African Virtual University

A course in Distance Education

Elementary French for beginners

Using "French in Action" by Pierre Capretz

 

by Professor Nicole Vaget

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Methodology

Class Schedule:

The total number of weeks of instruction will be 26, corresponding to the 26 chapters of Part one of the workbook. There will be 3 sessions from October to May corresponding to three mini-semesters, with 8 weeks in the first mini-semester and 9 weeks in the second and the third.

Students will follow the same routine every week:

• 4 hours in class with local teachers/ moderators. Each class will be one hour long, with a total weekly number of four contact hours.
• 2 hours live via Satellite with US teacher/coordinator. Each week students will have a 2-hour class with US instructor to assess the work of the week, and introduce the following chapter. Students and teachers will be able to ask questions directly to the US coordinator by phone.

Program for each week of the semester:

• Day 1 (= Mondays) Viewing of video with instructor.
  • The video consists of :
    • "Le télé-play" = 15 minutes of movie based on dialogues between actors playing the part of Mireille, Robert, their family and friends in an authentic Parisian context.
    • "The talking head" = 15 minutes of instruction by Professor Capretz who introduces the new vocabulary and grammatical points of the lesson.
    • This is not a passive activity. Each teacher presents the new chapter toggling with his/her finger on the "play" and "pause" buttons of the VCR, and stopping at the end of each sentence or paragraph depending on the meaning of the passage. They ask their students to repeat systematically what they hear. The purpose of this method is to make students listen and repeat every piece of information given in the lesson. The teacher pauses to make sure that his/her students repeat all vocabulary or grammatical points newly introduced. The material used here is only the video. However use of flash cards prepared in advance by each teacher is recommended. (verbs/ pronouns/etc.) This being an oral method, please us the blackboard only occasionally.
  • The transcript of each lesson is in the textbook.
    
• Day 2: Working on material in workbook with audio-tapes and teacher.
  • In class: Using the workbook, (or photocopied pages of it), students listen in class to the audio-tapes and write the answers in their individual workbook. The moderator goes over every exercise, making sure that they have been answered correctly. This is time for a reinforcement of the grammar as it appears in the the different tables. The exercises covered are "Assimilation of the text" ,"Toward communication", " Self testing exercises".
  • At home: Each student will then go home with his/her tape listening and practicing until the next day.
    
• Day 3: Working on questions and answers about the text (text book + workbook)
  • Oral exercises based on "Mise en oeuvre") + "Mise en question" to be found at the end of each chapter in the text book.
  • Students will write a composition using the exercise "Reinvention of the story" in the workbook".
    
• Day 4: Activities and Composition
  • Moderators will encourage free oral expression ("Libération de l'expression") and make students practice their speaking and writing skills through a series of role playing activities in groups (dialogues, skits etc...) "Developing reading and writing skills"
  • Students will also write a composition "Writing practise".

   

• Day 5: live session via satellite with US coordinator
  • Presentation of general questions concerning phonetics, grammar, and culture, as well as answers to specific students' questions. Students who wish to send their questions ahead of time can do it via e-mail
  • Students will take a weekly quiz every Friday, and an examen will be given at the end of each session.

Material required for the course