some bits with you.
Firstly there is the animated video I made. This is crammed full of every fact I researched about the Tour de France. I have shared this on you tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORBmN9YIxkU&t=38s but if your school filters You Tube you can download it for free via my TES shop. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/betsybelleteach
Then I made some follow up activities including a board game, an infographic, a jersey design activity and some colouring sheets. I’m sharing the infographic with you (the image from the top of the post), it contains all the facts from the video and would make a great poster or help sheet. Click on the link to download the Tour de France Poster Infographic
The board game has already had some great feedback. One teacher is going to add extra challenge by getting pupils to complete a translation when they land on a new number. It would be very easy to do this by printing out a list of 34 questions or translations relating to your current topic. Here is the link- www.tes.com/teaching-resource/french-board-game-tour-de-france-plus-free-video-11631095 it is £2 but if you are new to TES you can get £3 free credit by entering JUNEOFFER at the checkout.
The other products are available individually or as a bundle which costs £4 and includes the two activities form above (the video and the infographic) plus the ‘design a Tour de France jersey activity, the colouring sheets and the board game. Link to bundle here https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/tour-de-france-bundle-11633223
This is the official website http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2017/ in French but there is an English version as well.
There is lovely video in French about the Tour de France on 1jour1actu as part of their animated series http://www.1jour1actu.com/info-animee/cest-quoi-le-tour-de-france/
One last thing and NOT FOR CLASSROOM USE but hilarious if you haven’t seen it before is this video by Remi Gaillard. If you aren’t familiar with his work then I urge you to find half an hour and sit back for some chuckles- or full on belly laughs in my case! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4uXfv6Yv6g
Betsy Belle
xx
