Maggie Morgan
Chez Nous: Branché Sur Le Monde Francophone (4th edition)
Prentice Hall 2010
French 101/102
Chapter 4: Métro, boulot, dodo (commute, work, sleep)
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Textbook Evaluation
The greatest strength of the textbook for our course is the collection of cultural videos
from around the francophone world. They used a relatively small group of native French
speakers so that the personality of each person comes through as the chapters build upon each
other, but they also portray the variety of French speakers by visiting six or more countries per
chapter video. All of the speakers attempted to be comprehensible to language learners, but they
are native speakers using authentic language. The videos do not illustrate Krashen's teacher talk,
but the language is unmistakeably modified for beginners.
My students had difficulty taking responsability for their own learning with the text
because the reference pages that define or explain grammatical terms and concepts are all lists of
examples. The textbook does not organize the concepts for the students; it provides one example
and one translation for each point. Students who miss one class lesson are unable to use the text
to discover the grammar principles for themselves. The textbook is not a reference book that the
students can use at higher levels; it is more of a workbook for the class to follow. The majority
of the exercises for each lesson are oral exercises for pairs of students. With a large class, it is
difficult to supervise and motivate students to complete a sufficient number of these oral
exercises to enable them to complete their online homework later in the evening.
Each chapter of Chez Nous provides a general context for the unit, but the unit is
subdivided into lessons that are not always directly linked to each other. Each lesson builds on
the next, so the teacher must follow the sequencing of the textbook to some degree. In the
chapter for my unit, there is a choppy quality to the chapter as a whole. The fashion lesson at the
end with haute couture videos does not match the time-telling lesson, following a student from
class to class. The description of the daily routine for working people and the general concept
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for the chapter (métro, boulot, dodo or commute, work, sleep) is not directly related to university
life. Having to complete three or four exercises per daily lesson to communicate main points is
sometimes fatiguing. Many of the exercises that I have produced for the unit seek to combine
multiple points into one activity to avoid subdividing the course into small pieces (five to ten
minutes per exercise).
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Learning Scenario
My unit for chapter 4 of Chez Nous is the fifth, including the preliminary chapter, of
seven chapters that are covered in first semester French. I would estimate that between 25 and
50 percent of the students are false beginners each semester. The first few chapters of the book
are review for students that have taken high school French courses, and the verbs and verb tenses
are limited in the first four chapters. My unit was designed for a turning point in the course. The
pace quickens and text introduces more grammatical concepts and vocabulary terms per chapter
until the end of the semester. The gap between high and low performance begins to widen, and
students who were relying on previous knowledge begin to fall behind. The text limits the
number of exercises per lesson to three or four. In chapter 4, they begin to introduce more
concepts without accompanying exercises. Many of my exercises are supplementary and are
designed to highlight hidden qualities or principles that would be easy for students to miss.
Each chapter of Chez Nous is split into three lessons. To keep pace with the other
sections of first semester French, a teacher must cover a lesson in one or two days. This leaves
one day for the cultural realia at the end of the chapter and one day for revision before the exam.
The students are assigned online homework exercises patterned after the partnered exercises in
the text for every evening. At this mid-point of the semester, the routine starts to wear on the
students and the teacher alike. Some of my activities are also drills, like the textbook activities
and online homework. The fifth and sixth activities which last longer and give students a break
from the routine are much needed. I would recommend the use of supplementary materials for
this chapter and deliberate changes in the organization of the material, for example, starting or
interrupting a lesson with the cultural realia.
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Activity 1
Carpooling
Objective: To transform phrases with reflexive verbs for a different subject
Purpose: To make students aware that nous and vous are reflexive pronouns, although they do
not resemble the other three reflexive pronouns (me, te, se)
Communicative Mode: Interpretive, Interpersonal
Duration: 10 minutes
Materials: supplementary exercise, Chez Nous (4th edition) pages 143-8
Standard 1.2 Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of
topics.
Student Task:
The students will work in pairs to transform the phrases. One student can read the model,
and the second will change the reflexive pronoun and conjugate the verb for the new subject.
Then, the students will switch roles for the next sentence. After the students have transformed
the phrases, the teacher should review the verb conjugations and the choice of reflexive pronoun.
If the daily lesson allows, the exercise can be repeated at the end of the class with the subjects il
or elle.
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Carpooling
Imagine that you and your family members must adopt the same morning routine in order to share a ride
to work or school. Transform the following phrases to show that you are not alone in the morning rush.
Je me réveille à sept heures tous les jours.
1. Nous ____ __________ ______________________________________.
Je me lève tout de suite.
2. Nous ____ __________ ______________________________________.
Je me dépêche pour ne pas arriver en retard.
3. Nous ____ __________ ______________________________________.
(Plus tard . . .)
Je me couche tôt le soir.
4. Nous ____ __________ ______________________________________.
Je suis fatigué, et je m'endors immédiatement.
5. Nous ______ fatigué__ , et nous ____ __________ ___________________.
(English Version)
Every day, I wake (myself) up at seven o'clock.
1. We _______________________________________________________.
I get (myself) up right away.
2. We _______________________________________________________.
I hurry (myself) up so as not to arrive late.
3. We _______________________________________________________.
(Later . . .)
I go to bed early every night.
4. We _______________________________________________________.
I am tired, and I fall asleep immediately.
5. We ______ tired, and we _______________________________________.
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Self-Reflection
Carpooling
This supplementary exercise is a response to a pervasive problem in my classroom with
the reflexive pronouns vous and nous. Speaking activities for the reflexive verbs, such as
describing one's daily routine, require the use of the reflexive pronoun me. For example, je me
lève, etc. The overwhelming majority of examples and exercises in the textbook use the
reflexive pronoun se. My students struggled to understand that a reflexive verb always requires a
reflexive pronoun. Because nous and vous serve other grammatical purposes, most often as the
subject of a sentence, they were unable to consistently apply the rule to sentences with these
reflexive pronouns.
By transforming phrases using the reflexive pronouns that students recognize (me, te, and
se) into phrases that pose more problems for them, I would like to highlight the consistency of
the French grammar rule. The lack of examples in the text and everyday conversation leads
them to erroneous conclusions. Many of my students persist in using the reflexive pronoun se
for every subject, or they conjugate reflexive verbs differently depending on the subject.
Because the students are introduced to the concept of the reflexive pronoun in this chapter, it is
important that they not adopt incorrect grammatical structures that will fossilize before they learn
reflexive verbs that occur more frequently with the subjects vous and nous.
The carpooling exercise and the formatting (two spaces per verb) should make it clear to
the students that the same rule applies to all subjects when conjugating reflexive verbs. The
students should complete this exercise in class before the rule is explicitly stated in the hopes that
they will correct this error themselves. I would also recommend that examples be introduced on
the board in such a way as to highlight the two parts of the verb, for example, by the use of
colored chalk or markers. The subject should be highlighted in one color and the reflexive
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pronoun in another, so the students understand the word is not repeated. The second nous in
nous nous dépêchons has a different grammatical function. I explicitly stated the rule on
numerous occasions this semester without a lasting result. Next semester, I would like to use the
colored chalk approach in the hopes that Schmidt's Noticing Hypothesis will prove to be more
effective. The students need to come to the realization that nous and vous function in the same
way as me, te, and se, and the colors may draw enough attention to the structure to help them to
notice the significance of the colors.
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Activity 2
Trop de Conseils!
Objective:
To conjugate verbs in the imperative and add stressed pronouns when appropriate
Purpose:
To emphasize the difference between new reflexive verbs and the verbs
previously studied in Chez Nous
Communicative Mode: Interpersonal
Duration: 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: supplementary exercise, Chez Nous (4th edition) pages 147-8
Standard 1.1 Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings
and emotions, and exchange opinions.
Student Task:
One student will conjugate the first five verbs and add a stressed pronoun for all reflexive
verbs. The second student will begin by recording the responses. Then, the students will switch
roles for the remaining five commands. The teacher should display the correct responses or spell
out the correct verb endings to complete the exercise.
If the students have not noticed that only the verbs with se in the infinitive form have a
stressed pronoun added to them, the teacher should draw their attention to this fact. For
example, what do numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 have in common? How many words are there in each
verb? What is the function of the first word?
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Trop de conseils!
Take turns giving orders to a partner in class. One student can give the first five orders, then you should
switch roles.
Step 1: Conjugate the verb
Step 2: Decide whether or not to add a stressed pronoun (toi or vous) to each command
Record what you hear or say during the exercise. Please mark an X in the space if you did not hear or say
a stressed pronoun.
Verb
Command
1. Fermer
Ferm____ - ____ le livre!
2. Se raser
Ras____ - ____!
3. Se laver
Lav____ - ____ le visage!
4. Parler
Ne parl____ - ____ pas l'anglais!
5. Se coiffer
Coiff____ - ____!
6. Aller
Va - ____!
7. S'habiller
Habill____ - ____!
8. Faire
Fais - ____ les exercices!
9. Se dépêcher
Dépêch____ - ____!
10. Ouvrir
Ouvr____ - _____ la porte!
Correct Responses
1. Ferme le livre! Fermez le livre!
2. Rase-toi! Rasez-vous!
3. Lave-toi le visage! Lavez-vous le visage!
4. Ne parle pas l'anglais! Ne parlez pas l'anglais!
5. Coiffe-toi! Coiffez-vous!
6. Va!
7. Habille-toi! Habillez-vous!
8. Fais les exercices!
9. Dépêche-toi! Dépêchez-vous!
10. Ouvre la porte! Ouvrez la porte!
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Self-Reflection
Trop de conseils!
This exercise is designed to help students integrate new information about reflexive verbs
into their existing structure for the imperative. The textbook presents the information in isolation
from the previous material, so the students need assistance in restructuring their concept of the
French verb. The accompanying exercise (4-9 on page 148) uses only reflexive verbs, rather
than a mix of verbs from the first four chapters. Students must understand that reflexive verbs
are treated differently from other verbs so that they will not begin to indiscriminately add toi and
vous to all commands. The reflexive verb has no English equivalent, so the goal of both
activities 1 and 2 is to help students define the reflexive verb.
I have not mandated the use of either the tu or vous form for the exercise. Students with a
firm grasp of the concept can conjugate each phrase for both. If the students are using only the
vous form in imitation of the teacher's more polite address in class or to avoid the conjugation of
the more difficult tu form, the teacher should redesign the exercise accordingly. The exercise is
an opportunity to review the basic rules of the imperative, so I have not conjugated the verbs for
the students, leaving only blanks for the stressed pronouns. Students can refer to page 95 for the
basic conjugation guidelines for the imperative.
I would recommend again that the correct responses be color-coded to show the
grammatical purpose of the words. The stressed pronouns (toi, nous, and vous) should be
matched to their reflexive counterparts (te, nous, and vous). If this exercise was used as a warmup, the positive commands in the exercise could be transformed to negative commands at the end
of class. The same color used to underline toi and te for negative and positive commands may
help the students to process the fact that the reflexive pronoun appears in different forms but with
the same grammatical purpose.
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Activity 3
Choisissez votre système préféré!
Objective:
To state the military time or the time with other fixed expressions
Purpose:
To teach students to choose one method of telling time or another without mixing
elements of both methods
Communicative Mode: Interpretive, Interpersonal
Duration:
15 - 20 minutes
Materials:
supplementary exercise, Chez Nous (4th edition) pages 153-4
Standard 4.2 Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons
of the cultures studied and their own.
Student Task:
Student A will read the first activity of the daily routine and add the military time to the
end of the phrase. Student B will reread the activity and state the time more informally. Then,
Student A will continue with the second activity of the hypothetical daily routine. The students
should alternate after each statement so that they can take note of the differences between the
two systems. To wrap-up the exercise, the teacher should explicitly state the rules for each
system of telling time to correct or emphasize the students' discoveries.
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Choisissez votre système préféré!
Working with a partner, express the time using the two different methods. One person (Student A) will
always give the precise military time. The other (Student B) will use a variety of fixed expressions.
Attention: When not using military time, you should add du matin, du soir, or de l'après-midi to your
sentence to indicate the time of day.
Time AM/PM
1. Je me lève à
8:15 AM
______________________________
2. Je vais au restaurant
avec mes collègues à
1:30 PM
______________________________
3. Je pars du bureau à
4:45 PM
______________________________
4. Je fait la cuisine à
6:00 PM
______________________________
5. Je me couche à
10:10 PM
______________________________
Correct Responses
Student A
Student B
1. huit heures quinze
1. huit heures et quart du matin
2. treize heures trente
2. une heure et demie de l'après-midi
3. seize heures quarante-cinq
3. cinq heures moins le quart du soir
4. dix-huit heures
4. six heures du soir
5. vingt-deux heures dix
5. dix heures dix du soir
Student A
Student B
1. eight (hours) fifteen
1. a quarter past eight in the morning
2. thirteen (hours) thirty
2. half past one in the afternoon
3. sixteen (hours) forty-five
3. quarter to five at night
4. eighteen (hours)
4. six at night
5. twenty-two (hours) ten
5. ten after ten at night
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Self-Reflection
Choisissez votre système préféré!
This exercise is the result of a departmental meeting in which the French natives
expressed a problem with time-telling. Although they mentioned that French family members
also made mistakes along these lines, they were most insistent that the students in our sections be
taught to differentiate between military and non-military time. As I do not use military time
myself, it never occurred to me to mix the two systems. The French faculty implied that this
mistake would mark a speaker as a non-native in everyday conversation.
I presented the rules explicitly in French with notes on the board for the past semester.
Most students did not take notes during the brief lesson and did not retain the information. The
students also completed a listening exercise, in which I read the expressions of time and they
recorded the time on a clock face. The exercise has no context, and the times were arranged
randomly. The textbook contains five examples of military time (see page 154), but the rules for
both systems are not explicitly stated. The textbook does not instruct students to choose one
system or another without mixing expressions.
For the upcoming semester, I have redesigned the time-telling lesson. First, I have
provided context for each expression of time that relates to an earlier lesson in the chapter.
Being able to relate one's daily routine is an objective for the semester and is tested on the oral
exam. I introduced new vocabulary in the exercise (collègues) to expose students to authentic
language use. The word is not part of the chapter vocabulary list but is comprehensible from the
context. The exercise has also been changed from interpretive to both interpretive and
interpersonal. Conducting this exercise in pairs should make the difference in systems more
evident because the examples for each system are read by a different student.
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Activity 4
Lequel?
Objective:
To practice chapter vocabulary and select the correct color adjective for the
gender of each object
Purpose:
To review the concept of adjectives (other than colors) that change with the
gender of the object, to introduce the definite article with expressions about preferences, and to
review how to formulate a question
Communicative Mode: Interpersonal
Duration:
20 - 25 minutes
Materials:
clothing catalog and color wheel
Standard 1.1 Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings
and emotions, and exchange opinions.
Student Task: The teacher must introduce the vocabulary for clothing items before beginning the
exercise so that students can pronounce both the clothing items and colors. Students will find ten
examples of chapter vocabulary in catalog pages. Afterwards, they will present their examples to
another student or group of students to practice the color vocabulary and the masculine and
feminine forms for colors. The teacher should circulate to listen for pronounciation errors based
on the gender of the vocabulary words.
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Lequel? (Which one?)
Use the catalog pages to review the chapter vocabulary with a partner. Find ten items listed in the chapter
vocabulary. Then follow the model below.
Step 1: Tell your partner which one you like.
Je préfère le/la/les _______ ________.
(Vocab)
(Color)
Modèle: Moi, je préfère la robe noire.
Other verbs you can use: aimer, vouloir acheter, choisir
Step 2: Ask him/her to make a decision about the item.
Préfères-tu le/la/les _______ ________ ou le/la/les _______ ________?
(Vocab)
(Color)
(Vocab)
(Color)
Modèle: Aimes-tu les bottes noires ou les bottes jaunes?
Step 3: Switch roles and review the images that the other person found.
(English Version)
Step 1: Tell your partner which one you like.
I prefer the (masculine, feminine, plural) _______ ________.
(Vocab)
(Color)
Model: As for me, I prefer the black dress.
Other verbs you can use: to like, to want to buy, to choose
Step 2: Ask him/her to make a decision about the item.
Do you prefer the _______ ________ or the _______ ________?
(Vocab)
(Color)
(Vocab)
(Color)
Model: Do you (informal) like the black boots or the yellow boots?
Step 3: Switch roles and review the images that the other person found.
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Self-Reflection
Lequel?
After having read the article Vocabulary Learning and Teaching by Jeanette Decarrico, it
was clear to me that our lesson plans were conforming to the pattern described by Decarrico
where vocabulary words are only taught implicitly or haphazardly. Because we had only five to
ten minutes to introduce the pronunciation of the words, the method could not even be described
as audiolingual. We did not have time to repeat the words, for instance, with a memory game
and images presented randomly to elicit a response from the students. The fourth chapter of
Chez Nous introduces a much greater quantity of vocabulary words than the previous chapters,
so mastering the vocabulary of the chapter becomes a more difficult task.
In this exercise, I combined three tasks: using the definite article (le, la, les) when
describing personal preferences, using color as an adjective and changing the color according to
gender, and learning new vocabulary for types of clothing. The different categories of articles
are introduced in the following chapter of Chez Nous, so this exercise forecasts upcoming tasks.
In choosing the correct definite article, the students must learn the gender of the word and the
word itself. I also combined the new clothing vocabulary with the color vocabulary in this
exercise in the hopes that students would learn to create more complex sentences by adding a
color adjective to the subject or object in question. This lesson could be extended if the catalog
also contained school supplies. The students learn basic vocabulary for items in the school room
in the first chapter and could also describe the colors of the books, computers, pens, etc. The use
of the interpersonal mode for learning colors is almost obligatory because the students must
pronounce the color word differently depending on the gender of the chosen object. As pairs
complete the exercise, the teacher needs to circulate to help students pronounce the words
correctly (vert, verte) to reinforce the idea that color has gender.
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Activity 5
Vive la différence!
Objective:
To write sentences using the comparative
Purpose:
To learn vocabulary words for clothing in the context of a cultural discussion
Communicative Mode: Interpretive, Presentational
Duration:
20 - 25 minutes
Materials:
supplementary exercise, Chez Nous (4th edition) pages 162-3
Standard 4.2 Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons
of the cultures studied and their own.
Student Task: The teacher may want to begin by brainstorming to generate new categories for
the clothing on pages 162-3 with the students. They may be more willing to come up with
categories not listed on the handout if they generate the ideas before viewing the models. Then,
students will group the vocabulary words into categories. The teacher should decide whether to
distribute cut-out images of the clothing that students can actually move around or have the
students write out a list to practice spelling/writing the words. After grouping the items, the
students will follow the model to write 2-3 comparative statements and explain their cultural
significance. The students can display their lists with a document camera and explain their
categories to the class. Groups can also write the lists out on the chalkboard/whiteboard so that
all possible groupings can be viewed at the same time.
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Vive la différence!
Group the clothing items into new categories. You can arrange the images by country (French or
American), by region (Paris vs. Province), or by the age of the person who owns the items. You can also
create your own categories, but limit the number to two or three.
Step 1: Write a sentence using the comparative for each of your categories.
Modèle A: Les Français mettent des _____ plus/moins souvent que les Américains.
Modèle B: Les gens à Paris mettent des _____ plus/moins souvent que les gens à la campagne.
Modèle C: Les jeunes gens mettent des _____ plus/moins souvent que les gens âgés.
Step 2: Discuss your categories with your group members.
Why did you choose the categories that you did?
What does it say about your views on the groups?
Do you agree with the comparative statements?
(English Version)
Model A: The French wear _____ more/less often than Americans.
Model B: People in Paris wear _____ more/less often than people in the country.
Model C: Young people wear _____ more/less often than older people.
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Self-Reflection
Vive la différence!
Many of the exercises for the comparative and superlative in our textbook and in the
online exercises were fill in the blank questions with a large selection of adverbs and adjectives.
The selection was too broad for the students to retain the new terms. Also, they were unable to
learn the entire structure (for example, plus grande que moi) because they were only asked to fill
in one word (plus).
This semester, I had the students complete a worksheet on the comparative and
superlative in which I supplied the context that I felt was missing from the book. I made the
phrases more specific by using well-known public figures. For example, Wayne Gretsky is (le
meilleur jouer) the best hockey player. The first exercise that I made had the same fault
exhibited by the text; there was too much variety in the terms for the students to learn a few of
them thoroughly.
I have two hopes for this alternate exercise. First, the students create the context
themselves by grouping the clothing articles into groups. The examples/comparisons should be
more meaningful to them because they are the source. Second, they are working in small groups
and will have the opportunity to practice the phrases in the target language. The comparative is a
useful strategy for the required exit interview at the end of the semester. If the students practice
the comparative in many contexts, they should start to master the form of the comparative. The
goal is to lead students away from simple utterances (Ma mère est petite) to more complex
constructions (Ma mère est plus petite que moi). This exercise could be repeated with the food
items in the following chapter (more or less healthy) and the apartment furniture in the sixth
chapter (more or less expensive).
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Activity 6
Une tante compétitive
Objective:
To transform phrases to convey the opposite meaning using the comparative and
the superlative
Purpose:
To help students understand the different function for adverbs and adjectives in
order to choose the correct French term
Communicative Mode: Interpretive, Interpersonal
Duration:
25 - 30 minutes
Materials:
supplementary exercise, Chez Nous (4th edition) pages 158-9, 168-9
Standard 1.2 Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of
topics.
Student Task: Students will work in pairs or small groups. First, one member of the group will
read the mother's comments. Then, the students will determine the hypothetical reponse of the
competitive aunt. They will work together to choose the correct adjective/adverb from the word
bank and to complete the sentences. The teacher should review the responses with the class
afterward as there are a variety of acceptable answers.
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Une tante compétitive
Imagine that your aunt makes everything into a competition. Your cousin Thomas does everything better.
Modèle
A. Nicolas lit beaucoup de livres.
Non, Thomas lit plus de livres que Nicolas.
Part A. Word Bank
plus le mieux
mieux
1. Nicolas joue aussi bien au basket que Thomas.
Non, Thomas joue __________________________________________________.
2. Il y a beaucoup de bons jouers en leur équipe.
Non, Thomas joue __________________________________________________.
3. Nicolas et Thomas travaillent sérieusement.
Non, Thomas travaille ________________________________________________.
Part B. Word Bank
le meilleur
moins
meilleur
4. Nicolas et Thomas sont bons étudiants.
Non, Thomas est ___________________________________________________.
5. Il y a 200 élèves à l'école de Thomas, non?
Oui, et Thomas est __________________________________________________.
6. Ils adore les jeux électroniques. Quelquefois, les enfants sont parasseux.
Thomas est _______________________________________________________.
Part C.
Make up two phrases of your own according to the pattern using one of the following adjectives: grand,
gros, intelligent. Remember that the second phrase contradicts the first one.
7. _____________________________________________________________.
8. _____________________________________________________________.
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(English Version)
A competitive aunt
Imagine that your aunt makes everything into a competition. Your cousin Thomas does everything better.
Model
A. Nicolas reads a lot of books.
No, Thomas reads more books than Nicolas.
Part A. Word Bank
more the best
better
1. Nicolas plays basketball as well as Thomas.
No, Thomas plays __________________________________________________.
2. There are a lot of good players on their team.
No, Thomas plays __________________________________________________.
3. Nicolas and Thomas work hard.
No, Thomas works _________________________________________________.
Part B. Word Bank
the best
less
better
4. Nicolas and Thomas are good students.
No, Thomas is ____________________________________________________.
5. There are 200 students at Thomas's school, right?
Yes, and Thomas is _________________________________________________.
6. They love video games. Sometimes, children are lazy.
Thomas is ________________________________________________________.
Part C.
Make up two phrases of your own according to the pattern using one of the following adjectives: tall,
large, intelligent. Remember that the second phrase contradicts the first one.
7. _____________________________________________________________.
8. _____________________________________________________________.
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Self-Reflection
Une tante compétitive
The purpose of this exercise is tap in to the student's schema for a certain personality type
to help them work with grammatical structures that are challenging. There is one context for the
exercise and a set of characters. The mother speaks about her son and his cousin, and the
competitive aunt comes up with a response much in the spirit of "anything you can do, I can do
better." The humor in the exercise is meant to help the students cope with difficult grammatical
concepts. If students respond well to the exercise, it can be easily extended to student-generated
skits. One student can be the overly competitive friend who is bigger and better than the other.
The context that remains fixed should help the students to deal with the changing adverbs and
adjectives.
Part C of this exercise requires that students generate their own text without any
assistance. If the students are struggling, this should be substituted for additional textbook
exercises. It may be best to conclude class with this exercise so that students who require a great
deal of time to come up with their examples can continue to work at home. The studentgenerated responses could be viewed the following day and corrected for editing practice. It
could also be extended into a more lengthy writing project. For instance, the students could
write a letter from the point of view of the competitive aunt or a competitive student. I tried to
work in vocabulary words from previous chapters as part of an ongoing semester review so the
exercise was sports themed. This exercise could be changed to incorporate clothing vocabulary
from the chapter by transforming the competitive aunt into your friend the fashion enthusiaste
who is thinner and dresses better than you.
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Testing Activity 1
Les Couleurs
Word Bank
blanc/blanche
vert/verte
bleu/e
noir/e
jaune
rouge
1. Je vais porter (my) _____ jupe __________ (black).
2. Aimes-tu (this) _____ chemise __________ (blue)?
3. Il met toujours (his) _____ cravate __________ (yellow).
4. On ne porte pas (the) _____ pantalon __________ (white) après le premier septembre.
5. Elle achète (the) _____ robe __________ (green).
Bonus: Finish the sentence with one article of clothing and one color adjective.
D'habitude, je met ________________________________________________.
(English Version)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I will wear my black skirt.
Do you like this blue shirt?
He always wears a yellow tie.
You don't wear white pants after Labor Day.
She is buying the green dress.
Bonus: Normally, I wear . . .
Commentary:
The first five questions are convergent, and the bonus question which elicits a creative response
is a divergent task. The quiz tests possessive pronouns from a previous chapter, demonstrative
pronouns from chapter 4, and forecasts the discussion of definite, indefinite, and partitive articles
in chapter 5, so it is also a global task. I have tried to mix formats with this quiz while
conforming to the time constraints of our syllabus. We give ten or eleven quizzes per semester,
and we can afford to spend 10-15 minutes per quiz.
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Testing Activity 2
Examen Auditif
Script: Ma mère travaille trop, et elle se couche tard la nuit. À sept heures du matin, elle dort.
Mais, mon père se lève à cinq heures et demie chaque jour. Il court au parc. Il est plus sportif
qu'elle. Moi, je suis le plus sportif de ma famille. Je joue au basket avec mes amis de trois à
cinq heures de l'après-midi.
(English Version)
My mother works too much, and she goes to bed late every night. At seven o'clock in the
morning, she is sleeping. But, my father gets up a 5:30 every day. He runs in the park. He is
more athletic than her. I am the most athletic member of my family. I play basketball with my
friends from 3 to 5 every afternoon.
Quiz
Ma mère travaille 1) __________ , et elle se couche 2) __________ la nuit. À sept heures du
matin, elle 3) __________ . Mais, mon père se lève à 4) ____________________ chaque jour.
Il 5) __________ au parc. Il est plus sportif 6) __________. Moi, je suis 7) __________ sportif
de ma famille. Je joue au basket avec mes amis de trois à cinq heures 8)___________________.
9) Write another adjective to describe the mother of this family. _________________________
10) Who is the early riser? What does he/she do in the morning?
______________________________________________________________________________
Commentary: Question 9 is more divergent because the student must come up with his/her own
based on the context of the paragraph. The other questions are more convergent. The phrases
are all related to one imaginary family unit to promote understanding. This is a global activity
testing many aspects of the chapter (verb conjugations, adverbs, the comparative and superlative,
and time-telling), so it must be completed towards the end of the chapter.
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Testing Activity 3
Les Moeurs
Prompt:
Please respond to each of the following questions (one sentence each) to write a short paragraph
about the relationship between a job and the clothing an employee wears.
1. Qu'est-ce que vous mettez maintenant pour aller au travail (ou à l'université)?
2. Qu'est-ce que vous voulez être dans l'avenir? Quel métier?
3. Devez-vous porter des vêtements différents pour ce métier?
4. Où est-ce vos parents (ou vos amis) travaillent?
5. Mettent-ils des vêtements spécifiques pour leurs travaux?
English Version
1. What do you wear to work now?
2. What do you want to be in the future? Which job?
3. Must you wear different clothes for this job?
4. Where do your parents work (or friends)?
5. Do they wear specific clothing for their jobs?
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Les Moeurs
Rubric (10 point writing assignment)
1. 2 points Student used correct verb for to wear (mettre/porter). The verb was conjugated
correctly and the clothing items were spelled correctly.
1 point More than one error of the type described above.
2. 2 points Student used the expression je veux être. They omitted the article before the
profession. Je veux être avocat. They spelled the profession correctly.
1 point More than one error of the type described above.
3. 2 points Student used the verb devoir correctly. The job type was correctly spelled.
1 point More than one error of the type described above.
4. 2 points Student used the correct article or omitted the article. For example, il est facteur.
The job title was correctly spelled.
1 point More than one error of the type described above.
5. 2 points The student picked a logical clothing item for the profession described and spelled
it correctly. The student used a logical verb (devoir or others) and conjugated it correctly.
1 point More than one error of the type described above.
Commentary: For writing assignments at this level, I make a list of required features before
reading the responses. Because of the use of online translation tools, the writing exercise is best
completed in class and with guiding questions or pictures. Students should be encouraged to use
only the verb tenses that have been reviewed (present and futur proche). As much as possible,
they should limit themselves to the vocabulary in the textbook.
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Conclusion
The textbook for our class is formulated for class sessions that are very fast-paced. The
exercises often give the students a sense of false confidence because they do not require that
students pay attention to the details in the reference pages. The textbook is designed for breadth
and not depth, as we pass quickly on to new concepts. My students this past semester were
unable to work at the pace that the text required. Most of the exercises are partnered, but the
students require the assistance of the teacher to work quickly and still pay attention to detail. I
found that the students needed to work with me whenever the exercise was more difficult in
order to finish on time. There are simply too many students performing at a low level in each
class to make partnered exercises effective. In this unit, I have attempted to give the students the
two things that they were lacking this semester: time and structure. They need more than five
minutes to master new vocabulary or grammatical concepts. They also need more structure for
oral activities when working independently from the teacher.