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

Lessons > Word Play

Examples: puns, spelling, capitalization, semantics

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

Cosas de ciudad

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Lesson Title: Cosas de ciudad
Lesson Author: Natasha César Suárez
Instructional Language: Spanish
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title: Puerta del Sol 2011
Text Language: Spanish
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play, Word Play

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Text

Text Title: Puerta del Sol 2011
Text Language: Spanish
Text Author: Natasha César Suárez
Genre: Image
Topic: Media and Technology / Historical and Cultural Events

Lesson

Lesson Title: Cosas de ciudad
Instructional Language: Spanish
Lesson Author: Natasha César Suárez
Level of Activities: College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus: n/a
Main Objectives:
  • Researching about contemporary social movements
  • Activating social / civil commitments
  • Reviewing grammar content (Imperative mode)
Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Analyzing an image with phrases on the target language
  • Understanding the meaning of summarized expressions related to the topic of the activity.
  • Imagining hypothetical social movement in Spanish language.
Cultural Knowledge & Mindset
  • Accessing a socio-historical content in Spanish language
  • Reflecting on the relevance of contemporary social movements
Language Use & Strategies
  • Language skills: reading, writing, speaking
  • Language competences: imperative mode
Design Elements
  • This activity is designed for activating the knowledge of social movements, and stimulating the commitment of the students. It could be complemented with images and / or music related to the most recent world social movements.
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play, Word 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

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

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Text

Text Title: “Der Froschkönig oder auch: Lügen haben dicke Schenkel“
Text Language: German
Text Author: Max Gebhard
Genre: Poetry
Topic: Literature, Music, Art

Lesson

Lesson Title: Märchenhafter Poetry Slam
Instructional Language: German
Lesson Author: Sina Colditz
Level of Activities: College / 2. year, 3. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Pedagogical Practices: Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening / Viewing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus: “Wo …” sentences
Main Objectives:

Students learn about the genre of Poetry Slam and its specific way of discussing cultural aspects while playing with language (slang words, word play, cultural references etc.).

Texts, Genres & Practices
  • Reading / Listing to a Poetry Slam
  • Comparing the content of the Poetry Slam to (the) traditional fairytale(s) and characterizing similarities and differences
  • Potentially: Writing your own Poetry Slam
Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives
  • Understanding and interpreting socio-cultural references
  • Brainstorming and collecting aspects and characteristics about fairytales
  • Applying creatively new knowledge by writing a Poetry Slam (optional: including socio-cultural references)
Language Use & Language Play
  • Raising awareness of and making sense out of the word play (puns, slang words, etc.), the use of language (rhythm, rhyming, etc.), insider references and how these shape the genre of poetry slam
  • In this particular poem, play with the genre of fairy tale is also central
FLLITE Form: Culture Play, Genre Play, Sound Play, Word 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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  • Project
    ▼
    • Team
    • Editorial Board
    • Collaborators program
    • About the FLLITE Approach
    • Further Reading
  • Lessons
    ▼
    • Lessons by Language
    • Lessons by Language Play
  • Example Texts
  • How to Participate
  • Connect
  • Provide feedback

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