French IV Course Overview

Taught by: Kathy Saich

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Parameters

Course Title:     French 4   

Grade: 11-12

Prerequisite:     French 3 (with a B^- average)

Book & materials:  Allez Viens! (Chapters 6 - 9) and supplemental material

 Course Description:  The first half of an advanced course taught at a native level of proficiency, and focusing on listening, speaking, writing and reading.  Target skills for this class are those of a French 9^th  Grade in a French Middle School.

Process

Attitude:  Highly motivated students are deeply immersed in their French studies.

Application:  Through a genuine French format (content, intensity, expectations) students read articles and literature, view movies, and discuss ideas and values.

Research:  Using internet and the daily newspaper, Liberation, students have access to authentic French data.

Writing:  With daily practice and the use of worksheets and essays, students refine already well-developed skills.  By the end of the school year, students are expected to express themselves at the level of a 9^th grader in a French school.

Speaking/Listening:  Listening skills are sharpened through study of films and audio tapes.  Speaking skills are strengthened through on-going oral class participation, debates and oral reports.

Thinking Skills:  Students are continually discussing, questioning and comparing values and cultural behaviors.

Group Skills:  Interaction with other students is continual.  Sharing of ideas is a key component in this course.

 Ethics:  Intellectual honesty and genuine curiosity for the language and culture as well as concern for the group are essential in this class.

 Critical Questions

1.  How does the study of another language help the learner put his/her own cultural values in perspective?

2.  What is the relationship between language and cultural values?

3.  How does the mastering of the French language affect professional interactions?

 Technology Use and Library Use

•  Internet research (use of internet as a tool to access French data and information)

•  Audio tapes and video tapes.

.   Word documents (editing of work in the resource center)

Topic Summary

Topics:              Role of media in modern society

                           Myself and others

                           Stereotypes

                           Racism

                           How to build a better world for the future

                           Choices for post secondary education in France

 Grammar:         Uses of the subjunctive

                           Present participle

                           Comparative structures

                           Indirect form

                           Negative

                           Expression of the hypotheses

                           Future (review) and Conditional (past and present)

                           Double object pronouns

                           Future perfect

 Literature:        Le Petit Prince by A. de Saint Exupéry

                           Le Temps a literary theme - poems from 16^th to 20^th century

                           Rhinoceros by E. Ionesco

                           Antigone by J. Anouilh

                           Articles from Le Monde

 Film:                  Au Revoir les Enfants

                           What it meant to be a Jewish person in France during the German occupation (1940’s).

Expanded Assessment

Daily quizzes (oral and written)

Paragraphs (one page long)

Formal letters

Discussions and debates

Daily homework related to the lesson

Essays (4 - 5 pages long)

Evaluative tests (oral and written)

Revised June, 2001