Oral Production
Embedded Files
Fr.0100 Video Presentation-Katie Fox-23C.movFr.0100 Oral exam-Katie Fox-22C.mp4Week 9 - First video production
The video is based on the movie La famille Bélier. Students can choose to describe their favorite scene or character or they can compare the family in the movie and their own family. (see instructions)
Week 12 - Oral exam
The oral exams are done on Zoom and are recorded so students can view them and self-reflect on their performance and self-assess their performance.
Creative Writing
Week 2 vs. Week 15
Week 2 creative writing assignment
In week 2 of the semester, students engage in a creative writing task based on the song "Un Verbe" by Grand Corps Malade (2010), where they are assigned to write a complete narrative using exclusively nouns. This exercise promotes vocabulary acquisition, as students are encouraged to consult WordReference for accurate word choices.
Instructions : Write a meaningful story using only nouns. Use the online multilingual dictionary WordReference to research the necessary words. Make sure to include articles.
Objectives:
A key focus of the activity is developing students' understanding of grammatical gender, as they must choose the appropriate definite or indefinite article based on the gender of each noun. This reinforces the rules and patterns outlined in the textbook, specifically the tendencies for certain word endings to correlate with gender (e.g., nouns ending in -ion are generally feminine, while those ending in -ment are typically masculine).
Furthermore, students are instructed to consider the polysemy of words—how a single noun can carry multiple meanings depending on context. They are given as an example the word "present", which can refer either to a gift or to the present time period and which can also be a verb, encouraging critical thinking about lexical nuances. Through this task, students strengthen their understanding of both grammatical functions and vocabulary usage within context.
The stories below describe:
Left : a book
Middle : a dance performance
Right: a member in the navy
Week 15 creative writing assignment
Instructions : Based on the drawing, write a description or a story about the building and the people who live in the building. You need to describe who they are, what they are like, what their habits are. Feel free to be as creative as you want.
Do your best to showcase what you have learned this semester and make use of a wide variety of grammatical structures and vocabulary. After a whole semester of French, you have many tools at your disposal (présent, futur proche, passé composé, verb + infinitive, different types of articles, adjectives, expressions of quantity, adverbs of frequency and intensity, etc.), so use them to their fullest potential.
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Until this year, the portfolio composition was written partly in class and at home. Students were permitted to use resources such as WordReference and suggestions from Google. They were instructed to clearly indicate the areas where they had drawn from these external sources, fostering transparency and promoting source attribution.
Having several days to complete the task, along with access to various resources, allowed students to step outside their comfort zones and demonstrate a high level of creativity. Below are 3 samples I have selected for their originality.
Image for portfolio composition-immeuble.pdf
This year, in response to concerns surrounding AI-assisted writing, we have revised the process. The portfolio composition is now completed exclusively in class over two consecutive days. Students are provided in advance with a selection of 3 visual prompts to guide their writing, allowing them to choose an illustration that resonates with them. To support vocabulary development, students are encouraged to compile a list of 25 words each day, which they can integrate into their compositions. Additionally, students are given the opportunity to revise and refine the text they begin on day 1, incorporating revisions and new ideas when they return on day 2.
Below is a sample from this semester's work, which I have selected for its creativity and linguistic proficiency. The student chose the illustration with the building, as above.
Fr.100 Portfolio compo-Taya Allardice-24C.pdfPage updated
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