Course structure
French I is structured in thematic units each of which requires students to listen, read, speak, and write in French, as well as to acquire new vocabulary and the ability to use new grammatical tools. The work for most of the units will take 6 to 8 classes to complete. The work is differentiated in that students are given a choice of tasks to complete in order to demonstrate their progress in the four linguistic skills and their understanding of the grammar concepts. On the last day of each unit, students are expected to pass assessments in the four linguistic skills. These assessments are directly related to the tasks assigned during each unit such that the tasks are essentially practice for the assessments. Careful and thoughtful completion of the assignments is therefore absolutely necessary for success on the
assessments.
Vocabulary acquisition
During the first quarter, vocabulary acquisition will be done mainly in context, that is, in standard phrases commonly used by French speakers. In this way, the students will be given the opportunity to learn how the words work together in sentences and many of the basic grammatical concepts should become familiar to them. At the end of the quarter assessment, the students will be expected to be able to use all of the standard phrases learned throughout the first quarter units with some ease. In order to prepare for the assessment, at home, the students should take at least 15 minutes a day to repeat out loud what was learned in class over and over again until it has become automatic. After "overlearning" the latest lesson, they should quickly review, again, out loud all they have learned to say so far about
themselves. Parents or guardians can help by being supportive and understanding, by providing a quiet place for the student to practice, and by trying to discourage mocking remarks from other children in the household. Parents can also now keep track of their student's progress through the PowerSchool parent portal. To learn how to access PowerSchool please contact the Main Office at Lewiston High School.
Occasionally the students will be given short lists of words to memorize. One of the best ways to memorize new words or phrases is by creating and using flash cards with the French word or expression on one side and the English equivalent on the other. If you are not familiar with flash cards, see the page of instructions on this site. Other ways to memorize include oral and written repetition of the material.
The students will also be given longer lists of words, but these will be for the sake of reference. It will be up to them to choose and study the few words they feel they will need to use the most, the words that they can use to talk about themselves.
Recordings
Students will be frequently asked to record themselves speaking in French. This may be done during class time if there is no recording equipment at home. Recording in French affords the student an opportunity to work on pronunciation and intonation, improves his or her fluency, and often makes the student more comfortable with this skill.
Verb conjugations
During the first quarter, students will have to memorize 5 irregular verb conjugations and the pattern for one set of regular verbs as well as rules for spell-changing verbs. Since the verb is the heart of any French sentence, during each unit there will be quizzes to check on student progress in learning the basic verbs. Again, the use of flash cards is recommended.
In class, the ability to see the patterns in verb conjugations will be encouraged. Later on in the year, the students should be able to make good guesses at the conjugations of new verbs. This should make the work of studying verbs much easier for them.
Writing
Students should not only be able to say the standard phrases they will be learning, but they should also be able to write them without any mistakes. All of the phrases they will be learning are short. It is in the writing that their mastery of each phrase, and their understanding of the basic grammar involved will be demonstrated. Most of the writing is done in class under teacher supervision, but the students may have to do some revisions and corrections at home. For each of the writing assignments there will be very specific instructions regarding the type of information to include, and there will be nothing they have not seen before required in these assignments.
Reading
Most of the reading the students will do this quarter will be done in class. They will read very short texts containing the type of information that they are learning to give in French.
Verb quizzes
Students will have to pass verb quizzes almost daily. They will be expected to:
a) conjugate a verb in present indicative in the eight forms corresponding to the subjects : je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles;
b) correctly translate each form with its subject;
c) write one complete sentence using one of the forms;
d) and translate that sentence into English so that I can verify their accurate use of the French.
To be successful on a verb quiz, the student has to make no errors in conjugating or translating the verb. Again, the conjugations and the translations must be 100% correct. Students are allowed and encouraged to retake the verb quizzes as often as necessary to achieve success.
Speech acts
Once in a while, the students will be given a quiz on the speech acts they have studied so far. These quizzes may have any of the following formats:
a) translating into English standard phrases that are written in French;
Il s'appelle John -> His name is John.
b) translating into French standard phrases that are written in English;
His name is John. -> Il s'appelle John.
c) translating into English standard questions that are written in French;
Comment t'appelles-tu? -> What's your name?
d) translating standard English questions that are written into French;
What's your name -> Comment t'appelles-tu?
e) translating into English standard questions spoken in French;
"What is your name" -> Comment t'appelles tu?
f) writing relevant responses in French to standard questions that are written in French;
Comment t'appelles-tu? -> Je m'appelle John.
g) writing relevant responses in French to standard questions that are spoken in French;
"Comment t'appelles-tu?" -> Je m'appelle John.
h) writing questions in French that correspond to information spoken in French.
"Je m'appelle John." -> Comment t'appelles-tu?
Students are expected to do at least 80% of the items correctly. Each item is deemed correct if the subject and verb forms are correct and if the response contains all of the required elements.
How to use flash cards
Creating flash cards
Step 1) Write each French word or expression on a separate card. Write large enough so you can read the word or phrase easily. On the back of each card, write the English word or expression that has the same meaning.
Using flash cards
Step 2) First, look at the French side of each card, one card at a time. Try to guess the English word or expression that has the same meaning. After each guess, look at the English side to see if you were correct. If not, take a second look at both the French side and the English side, then go on to the next card. When you have guessed all of the English translations correctly, go on to the next step.
Step 3) Now, flip the deck of cards over and read the English side first. Try to guess the French word or expression that is on the other side. After each guess, check the French side of the card to see if you were right. If not, take a second look at both sides of the card and go on to the next one. Work at it until you can guess each one correctly. Go on to the next step.
Step 4) Shuffle the cards and see if you can still guess all of the French words or expressions correctly. Keep at it until you can go through the deck two or three times, shuffling the cards each time.
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