Français II
2011-2012
Mme Moran
Books:
Le Vol des Oiseaux
Les Pirates Français des Caraïbes
Presque Mort
Supplies:
Spiral notebook, pocket folder and pens/pencils (bring all to class each day)
Bienvenue (welcome!) to French at SFHS. The focus of this class is to you develop your
speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in French. I use a holistic approach called
“Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling” – TPRS. This method is based on the
theory of language acquisition: learning the language in a natural context (acquisition) VS
learning about the language (studying grammar and vocabulary). Think about it. When you
learned your first language, what did your family do? Teach you all the grammar rules first, then
ask you to speak and read and write like an expert? More likely, they talked to you a lot (even if
you were not speaking yet), and then talked to you some more. They baby-talked, they told you
“Don’t touch!” They read books to you, so you heard even more language. And you might have
watched some TV or some movies, exposing you to even more language. You probably began to
actually study grammar at some time in elementary school – after you had already had several
tens of thousands of hours of speaking and listening “practice” at home and with your friends.
Unfortunately, we don’t have tens of thousands of hours for this at school, so we must
maximize the time we do have so you can “acquire” as much as possible.
As a student in this class, you might appreciate that you will not take a single grammar quiz or
test this year. You will not have lists of vocabulary to memorize, nor will I ask you to conjugate
verbs. By the end of the year though, you will be able to understand and use roughly 200 new
expressions in French (400 = “functional fluency” in a second language). You’ll be reading
simple novels in French without using a dictionary and be able to talk about them in French.
You’ll be able to write 100-150 word “mini-compositions” in French without dictionary, too.
How will this happen? You and I will invent a new mini-story (called a “mini-conte”) in class
each day. They are “mini” because there will be no more than 3 new expressions to incorporate
into the day’s mini-conte. You will be the actors, I am the “director.” If I am teaching correctly,
the class will feel easy (and fun) and you will learn in spite of yourself. This will get you through
about 50% of the course. The remaining 50% is the “work” part: your homework, your class
participation, and the grades you earn on quizzes and tests. Quizzes and tests? Oh, non, oh
non! But oui, there are quizzes and test, and they are all unannounced. To quote The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a great book if you haven’t read it, “Do not panic!” If you pay
attention in class and participate actively each day in the creation of the mini-contes, and if you
complete your homework (which you will get about 3-4 times per week), you will not need to
study (i.e., cram) for a quiz or test. You’ll have to trust me on this. If you are absent, check
Edline for the updated list of vocab/expressions and make sure you know what they mean
before the next time class meets.
Here’s your job in a nutshell.
1. Come to class prepared (homework completed, pens, pencils, notebook, folder with
you).
2. Copy the new expressions into your notebook.
3. Participate actively in the mini-contes: volunteer to act, to retell, and be a good
audience member (lots of oohhhhs and ahhhhhs).
4. Stop me when you don’t understand. If you don’t tell me, I won’t know, and you’ll
“suffer” in the end because you won’t do as well on the quizzes and tests.
Your grade:
Class participation = 25%
Homework = 25% (projects count toward the homework grade, too)
Tests/quizzes = 50%
Note: The use of internet and electronic translating devices is strictly forbidden in this
class and is considered cheating/plagiarism . Incidents will be handled according to the
cheating/plagiarism rules outlined on page 33 in the 2011-2012 Student/Parent
Handbook.