As a result of language learning, our students think and act globally, are cosmopolitan in their outlook, and international in their understanding. They will be ethical leaders who advance the human condition. When students speak another language, they think and act differently. Their perspective is widened and horizons are expanded. Students have a greater capacity to empathize, to make friends, to imagine what it would be like to be in another person’s shoes. Imagination is stretched. Students no longer see “aliens” or “others”, but rather they see real people with differences and similarities. If students stop studying a language, they may forget the words and grammar details. However, learning another language and its culture, learning how to effectively communicate with other human beings, and learning how meaning is constructed through words other than one’s native tongue, will remain for a lifetime.

On the page below, I have collected some of my most effective and original lesson plans – they are also some of my students’ favorites. They are organized under the French Units that I teach, and are for your use or adaptation in your own classroom.