Monsieur Stuart

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Grade 8: O r a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Speak First In French Immersion, we focus on the Oral aspect of the language. Teaching new grammatical structures comes much more easily when we master them orally before we try to write with them. So we spend a lot of time talking. Some presentations are more like formal speeches, others are more like casual conversations. We play a lot of games, do skits, roleplays, listen to music and watch videos. Movies in French In grade eight we watch a number of movies in French, usually with French subtitles. Watching films that are familiar to the students allows them to focus on the French language, since they already know the plot. In addition, watching movies related to teenagers helps students appreciate more deeply that French is a real language that teenagers around the world speak. I have found watching movies in French to be a remarkably effective way to help the students refine their listening skills, become familiar with different French accents, develop their vocabulary and their use of expressions. It is interesting to note that usually the subtitles do not match the spoken French exactly. This, I believe, is because the spoken words have to match the movement of the lips of the actor, whereas the subtitles do not. Because the subtitles and the spoken words don't match, we have more opportunities to learn French and to see that there are different ways to express oneself in French. We learn lots of synonyms and have many opportunities to talk about why one may say something one way and why one may choose another way. Students take notes during the movies we watch to develop a vocabulary list. Then, they work in teams of 3 or 4 to create a skit using the new vocabulary. I am consistently amazed at how quickly students start using more sophisticated words and more interesting expressions in their every-day French. Very exciting! Games We play a number of different games to refine speaking skills. These games are very popular with the students. I often have high school students comment that they miss the fun games they used to play in my classroom. Some of the games that we play are called marathon, tac au tac, autour du monde, pourcentage, minute folle, and pyramide. For more information on these games, go to the Grade 7 Oral French page. Evaluation I will upload a copy of the rubric for Oral French shortly. Thanks for your patience. Suggestions Not all families are able to visit a French speaking part of the country or the world, but there are other ways to help your child develop in his or her French speaking. Here are a few ideas. Listening to the radio in French is a good idea. The local CBC French station is 860 AM. There are many other French radio stations that stream live on the internet. Click here to see a list of stations from France. Click here for radio stations from Quebec. Watching TV is a great way to help students learn to understand native speakers more easily. There are a variety of French language TV channels available on cable networks. Radio-Canada is the French CBC. Click here to go to their video page. Scroll down to choose a theme like "jeunesse" (youth), "sports" or "divertissement" (entertainment). Tele-Québec and TV5 are two more Canadian French-language channels. Here is a list of popular TV channels from France available online. You may be required to download a viewer to watch. Listening to music that young people in French-speaking countries is another good way to refine our listening skills. Here is a link to a list of popular French songs released recently. Most include the official video as well as lyrics for the song. Similar to what we do in class, have your child watch familiar movies in French. Being familiar with the plot helps students follow the French dialogue. Put on the French subtitles, or the English subtitles. There are learning opportunities both ways. If your family knows French speaking friends, neighbours or family members, arrange times for your child to spend a couple of minutes speaking with them in French.
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