2002 Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad
Curriculum Project

 Summary| Grade Level | Key Questions | Background Notes | Standards | Objectives | Materials | Strategies | Assessment | Additional Resources

SUMMARY

This project was created for use in intermediate to advanced high school French courses (French III, French IV, Advanced Placement French Literature, and Advanced Placement French Language).  Using examples of profiles of Francophone countries given in their textbooks (EMC Publishing’s C’est à toi in French III and Allons voir! by Bragger & Rice in French IV and AP French Language), students will create a profile of a French-speaking country as well as a one to two paragraph description of a famous person from that country.  Students will be encouraged, but not required, to create a multimedia presentation (slideshow, web page) which can be put on the World Wide Web for viewing by other students.

After writing this country profile, students will be paired and perform an interview.  One student will play the role of a reporter for a French-language newspaper and the other student will play the role of a Francophone celebrity.  The reporter will conduct a two or three minute interview asking the celebrity questions about his life, his work, and an opinion on a problem of global concern.  (Note: the student may choose to portray a female celebrity, but since all of are students are male, most decide to choose male celebrities.)  This interview may be videotaped and then encoded in a streaming format (RealVideo or Windows Media) for viewing over the Web.

While this activity is meant to be a culminating activity for a grading period (First, Second, Third, or Fourth Quarter), it can be modified for use as a stand alone unit. This project can be completed in one week (five class periods).

GRADE LEVEL

For use in the following intermediate to advanced high school French courses at Saint Ignatius High School:

KEY QUESTIONS

1. In which countries is French spoken (other than France)?
2. What are the populations, religions, and ethnic compositions of these countries?
3. Name at least one individual from each country and his or her contribution to Francophone or world culture.

BACKGROUND NOTES

Saint Ignatius High School is a private Jesuit (Catholic) college preparatory 9-12 high school for young men.  It currently has an enrollment of 1414 boys.  The student body is over 90% Caucasian with fewer than 2% each of Asian, African-American, and Hispanic students.  Over 95% of the students are Roman Catholic.  While the school is located inside the city of Cleveland (just outside of downtown), its student body is largely suburban.

The following is the sequence of Modern Languages courses at Saint Ignatius High School.  Three years of language study is required for graduation.  (Saint Ignatius students also have the option of studying Latin through the Classics Department.  Similarly, Classics students must successfully complete three years to graduate.)  A fourth year course is optional, but highly encouraged.

Normal represents the typical four-year sequence of an average student. Advanced represents the recommended sequence for Freshmen who are placed into second year language courses based on previous language study in grade school and the results of the Modern Languages Placement Exam.  Accelerated represents the sequence for advanced students as identified by the department. A student outside of the track cannot enroll in AP Spanish (Language).  All students enrolled in Advanced Placement French or Spanish courses are required to take the corresponding AP French or Spanish Language or Literature exam in May.  All Modern Language courses are based on proficiency principles as promulgated by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

The vast majority of students have had no experience studying a foreign language prior to enrollment at our school.  Of those who have studied a modern language, normally only six to ten students a year (out of 330-360 incoming Freshmen) are able to place into French or Spanish II.  In addition, very few students have had any travel experience outside of the United States.

In the French II and French III courses, each lesson of the EMC Paradigm textbook series C’est à toi contains a section entitled Enquête culturelle (“cultural investigation”). This section contains information (in English for Level Two and in French for Level Three) on not only on France, its regions, and its peoples, but also on several French-speaking countries and important people born or raised in them.  The countries covered include: Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Tahiti, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Bénin, Senegal, Saint Martin, Togo, Niger, and Mali.  The personalities studied in these sections include: Céline Dion (Canada), Georges Simenon (Belgium),  Gilles Vigneault (Canada), Surya Bonaly (France/Réunion) Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay (Canada) Angélique Kidjo (Bénin), Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal), Birago Diop (Senegal), Tahar Ben Jelloun (Morocco), Youssou N’Dour (Senegal), Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe), Isabelle Adjani (France/Algeria), Joseph Zobel (Martinique), René Philombe (Cameroon), Oumon Sangaré (Togo).  Since Vietnam is not one of the countries studied, it will be used as the materials created from the 2002 seminar will used as during the research phase of this project.

STANDARDS

The five national standards for foreign language instruction issued by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) are commonly referred to as the “Five C’s”: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. The Ohio Competency-based Model for Foreign Language Instruction further adapts the ACTFL standards by adopting Communication as the major goal with four underlying strands (Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities).

This project will address the following national ACTFL standards:

Communication Standard 1.1

Communication Standard 1.2

Communication Standard 1.3

Cultures Standard 2.1

Cultures Standard 2.2

Connections Standard 3.1

Connections Standard 3.2

Comparisons Standard 4.1

Comparisons Standard 4.2

Communities Standard 5.1

Communities Standard 5.2

OBJECTIVES

The students will:

MATERIALS

STRATEGIES

Using the profiles given on the textbook as examples, the students will research various Francophone countries over the Internet using the Modern Languages Wireless Mobile Cart.  The students may select their country, but the country chosen should be one not covered in the current textbook.  The students can therefore select Vietnam as a country for their profile.  On the first day, the students will be directed specifically to the slideshows and photo galleries on Vietnam and Morocco.  Over two days, the students will explore encyclopedia, newspaper, television, and radio sites to gather information on their selected country including: capital, population, languages spoken, religions, ethnicities, and famous residents/nationals.

On the third day, students will write and edit their profiles of the country and their paragraphs on the celebrities.  These will be turned in on the fourth day.  During the fourth day, students will rehearse their oral interviews.  The students will spend approximately half of the period practicing with partners, and the second half performing a “dress rehearsal on front of the class.  During the dress rehearsal and the final performance on Day Five, students will not be allowed to use books or notes.

On the fifth day, the students will perform their interviews for an oral grade.  These interviews may be videotaped by the teacher for encoding and eventual broadcast on the World Wide Web via the Saint Ignatius Media Server.

ASSESSMENT

Each student’s semester grade is calculated as follows:

Each student will be given two grades: one grade for the written profile and one grade for his oral performance on the interview.  The written profile grade will be entered in the category Compositions and the interview grade will be entered in the category Orals.  Both grades will be given based on the following criteria:

These criteria are based on the Advanced Placement French Language Examination’s grading rubric.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES/REFERENCES

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