LESSON PLAN - Unit 2, Lesson 5

Subject/Course: Exploratory French

Topic: Culture - The Lascaux Caves in France

Lesson Title: Nous allons explorer la grotte de Lascaux!

Level: 6th grade Duration: 50 minutes

Standard(s) and/or Benchmark(s):

1.2.N.L.a - Demonstrate understanding of oral classroom language in the target language including
directions, commands, and requests.
2.2.N.G.a - Identify countries, their capital, and major cities in which the language is spoken.
2.2.N.C.b - Identify historic culture icons (arts, music, literature, film, and the creators of these
products as well as natural sites).
3.1.N.a - Reinforce previously learned content knowledge through the target language.
4.2.N.b - Identify basic target culture products and compare them to one's own.

Lesson Objective(s): Essential Question(s):

Students will be able to Should we protect historical monuments?

evaluate the affordances and constraints
of closing a historical monument.
problem-solve to explain why cave
paintings exist.
inquire about the different ways people
tell stories.
identify some prehistoric animals in
France
create their own drawing-based story.
How?
Why did cave people paint/scratch
pictures on their walls?
What kinds of stories can we get from
artwork like cave paintings?
How can you tell your own story with
pictures?

Grammar: none today

Vocabulary: Lascaux, la grotte, les peintures, les murs

Lesson Outline:

1. Hook students with an intro video (5min)

a. Rick Steve's Lascaux on YouTube
2. Group discussion (5min)
a. What is Lascaux?
b. Where is it located?
c. Who discovered it? How?
 d. Can you still go visit it?
3. Circle of Viewpoints in groups of 4 (5min)
a. Do you agree with the decision to close off the cave? Why or why not?
i. Viewpoints: scientist, researcher, tourist, French local
b. Using the interactive whiteboard, each person writes their answer on the board under
the viewpoint they took in their group
4. Go into the "cave" (built by teacher out of plastic sheeting) and explore in Virtual Reality with
Google Cardboard and devices (15min)
a. Use the 3D VR video on YouTube (second link in materials)
b. Students can pause/rewind the video and look around as much as they like during the
explore time
c. If students want, they may search for other VR videos of Lascaux or other French
caves to explore
5. Small group discussion in cave (5min)
a. Why did cave people, like the ones who made Lascaux, paint on the walls?
b. What kinds of stories do you think they were trying to tell?
6. Individual activity in cave (10min)
a. Using crayons and paper, create a picture to tell a story from your real life OR a story
from your life if you were a cave person (using appropriate animals!)
b. Explain that the lighting would be similar if they were actual cave people, and it might
be a little hard to see what exactly they are doing, but that is ok
7. Group discussion/lesson reflection in cave (5min)
a. Now that you've seen Lascaux "in person" and had a chance to create your own story,
has your viewpoint about closing it off changed? Why?
b. If their viewpoint changed, have them change it on the board on their way out

Materials / Equipment:

computer, projector, vocabulary pictures to hold up while using each new vocabulary word,
"cave", set of 15 Google Cardboard holders, student devices and/or library devices, paper,
crayons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnSq0c7jM-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UV1oIoXBCg

References:

Hot Chalk Lesson Plans. Lesson Plan 3 - Virtual Exploration of Lascaux Cave. Retrieved
from:
http://lessonplanspage.com/lamathsciencecissomdwallsthattellastoryunit5-virtualcaveexplo
rationlesson3-htm/
Edsitement Lesson Plans. Lascaux: La Vie en Caverne! Retrieved from:
https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/lascaux-vie-en-caverne#sect-questions