Nicolas is seven years old in 1950s France and life is extremely complicated. His friends Alceste, Eudes, Rufus, and Agnan each have exactly one personality trait, deployed without mercy in every situation. His teacher Mademoiselle Criquet is impossible to surprise. His parents are doing their best. René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé's creation — adapted to film by Laurent Tirard in 2009 — is one of the great French comic gifts to a language class: perfectly structured, completely warm, and immediate in the way that only stories told from a child's completely sincere perspective can be.
For French students, the film is a masterclass in comic French: precise, deadpan, and built on the gap between what adults intend and what children actually understand. Nicolas narrates in first person, present tense, with the complete certainty of a child who doesn't know what he doesn't know — and that certainty produces some of the most technically perfect comic French available for the classroom.
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Key Themes for the Classroom
- Childhood logic and adult confusion — Nicolas's interpretations of adult situations are perfectly wrong in exactly the right way. Ask: Comment Nicolas comprend-il les situations d'adultes? Students identify specific misunderstandings.
- French school culture — The classroom, the playground, the hierarchy of teachers and pupils — the film is a precise comedy of 1950s French primary school. Ask: Comment l'école de Nicolas est-elle différente des écoles d'aujourd'hui?
- Friendship and loyalty — Nicolas's gang has very specific rules. Ask: Qu'est-ce qui fait qu'un ami est un "vrai" ami pour Nicolas?
Scene to use: Any classroom scene with Mademoiselle Criquet — she tries to teach; Nicolas and his friends systematically make that impossible without intending to. The French of teacher-student interaction — formal address, polite indirection, and its complete failure — is fully present and funny. Ask: Comment Mademoiselle Criquet essaie-t-elle de maintenir l'ordre? What specific linguistic strategies does she use, and what happens to them?
Low-prep classroom activity: Students write a brief "Nicolas narration" in French — describing something that happened at their school recently, in the voice and perspective of a seven-year-old who has complete confidence in his own interpretation and is completely wrong about at least one thing. Present tense, first person, and at least one adult situation seen through completely innocent eyes.
What to listen for: Nicolas narrates in present tense with a rhythm that is slightly more deliberate than adult speech — he is telling you carefully, he wants to get it right, he is completely certain of his interpretation. That rhythm is excellent for listening comprehension: students can follow it at lower proficiency levels because the pace and the certainty are both generous. Have students read one page of the original Goscinny text alongside a scene from the film — the transition from written to spoken comic French shows students two different registers of the same voice.
What to listen for: Nicolas narrates in present tense with a rhythm that is slightly more deliberate than adult speech — he is telling you carefully, he wants to get it right, he is completely certain of his interpretation. That rhythm is excellent for listening comprehension: students can follow it at lower proficiency levels because the pace and the certainty are both generous. Have students read one page of the original Goscinny text alongside a scene from the film — the transition from written to spoken comic French shows students two different registers of the same voice.
The full French lesson plan for Le Petit Nicolas is ready at filmarobics.com/products/petit-nicolas — $29.95.
Students walk away from Le Petit Nicolas having laughed at French — and having understood that the most reliable way into a language is through a voice that doesn't know what it doesn't know yet.
The full French lesson plan for Le Petit Nicolas is ready at filmarobics.com/products/petit-nicolas — $29.95.
📥 Want a free lesson plan? Get a complete FilmArobics sample — pick your language. Subscribe for your free lesson →
Students walk away from Le Petit Nicolas having laughed at French — and having understood that the most reliable way into a language is through a voice that doesn't know what it doesn't know yet.
