Teacher's Guide: Student Assignments
Introduction
Cultura lends itself well to a large number of large scale written and oral assignments (besides the regular tasks students are involved in). Here are some suggestions:
Essays
Depending on the level of the class in which you use Cultura, it is a good idea to have students write two or three major essays in the the target language throughout the semester in order to allow them to synthesize their newly found knowledge.
Suggestions
(After students have worked on the questionnaires) Ask them to:
(1) pick a theme/topic/notion that seems to them central to French culture (from having worked with the materials so far). They should avoid choosing a theme based on any word from the list (ex. the notion of individualism).
(2) write in what different contexts they saw this theme emerge.
(3) say whether it may be contradicted in other contexts.
(4) formulate an hypothesis as to the importance of that notion in French culture. Students need to review the materials studied so far: answers to the questionnaires, forums, data, as it relates to their topic etc.
(End of semester essay)
Have students write about what they have learned by using Cultura:
- about French culture
- about their own culture
- has their perspective changed? in what way? Tell them to be as specific as possible.
This paper should not be a rehash of the first one.
(End of semester oral projects)
It is a good idea to have students work in teams for projects at the end of the semester, so that they can transfer their newly found interpretive skills on other types of materials. Students should be encouraged to highlight parallels or differences between what they see in these new materials and what they have discovered so far in exploring other types of materials.
Here are some suggestions.
1. Using the Film module:
Students compare another French film and its remake (the list appears in the FILM module).
2. Using the Newsstand module:
Students either:
- compare the special issue of L'Express entitled Les Français and the special issue of Time Magazine: America, entitled The Inside Story
- or they compare headlines, for a day or a week, of both Le Monde and the New York Times: what is talked about? not talked about? what is the focus? etc.
- or they select a story covered by both French and American newspapers and compare them both: what is mentioned? not mentioned? is there an embedded point of view?
- or they compare French and American newspaper and magazine forums: see what topics are debated; what points of view are presented; compare how the French and American may react to the same topic; analyze the style of discourse, etc.
3. Using other sites: students can compare, for instance:
- the Web sites of the French Embassy in Washington DC and the American Embassy in Paris: what information is presented and how, etc.?
- advertisements in comparable magazines: Elle and Vogue for instance, or even between the French version and the American version of Elle.
Students can also select their own topic of comparison and explore a theme that is related to a field they are specializing in (they will need to find comparable sites). Reminder: students should always be encouraged to draw parallels between the cultural differences they see in those new materials and differences they noticed when using Cultura materials.
Carnet de bord
Throughout Cultura, students are involved in the process of discovering the foreign culture. It is therefore particularly apt to ask them to keep a log of what they find, the questions they pose themselves, the answers they receive, etc.
Such a "diary' can be filled by students every day or every week. The goal is for them to keep a regular log of what they have learnt and discovered so that they can reflect upon their own itinerary and evolution as intercultural learners.
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