FLLITE
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FOREIGN LANGUAGES
&
THE LITERARY IN THE EVERYDAY
open lessons for
L2 literacy

French

What’s in a Name?

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Lesson Title: What’s in a Name?
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: C’est tout un poème
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Grammar Play, LLDQ

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Text

Text Title: C’est tout un poème
Text Language: French
Text Author: Luks, Joanna
Genre: Poetry
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: What’s in a Name?
Instructional Language: English
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Interpreting a writer’s mental images from grammatical metaphors and context. (An introduction to semiosis).
Writing: Expressing mental imagery in word play.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Detecting nouns used as adjectives.
Listening: Noticing rhyme schemes for sound-spelling relationships.
Writing: Using nouns as adjectives to characterize someone. / Creating a rhyme scheme.
FLLITE Form: Grammar Play, LLDQ

Comment?!

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Lesson Title: Comment?! [ What?! ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: L’accent grave
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Sound Play, Word Play

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Text

Text Title: L’accent grave
Text Language: French
Text Author: Prévert, Jacques
Genre: Narratives
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Comment?! [ What?! ]
Instructional Language: English
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Recognizing Platonic Forms. / Understanding the French notion of individualisme. / Evaluating worldview based on mental imagery of words.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Using decoding strategies for word forms.
Listening: Hesitation techniques.
Writing: Using play script conventions. / Generating a faux pas; clarifying a misunderstanding using negotiating language. / Controlling register.
Speaking: Performing playscripts.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Sound Play, Word Play

Un portrait chinois

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Lesson Title: Un portrait chinois [ A Chinese Portrait ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: The Proust and Pivot personality questionnaires
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Perspective Play

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Text

Text Title: The Proust and Pivot personality questionnaires
Text Language: French
Text Author: Proust, Marcel / Pivot, Bernard
Genre: Portraits and Biographies
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Un portrait chinois [ A Chinese Portrait ]
Instructional Language: English
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: The use of Chinese portraits in 19th century English popular culture and 20th century American and French television media. / Examining question forms and content that reveal tastes and aspirations.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Utilizing decoding strategies for reading comprehension. / Assessing personality based on evidence found in answers to questions.
Writing: Using noun phrases/clauses as information questions and a variety of noun forms as answers. / Linking ideas with punctuation.
Visualization: Selecting an image for symbolic representation.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Perspective Play

Envie de voyager

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Lesson Title: Envie de voyager [ Wanderlust ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: The Wanderer (Voyages de rêve)
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Symbolic Play

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Text

Text Title: The Wanderer (Voyages de rêve)
Text Language: French
Text Author: Anonymous
Genre: Personal Blogs and Journals
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Envie de voyager [ Wanderlust ]
Instructional Language: English
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Comparing American and French students’ word associations for United States and France.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Finding metaphorical language in the text related to traveling and savouring.
Writing: Incorporating a metaphorical motif to enrich writing. Linking ideas with coordinating conjunctions; using mixed formatting: paragraph writing and telegraphic style.
Visualization: Including imagery to draw the reader’s attention.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Symbolic Play

Respect et verité

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Lesson Title: Respect et verité [ Respect and Truth ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: Three self-portraits
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Perspective Play

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Text

Text Title: Three self-portraits
Text Language: French
Text Author: High school students in France and Poland
Genre: Portraits and Biographies / Descriptions
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Respect et verité [ Respect and Truth ]
Instructional Language: English
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Background information on the Enlightenment values of self respect and honesty.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Identifying emotionally charged words and sentence structures for balancing honesty with self-respect.
Writing: Applying softening techniques for describing someone with respectful accuracy. / Controlling length by avoiding repeated words and redundant information.
Visualization: Including a photograph of the portrayed subject for verifying accuracy of description.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Perspective Play

Un peu de hareng fumé

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Lesson Title: Un peu de hareng fumé [ A Little Smoked Herring ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: Petite lettre à la dérive / Le Hareng saur and accompanying monolgue fumiste / Recipe for marinated smoked herring
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Pragmatic Play

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Text

Text Title: Petite lettre à la dérive / Le Hareng saur and accompanying monolgue fumiste / Recipe for marinated smoked herring
Text Language: French
Text Author: Cocteau, Jean / Cros, Charles / Coquelin cadet
Genre: Poetry / Recipes
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Un peu de hareng fumé [ A Little Smoked Herring ]
Instructional Language: English
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Expanding comprehension of a text through visual and oral readings. / Learning food-based idioms.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Identifying genre conventions for prescriptive texts. / Noun countability and noun phrase structures with invariable de.
Writing: Following recipe conventions. / Writing a prescriptive text for a chosen audience on when and how to appreciate the resulting dish.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Pragmatic Play

La Ville et le graffiti

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Lesson Title: La Ville et le graffiti [ The City and Graffiti ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: Graffiti from May ‘68 / Graffiti calligraphié: El Seed
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Symbolic Play

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Text

Text Title: Graffiti from May ‘68 / Graffiti calligraphié: El Seed
Text Language: French
Text Author: Anonymous / Melia, Lisa
Genre: Signage and Graffiti / Personal Blogs and Journals
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: La Ville et le graffiti [ The City and Graffiti ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Background information on May ‘68
Visualization: Creating a graffiti tag to illustrate an aphorism.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Contrasting uses of narrative present and passé composé / Introduction to prepositional systems in English and French.
Writing: Creating an aphorism using language structures to express oppositions / Turning an aphorism into a French tweet with texting abbreviations / Writing an explanation of the aphorism in present tense and including a bulleted list of past events with passé composé verbs and adverbial time expressions as illustration of what happened/what someone did.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Symbolic Play

Fêtes et souvenirs

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Lesson Title: Fêtes et souvenirs [ Holidays and Recollections ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: Le père Noël
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, LLDQ

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Text

Text Title: Le père Noël
Text Language: French
Text Author: Sand, George
Genre: Narratives / Essays
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Fêtes et souvenirs [ Holidays and Recollections ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Vocabulary associated with the term, “Father Christmas” / Catholicism past and present in France.
Writing: “Making strange” your own cultural practices.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading/Writing: Reminiscing about a childhood holiday using imparfait verbs for talking about the way things were or used to be and exploring cultural practices.
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, LLDQ

Sur le chemin du retour

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Lesson Title: Sur le chemin du retour [ Homeward Bound ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: Excerpts from Chronique de la dérive douce
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Genre Play, LLDQ

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Text

Text Title: Excerpts from Chronique de la dérive douce
Text Language: French
Text Author: Laferrière, Dany
Genre: Narratives
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Sur le chemin du retour [ Homeward Bound ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Being a political refugee from Haiti in Canada in 1976.
Listening: Watching a 1988 Canadian television show, Êtes-vous raciste? and listening to Canadian French pronunciation.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Noticing the structuring of prose poems.
Writing: Employing genre conventions for writing a chronicle in prose poetry.
FLLITE Form: Genre Play, LLDQ

La Technologie composée et imparfaite

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Lesson Title: La Technologie composée et imparfaite [ Composed and Imperfect Technology ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Text Title: Test pour accro d’internet / Le crash
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Grammar Play, LLDQ

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Text

Text Title: Test pour accro d’internet / Le crash
Text Language: French
Text Author: Anonymous / Anonymous
Genre: Narratives
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: La Technologie composée et imparfaite [ Composed and Imperfect Technology ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading/ Writing: French internet vocabulary
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Finding illogical sequencing of events in a dream text.
Writing: Using passé composé and imparfait verbs with illogical (dreamlike) sequencing.
FLLITE Form: Grammar Play, LLDQ

Il était une fois

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Lesson Title: Il était une fois [ Once Upon a Time ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Text Title: Le Petit Chaperon rouge
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Genre Play, LLDQ

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Text

Text Title: Le Petit Chaperon rouge
Text Language: French
Text Author: Perrault, Charles
Genre: Narratives
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Il était une fois [ Once Upon a Time ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Using historical facts to decode the values of an earlier period; comparing a contemporary filmed version to the text to improve comprehension. / Thinking about significant events in your life and comparing your answers to those of French students.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Recognizing verbs in passé simple. / Identifying language and conventions used in fairy tales.
Writing: A fractured fairy tale by subverting fairy tale conventions. / Using impersonal expressions with “il”.
FLLITE Form: Genre Play, LLDQ

Mais je digresse

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Lesson Title: Mais je digresse [ But I digress ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English, French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Text Title: Ambiguïtés
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Symbolic Play

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Text

Text Title: Ambiguïtés
Text Language: French
Text Author: Gomarin, Françoise
Genre: Personal Blogs and Journals
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Mais je digresse [ But I digress ]
Instructional Language: English, French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: The concept of “flâner.” / Understanding uses of associative or digressive thinking and the various effects it can have on the reader.
Speaking: Examining syllable structuring in French to improve pronunciation when reading out loud.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Finding digressions in a text.
Writing: Prewriting questions to guide content development. /  Incorporating digressions in written musings to reflect how you think and speak. / Using parallelisms as a stylistic technique for enhancing rhythm and flow.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Symbolic Play

Le Monde du travail

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Lesson Title: Le Monde du travail [ The Work World ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Text Title: Retour à la terre / Petit cours de politique
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, LLDQ

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Text

Text Title: Retour à la terre / Petit cours de politique
Text Language: French
Text Author: Anonymous
Genre: Narratives
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: Le Monde du travail [ The Work World ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Geert Hofstede’s model for a cultural dimensions theory. / Reflecting on cultural values and their impact on the work world. / Learning some potentially embarrassing false cognates!
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Recognizing cultural stereotypes in a text.
Writing: Using joke-telling conventions for writing a humorous anecdote about a cross-cultural misunderstanding in the workplace. / Using conditional and subjunctive verbs for nuancing meaning.
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, LLDQ

L’Amour (et la guerre)

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Lesson Title: L’Amour (et la guerre) [ Love (and War) ]
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Text Title: 6 september, 1939 / Excerpts from a WW II journal / Wartime correspondence
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Visual Play

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Text

Text Title: 6 september, 1939 / Excerpts from a WW II journal / Wartime correspondence
Text Language: French
Text Author: Jourdan, Robert
Genre: Poetry / Personal Blogs and Journals / Emails, Letters, and Postcards
Topic: n/a

Lesson

Lesson Title: L’Amour (et la guerre) [ Love (and War) ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Joanna Luks
Level of Activities: College / 1. year, 2. year
Pedagogical Practices: n/a
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
Reading: Background information on the Fall of France during World War II.
Language Use & Strategies
Reading: Decoding visual and textual symbolism used for getting past censors in wartime correspondence. / Noticing intertextual references.
Writing: Following strategies and conventions for writing a love letter.
Visualization: Selecting an image to convey love.
FLLITE Form: LLDQ, Visual Play

Un journal intime

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Lesson Title: Un journal intime [ A Personal Journal ]
Lesson Author: Jim Law
Instructional Language: French / English
Level of Activities: College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title: Journal d’une étudiante
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Narrative Play, Perspective Play, Word Play

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Text

Text Title: Journal d’une étudiante
Text Language: French
Text Author: Anonymous
Genre: Personal Blogs and Journals
Topic: Family, Friendships, and Relationships / School and University

Lesson

Lesson Title: Un journal intime [ A Personal Journal ]
Instructional Language: French / English
Lesson Author: Jim Law
Level of Activities: College / 1. year / Novice
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus: Past tense
Main Objectives:

Students read excerpts from the anonymous diary of a Parisian high school student. They will be able to analyse the effect of anonymity and privacy on content, perspective, and grammatical form in the personal journal genre. They will also identify patterns in the structuring of quotidian narratives. Students will then be able to employ these narrative structures in their own journaling and reflect on their experience playing with this genre in the target language.

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Reading journal entries and recognizing layers of meaning
  • Reflecting on the effect of audience design and privacy on genre
  • Writing journal entries reflecting personal values and experiences
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • Inferring authorial identity and social relationships from textual evidence
  • Connecting texts to cultural systems and practices
  • Reflecting on the experience of private writing from a bilingual perspective
Language Use & Language Play
  • Identifying nonstandard language
  • Analyzing the use of tense in narrative structure
  • Examining the use of codeswitching and wordplay in informal registers
  • Manipulating tense to structure narrative in writing
  • Exploring nonstandard forms through private writing
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Narrative Play, Perspective Play, Word Play

J’habite où, moi?

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Lesson Title: J’habite où, moi? [ Where do I live? ]
Lesson Author: Rachel Poulin
Instructional Language: French
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title: Recherche un colocataire
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play

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Text

Text Title: Recherche un colocataire
Text Language: French
Text Author: n/a
Genre: Advertisements and Personal ads
Topic: Personalities and Physical Attributes / Living Arrangements

Lesson

Lesson Title: J’habite où, moi? [ Where do I live? ]
Instructional Language: French
Lesson Author: Rachel Poulin
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Speaking / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:

This lesson aims to provide students with an understanding of how to find housing in France, typical vocabulary related to this endeavor, as well as exposure to some conventional registers and expressions typically used in roommate ads in France. At the end of this lesson, students should be able to make sense of and respond to such postings, as well as note the pragmatic differences between this process in their home culture and that in France.

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • The texts in this lesson are from colocclub.fr. This lesson focuses on reading, writing, and oral discussion of the cultural differences that exist between France and their home culture.
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • This lesson highlights the differences between what may be most important to their French peers, in terms of what they prioritize when finding a roommate, as well as prepare them for their own time abroad.
Language Use & Language Play
  • This lesson focuses primarily on the register used when making these posts, and the specific vocabulary used when finding housing in France.
FLLITE Form: Culture Play

Cherchez le dépaysement

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Lesson Title: Cherchez le dépaysement [ Look for a change of scenery ]
Lesson Author: David Barny
Instructional Language: French
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title: Sites et curiosités
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Genre Play, Visual Play

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Text

Text Title: Sites et curiosités
Text Language: French
Text Author: René Gosciny / Marcel Gotlib
Genre: Image / Comics and Graphic Novels
Topic: Travel and Vacation

Lesson

Lesson Title: Cherchez le dépaysement [ Look for a change of scenery ]
Instructional Language: French
Lesson Author: David Barny
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus: Inflectional Future Tense (futur simple)
Main Objectives:

This lesson is designed around a two-page bande dessinée (French comic strip) by writer René Gosciny and illustrator Marcel Gotlib. In this strip, Gotlib uses his trademark burlesque, farcical visuals to poke fun at the tourism industry by illustrating how to manufacture folklore and turn the most isolated and bleak village into a picturesque tourist favorite. Through humor, this artifact leads the learners to wonder: What constitutes folklore? How does folklore intersect with history? Are these characteristics cross-cultural? Additionally, students will reflect on the discourse of tourism and the genre of tourist text, while apprehending the use of the inflectional future (futur simple) in planning an itinerary.

The final task is designed as a team effort. Student will create their own tourist brochure about their college town by following the tropes highlighted by Gosciny and Gotlib. The brochure will be presented orally in class to the rest of the students who will then vote on which version of their college town they would rather live and attend university in.

This lesson can easily be implemented in most textbook-based curricula, as these typically include a thematic unit of tourism and traveling.

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Reading and responding to a satirical bande dessinée (text and image)
  • Reading and analyzing a short touristic text on Brittany
  • Writing/Designing a tourist brochure about a College Town
  • Presenting (through promoting) a tourist destination
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • Apprehending Franco-Belgian bande dessinée as a satirical tool
  • Reflecting on the essence of folklore as a concept
  • Comparing French folklore with the learners’ native culture folklore
  • Analyzing French examples of touristic discourse.
  • Discovering French historical and literary references
Language Use & Language Play
  • Culture play: subversion of cultural practice (creation of folklore)
  • Genre play: genre subversion (humorification of folklore)
  • Visual play: visual subversion of monuments and historical sites
  • Language Skills: viewing, reading, listening writing, speaking
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Genre Play, Visual Play

Se mettre en colère

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Lesson Title: Se mettre en colère [ Getting Angry ]
Lesson Author: Tracey Adams (The University of Texas at Austin)
Instructional Language: English / French
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title: La langue française
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Narrative Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play

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Text

Text Title: La langue française
Text Language: French
Text Author: Sebastian Marx
Genre: Narratives / TV and Film
Topic: Personalities and Physical Attributes / Family, Friendships, and Relationships

Lesson

Lesson Title: Se mettre en colère [ Getting Angry ]
Instructional Language: English / French
Lesson Author: Tracey Adams (The University of Texas at Austin)
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices: Speaking / Listening / Viewing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus: Argumentation, Vocabulary, Cultural Competence, Grammatical Gender
Main Objectives:

Students watch a stand-up routine given by second-language user of French on learning French insults.  They will be able to analyze the (in)appropriateness of these terms in various contexts.  They will also discuss the cultural relevance of these terms in comparison with similar terms in their native language (English).  Students will then be able to construct narratives expressing anger in ways that are less formal and allow for an expanding of their L2 identity and multilingual self.

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Viewing personal narrative of an L2 French user
  • Reflecting on how personal narratives are constructed and how other characters factor into our stories
  • Developing a narrative and how to respond to a frustrating person in this narrative
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • Comparing layers of meaning between insults in French and English
  • Assessing the appropriateness of insults in various contexts
  • Reflecting on usage of insults in students’ L1 vs. L2
Language Use & Language Play
  • Identifying insults used by the author
  • Analyze why the topic and insults used are funny to the audience
  • Explore uses of insults in different contexts
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Narrative Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play

Un court séjour

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Lesson Title: Un court séjour [ A brief stay ]
Lesson Author: Keith Wagner
Instructional Language: French (with some English for the opening activity)
Level of Activities: College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Text Title: Austin, Texas – Un week-end à la cool
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Pragmatic Play

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Text

Text Title: Austin, Texas – Un week-end à la cool
Text Language: French
Text Author: Mathilde Piton
Genre: Personal Blogs and Journals
Topic: Travel and Vacation

Lesson

Lesson Title: Un court séjour [ A brief stay ]
Instructional Language: French (with some English for the opening activity)
Lesson Author: Keith Wagner
Level of Activities: College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus: Verb tenses for constructing narratives – passé composé, imparfait, and présent historique
Main Objectives:

In this lesson, students will read and analyze the meaning construction techniques of a travel blog entry. This will give them a chance to consider the different way a US city is approached by an international visitor and how they describe that experience to other individuals in their linguistic community. Students who are advancing in their French studies will gain some insight into how the French language is used by today’s twenty-somethings, which will allow them to make comparisons between textbook French and the French that native speakers produce.

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Reading a travel blog (comprised of both written words and images).
  • Writing a travel blog entry in the target language.
  • Using a variety of online lexical resources.
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • Understanding how the author’s native French languaculture influences her experience of place and how she relates to ways of life in the United States.
Language Use & Language Play
  • Recognizing the different ways that Anglicisms can be used (some contribute to the textual aesthetic; others are common French expressions).

 

 

 

 

FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Pragmatic Play

Rat de ville ou rat des champs ?

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Lesson Title: Rat de ville ou rat des champs ? [ Town Mouse or Country Mouse? ]
Lesson Author: David Barny
Instructional Language: French / English
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title: Nouillorc
Text Language: French
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play, Sound Play, Visual Play, Word Play

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Text

Text Title: Nouillorc
Text Language: French
Text Author: Olivier Amsellem, Sébastien Pierre, Sylvain Thirache, Alexander Kalchev
Genre: Advertisements and Personal ads / Image
Topic: Travel and Vacation

Lesson

Lesson Title: Rat de ville ou rat des champs ? [ Town Mouse or Country Mouse? ]
Instructional Language: French / English
Lesson Author: David Barny
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus: Negation
Main Objectives:

This lesson is designed around one of the posters for an ad campaign by the French National Railway Company SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français). This ad plays on the sounds of the French language and the imagery of the French countryside by comparing it humorously to the sounds of English and the expected imagery of global metropolises. Through humor, this artifact leads the learners to wonder about the relationship between urban and rural cultures/perspectives in France? Does this type of power relationship exist between their native urban and rural cultures? Does it surface in specific cultural practices?

Additionally, students will reflect on advertising strategies in the target culture, while considering the different types of negation in French and their uses.

The final task is designed as a team effort. Student will script and design their own parody of a commercial promoting their college town by reinvesting the semiotic codes they noticed in the various documents under study.

This lesson can easily be implemented in most textbook-based curricula, as these typically include a thematic unit of tourism and traveling, although they rarely, if ever, discuss the issue of centralization and rural desertification.

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Reading, watching, listening and interpreting the languaculture behind satirical texts (billboards, commercials, comedy sketches)
  • Reading and analyzing a short touristic text on Auvergne (blog)
  • Writing/Designing a script for a satirical commercial promoting a college town
  • Presenting (through promoting) a tourist destination
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • Analyze French examples of satirical discourse.
  • Conceive advertising as a satirical tool
  • Reflect on the on the part of humor that is culture specific.
  • Compare French advertising with equivalents in the learners’ native culture
  • Discover historical and cultural aspects of French demographics and geography
Language Use & Language Play
  • Word play / Sound play: Subversion of the French phonetic inventory to create rural metropolises.
  • Visual play: subversion of rural semiotics (reinterpreting the visual identity of the French countryside).
  • Culture play: subversion of the theme of rural exodus.
  • Genre play / Perspective play: subversion of the advertising genre by adopting a negative perspective.
  • Language Skills: viewing, reading, listening, writing, speaking, cultural understanding
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play, Sound Play, Visual Play, Word Play

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