Marc Grossman
Open High School, Randwick (Sydney) NSW
July, 2015 AFMLTA
Australian Professional Standards for
Teachers – common language – since 2012
 3 X DOMAINS OF TEACHING

Professional Knowledge + Professional Practice + Professional
Engagement
 7 x STANDARDS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Know students and how they learn
Know the content and how to teach it
Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
Create and maintain supportive and safe learning
environments
Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
Engage in professional learning
Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and
the community
Which audio-visuals texts?
 Three essential elements: sound – vision – movement
 Audio-visual text (AV) : technical word for television
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programs
Source: French television programs aimed for a French
native speaking audience
Captured in Australia by a French satellite television
company called: CANALSAT AUSTRALIE (Le Bouquet
Français) including TV5 Monde
Compiled as DVDs – not sourced from YouTube
Converted into pedagogy for teaching & learning
Copyright and Australian law
 Foreign language television programs captured in
Australia by satellite when being broadcast and are
subject to Australian Commonwealth law.
 Capturing and duplicating these programs which are
captured ‘live’ for educational purposes is allowed by
Australian Copyright law - specifically under
“Australian Broadcasting rights” – no limit to copies
or duplication
 For educational purposes you ARE allowed to charge
for ‘cost recovery purposes’ but NOT allowed to
make a profit – a licence is then required.
Why audio-visual texts?- ADVANTAGES
 Motivation: great rewards for both the teacher practitioner
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and learner.
It’s authentic – it’s not contrived – it’s real.
The learning environment (the classroom environment)
connects in a tangible way to the ‘real world’ (wherever
French is used or wherever native French speakers are).
Connecting to the francophone world.
The target language (French) being taught is the actual
language in the AV texts – it then becomes a form of
immersion.
The awesome psychological power that sound exerts
Disadvantages in using AV texts
 Too hard and too much work + intercultural issues
 The authentic language used is beyond the students’
current skills – the language learner at first regresses…
 Easier to use the course text book – the work has already
been done for the teacher – the programming, the
vocabulary, the questions, the tasks, the sequence of
learning, the resources available and the engagement…
 The classroom practitioner has to do so much more
preparation than teaching the established course
 Selection of an appropriate/pertinent AV text is sometimes
a hit and miss situation – it cannot appeal to everyone in
the class.
Purpose of authentic materials
 Need to develop students’ skills for successful intercultural
and linguistic engagement in the real world
 Preparing students for their social lives
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An authentic linguistic magic carpet ride – un tapis volant
linguistique authentique
 Closing the language gap between classroom language and
real life post-language classroom
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“I just know school French…” code for: “therefore, don’t expect
too much from me… as my French isn’t relevant…”
 Language encountered in a text book does not always
translate to a real world connection nor give insights into
intercultural challenges
Criteria for selecting these AV texts
 The first AV text for example gives new information to the
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language student by informing him or her about
Melbourne from a foreign perspective – how others see us?
Intercultural purposes – French people – French society
very much interested in knowing what’s going on in the
Land Down Under.
“ I said, ‘Do you speak a my language?’ He just smiled
and gave me a Vegemite sandwich” (NB the inseparable
link between language & culture)
Students’ motivation and participation – grabbing
attention at the very beginning.
Suitability of content for learners of French – ‘Professional
Knowledge’ – Standards 1 & 2
DVD – Track 1 – Melbourne “La ville la
plus agréable au monde”
 Audio-visual text – just over 5 minutes in length.
 NOT recommended that you show the whole AV text
without stopping at some point – for most students.
 Two approaches: FIRST APPROACH – a blank canvass

Show AV text first with a simple but challenging pedagogical
question
 What is this news report about? Or
 What is this TV news item saying about Melbourne? Or
 Why is Melbourne being featured in this French news report?
Or
 How many French words/phrases did you hear and write them
down?
AV text: track 1 “Melbourne”
 SECOND APPROACH:
 Following a sequenced approach to your current
language program/course curriculum/syllabus content
 E.g. NSW French Beginners Stage 6 Syllabus –
Preliminary and HSC Courses

“Understanding Texts”
 2.1 understands and interprets information in texts using a
range of strategies
 2.2 conveys the gist of and identifies specific information in
texts
 2.3 summarises the main points of a text
CONTINUED…
• SECOND APPROACH
 Understanding texts (continued…)
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2.4 draws conclusions from or justifies an opinion about a text
2.5 identifies the purpose, context and audience of a text
2.6 identifies and explains aspects of the culture of Frenchspeaking communities in texts
 The NSW French Beginners course has TWO TOPICS
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The Personal World + The French-speaking Communities
Family life, home & neighbourhood; People, places &
communities; Education & work; Friends, recreation &
pastimes; Holidays, travel & tourism; Future plans &
aspirations
The NSW French Continuers Stage 6
Syllabus – Three prescribed Themes (Topics)
 The individual
 The French-speaking communities
 The changing world
 1st theme of the individual enables the learner to study
topics from the perspective of other individuals
 2nd theme - the French-speaking communities’
perspectives whilst the learner reflects on their own and
other cultures
 3rd theme – the changing world enables students to
explore change as it affects aspects of the world of work
Suggestions from Colleagues at
Open High School – (1)
 Always very difficult and challenging to motivate language
students to absorb and learn long “vocabulary lists” for
specific purposes…
 Using AV texts as a motivational tool to get students to learn
new vocabulary:
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Linguistic journeys of discovery and exploration… OR
 The teacher supplies vocab lists ahead of time OR
 Students transcribe the French text heard and seen…
 This class exercise then becomes very language focused but can be
highly rewarding and motivating at the same time…e.g. group work
• AV texts allow the teacher to achieve most language
objectives…
H.O.T. – Higher Order Thinking
Analysis and synthesis
 One colleague proposed the “Melbourne challenge”
 You are from another Australian city/state and the
current Melbourne advertising and promotional
materials produced have caused such a spike in
interstate numbers to Melbourne with a detrimental fall
in numbers visiting other capital cities such as Sydney.
 Your advertising brief is to use the content and
presentation in this AV Text in order to promote in
French another Australian capital city, such as Sydney.
Create the written script and turn it into an AV text.
AV texts: encapsulating the 18 elements of the
NSW 2004 Quality Teaching in Languages policy
 INTELLECTUAL QUALITY – deep knowledge; deep
understanding; problematic knowledge; higher-order
thinking; metalanguage; substantive communication.
 QUALITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT – explicit
quality criteria; engagement; high expectations; social
support; student self-regulation; student direction.
 SIGNIFICANCE – background knowledge; cultural
knowledge; knowledge integration; inclusivity;
connectedness; narrative.
Australian Curriculum: languages
French (revised) – 2014 (1)
 Foundation to Year 10 Sequence (revised draft)
 Years 7 to 10 (Year 7 Entry) Sequence (revised draft)
AV TEXTS DOVETAIL ITSELF SEEMLESSLY INTO THE
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Contexts of interaction (page 73)
 The French classroom is the primary context for
language and culture experience, with ICT resources and
community links providing access to additional
resources and experiences.
Australian Curriculum: Languages
French 7-10 (Year 7 Entry) (2)
Texts and resources: (pages: 73-74)
 Learners work with a range of texts designed for
language learning such as textbooks, audio-recordings,
teacher-generated materials and online resources. They
also use materials designed for French students in
different contexts (for example, blogs, newsletters,
advertisements, magazines, video clips and apps).
Authentic texts from different sources provide
opportunities for discussion and analysis of the
relationship between communication and culture.
Time permitting…other AV texts &
Discussion…
2. La Cour de Babel…
3. Des Classes d’Accueil
4. Vivement Dimanche
13. Boris Johnson: Maire de Londres…