Lessons > Genre Play

Examples: modern fairy tales, prose poems, narrative essays

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

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

Taking Inventory

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Lesson Title:	Taking Inventory
Lesson Author:	Chelsea Steinert / Chantelle Warner
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Novice
Text Title:	Inventur
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Perspective Play

Self-presentation and Contact: Personal Ads

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Lesson Title:	Self-presentation and Contact: Personal Ads
Lesson Author:	Chelsea Steinert / Chantelle Warner
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	Personal Ad
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Pragmatic Play

Die witzigsten WG-Anzeigen

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Lesson Title:	Die witzigsten WG-Anzeigen [ The funniest Housemate Ads ]
Lesson Author:	Chantelle Warner / Yannleon Chen / Patrick Ploschnitzki
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	Die witzigsten WG-Anzeigen
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Pragmatic Play

Una carta para Dios

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Lesson Title:	Una carta para Dios
Lesson Author:	Marcelo Fuentes
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Una carta para Dios
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play

Alles offen: Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel und Weltoffenheit

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Lesson Title:	Alles offen: Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel und Weltoffenheit [ It’s all open: Public Transportation and Cosmopolitanism ]
Lesson Author:	John Benjamin / Devon Donohue-Bergeler / Katrin Fuchs / Alexander Lorenz (all authors contributed equally)
Instructional Language:	German / English
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	“Is mir egal” (Dez. 2015)
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Pragmatic Play, Sound Play

How does a caterpillar become a butterfly?

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Lesson Title:	How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? [ How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? ]
Lesson Author:	Hsiaomei, Tsai
Instructional Language:	Chinese
Level of Activities:	Elementary / Novice
Text Title:	The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Text Language:	Chinese
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Sound Play, Visual Play

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Text
Text Title:	The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Text Language:	Chinese
Text Author:	Written by Eric Carle, Translated by Zheng MingJin
Genre:	Narratives
Topic:	Weather, Seasons, and Time
Lesson
Lesson Title:	How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? [ How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? ]
Instructional Language:	Chinese
Lesson Author:	Hsiaomei, Tsai
Level of Activities:	Elementary / Novice
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus:	n/a
Main Objectives:
This lesson was created for a Chinese immersion class as part of a unit on the four stages of a butterfly’s life. The unit introduces relevant vocabulary in Chinese, such as caterpillar, butterfly, metamorphosis, cocoon, (callus), and egg. This lesson connects science and math with Chinese literacy development. This lesson in the unit focuses on the popular children’s picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The book was originally written in English but has been translated into many different languages, including Chinese. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is fictional rather than scientifically accurate, but plays off of the butterfly life stages and thus provides a literary glimpse at everyday scientific concepts with which the students are becoming familiar. At the same time, many of the linguistic resources in the text – e.g. the numbers, days of the week, food items, etc. – offer an opportunity for comparing and contrasting Chinese and English expressions. Texts, Genres & Practices “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” picture book Cultural Knowledge & Mindset The scientific focus of the lesson, means that the focus is largely on processes that seem to transcend culture, but some of the everyday expressions bring in opportunities for cultural comparison. In addition the continued expression of the caterpillar’s feelings can enable younger learners to express their feelings in their daily lives. Language Use & Language Play The story plays with the life cycle of the butterfly, a story that will be familiar to many young children. In this way, the primary type of play if genre play, in the blending of scientific text and children’s story. There is also a frequent use of repetition, which creates a sound play when the story is read aloud, as story books are meant to be. This includes: Repetition about past tense 了 (sound play) The repetition of describing caterpillar’s physical appearance ( 又___又___) and experience (肚子好饿，肚子好痛) (narrative play) Finally, there is visual play in the use of images to express the caterpillar’s transformation process and his feelings.
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Sound Play, Visual Play

Las narrativas transmedia a partir de un cuento de hadas

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Lesson Title:	Las narrativas transmedia a partir de un cuento de hadas [ Transmedia Storytelling with a Fairytale ]
Lesson Author:	Maybel Mesa Morales
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Transmedia Storytelling
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Narrative Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play

#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly

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Lesson Title:	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly
Lesson Author:	Matthew Sherman
Instructional Language:	German
Level of Activities:	College / 3. year, 4. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	ExplainAFilmPlotBadly hashtag
Text Language:	German/English
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play

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Text
Text Title:	ExplainAFilmPlotBadly hashtag
Text Language:	German/English
Text Author:	Social media users
Genre:	Social Media
Topic:	Literature, Music, Art
Lesson
Lesson Title:	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly
Instructional Language:	German
Lesson Author:	Matthew Sherman
Level of Activities:	College / 3. year, 4. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing
Grammar Focus:	Subordinate Clauses and Complex Sentences in Expository/Explanatory Prose
Main Objectives:
Enhance comprehension of genre as describing forms of expository prose Enhancing awareness of the role of the audience in reading and writing Fostering use of complex sentences as necessary to expository prose; focus on subordinate conjunction difficulties and subordinate clause word order (particular problems in German acquisition; adaptable to other languages, like which conjunctions use subjunctive in Spanish) Texts, Genres & Practices analyzing, and categorizing tweeted plot blurbs distinguishing blurbs, summaries, and synopses Identifying “bad” versus “good” one-sentence film summaries, in both English and German. Explain how “accuracy” in genre depends on genre convention identify formulae and conventional short forms Cultural Knowledge & Mindset How to read and understand bias / perspective in summarizing vis-à-vis audience How to correlate content to audience (horizon of expectation) publication sources for blurbs: the hashtags: #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly and https://twitter.com/shiny1jux/status/941299435870609408?lang=en sources for summaries: imdb.com and https://www.amazon.de/) cultural positions of film viewers (and possible cross-cultural comparisons) Language Use & Strategies markers for point of view and audience in expository prose Identifying and contrasting formal and grammatical elements of long and short-form plot summaries (especially subordinate clauses, use of sentence fragments) = awareness of formulae within and register of genre Correlation of “accuracy” in plot replication with genre conventions, in both lexical choice and grammar
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective 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

Märchenhafter Poetry Slam

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Lesson Title:	Märchenhafter Poetry Slam
Lesson Author:	Sina Colditz
Instructional Language:	German
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	“Der Froschkönig oder auch: Lügen haben dicke Schenkel“
Text Language:	German
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Sound Play, Word Play

Qual Pessoa?

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Lesson Title:	Qual Pessoa? [ “Which person?” ]
Lesson Author:	Mariana Sabino Salazar
Instructional Language:	Portuguese
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Ricardo Reis — vida dele / Notas para a recordação do meu mestre Caeiro (algunas delas) / Correspondência (1923-1935) Álvaro de Campos por Fernando Pessoa
Text Language:	Portuguese
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Grammar Play

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Text
Text Title:	Ricardo Reis — vida dele / Notas para a recordação do meu mestre Caeiro (algunas delas) / Correspondência (1923-1935) Álvaro de Campos por Fernando Pessoa
Text Language:	Portuguese
Text Author:	Fernando Pessoa / Álvaro de Campos / Fernando Pessoa
Genre:	Portraits and Biographies / Poetry / Music and Music Videos
Topic:	Personalities and Physical Attributes / Literature, Music, Art
Lesson
Lesson Title:	Qual Pessoa? [ “Which person?” ]
Instructional Language:	Portuguese
Lesson Author:	Mariana Sabino Salazar
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus:	Introducing Continental Portuguese while reviewing the difference between indicative and subjunctive.
Main Objectives:
Students will be introduced to the work of one of the most important Portuguese writers of the 20th century, Fernando Pessoa, and reflect on different literary styles and how they convey different personalities and lusophone cultures of reception. In particular, students will be able to identify and reflect on the effects of literary elements. They will get familiarized with some literary concepts such as autobiography, heteronym, metaphor, narrator, and pseudonym. They will analyze a variety of biographies in indicative signed as Pessoa’s best-known heteronyms. Later, students will produce written and spoken discourse related to Pessoa’s alter egos, in which they will distinguish linguistically and conceptually between who we are and who we think we are using indicative and subjunctive moods. Texts, Genres & Practices The poet Pessoa will be represented through texts, portraits, signatures, and sketches. This will help students visualize different aspects of his distinct literary personalities. Students will read different literary styles that will expose them to different sentence and paragraph structures, spelling, and punctuation. They will also listen to Brazilian and Continental Portuguese and will get to compare both. Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives One of the most salient features of the Portuguese way of being is “saudade,” which is represented in some of these texts. Although Pessoa is Portuguese, his poems have been adapted by famous Brazilian singers and songwriters, which expresses the feature of “lusofonia.” Another important cultural aspect included in this activity is geographical. For instance, the relevant place the city of Lisbon has in Pessoa’s work. Language Use & Language Play Starting with the title, this activity questions assumptions about who do we think we are and how many personalities we have. Reviewing the difference between the use of the indicative and subjunctive moods based on who we are and how many personalities coexist within the self is central to this lesson. Students will engage with those two moods creatively.
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Grammar 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

Chante l’amour, chante !

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Lesson Title:	Chante l’amour, chante ! [ Sing love, sing! ]
Lesson Author:	Marylise Rilliard
Instructional Language:	French / English
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 1. year / Novice
Text Title:	Carmen
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Grammar Play, Perspective Play, Sound Play

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Text
Text Title:	Carmen
Text Language:	French
Text Author:	Stromae
Genre:	Music and Music Videos
Topic:	Family, Friendships, and Relationships / Media and Technology
Lesson
Lesson Title:	Chante l’amour, chante ! [ Sing love, sing! ]
Instructional Language:	French / English
Lesson Author:	Marylise Rilliard
Level of Activities:	High school, College / 1. year / Novice
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Listening / Viewing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus:	Imperative
Main Objectives:
Students will listen to, and read the lyrics of, the song L’amour est un oiseau rebelle by Georges Bizet as an introduction to the theme “love/relationships”. Then, they will watch the video clip and analyze the lyrics of the song Carmen by Stromae, which is directly inspired by the previous song. Students will be able to analyze the effects of the use of lexical fields, borrowings, poetic devices, grammatical tools, music and visuals on a written text. They will make inferences about the intertextuality between the two texts. Students will be able to apply what they learned in their own tweets in the target language to defend a cause or denounce an issue they care about. Texts, Genres & Practices Reading songs as poetry and recognizing stylistic devices typical of the genre. Analyzing how different elements of a song (sounds, visual, etc.) add meaning to/reinforce the meaning of the written text. Reflecting on intertextuality and what it brings to a text. Writing tweets to support a cause/denounce an issue. Being impactful in few words. Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives Connecting texts to social practices and question one’s own social (media) practices. Reflecting on the cultural and social values behind the use of foreign words. Reflecting on appropriate and relevant usage of borrowings. Capitalizing on the affordances of social media practices. Language Use & Language Play Identifying lexical fields and poetic devices and reflecting on their effect. Analyzing the use of tense and pronouns in a warning message. Examining and reflecting on the use of borrowings in a text. Exploring how grammar, lexicon, and sound can be combined to convey meaning effectively.
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Grammar Play, Perspective Play, Sound Play