FRENCH LESSON PLAN
Les jours de ma vie: un feuilleton (Days of My Life: A Series)
Grades 9-12 Levels I-II-III-AP
October 31, 2006 (Duration: 5 class sessions)Lesson Objective
Foreign Language Communication Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts and ideas to an audience of listeners and readers on a variety of topics.
The students will be able to (a) create a dialogue between 2-3 people involved in a typical soap opera crisis (for ex: poor girl aspires to be rich, gets into an accident, gets amnesia, is rescued by prince charming who's girlfriend gets jealous, etc.); (b) correctly conjugate and use verbs in the prιsent, passι compose, imparfait, futur, conditionel, and subjonctif; (c) students will prepare the skit in written form, concentrating on correct grammar, vocabulary and mechanics; and (d) students will speak French to orally communicate concrete and abstract ideas to the class in a creative and dramatic way. (Students are allowed to create a variation on the soap opera; for example, a news flash, weather report, Power Point presentation)
At the end of the lesson, students will perform 2 scenes from the soap opera they have created in front of the class including both props and costumes (final product can be a videotape of the scenes acted out by students in each group)
The project will take 4 to 5 days (plus a weekend) to complete
Differentiation
Students will work in groups of 4-6 (mixed abilities and different learning styles)
Students who need more time will be given extra allowance
English language learners will either have a Teacher's Aide to help them or will work directly with a partner who will be able to guide the EL students while teacher guides and checks work
GATE students will be asked to lead the group in preparing for the skit (roles each member will play, costumes, props, background decoration) and in practicing the lines before the performance
Materials
French-English dictionary, paper, pen, poster board
Skit and presentation rubric
Chairs will be arranged in groups of 4 in order for students to work together on their final project
Costumes, props, video camera (for those who decide to videotape their skit)
PowerPoint and/or Word program
Internet access and the world wide web
Instruction:
Teacher will show a 10 minute scene from an American soap opera and another 10 minute scene from a French soap opera. Teacher will show an example of a PowerPoint on French history.
Teacher will go over new vocabulary and explain their meaning and uses
Teacher will also access the internet to find topics students may be interested in for their presentation. Students will be encouraged to use the internet to find creative topics and ideas
Students will take notes while watching the video and will write a summary of the scenes (including memorable lines or dialogue from the video)
Each student will share what they wrote with a partner, then both students will write one summary together
The pair will share and discuss what they wrote with another pair (the final group will have 4 students). The group will brainstorm during class and overnight (individually) to decide what scenes they can portray best
The group will create their own scenes similar to those in a soap opera (each group can choose a theme: love, friendship, jealousy, rich-poor, etc.) and write a rough draft of the dialogues for their scenes; the group will then write a Final Draft and choose who will play what role
The group will create a storyboard poster with illustrations of the scenes they will perform in class; students will match the rough draft of lines/dialogues they have written with the illustrations
The scene will be performed using props and costumes in front of the class (or can be videotaped outside of class)
The audience and the teacher will critique the presentation using a skit performance rubric
Guided Practice:
Teacher will share her favorite lines from the soaps and will write 4-5 sentences/movie lines with the class
Teacher will ask student volunteers to read their favorite soap opera lines to the class
Teacher will point out important grammar rules that students should follow
Independent Practice:
Each student will write their favorite soap/movie lines and summary, then share what they wrote with a partner, then both students will write one summary together
The pair will share and discuss what they wrote with another pair (the final group will have 4 students)
The group of 4 students will create the final project together (groups can re-watch the excerpts from the soaps they have seen to clarify dialogue and vocabulary)
Assessment
Teacher will go around the room and sit with each group to monitor progress
Teacher will ask group member to talk about their scenes (their theme, the dialogue, vocabulary use, grammar mechanics, props, costumes)
Teacher will listen for pronunciation and grammatical errors during group practice and give feedback, corrections and praise for progress and achievement of objectives
The audience and the teacher will critique the presentation using a skit performance rubric
Teacher will be able to observe metacognitive skills in students (planning, analyzing, selecting strategies, correcting errors, etc.)
Closure:
Teacher will remind students about correct grammar use and conjugation of verbs in writing the lines for their scenes
Teacher will encourage students to focus on the group's chosen theme when writing their dialogues
The dialogue and sentences they create for this project will help them for a future project: a book targeted for teenagers and young adults
Follow-up or Independent Practice:
Teacher will assign groups to commit to meeting outside of school to go over their lines and practice their scenes; dramatic acting is expected
Each group will submit a report of what happened (what was accomplished) during each meeting
Reflection:
Students will do a group and individual assessment (will be discussed with the teacher)
There is a huge "buy in" factor with this project because students love creating their own soap operas. The teacher can create a big hype about the project if she presents it with a lot of enthusiasm. Another effective way to have students put a lot of effort is by announcing that there will be Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Costume and Best Overall Performance winners based on class nominations. This is a very engaging and fun project.
I am usually impressed by how creative students can be and what high quality of work they can produce. Teacher and students learn about their learning styles and abilities.
This is an excellent group project that allows students of mixed abilities and talents to contribute to the success of their group. (Cooperative Learning Group project)
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