March 12th and 13th - French 4/4AC

Objectives :
Students will be able to summarize the main ideas of texts in the target language.

Students will be able to present information to their peers in the target language.

Rationale :
Seeing that the final project asks students to research an event and present it to
the class, I thought that this activity would be quite useful for students to practice
that skill in a low-risk setting. This will help them to feel more at ease when they
are presenting in a smaller group and are being graded based on their work.
Students also tend to work with the same people over and over again and I want
them to begin getting used to working with different peers and hearing from
different people. Groups also tend to be divided by skill level, so I am hoping that
by mixing them up a bit, I will be able to get students who are more comfortable
speaking in French with ones that are not, challenging those students to practice
more.

Furthermore, I think that music is an important part of a culture and I think that
listening to songs of that culture can help to understand them more in a way that
an article cannot. I want students to get a feel for the mentality in the DRC and
apply that to what they now know about these manifestations. This will help guide
our discussion on the legitimacy of the protests in the area.

Standards :
1.1 Interpersonal Communication
Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information,
express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

1.2 Interpretive Communication

Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a
variety of topics.

1.3 Presentational Communication

Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of
listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

3.2 Point of View

Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that
are only available through the world language and its cultures.
 Materials and Setup :
Whiteboard, Markers, Projector, PowerPoint
Playing Cards (8s-Aces, Shuffled)
Poster-Sized Paper
Sharpies (Red, Green, Blue)
Articles for Each Group (1, 2, 3)

Agenda (50 minutes) :

Day 1: Échauffement (5 min.)
Introduction à la situation en RDC (10 min.)
Lecture de l’article (15 min.)
Exercice en groupes (15 min.)
Conclusion (5 min.)

Day 2: Continuer l'exercice (15 min.)

Présentations (15 min.)
Analyse d’une chanson (15 min.)
Conclusion (5 min.)

Day 1
Activity/Time French Speech / English Translation / Actions Teacher Thinking /
Focal Students /
Standards Addressed

Échauffement Bonjour tout le monde ! Aujourd’hui, on va parler des I am hoping that this will be
(5 min.) manifestations en RDC. La République démocratique du a bit of an eye-opener for
Congo. Pour commencer, on va faire ce petit students to see just how
échauffement. Il y a 54 pays en Afrique. Combien de ces many countries in Africa
pays africains sont francophone ? Dans quels pays est- have French-speakers. I
ce que les gens parlent le français ? Essayez d'énumérer want to remind them that
ces pays. Discutez avec vos camarades. this is a useful, international
Hello everyone ! Today, we are going to talk about protests in language that can take
the DRC. The Democratic Republic of Congo. To start, we them to many places and
are going to do a quick warm-up. There are 54 countries in connect them with all sorts
Africa. How many of these countries are francophone. In of people.
which countries do the people speak French? Try to list these
countries. Discuss with your classmates.

I will give students a few minutes to talk this over with

each other. I will also pass out the playing cards at this
time. Then I will ask each table to report back.

Finissez vos discussions s’il vous plaît. Regardez-moi

quand vous avez fini. Bon, merci. Alors, qu’est-ce que
vous en pensez ? Combien sont francophones ?
D’accord, est-ce que vous connaissez quelques pays ?
 Très bien ! Bon, en fait, il y a.... 26 pays francophones !
Pour ces 21 pays, le français est la langue officielle. Pour
les autres, c’est pas officiel, mais les gens utilisent le
français.
Finish your discussions, please. Look at me when you’ve
finished. Alright, thank you. So, what do you think? How
many are francophone? Okay, do you know some of these
countries? Very good! Alright, in fact, there are… 26
francophone countries! For these 21 countries, French is the
official language. For the others, it is not the official language,
but people use French.

Aujourd’hui on étudie la République démocratique du

Congo. Ne la confondez pas avec la République du
Congo, qui était une colonie française. D’accord?
Today we are studying the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Do not confuse it with the Republic of Congo, which
was a French colony. Okay?

Intro à la Bon, la RDC était une colonie belge. Elle a gagné son I think it is important to give
situation en indépendance en 1960. Ça fait 58 ans d’indépendance. them a brief history on the
RDC Aujourd’hui, les gens manifestent dans les grandes DRC before they get into
(10 min.) villes, comme Kinshasa et Lubumbashi. Ils manifestent
more details on their own.
contre le président. Il s’appelle Joseph Kalimba. Il est
devenu président en 2001. Il représente le PPRD, le parti However, I don’t want them
du peuple pour la reconstruction et la démocratie. to only be relying on text on
Alright, the DRC was a Belgian colony. It gained its the board, so I am trying to
independence in 1960. That makes 58 years of speak a little slower and
independence. Today, people are protesting in large cities use more visuals to present
like Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. They are protesting against information to them.
the President. His name is Joseph Kalimba. He became
president in 2001. He represents the PPRD, the People’s
Party for Reconstruction and Democracy. This way of presenting
information is to help
I will ask someone to summarize what I just said to students like Dawson
reinforce it and check for understanding. stay focused and
involved in the class. I
Ça c’est Étienne Tshisekedi. Il a fondé l’UDPS. L’union want to challenge him a
pour la démocratie et le progrès social. En 2016, il a
little bit to understand
appelé les gens à manifester contre Président Kabila. En
2017 il est mort. Maintenant, son fils Félix veut devenir le me, but give him the
leader du parti politique. Voilà ça c’est un peu d’histoire appropriate supports he
pour vous. needs.
This is Etienne Tshisekedi. He founded the UDSP. The Union
for Democracy and Social Progress. In 2016, he called the 1.2 Interpretive
people to protest against President Kabila. In 2017 he died.
Communication
Now, his son Felix wants to become the leader of the political
party. Alright, that’s a little bit of the history for you. Students are processing
spoken words along with
Again, I will ask for someone to summarize what I just written words and visuals
 said. and are demonstrating
understanding.

Lecture de Maintenant vous allez trouver la raison pour laquelle les I want the students to be
l’article et gens manifestent. Regardez les cartes que je vous ai the one “giving the lecture”
exercice en données. Ça c’est votre groupe. Mettez-vous ensemble. for this event. There is a lot
groupes Les carreaux là. Les cœurs au fond de la salle. Les
going on in this situation
(30 min.) trèfles ici et les piques là. Allez !
Now, you will find the reason for which the people are and I want them to see how
protesting. Look at the cards that I gave you. This is your it has evolved over the
group. Get together. The diamonds there. Hearts in the back years. This is for students
of the room. Clubs here and spades there. Go! like Alyssa who do much
better when they are
Bon. Regardez-moi ! Très bien. Ce que vous allez faire. actively involved in their
Vous allez lire l’article que je vous donnerai avec votre
learning rather than
groupe. Puis, vous allez essayer de le résumer.
Comment est-ce que vous pouvez le résumer ? Vous passively taking in
pouvez dessiner des images ou vous pouvez écrire des information.
mots importants. Vous pouvez même faire une
chronologie. C’est comme vous voulez. Pour ça, je vais 1.1 Interpersonal
vous donner une GRANDE feuille de papier. D’accord ? Communication
Bon. Students are sharing their
Alright. Look at me! Very good. What you are going to do.
thoughts and opinions on
You will read the article that I will give you with your group.
Then, you will try to summarize it. How can you summarize the information they are
it? You can draw pictures or you can write important words. learning and exchanging
You can even make a timeline. It’s whatever you like. For thoughts with their
this, I am going to give you a BIG sheet of paper. Okay? classmates on what they
Alright. should be putting in their
presentations.
I will hand out the articles to students. When I give out
the first article to the first group, I will tell them they are
only to work on the first half of the article up until the
horizontal line. When I give it to the second group, I will 3.2 Point of View
tell them to start at the second half and go to the end. Students are acquiring
information through various
newspapers from the target
culture and are accessing
news they normally would
not hear about in their
home culture.

Conclusion Ok, faites attention pour un instant s’il vous plaît. Merci
(5 min.) pour votre travail aujourd’hui. Je vais vous donner
pinces à dessin pour attacher vos articles à votre papier.
Lundi prochain, vous aurez une interro sûr le
conditionnel, le futur et le conditionnel passé. On va faire
un peu de révision cette semaine. D’accord ? Bon, s’il
vous plaît ramasser vos « projets. » On va continuer ça
 demain. Puis vous allez les présenter. Ça marche ? Bon.
Ok, pay attention for a moment, please. Thank you for your
work today. I am going to give you some binder clips to
attach your articles to your paper. Next Monday, you will have
a quiz on the conditional, the future and the past conditional.
We are going to do a little review this week. Okay? Alright,
please gather up your “projects.” We are going to continue
this tomorrow. Then you will present them. Does that work?
Good.

I will collect the posters from the students along with

their articles.

Merci pour votre travail aujourd’hui ! Bonne journée et à

demain !
Thank you for your work today! Have a nice day, see you
tomorrow!

Day 2
Activity/Time French Speech / English Translation / Actions Teacher Thinking /
Focal Students /
Standards Addressed

Continuez le Bonjour tout le monde ! Aujourd’hui vous allez finir le

travail d’hier travail d’hier. Vous avez 15 minutes. Essayez de finir !
(15 min.) Allez !
Hello everyone! Today you are going to finish the work from
yesterday. You have 15 minutes. Try to finish! Go!

I will walk around and check in on how students are

coming along. If they seem like they have finished
drawing or writing on their papers, I will tell them to go
over what they are going to say about their article.

Présentations Ok, concluez votre travail s’il vous plaît. Qui veut 1.3 Presentational
(15 min.) commencer ? Merci, on vous écoute ! Communication
Okay, wrap up your work please. Who wants to start? Thank Students are using their
you, we’re listening!
visual aids to present the
I will let each group present. I will ask if students have information they learned in
any questions for the other teams. their articles to the class.

Analyse d’une Bravo tout le monde ! Vous avez tous fait de très bon 1.2 Interpretive
chanson travail ! Maintenant, on va écouter une chanson d’un Communication
(10 min.) rappeur congolais. Mais d’abord, on va lire un blog de Students are reading blog
quelqu’un qui s’appelle Emmanuel. Je vous avertis, c’est post about a song and will
un blog donc il y a peut-être des erreurs. Ce n’est pas be discussing what they
toujours bien écrit, mais l‘auteur fait une bonne analyse learn from the blog and
de la chanson. D’accord ? Bon, qui veut commencer la how they feel about the
 lecture ? Merci. song.
Great job everyone! You did some great work! Now, we are
going to listen to a song by a Congolese rapper. But first, weI want students to get a feel
are going to read a blog by someone named Emmanuel. I am for what the song is about
warning you, it’s a blog so there are some mistakes. It is notbefore we listen to it. That
always well-written, but the author does a nice analysis of the
way they can just enjoy the
song. Okay? Alright, who wants to start the reading? song and focus on the
sounds and the different
I will continue picking volunteers to read the text. If there style used by the singer,
are no volunteers, I will choose students if wait time but still have a sense for
can’t make someone uncomfortable enough to read. I will the meaning behind it.
also pause to highlight the lyrics of the song.

Très bien, maintenant on va écouter la chanson. Elle est

chantée par Luxxus Legal. Il chante en deux langues, le
français et le lingala. Bon, on l’écoute.
Very good, now we are going to listen to the song. It is sung
but Luxxus Legal. He sings in two languages, French and
Lingala. Alright, let’s listen to it.

I will play the song for the students.

Discussion/ Alors dites-moi, qu’est-ce que vous pensez ? Vous 1.1 Interpersonal
Conclusion l’aimez ? Oui, c’est pas mal, n’est-ce pas ? Maintenant je Communication
(10 min.) veux vous poser une question qu’on va discuter. Ces Students are sharing their
manifestations qui se déroulent en RDC, est-ce qu’elles
opinions on the song and
sont légales ? Est-ce que les gens ont demandé
permission au gouvernement ? Non. Mais, dans cette how they feel about the
chanson, Lexxus Legal constate que la démocratie vit protests based on what
dans la rue, que c’est le peuple qui décide. Donc, they learned from the
réfléchissez à ces questions. Dans ce cas, est-ce que les articles and the blog.
manifestations sont justifiées ? Pourquoi ou pourquoi
pas ? Quand est-ce qu’il est acceptable de manifester These questions are
sans autorisation du gouvernement ? Pensez un peu,
designed to push
puis discutez avec un partenaire.
So tell me, what do you think? You like it? Yeah, it’s not bad, students a little further
right? Now I want to ask you a question that we are going to and are geared towards
discuss. These protests that are happening in the DRC, are students like Salome who
they legal? Did the people get permission from the want that extra
government? No. But, in the song, Lexxus Legal says that intellectuel level to the
democracy lives in the streets, that it’s the people who class. However, the
decide. So, think about these questions. In this case, are the
sentence starters on the
protests justified? Why or why not? When is it acceptable to
protest without authorization from the government? Think a PowerPoint are meant to
little and then share with a partner. help other students form
their thoughts around
I will give students a couple minutes to think, then I will these questions.
remind them to share with a partner.

D’accord, finissez vos réponses s’il vous plaît. Dites-moi,

qu’est-ce que vous pensez ? Est-ce que ces
manifestations sont justifiées ? D’accord, alors
maintenant, est-ce qu’il est acceptable de manifester
sans autorisation ? Que pensez-vous ?
Okay, finish up your answers please. Tell me, what do you
think? Are these protests justified? Okay, and now, is it
acceptable to protest without authorisation? What do you
think?

I will take responses from students.

Bon, je suis vraiment fier de vous tous. Vous avez fait de

très bon travail. Merci et bonne journée. À demain !
Alright, I am really proud of you all. You have done some
great work. Thank you and have a good day. See you
tomorrow!