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Advice for teachers -
French

Teaching and learning activities

Unit 3

Unit 3 – Area of Study 1: Interpersonal communication

Theme: The individual
Topic: Personal identity and lifestyles
Sub topic: Health and wellbeing

Outcome 1

Participate in a spoken exchange in French to resolve a personal issue.

Examples of learning activities

  • Read an article outlining what a healthy lifestyle is for young people in France. Summarise your findings in a 100-word paragraph.
  • Discuss the findings with classmates.
  • Create a glossary of words and expressions to form a basis for understanding the topic.
  • Read blog posts from France about how young people balance co-curricular/school commitments and fitness and/or health.
  • Listen to a conversation between two young people in France discussing school routines and finding time for recreational activities/part time work.
  • Role-play in pairs asking each other questions about tips for the importance of a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
  • Write a 250-word informative article for the school magazine outlining the importance of a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
  • Create a PowerPoint presentation comparing healthy lifestyles and young peoples’ involvement in part time work.
  • Watch a video of people discussing their lives and how they try to balance their lives. Answer questions about it.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Your friend has emailed you about how they are managing in the VCE. Write a reply to convince them to adopt a more balanced lifestyle during VCE.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

Email to a friend

  1. List vocabulary related to health and wellbeing.
  2. Listen to a conversation between students about how their studies are progressing. Take notes on what they say to each other and the language they use.
  3. Watch a vlog in which a teacher offers ideas to students about how to tackle VCE (or equivalent in France) in the healthiest way possible.
  4. Find and read websites that target students and their study methods. List ideas and advice provided.
  5. Read a youth magazine where students have asked questions about healthy and balanced lifestyles.
  6. Draft an email reply to your friend suggesting actions they could take to have a balanced and healthy lifestyle in VCE. In the draft, include:
    • solutions or ideas
    • language that would be used when addressing friends and peers
    • language that will persuade
    • vocabulary and expressions that highlight your knowledge in this area
    • grammar that showcases your linguistic facility.

Unit 3 – Area of Study 2: Interpretative communication

Theme: The world around us
Topic: Global and contemporary society
Sub topic: Migration

Outcome 2

Interpret information from texts and write responses in French.

Examples of learning activities

  • Research statistics about migration to French speaking countries. Compare these to Victorian and/or Australian statistics. Consider the questions: Where do migrants to both countries come from? How do they arrive? Why do they come?
  • View a video about migrants to France. Take notes and identify issues for further investigation.
  • Listen to migrants talking about their lives before migration and their experience of living in France.
  • Participate in a class discussion about general features of the migrant experience.
  • Visit the Immigration Museum in Melbourne to view and research relevant materials.
  • View a series of historical photos that depict significant moments in the lives of migrants and analyse them.
  • Prepare a PowerPoint presentation reflecting aspects of the migrant experience, as researched, in France.
  • Write a 200-word blog post about reactions to information gathered about migration.
  • View a film about migration. Identify similarities and differences between current research and what is portrayed in the film. Discuss those aspects with a partner and create a poster for the class to read.
  • Interview a French-speaking person who has migrated to Australia.
  • Write a biographical profile of a migrant to France.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Develop an interview with another student, or in a small group, to explore reasons for leaving a country/a homeland.
  • Read a newspaper, magazine or online article that expresses the views of migrants to France.
  • Conduct research to find out whether there are certain towns or areas that take more migrants than others. Find and discuss reasons why that might be so.
  • Write a 250-word evaluative piece that compares Australia and France’s experiences of immigration.
  • Complete questions after a Listening and Reading comprehension task and write up answers in another text type.
  • Write an imaginative journal account to describe your first month in Australia or France as a newly arrived migrant.
  • Participate in a group conversation, sharing information about migrants from different places in the world and their journeys to France. Discuss the pros and cons of the migrant experience.
  • Listen to a podcast from a migrant to France. Note any particular expressions used to describe their experience.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

Interview to explore reasons for migrating

  1. List and quantify vocabulary related to this topic from all material studied so far.
  2. Practise useful expressions and grammar in French.
  3. Become familiar with features of informal French conversations designed to elicit information.
  4. Discuss the expression of emotions by listening to extracts of conversations.
  5. Write the script of an interview with a migrant to France regarding his/her experience. Share this with a classmate. Based on the two scripts, prepare and participate in a role-play to highlight the migrant experience in France.
  6. Refine relevant material as well as grammar and expressions.
  7. Practise aloud to establish the rhythm of interchange between the two characters – questioning and answering. Consider cultural elements specific to French conversational form.
  8. Perform the role-play in front of the class.
  9. Give oral and written feedback to all the groups and to the teacher.

Unit 3 – Area of Study 3: Presentational communication

Theme: The world around us
Topic: Technology and science
Sub topic: Sustainability and energy use in France and Australia

Outcome 3

Express ideas in a personal, informative or imaginative piece of writing in French.

Examples of learning activities

  • Create a glossary of words and expressions in French focusing on concepts and ideas that we have in Australia about sustainability and energy usage.
  • Read an article about sustainability and energy usage in France. Compare the glossary to the vocabulary in the article. Identify any particular words or expressions not already in the glossary. Consider whether this highlights other cultural concerns in France. Discuss the similarities and differences in pairs and write a 100-word paragraph explaining why that might be so.
  • Research widely to find information about the views France has on improving sustainability and reducing energy usage.
  • Write the script of a TV advertisement to promote sustainable practices.
  • Consider how France and Australia rate in energy usage and sustainability in global terms. Research the major energy usage of both countries. Use the statistics to compare costs and efficiencies. List the differences and similarities. Then write comparative sentences about them.
  • Watch a television program from France in which participants discuss issues of energy usage and sustainability.
  • Listen to energy companies and their consumers discussing their needs in the energy market. Discuss any personal responses to this topic.
  • Write an imaginative story set far into the future about how the world looks then in relation to sustainability and energy use. Do our descendants thank or curse us?
  • Write a series of diary entries to explore your personal responses about how you use, think and feel about energy use in your own and your family’s life.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Research the topic of sustainability and energy usage in France. Use information extracted from spoken, written and viewed texts on the topic of sustainability and energy usage in France to create a leaflet to present strategies to promote sustainable practices.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

A leaflet on the topic of sustainability and energy usage in France

  1. Using information extracted from spoken, written and viewed texts on the topic of sustainability and energy usage in France, respond to specific questions.
  2. View a documentary on sustainability and energy usage in France.
  3. Read an article on sustainability and energy usage and how it has changed over the last
    10 years.
  4. Listen to a conversation between young people in which they discuss their views on sustainability and energy usage in France.
  5. Discuss in pairs how best to answer questions related to the topic in French using full sentences.
  6. Individually, select an article and write questions on it. Also, create an answer key for these questions.
  7. Circulate the sets of questions. Answer all of them. Correct as a group.
  8. Examine some advertising material and leaflets.
  9. In pairs draft some paragraphs to be used in the leaflet.