Eighth Graders Create Their Maisons des Reves

Middle School French teacher Jaime O’Dell has a creative way of helping her students learn French vocabulary and speaking. She asks them to design their own maison des reves—house of dreams—and describe its attributes in French. To begin, the class learns about the types of residences and the vocabulary for homes in France and other French-speaking countries like Algeria, North Algeria, and Africa. The students pick a style they like and then design their own dream home.

Using a simple layout, the students label the different rooms and areas of their home, from the salles des bains (bathrooms) and chambres (bedrooms) to the jardin (garden). Perhaps their garage is large enough to hold three voitures (cars) and their yard has a piscine (pool). The students need to use at least 20 new vocabulary words and include the correct articles (male/female, singular/plural).

Then they write a description of their maison des reves, about 35 sentences. Where is the house located? What is it near? O’Dell reviews their description and the student polishes it up. Then they take turns presenting them in front of the class. (To help take off the pressure, they put a large image of a house they admire on the screen behind them.)

“This unit offers a great opportunity for the students to practice writing, grammar, and public speaking in French,” said O’Dell. “It’s fun to see what the students come up with for their dream homes. During the time I’ve been teaching this unit, I’ve seen a treehouse in the woods in the middle of France and a home in outer space.”

The level of French taught in the OES Middle School is equivalent to first year French in high school, according to O’Dell. Middle School French gives students a strong foundation they can take into high school French and eventually into college classes, including French literature.