RKeller

Robin Keller EDC 448 Diverse Text Set This diverse text set is intended for a third year French class, typically high school sophomores. They will have the background knowledge of vocabulary and verb conjugation in French to enable them to read at the equivalent French elementary reading level. We will be studying a unit on the children’s book //Le Petit Nicolas// with a focus on the verb tenses and how it relates to France in the time period it was written.

1. Goscinny, R., & Sempe, J. (1960). //Le petit nicolas//. France: Editions Denoel. Novel This novel includes 19 chapters, each which contains its own short story and little illustrations. The novel is focused around the main character Nicolas, a little French boy of about 10 years of age. The stories follow him through experiences at school and at home with his family and friends. It is one of the most popular French children’s books and has come out in English editions as well. I selected this text because it is a children’s reading level book which will allow my beginning French students to understand the text better and gain practice from reading the short stories. I will ask them to read the stories and then perform many little tasks based off the text. Attachment: Novel not attached
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2. N.A (n.d.). //Rene goscinny summary// [Biography]. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from BookRag website at http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Goscinny This article gives the basic biography of Rene Goscinny the author of //Le Petit Nicolas//. It gives background about his life and his other pieces of writing. I believe this would be a good text to show my students because it will give them background about the author so they can understand the making of the novel more completely. They may be able to make inferences about how his life has impacted this book in particular. I would ask my students to read over this biography and make connections between this information and the book. Attachment: See attachment 1

3. Chatenet, A., & Rider, J. (2009, March 27). //French children's character turns 50//. Interview by E. Elash [CD recording]. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from PRI's The World at http://www.pri.org/theworld/?q=node/25402 This is a news story for PRI’s The World. In it, Anita Elash discusses the worldwide phenomenon that //Le Petit Nicolas// is as noted by the celebration for its 50th birthday in 2009. It also mentions the debut of the film //Le Petit Nicolas//. I selected this news story because it shows how big of an impact //Le Petit Nicolas// has had not only in France but in other countries such as America. My students will either read or listen to this news story and get a better understanding of how popular this book is. I will ask them to try to compare and contrast it to another novel they know of. Attachment: See attachment 2

4. Lichfield, J. (2006, October 21). //Jean-jacques sempe: Luck of the draw//. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/jeanjacques-sempeacute-luck-of-the-draw-420771.html This is an article about the life of Jean-Jacques Sempe, the cartoonist of //Le Petit Nicolas//. This article describes his work, his fame and his views. I selected this article because it will give my students a background about the man behind the illustrations in //Le Petit Nicolas// and to learn more about French culture. I would ask my students to read this article and possibly try to draw something in the Sempe style based off what they have read and seen in //Le Petit Nicolas//. Attachment: See attachment 3

5. N.A (2007). //Le petit chaperon rouge//. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from The French Experiment at http://www.thefrenchexperiment.com/stories/petitchaperonrouge/. I thought this short story, the French equivalent of Little Red Riding Hood, would be a good inclusion in our reading of other children’s short stories. I selected this text because this is a familiar story to many students so they would have their background knowledge of the story to help them with their reading. They can focus more on the grammar and the vocabulary when it is content that they are familiar with. I would ask them to read this short story and to pay attention to vocabulary and the general formation of sentences. They would become more fluid with their French reading. Attachment: See attachment 4

1. Altman, N., Soumache, A., Vonarb, A., Eche, L., & Chakravarti, T. (Producers), & Perouze (Director). (2010). //Le petit nicolas// [Video file]. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzV6EM15ZNw&feature=related This is a little cartoon film made after the chapters in the book. It includes the chapter L’inspecteur (the Inspector), football, and DjoDjo. The cartoon characters play out what happens in these chapters but also add their own interpretations of the text. It is 12 minutes and 26 seconds long. The majority of the short film focuses on Nicolas’s frustration with the English exchange student his class receives. I selected this video clip because it will help students visualize the stories they are reading as well as to give them practice listening to spoken French. I will ask them to watch the film and then relate it to what they have read from the book. They will point out the differences, similarities, and what helped them understand the book. Attachment: This is an online video which can be found by the link provided.
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2. Lebouillon (Director). (2006). //Le petit nicolas de goscinny et sempe// [Video file]. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrfGPJYv2gM This video clip is about 10 minutes long and consists of interviews of Rene Goscinny and Sempe. In the interviews they describe the different characters in the novel and they also describe their thoughts about the novel. It also shows many of the illustrations from the novel. I believe this would be beneficial for my students to watch because it will enable them to get practice listening to spoken French as well as give them an idea of the authors’ thoughts about //Le Petit Nicolas//. I will compile a set of questions for them to answer before, during and after viewing this video to make them think about important ideas. Attachment: This is an online video which can be found by the link provided.

1. Loulou. (2009, March). //Quizbiz: Le petit nicolas//. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from http://www.quizz.biz/quizz-78864.html This site has an interactive quiz about trivia from //Le Petit Nicolas//. It has 10 questions which differ in difficulty. Once you select your answers and submit it tells which answers are correct and which are incorrect. If they are incorrect they give you the correct answer. I think this quiz would be beneficial to my students because they can see how much they remember of tiny details from the text and how well they understood the short stories. After they have completed reading the novel and about the text I would ask them to complete the quiz to let them self evaluate their learning. Attachment: See attachment 5
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2. Phaidon Press. (2007). //Nicolas: Goscinny & sempe//. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from Phaidon Press website: http://www.phaidon.com/nicholas/ From this website there is an option to click on fun and games. I would have my students go to the newspaper bubble where they can write their own newspaper column based off the book. The website provides a template and gives options for pictures to use in their articles. I would ask my students to choose this game because it shows what they know and understand from the text by making them synthesize the information into a newspaper article. It also gives them practice with their writing skills in French. Attachment: This is an interactive website which can be found by the link provided. 1. Marsh, R. K. (1983, March). //Teaching language with le petit nicolas//. //56//, 607-612. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/391426?seq=6 This is a guide to teaching French language using //Le Petit Nicolas//. It offers ideas for learning French tenses, vocabulary, expressions. It also describes how this book creates imagination and is a good book for practice with French language. I selected this text because it still allows me to be creative in what activities I want to do with the novel but also gives some guidelines for what students can take from this text. Attachment: This is an online reference only available as adobe reader form. It can be accessed by the link provided. In the classroom I would use all of these texts together to create an enriching learning experience for my students. Although each student is of a different proficiency in French, every student will read each text. Of course, each student will have different levels of comprehension. I will use the various types of texts to supplement the novel, //Le Petit Nicolas//. These other texts will clarify the text and add interest in the many chapters of this novel. Also, the variety of activities we would perform with the diverse texts will reach out to all different learning and reading level students. Students will be able to summarize important ideas from texts written in French. This follows the national foreign language standard 1.2, Communication; Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics. Students will connect their learning to real world situations. This follows the national foreign language standard 4.1 Comparisons, Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own Students will be able to identify key grammar used to express ideas in the text. This follows Core standards 8 and 9 (Analyze how specific word choices shape the meaning and tone of the text, analyze how the text’s organizational structure presents the argument, explanation, or narrative).
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Comments:

I think the two interactive sites you provided were really good because they each serve a different purpose. Where they both can be used as formative assessments, one quizzes the students and tests how well they know the material on a more factual basis, and the other allows the students to be creative with their knowledge. Both are important in learning but the newspaper article serves as an opportunity to improve their writing skills as well, an important aspect of learning a new language. -Kathryn Capone

I liked how you have different children's stories in your text section, especially with a story that most know. This way students that know of the story can have an easier time translating the French. I am not sure how much impact the article on the illustrator would have on the students though. To me, I think the bio on the writer would be more important since the words connect to his life. I also like the use of media. It could really help keep the students' attention and keep them more involved in the language. The interactive writing section could be very nice as well. Students can become more involved with the story, as well as practice writing in French. -Carrie Crockett