French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
Annotated Bibliography:
The French Revolution
using the
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait
A Text Set
Casey Cole
South Dakota State University
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
Rationale
Being a language teacher candidate it is somewhat difficult to get students
actively engaged and motivated to learn a new and strange foreign language. Especially
another set of grammar aspects other than the ones they are already learning in their
English class. They may not see the point in learning a language other than English. But
in fact, there are so many reasons to learn another language.
In this text set I have a variety of texts pertaining to the key focus of the French
Revolution and introducing and practicing with the French past tenses, le passé composé
and l’imparfait. Using different texts and forms of text information I hope to engage and
intrigue my students in the French Revolution and how that has affected France today.
They will be able to describe and narrate past events using the two different tenses in
French and visit some aspects of the French culture. This text set is designed to
accommodate to every student, whether they have different learning styles or multiple
intelligences. I have organized a broad spectrum of information that will accompany any
student’s interest level in some way. The objective is after this unit the students will have
a broad understanding of what exactly the French Revolution consisted of, when it took
place and why, the aftermath leading into modern day France as well as being able to
narrate such in the grammatical aspects of the past tenses.
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
Annotated Bibliography
Bauer, C., & Bond, O. Graded French Reader: Première Étape. (3rd ed.). 1978
Paperback.
This is an older and shorter text, full of easy to read; short, yet dramatic French
stories. I would use this book to focus on the short story, “Les Chandeliers de
l’évêque,” an excerpt taken from the book, Les Miserables, in the middle of
unit on the French Revolution to depict the time of era as well as what it was
like for the people. The book is classified as an easy-to-read because it takes
the harder semantics and syntactic difficulties and transforms them into
simplified versions such as l’imparfait and passé composé, which are the
grammatical verb tenses we are learning in the unit. The book is set up with
four “contes,” in order of difficulty, therefore if advanced student wanted to
read another conte they may, and according to the authors, Bauer and Bond,
this “sustains their interest independently of the level of language difficulty.”
Graded French reader presents an abridged excerpt from the entire book, Les
Miserables, in a context that the basic French learner can comprehend.
Francois Furet, (1970). The French Revolution. 1st ed. Great Britain: Weidenfeld and
Nocolson, London.
The French Revolution book, by Francois Furet and Denis Richet is a thick and
rich text over the many different events of the French Revolution. The text is
chalk full of many interesting origins and events that are described with many
illustrations that capture the main essence of the period. Reading and analyzing
this book together as a class gradually through the unit, will help my students
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
understand that the Revolution was not merely struggle between classes nor a
conflict between two distinct parts in society, but a complicated battle in which
many different parties gained successive control of state. This is somewhat of a
more complicated, or extensive read therefore in need of class discussions and
progress worksheets with teacher instruction. I would use this text for the most
important and basic information. Even though it is an older book, there is no
doubt that it has something that will pertain to everyone’s interest, in some part
of the Revolution era.
Hatier, (1980). Le Nouveau Bescherelle; L’Art de Conjuguer Dictionnaire de 12000
verbes. 1st ed. Paris: Hatier.
This reference book consists of 12000 different verbs with their many different
conjugations. The Bescherelle text allows for referencing difficult verbs and
their conjugations in an easy to read yet extensive and full reference to all
materials involving verbs. Use of this text would be ideal all of the time,
especially in the first year of learning the various tenses of the French
Language. It would be most beneficial in having a class set so that each student
could reference to this gem of a book full of every conjugaison for the verb that
is being focused on. In this unit, we would use L’Imparfait et Le Passé
Composé. With this text you can see the verb and the many tenses, therefor the
students are able to compare to the present tense. Also this text has no
definition on the word and is completely in French as to enable learning
without complete scaffolding.
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
L. Kathy Heilenman, (2010, 2006) Voilà! 6th ed. Boston, MA: Heinle, Cengage Learning.
This is our main Introductory French textbook that we use daily in class. This
is the main book I will use in instruction and lessons. We will be focusing on
Chapters 10 – 12 as they pertain to the past tenses, Passé composé and
l’Imparfait. This is an easier and more introductory friendly book to students
just learning a language and just starting out learning how to narrate past
events. As we continue with the theme of The French Revolution, we will not
exclude the books subjects on clothing, housing and events vocabulary as we
can often tie this well with describing the Revolution era in France. This
textbook runs along perfectly in dividing the three components; Le passé
composé avec avoir, Le passé composé avec être, et l’imparfait, in each
chapter! This will better help organize ideas and formation when students refer
to each alongside facts and events in the Revolution.
Richard, Switzer, (1961). French dictionary. 3rd ed. Chicago: Follett Publishing
Company.
This dictionary book is an easy to read multi-language gem. This reference text
has a convenient format, single word listing with comprehendible English. This
text also has many idiomatic expressions described well for the beginning
french learner, not to mention a “Travellers conversation guide, pour le
voyage.” Having dictionaries are an essential learning tool within any language
class and to have one that is not too difficult in understanding and still allows
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
navigation in French to learn as they go is an amazing tool to keep in the
classroom. I would use this book in my classroom for a reference tool.
Vanessa R. Schwartz, (2011). Modern France; A Very Short Introduction. New York,
NY; Oxford University Press, Inc.
This book is very insightful as it gives us information on modern day France
and how history of the Revolution and previous events has shaped it today. I
would utilize this text in a lesson with sharing a more recent event that was
celebrated in celebrating the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1789. It
is an important date in France, July 14th, more or less their independence day. I
would read the introduction of this book to my students to set a picture of the
event and explain further along in context to the Revolution so many years ago.
Then for chapter one, which focuses mainly on the French Revolution and how
it now plays out or is seen in modern day France, I will have the students read
individually and write a reaction paper in following a group discussion over the
subject and politics. This text is very beneficial in learning the culture and
politics of the French culture.
Victor Hugo. Les Miserables. [FILM]. 2013
In the end of our unit, I will reward the students with watching the newest
film of Les Miserables, in English to summarize the entire unit. They will
have a questionnaire that follows the film since it is in Enlgish that will aide
them in reflecting their lessons as well as their own personal ideals on the
movie. This gives them the motivation and change from just studying from a
textbook and allows them to enjoy their learning to the fullest.
French Passé Composé et L’Imparfait Text Set
William F. Edmiston, Annie Duménil, (2010, 2005). La France Contemporaine. 4th
ed. Boston, MA: Heinle, Cengage Learning.
This text gives basic information on various subjects about ancient and
modern day France. It is a context of “histoires” in chronologic order that the
students will be able to follow along and see the aftermath of the
Revolutionary era. Also, it gives great insight to cultural aspects of France as
a whole. I would utilize this text for its ancient history, geography, social life,
and cultural life chapters. Stemming from those chapters are essential points
to understand and dig deep into French culture.
Wikipedia (2013). La Marseillaise. [ONLINE] Available at: [Last Accessed 8
November 2013].
Studying this song in depth will allow the students to understand and
comprehend the time of the revolution. This song was the song of the
revolution and a great example of the “European march. It is a song bustling
war song that signifies the revolution and the march of the people; an example
of rallying up soldiers to defend their homeland. I would use this perhaps as
an effective introduction to one of my lessons or just to analyze in depth
perhaps not just the instrumental side of the song, but the lyrics that
accompany as well.
www.wikipehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marseillaise.