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

Lessons > Literariness in what are Essentially Ordinary Genres (e.g., blogs, personal letters, linguistic landscapes etc.)

Featured here are texts and literacy practices which are typically not understood as literature or literary, but nevertheless exhibit aspects, which foreground language play, aesthetics, poetics, and stylistic creativity often experienced as literary. This can range from business letters to blogs to advertisements to articles to political speeches to prayers.

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

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

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

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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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