#4284. French Fairy Tales - For French III students

Language, level: Senior
Posted Sun Dec 7 13:32:53 PST 2008 by Cecilee Landefeld (Cecilee Landefeld).
Norfolk, VA
Materials Required: Copies of the French version of Beauty and the Beast, with pictures, to be distributed to students
Activity Time: 45-60 mins, can also be used over a few days
Concepts Taught: Reading culturally authentic fairy tales that show perspectives of francophone culture.

Standards Addressed:

Virginia SOL FIII.6

FIII.6 The student will examine in French the interrelationships among the perspectives, practices, and products of francophone cultures.
1. Examine how and why products such as natural and manufactured items, the arts, forms of recreation and pastimes, language, and symbols reflect practices and perspectives of francophone cultures.
2. Compare and contrast the viewpoints of francophone people and the ways these viewpoints are reflected in their practices and products, such as political systems, art and architecture, music, and literature.

General Goal(s): French culture and folklore
The students will read culturally authentic fairy tales, with which they are already familiar, but in their original fairy tale form.


Specific Objectives:
·1 The student will identify unique French perspectives through reading authentic French folk tales and sharing their thoughts with other students.


Required Materials:
·1 Copies of Beauty and the Beast, with pictures, to be distributed to all students


Anticipatory Set (Lead-In):
·1 Explain the story that the students will be reading: Beauty and the Beast

·2 Ask students questions to spark their interest such as:

1) What version of this story do you know from your own childhood?

2) What do you think the basic plot of the story is going to be?

3) What do you already know about French culture that you will probably see in these original versions?

·3 Discuss students' answers with the class as a whole. Then have students predict what they think the story is going to be about, taking a minute to write a prediction, then pair up and share their predictions with one another. After sharing for a minute, share them with the class. Write their predictions on an area of the board to look at later.


Step-By-Step Procedures:
1. Read through the first few paragraphs of the story and pause for discussion of vocabulary and reading comprehension, to make sure the students understand what is going on.

Differentiation:
Visual Learners: Pictures illustrating major plot points included in the story

2. Discuss what they already notice that is different about the story than what they originally predicted.

3. Continue reading through the next few paragraphs, and discussion of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Students then think about French cultural perspectives they have already noticed in the story for one minute, and share with other students.

Differentiation:
Kinaesthetic Learners: Have the students get up and ask other students not seated near them what cultural perspectives they have already noticed.


Plan For Independent Practice: Have the students write down further predictions of what they think is going to happen in the story, read the rest of the story, and compare what they predicted with how the story turned out.

Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):
·1 Have students share what they discovered with the class and discuss these cultural perspectives.

·2 Watch a brief clip of a 1940s French film version of Beauty and the Beast

Assessment Based On Objectives:
·1 When given major events in the story, have students place them in the correct order of when they occurred in the story


Adaptations (For Students With Learning Disabilities):
· Distributing copies of the story in larger print for visually impaired students
· Have the students just think about their predictions for a minute, then verbally share amongst themselves, instead of writing their predictions
· Students can represent some or all of their definitions in the second column of the vocabulary chart with pictures.


Extensions (For Gifted Students): Assign students a few more paragraphs from the story and have them write a brief paragraph about what makes the story French versus the version they know.


Possible Connections To Other Subjects: Reading comprehension, literature, history [time period in which Beauty and the Beast was written]