Memo

Date: Sept. 5, 1994

To: 201 instructors

From: Carolyn Fay

Re: Ideas for extra time in class (day 5 MWF, day 4 TR)

1. Writing exercises: it is a good idea to do some kind of pre-writing exercises when you assign a composition topic. This gets the students to work on their writing skills, and also lets them know that writing is taken seriously in 201. The following are some activities that 201 instructors have used in class:

a. Translation/dictionnary practice:

                Give your students a series of sentences or a passage to translate which require them to use a dictionnary. (i.e. "He's a nice kid"--if they write "chevreau" for "kid" you can discuss the perils of the dictionnary!) You may first want to orient them to the good French/English dictionnaries and show them how to read it.

                You can also give them sentences in French that are incorrect due to poor translation, and have them analyze: i.e. "Je suis très excité que tu me prends au cinéma." This is a good way to talk about the problems of translation, especially word-for-word.

                When we get to the cinema chapter (ch. 5) I have a short exercise that deals with the problems of translating movie titles. Basically, I give them an American title and ask them to come up with a title for French viewers. i.e. "A Few Good Men" --students might casually translate as "Quelques Bons Hommes." I then reveal under what title the movie actually appeared in France: "Hommes d'honneur." We can then discuss why "Quelques Bons Hommes" wouldn't have the same meaning for the French as "A Few Good Men" has for Americans.   

b. Editing and revision practice:

                Have your students edit a poorly written composition that you provide, replete with grammar mistakes and poor organization. The students can work in pairs or groups and present a revised composition. You may wish to discuss how to look for mistakes, or give them a checklist before they begin.

c.  Pre-writing activities:

                Before you assign a certain composition topic, prepare your students by having them brainstorm or somehow think about the topic you will present. For example, if your topic has them write an interview, have your students role-play interviews in class. If the topic is a restaurant review, get your students to talk about their favorite or least favorite restaurants, favorite types of food, etc. If you have time, you may even want to give them a few minutes in class to start writing, or start organizing their ideas.

2. Video/Audio exercises: The Media Center (Cabell 217 or 218? -across from the Language Lab) is a great resource for videos you can use in class. You may check videos out for use in class, and you may preview videos in the lab. Here are some videos I recommend:

                1. Caméra 1: this is the video which corresponds to Ouvertures. There is an accompanying booklet with specific viewing activities. There is a copy of the booklet in the Media Center and there should also be one in Cabell 329.

                2. Voilà video: this is the video which goes with the 101-102 textbook, so the level is a bit easier, but might be a good place to start if your students are particularly intimidated by listening exercises. Voilà has some cultural segments which present Francophone countries.

                3. The French Way: another elementary level video, but it has some good segments. It's actually quite amusing: check out the beginning segment where they explain how to do the "bises" and how to make other French gestures. There is a small section about family in which a young woman introduces her family members to the camera. (This might work with ch 1 vocab "les rapports familiaux." There are also several segments about eating.

                4. UMBC videos: the Media Center has a whole series of these--they have news clips, commercials and sometimes music videos. There are catalogs (monthly or weekly--I'm not sure) in which you can peruse the various segment titles. These tend to be intermediate to advanced, and so you will definitely want to preview these videos and gage how challenging they would be for your class.

                5. Cheryl Krueger’s conversation class video: Cheryl has put together a wonderful series of news clips, commercials and interest stories on a video designed for 211-311. Borrow the video sometime from someone who teaches conversation.

                6. Ouvertures audio tape: the tape which comes with the book is meant for in-class listening activities. There is a segment for each chapter. There are suggested pre and post-listening activities at the end of each chapter in Ouvertures.

3. Pronunciation work: As the text book does not present pronunciation modules, you may want to spend a little time helping your students refine their pronunciation skills. A good way to do this is to take them to the lab as a class and do the pronunciation exercises from their lab workbook (at the beginning of each chapter.) You could also do this in the classroom.

4. Role-Plays: As part of the oral exam is a role play, you may want your students to get lots of practice doing them. The last page of each chapter in Ouvertures gives a list of possible role play topics.

Of course, you may also use this extra time to catch up on chapter material, to start reviewing for the quiz, for practice dictées, for games or other global activities.