Steve Smith discussed a year ago “Should MFL teachers show films at the end of term?”

Clearly some of my colleagues do, because there was a recent Facebook conversation which discussed which French films to use in class.

Our media scheme of work includes Les Choristes (Barratier, 2004) which has gone down well with many classes. It’s sentimental, cute and has some catchy choonz.

Dom’s MFL recommends Les aventures extraordinaire de Madame Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson, 2010), which is a fantastic adventure romp in the style of Indiana Jones, based on a French comic book.

Dom’s blog also links to a super resource pack to go with the film.

The other week, P was watching Priceless (Hors de Prix – Salvadori, 2006) on Netflix – I think, recommended for him because he likes Amelie (which I still have never seen.) I came in late to the film but watched the final bits with him and it did seem to be something that classes might go for.

Finally in conversation a colleague suggested Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (Boon, 2008) which I have not seen, but whose trailer looks good fun. In the second half of the trailer there is some extraordinary work done with subtitling – what is in the subtitles is not at all what is said in the dialogue, but it has been altered so that the dialect / speech impediment jokes still work.

On the German side of the curriculum, our scheme of work includes Lola Rennt (Tykwer, 1998) which is a film I like a lot, but is getting old now and has baffled more than one class. It’s too short to use for two complete lessons. It’s also a 15 which means it can’t be used for many classes without parental consent.

Also in the cert 15 is Good Bye Lenin (Becker, 2003) – a good long film that can lead into lots of interesting discussions about German history. Not seen for aages.

A colleague has been showing her classes Sophie Scholl (Rothemund, 2005). Personally I think the curriculum gives rather too much time to Germany and world wars and I would rather not add even more to that. I suppose this film is at least dedicated to the German resistance and many students may not have considered this even existed.

Let me know in the comments if there are films you use and if you have any resources for them!