Submitted by Written by Pam Wesely. Updated by Laurent Cammarata and Diane J. Tedick, with additional updates by Pam Wesely.
Objectives:
Content:
Students will:
- demonstrate understanding of the fact that stereotypes may or may not reflect truth
- begin to develop an awareness of how stereotypes can distort individuals’ perceptions of reality
Cultural:
Students will:
- investigate and demonstrate understanding of the truths or inaccuracies of stereotypes of the French by examining French cultural products, practices, and perspectives which may or may not reflect stereotypes
Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:
- use vocabulary terms for commonly stereotypical French things (vin, béret, etc.)
- review vocabulary used to organize and categorize stereotypes: positif, négatif, neutre, produits, perspectives, pratiques
- learn and use words related to describing stereotypes like les mythes culturels, les généralisations, les vérités culturelles
- use the present and past tenses to discuss French stereotypes as presented in the videoclips
Language: Content Compatible
Students will:
- practice the structure of expressing agreement - Je suis d'accord/Je ne suis pas d'accord etc.
- use comparative structures to report rankings of "Frenchness" they perceive in video news clips with expressions like celui/celle qui parait être le/la plus Français(e)… (the one who seems to be the most/least French), le plus/moins Français d’entre eux semble être... (the most/least French among them seems to be), etc.
- use prepositional phrases such as “according to the text,” “in paragraph 3 on page X of the text,” etc. to refer back to the text in order to fill out the handout La vérité et les stéréotypes, using phrases/expressions such as d’aprés le texte, dans le premier/second/troisième/etc. paragraphe de la page X, cette idée est exprimée dans le texte à la page X, etc.
Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will:
- develop their critical thinking skills.
- develop listening skills through viewing, listening to, and interpreting French news video excerpts
- develop reading skills through reading a newsgroup written half in English and half in French
- cooperate and approach problems collectively
Time Frame:
Three or four 40 minute class sessions
Materials Needed:
- Internet access and sufficient computers for all students
- The French Guide d'analyse des stéréotypes of each student from Lesson 1
- Les articles et les stéréotypes handout (see "Attachments" below)
- La vérité et les stéréotypes handout (see "Attachments" below)
- Paper and pencils
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
Notes to teachers
In Lesson 4, more mature students can seek out English sources that address French stereotypes themselves. Articles in English about French news can be found through the search engines at any English-language publication sites, particularly those of local papers and U.S. News and World Report, http://www.usnews.com
International New York Times, http://international.nytimes.com
BBC, http://www.bbc.comAdvanced students can read French newspaper articles. The teacher (or the students!) might be able to find appropriate articles at websites for:
Paris Match, http://www.parismatch.com
Libération, http://www.liberation.com
Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr
L'Express, http://www.lexpress.fr/info
or other French publication sites.Preview
The pre-task for this lesson takes place on the computer, again starting with the TrackStar lesson (see "References and Resources"). The fourth link on the site is to a series of short video clips at TF1, a popular news site in France. These video clips are updated daily and are made available shortly after the actual TV broadcast. However, generally speaking, news broadcasts are only available for a relatively limited period of time and are replaced by newer ones on a regular basis. Therefore, the teacher should be aware that the news clips will be different every time that the activity is completed.The students should select five videos on the website to watch, on topics that look different from one another. Once they have watched them, they should reflect on how "French" the different videos seem to them. On a piece of paper, they should rank the videos that they watch in terms of how much they fit with what you think of stereotypical French culture (1=very stereotypically French, etc.) This exercise will introduce to the students the idea that some stereotypes are indeed visible and important in France, although other activities exist as well.
As a possible variation and in case of technological difficulties, students could be asked to explore TF1 webcams and rank them (http://www-compat.tf1.fr/livecam/). Students could also be asked to explore French web sites and try to identify those that seem to be typical and/or atypical of France.
Focused Learning
The students should pick three stereotypes on the list of links that they wish to investigate, preferably something that they have already examined on their Guide d’analyse des stéréotypes. Based on their proficiency and the teacher’s preference, they can read articles in English or in French.As they read each article, the students will be asked to complete the handout Les articles et les stéréotypes (see “References and Resources”) which will help them get a deeper understanding of the complexity of stereotypes and the many perspectives that are involved in stereotyping people. This handout asks them not only to identify the facts that they see about the stereotype, but also the source of these facts and their opinion about the stereotype (whether it is a "cultural myth," "generalization," or "cultural reality”) as a result. This work will also serve as an example of a good analysis of stereotypes, and they can take this with them into the final project of this unit. Since this activity could go on for a while, the teacher should give a time limit (like one class period) and collect the Les articles et les stereotypes handout at the end of the class.
Expansion After the individual task of filling out the Les articles and les stéréotypes handout, each student should get the La vérité et les stéréotypes (see “References and Resources”) handout. The class should have a large group discussion in French about all of the stereotypes that they have been able to investigate, and they should take notes together to compile all of the research that has been done.
Assessment:
Students will be evaluated on their attentiveness to detail and success in completing the video ranking, the Les articles et les stéréotypes handout, and the La vérité et les stéréotypes handout. Comprehension and language use will be assessed informally during the course of the lesson.
References and Resources:
For the Trackstar Lesson on French stereotypes:
http://trackstar.4teachers.org/
and search for track id 28811
Attachments:
NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)La vérité et les stéréotypes - chart for evaluating the truth of stereotypes
Les articles et les stéréotypes - worksheet to help with examining websites and online articles