FLT 815 Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Courses

Spring 2015

Activity Design 3: Les Pubs de McDo et Coca-Cola

Name: Alison Dykman
Communicative Mode: Interpretive Reading/Listening
Intercultural Elements: Attitudes
Overview:
Source
Activity:
Description:

Context:

Interpreting & relating

Discovery & interaction

Analysing Advertisements, 7.2, Corbett, 2010, p. 132-3

Students will explore the relationship the French have with American brands. We
will discuss the tenuous relationship they have with Starbucks and the budding love
affair they have with Burger King. We will also look at how Coca-Cola and
McDonalds, global brands, present themselves in the Francophone world (France,
Belgium, Senegal and Quebec) by looking at television commercials. Students will
discuss these advertisements as they are presented, then create their own
advertisement for one of these four brands for a French-speaking country of their
choosing.
I would likely do this with an intermediate low or mid group as a purely cultural
activity, possibly tied into a food unit, but not necessarily. It ties in nicely with the
Vie Contemporaine (Contemporary Life) AP Theme that my curriculum is based
around. It could also be a stand-alone kind of activity. Students would be mainly
American high school students.

Objectives:
Students will be able to identify and discuss French attitudes toward several major American
brands.
Students will be able to find and identify American and Francophone sensibilities in
advertisements.
Students will be able to create advertisements catering to Francophone sensibilities.
Plan:
Class Time:
As I have made some changes to Corbetts activity, this would likely take only one
class period plus a homework writing assignment and time the next day to present
their advertisement ideas. Depending on how talkative a class tends to be, it may
move into a second class period.
Materials /
SmartBoard w/ speakers
Preparation: Documents
Journaling Page:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o8eqNKVcYI11gj5_fwOBxGrQjtbC86
5sSFc7Y5fRfyE/edit?usp=sharing
Aprs Les Pubs Document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y9aGQsSHmKa9VEcZO8NoIlcJpNcx
plLKsin2IbYLhRc/edit?usp=sharing
Les Pubs Homework:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B7eaVmJjLfQffocNNI8lMb2q_yn3jxj9gfiE66MzP4/edit?usp=sharing
Advertisements, Websites, Articles

FLT 815 Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Courses

Procedure:

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Recommend
ations /
Variations:

Spring 2015

YouTube Playlist of McDonalds and CocaCola advertisements from

Francophone countries around the world: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLZOQjAe8P_kxrqfIp8KCRrLUyToqrfjPO
Starbucks France YouTube Page:
https://www.youtube.com/user/starbucksfrance
Starbucks making changes to win over France article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/31/business/starbucks-tailors-itsexperience-to-fit-to-european-tastes.html
Starbucks Expansion article:
http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2011/02/11/les-cafes-starbuckspoursuivent-leur-expansion-en-france_1478547_3234.html
Burger King Frances Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/burgerkingfr
Burger King Opening Video:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fmg04_le-1er-burger-king-lillois-aouvert-ses-portes_news
We will begin by brainstorming American brands that are popular in France.
We will discuss those that are long-term popular in France (McDonalds,
CocaCola), those that are new and novel (Burger King returning to France
after being gone for 18 years), and those that are there but not nearly as
successful in France as they are in the US (Starbucks). My students are
especially interested in things such as these cultural differences between
us and Francophone countries what we do that they do or dont do.
We will investigate how Burger King does not really have to advertise
beyond hanging their signs in windows and the French will queue up to buy,
but Starbucks, seen as imposing on caf culture, after a decade in France, still
has yet to turn a profit. We will look at articles, videos, websites, etc. As we
discuss, students will be jotting down thoughts on their journaling note sheet.
Turning away from these examples, we will begin our discussion of two
major American brands in France McDonalds and Coca-Cola. I have
created a YouTube playlist with examples of advertisements from both
brands from French speaking countries around the worlds. After we watch
each advertisement, in their discussion group, students will be answering
questions about them in the table in the document, aprs les pubs. After
each discussion, we will have a short class discussion to share ideas as a large
group.
Using their notes from our conversation about Burger King and Starbucks, as
well as our small group discussions on McDonalds and Coca-Cola students
will be given a homework assignment to design their own advertisement for a
Francophone country. They will be able to choose a target country, how to
approach their audience, what images to use, etc. based on our discussion,
their notes, etc. They will also discuss strategies that might change should
they move their campaign to another French-speaking market. This will be
completed as homework.
Depending on class time the next day, examples would likely be shared to see
how different students approached different countries.
Corbett allows students to collect advertisements from the internet. I chose
not to do that, simply due to wanting to focus student attention on a couple

FLT 815 Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Courses

Spring 2015

items of interest and keep the lesson to a shorter time period due to realistic
time constraints. Teachers certainly could allow students the time to seek out
their own advertisements before beginning discussion.
Teachers with additional time to spend or wanting to have students produce
more in the language could have students produce their advertisements as
video productions.

Rationale:
Students will be able to identify and discuss French attitudes toward several major
American brands.
The first part of our activity will focus on a discussion and examination of the differences of the
French attitude toward Starbucks and Burger King. Starbucks has been in France for ten years and
has yet to make a profit. They have to rethink their entire strategy to try and bring in French
customers. Meanwhile, Burger King is coming back to France with a vengeance and simply by
showing up, have hundreds of people of people in line on their first day.
We will also be looking in depth at Frances long-standing love affair with the American brands,
McDonalds and Coca-Cola. We will discuss why students think the French embrace some brands,
but some are less likely to be successful.
Students will be able to find and identify American and Francophone sensibilities in
advertisements.
After examining advertisements on Twitter and YouTube from several different Francophone
countries and comparing them to American examples also shown in class for reference, students will
discuss and record observations in small groups. Recording observations in table form will allow
students to find patterns in advertisements from the same country, across different countries, etc.
Students will be able to create advertisements catering to Francophone sensibilities.
Students will take their knowledge of French attitude toward these major American brands, as well
as their new knowledge of Francophone sensibilities in advertisements to create their own
advertisements for broadcast in French-speaking countries. Students will be answering essentially
the same questions they did in their discussion groups but for their own advertisements. Students
will also have to think about how their advertisements might have to be changed should they choose
to expand their marketing campaign to other French-speaking countries, regions within their country,
the United States, etc.