AP French Language and Culture I Objectives This course is designed to prepare students for the AP French Language and Culture examination. It is conducted exclusively in French and students are expected and encouraged to do likewise. AP French students review and refine what they have already learned: grammatical structures while they are exposed to new vocabulary needed to communicate in French on a variety of topics. Therefore, AP French course emphasizes all aspects of language: speaking, listening, reading, writing and culture. There are 3 groups of learning objectives identifying what students should know and be able to do across three modes of communication. These objectives outline expectations of student abilities in the following areas: Interpersonal Communication: spoken and written Presentational Communication: spoken and written Interpretative communication: Written, print, audio, visual, and audiovisual II Teaching Strategies -Speaking: French is used in the classroom almost exclusively and students are expected to communicate solely in French. -Oral Participations in various presentational, interpretative, and interpersonal contexts. Students complete class projects, engage in peer conversation, impromptu speeches, and informal debates or discussions. -Cultural comparison/ oral presentations in class: Students make presentations, reflect on their performance and that of others, and provide feedback. Through a presentational and interpersonal practice, they gain and improve not only their speaking but listening skills. -Description of pictures from various media: magazines, advertisements etc Students are assigned multiple tasks where they describe, narrate, hypothesize, ask and answer questions. This provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their ability in interpretative communication. -Groups or partner short conversations or even role play -Play games in small groups such as Tabou or charades -In class discussions of literary and non-literary texts with respect to themes, explication de texte, literary movements and author biography. -My students have somewhat limited worldview, so this AP French Language and Culture course affords them an opportunity to expand their horizons. As they are more familiar with North America and Europe, I spend additional time studying, discovering North Africa, and many other Francophone countries. Students are required to create and present orally an original Francophone trademark that reflects an aspect of the French culture. This provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their proficiency in spoken presentational communication.
-Reading Students are given ample opportunities to read. Since the focus of this course is the Francophone world, they are exposed to a number of different types of print and online media resources for the cultural readings. Media and literary excerpts are integrated into coursework along with out-ofclass reading from authentic text. Assessment of the reading takes one of these forms: -in-class discussion, -textual analysis, -short presentations, multiple-choice questions. Novels, plays, literary texts of various genres including novels, poetry, theater; and articles ranging from news, magazine, and online discussion are incorporated in order to expose students to different types of reading from Francophone world. Moreover, these offer students the chance to read varying points of view on many of the course themes. -Listening French is spoken in class exclusively. I use gestures and try to paraphrase and reinforce meaning whenever necessary. I use various resources to enhance their listening skills: AP practice-exercises from AP French (Ladd) with audio texts, audio print, music and video with different French accents. The activities include dictée, paraphrasing and text completion to promote comprehension. -Writing Students are given several written tasks to complete every 2-3 weeks. They are to write a formal, well organized analytical or persuasive essay that is evaluated for its content, vocabulary and grammatical correctness. All writing practice are assigned and completed during a class period, in order to best simulate the testing format and environment. The use of dictionaries is prohibited at AP level. The lessons include instruction on thesis writing, brainstorming, organization, transitional terms, and peer review. I imitate the Written Interpersonal and Written Presentational prompts. I choose topics that reinforce the cultural and grammatical structures currently under study. Once students complete their writing assignment, I do not make correction myself. Instead, I devise a color-coded system to proof my students writing, using highlighter markers to indicate problem areas relating to agreement, word choice or usage, verb tense, mood, or conjugation, syntax or meaning. Students must make corrections and resubmit an edited version of their essay in order to improve their scores. They are allowed then to use dictionaries or any grammar reference. I use the AP rubric-scoring guide to grade these writing assignments, but then convert to a percentage. Students practice answering comprehension questions from different types of readings, learn how to support their responses by selecting key passages that exemplify textual elements of plot/ character, structure, style and theme. Moreover, they are required to research and include autobiographical information and any other pertaining details. In order to enhance students writing, editing and peer review skills, cultural projects including writing and illustrating an original children book, comic book, or translating a well-known story into French, are assigned.
Finally, students take part of a weekly blog discussion where they are asked to show their writing skills in a real world exchange of ideas. -Culture and Technology *Visit to the French pavilion at EPCOT to practice their speaking skills. *Video excerpts from French and Francophone films, commercial clips followed by class discussions and written presentations in which students describe the content viewed. *Most students have access to a computer at home which is very useful to assign a web based research at home or in class: internet review, use of websites for grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. * Once a week, the class meets in a computer language lab.
III Print Resources and electronic Media Primary textbooks for thematic reading 1-Allons au delà! Richard Ladd 2-AP French: Preparing for the Language & Culture Exam by Richard Ladd 3-Une fois pour toutes by Sturges, Cregg, and Herbst 4-Intrigue by Blood, Mobarek/ Activities Manual Student Edition 5-MyFrenchLab.com 6-Trésors du Temps Yvone Lenard 7-Discovering French Nouveau Rouge, used for cultural readings 8- Imaginez le français sans frontiers Chérie Mitschke 9-face à face Conversation et Rédaction Françoise Ghillebert Listening Comprehension and Internet Resources 1-Listening Comprehension Skills, by Vigourt and Zimmerman 2- Discovering French Nouveau Audio Program 3-TV5 http://www.tv5.org/index.php 4-LeSiteTV Canal Québec 5-Authentic videos downloaded from htto://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/fr/films/index.php 6-Radio France International exercices en français facile : www. rfi.fr 7-http://www.france2.fr 8-http://www.france3.fr 9-Teacher s guide for Listening Comprehension Skills 10-Cassettes for Listening Comprehension Skills 11-French songs 12-Authentic videos from http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/fr/films/index/php Films and Films Excerpts 1-Cyrano de Bergerac/ guide d exercices 2- Au revoir les enfants /guide d exercices 3-Les Choristes/ guide d exercices 4-Jean de Florette et Le printemps de Manon 5-8 Femmes, 2002 6-Un long dimanche de fiançailles, 2004 Periodicals 1-Ça m intéresse monthly magazine, Prisma Presse6, rye Daru 75379 Paris cedex08 2-Champs Elysées ISBN0086-005X 3-La Revue Québec français 154 Eté 2009 4- Articles from La Libération, Le Monde (online sites and hard copies) Literature et poetry 1-Candide de Voltaire 2-Le racisme expliqué a ma fille de Tahar Ben Jalloun 3-Le petit prince d Antoine de Saint Exupéry 4-Poem Liberté de Paul Éluard 5-Les fables de La Fontaine
IV Course planner Unit 1: Global Challenges Estimated Time: 5 weeks: Sep 3 rd - 28 th Sub Themes: Tolerance, environmental issues, Health issues, Economic issues, Human rights, Peace and War Essential questions: What are the most critical environmental issues today in the United States and in Francophone areas, and what measures are being implemented to address them? How do you see yourself making a difference with environmental concerns in the future? Students will debate current events and controversial issues Students will describe their own health and others including life-threatening health issues and how it s viewed by different countries Spoken Interpersonal communication: Oral exchange in a conversational setting- stating and comparing their opinions on discrimination, tolerance, and racism Written Interpersonal communication: Students write a journalistic report where they raise the pollution issue in one specific Francophone country and then suggest some solutions. This formative assessment requires research in order to address the essential question. Adjectives- adverbs-comparatives and superlatives forms- demonstrative pronouns Chapter 4: Une famille francophone, from Intrigue Unit 2: Science and Technology Estimated Time: 3 weeks: Oct 1-19 th Sub Themes: ethical questions, Future Technologies, The New Media, and social Impact of Technology Essential questions: How have discoveries and inventions from the Francophone world changed our lives? Who are the inventors in France today, and what problems are they working to resolve? What would you like to discover or invent someday, and why?
Students will describe various discoveries or breakthroughs of French Scientists Students will discuss the impact of various social media on a society Written Interpersonal Communication: Students write formal email reply to a message from the annual inventors completion and explain why they should be accepted to participate in the competition. Students will review the format of the email reply. Spoken Interpretative Communication: Students listen to an audio text twice: Tricher au bac comme un geek and fill in as many as the missing words as possible. The activity is then extended to engage in a class discussion to check students comprehension Past Tenses: Passé compose, Imparfait, Passé simple, and Plus-que parfait Chapter 1 Un séjour en Louisiane, from Intrigue Unit 3: Contemporary Life Estimated Time: 4weeks: Oct 22 nd Nov 26 th Sub Themes: Marketing, Leisure and Sports, Family, Housing and Shelters, Professions, and Travel Essential questions: How do you understand the concept of famille? On what principle is family based in the United States and Francophone area? How is the value of family portrayed in literature, music, and cinema of the French-speaking world? Students will describe various aspects of contemporary life including family, sports, hobbies, housing, professions and travel. Students will describe their current situations and future aspirations Students will compare and contrast different life styles Interpretative Communication form audio text/ print text: Reading several tests describing the housing in France then and now. For this activity, they will read internet articles; watch an
excerpt of Envoyé Special on the topic. After having read and watch, they organized notes in a comparative T-chart. Students will discuss the difference between housing in the United States and France. They will focus on finding similarities and differences between both societies. Spoken Interpersonal Communication: students will have reviewed basic vocabulary associated to housing and shelters in France. Students prepare to do an in-person interview with a French native speaker. This assignment requires using an appropriate register for conversation, practicing vocabulary, and requesting clarification or information as needed. At the end, I conduct a debriefing session with students to help with difficulties observed and make some suggestions. Irregular verbs, Future tenses and conditional mode Chapter 7 À la maison au Sénégal, from Intrigue Unit 4: Personal and Public Identities Estimated Time: 4 weeks: Dec 3 rd -Jan 7th Sub Themes: Alienation and Assimilation, beliefs and values, Language and Identity, Multiculturalism, Nationalism, and Patriotism. Essential questions: What constitutes a person s identity? How does identity evolve over time? What factors affect acceptance into or execution from a social group? What types of exclusion can make a person a victim? What legal measures are established in the United States and in Francophone areas to protect the rights of people from being discriminated against? Students will discuss the role of language (including slang) not just as a means of communication, but as a cultural identity. Students will discuss the role of various ethnic groups and what they contribute to a given society. Students will discuss the role of cultural identity and compare it to nationalism and patriotism Spoken Presentation Communication: Students plan and present a spoken presentation that provides a cultural comparison on the topic of alienation/assimilation. Presentation follows the format of the AP French Language and Culture Exam.
Written Presentational Communication : Students plan and produce a persuasive essay that deals with the topic of identity Do you create your own identity or do you just inherit it, or do you let others create one for you? The essay demonstrates students comprehension of authentic audio print and visual sources and their ability to cite various resources. This summative assessment persuasive essay is directly related to the essential question. Prepositions and conjunction, relative pronouns, and present participle Chapter 3 En vogue Paris, from Intrigue Unit 5: Families and communities Estimated Time: 5 weeks: Jan 21 st -Feb 22 nd Sub Themes: Childhood and Adolescence, Customs and Ceremonies, Family structures, Friendship and Love. Essential questions: What constitutes a family? How have family structures evolved over time? How is the union of a couple made official and celebrated in different Francophone cultures? What attitudes and actions contribute to familial harmony or dysfunction? Students will describe their families and others Students will discuss traditional and modern families and what constitutes a family Students will discuss how they were raised and what they will do when they raise a family Students describe and discuss different customs and ceremonies in their cultures and others Spoken Interpersonal communication: students work in pairs to fill in a Venn diagram. On one side, they list words that describe how they felt about their family when they were four or five years old. On the other side, they list words that describe how they feel about their family now that they are about to enter adulthood. In the middle, students list any common elements in their perspective about family life that are shared in those two periods. Interpretative Communication: of an audio visual text: Students view excerpts from La gloire de mon père and Le papillon. Students compare the families in these films and take notes on the family structure and the relationships.
Subjunctive tense and its uses, possessives, stress, and direct object pronouns Chapter 4 Une famille francophone, from Intrigue Unit 6: Beauty and Aesthetics Estimated Time: 4 weeks: Feb 25 th Mar25 th Sub Themes: Ideals of Beauty, Visual Arts, Architecture, Music, Performing Arts Essential questions: How are culturally accepted standards of beauty varied over time? How do they vary across different regions of the Francophone world? What incites people to seek conformity to standards of beauty, and what consequences can result? What cultural values with respect to beauty are represented in Literature and the visual arts, and what values are most important to you personally? Students will describe various art products (film, painting, books) and their preferences. Students will cite various well-known French and Francophone artists, musicians, actors, etc. Students will discuss what art is and the role of art in a society. Spoken Interpersonal communication students read the Figaro article Marion Cotillard: Piaf réincarnée, then will work in small groups to define what determine a musical taste. Final groups ideas will be recorded on large sheets of paper for subsequent sharing. Written Presentational communication: Students write a persuasive essay on the importance of protecting National patrimony. Students are expected to cite two famous historical monuments or masterpieces and their roles in everyday life. Negation forms, Irregular verbs Chapter 8 Un tableau Suisse, from Intrigue.