Submitted by Elizabeth Chaigne
Objectives:
Content:
Students will...
- understand how an individual's personality and physical traits are relfected in its environment and behaviors.
- become aware of the important elements of food, shelter, clothing, etc. and how they define specific fairytale characters.
Cultural:
Students will...
- develop an awareness of the differences between their cultural environment and that of the French.
- begin to see that differences in culture do not necessarily translate into differences in values.
Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...
- use expressions such as par contre, cependant, tandis que, quant à with the first person plural (nous) and the 3rd person plural (ils, elles) of present tense of verbs to compare cultrual differences.
- construct sentences in the present tense using comparitives and qualifying adjectives such as: plus + adj + que; moins + adj + que; aussi + adj + que to compare cultural differences and similarities.
- recognize and use synonyms for more familiar terms such as abri for maison, aliments for nourriture and habits for vêtements with the correct adjective pronoun (i.e. ses habits and not son or sa habits) to discuss character traits.
Language: Content Compatible
Students will...
- choose between two forms of interrogatives in the using the present tense 2nd person singular (tu) with the following expressions to solicitate group conversation and clarify meaning: qu'est-ce tu en penses/qu'en penses-tu? (what do you think?); qu'est-ce que tu veux dire/que veux-tu dire par là? (what do you mean by that?).
- use the present tense interrogatives with following types of language to negotiate meaning with a partner: quel est le mot pour...? (what's the word for...?), comment dit-on...? (how do you say..?), est-ce que tu te rappelles comment on dit...? (do you remember how to say...?).
Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...
- take notes while watching a video extract using a structured note taking sheet.
- work collaboratively in pairs or small groups to discuss and share ideas.
Time Frame:
One 50-minute class session
Materials Needed:
- 4 large Venn diagrams drawn up on butcher paper or white board with the following labels to record group comparisons:
- housing (le logement),
- food habits (les habitudes alimentaires),
- activities (les activités)
- clothing (les vêtements)
- French version of the Disney movie Shrek
- DVD or video player
- Transparency of the note taking graphic organizer if desired (to be used to model to students)
- White board or flip chart with markers for class note taking
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
Pre-task:
Introduce this unit by explaining that students will be learning and practicing some strategies that will help them to define, explore and develop a character to be acted out. Give them an overview of the unit using the information from the attached handout. You will want to revisit this outlined structure with the students as you go through the lessons so that they understand how the lessons are tied to gether and to remind them of the overarching goals: understanding and developing characters for performance.During Task:
(For this section it is assumed that students already understand and know how to use a Venn diagram.) Initially, students will take a look at how American and French cultures help to determine lifestyle elements such as housing, food, clothing, etc. This first part of the lesson is to be used as a spring board for students to carry over these same concepts to the study of fairytale characters. That is to say, that specific personality and physical traits of fairytale characters are reflected in their immediate environment and lifestyles.Using the prepared Venn diagrams listed in the materials section, explain to the class that they will work in groups of 3-4 to discuss a specific category listed in the Venn diagrams. Their goal is to use the content obligatory language to discuss differences and similarities between French and American cultures for their assigned category. Go over the CO & CC language to be used for comparing cultural differences and for soliciting group conversation. Ask students to intentionally use these language structures while working in groups. Assign students to groups and give them 5-10 minutes to discuss. In order to augment classroom participation, let students know that you will randomly call on any member of the group to share with the whole class once their group discussions are completed. Students are not to take notes at this time. The focus is on discussion. Circulate and provide prompts to groups as needed. After the allotted time, have small groups come back together as a whole class. Conduct a whole class discussion asking students to share what their group discussed. Record this information on the Venn diagrams.
Ask students how the cultural differences they discussed influence the two cultural lifestyles (i.e. For the category of food, students might notice that the French place a great importance on taking time to eat. This in turn is connected to how they prepare and shop for foods i.e. open air markets. The students may also start by noticing that the French have more open air markets. The follow up question would then be, how does this affect other aspects of their life?). Inform them that this same type of connection between who we are and how we live holds true in fictional situations. Now they will be looking at how a character's physical traits and personality are reflected in its environment and lifestyle.
Part of today's lesson involves students creating vocabulary banks that represent some typical fairytale characters based on the following categories: descriptive adjectives, clothing, housing, food and activities. At this time it would be good to highlight some of the more uncommon titles for these categories using synonyms that are familiar to students (i.e. most students will know the word for house, so it would be good to highlight other synonyms such as abri or logement. See the other suggestions already listed on the graphic organizers). Using a transparency of the student graphic organizer, the teacher fills out the character title as 'Shrek'. Review who this character is identifying that his food, clothing, house and his activities are greatly determined by the fact that he is an ogre. Explain that students will be filling out the same graphic organizer for Shrek while watching a short clip from the movie. (You will need to choose a short 5-10 minute section of the movie that shows the character in his house. The opening of the movie has some good passages for this.) Play the entire clip once without stopping so students can familiarize themselves with it. Then play it again stopping occasionally to discuss as a whole group any items they can fill in for the chart. Replay the clip again as needed. (Another way to engage your students during the playing of the clip is to ask them to raise their hand when they come to a part with info that could be used to take notes on.)
Beyond-task
Once students have filled out the graphic organizer, tell them they will be working with a partner to develop another vocabulary bank for a fairytale character of their choice. Using this vocabulary bank helps to Identify the personality and lifestyle of a character and is the first step in being able to act out the character well. Ask students for typical fairytale characters found in stories and record their ideas on the board (i.e. princess, prince, witch, fairy, wolf, giant, dwarf, etc.). Have students pair up and select one of the characters from the class list. As homework, each student should fill out the categories of information on their chosen character. The teacher should circulate and assist with any unknown vocabulary as time allows.
Assessment:
If time allows, have students present their vocabulary banks to the class. Help clear up any vocabulary confusions. The vocabulary bank on the fairytale character can also be handed in for assessment and/or teacher written comments.
References and Resources:
Order a copy of the French version DVD of the Disney movie Shrek from Amazon-France
To create Venn Diagrams, there is a template on the CoBaLTT website.
Attachments:
NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)Example Venn Diagrams:
Venn_Activities.pdf
Venn_Clothing.pdf
Venn_Food.pdf
Venn_Housing.pdf
Tableau de vocabulaire pour un personnage