Learning French through words…

This is a book, translated into English, written by a French author about his encounter with a little man whom the author calls "The Little Prince." The book is a story of how the two met and how the author learns about The Little Prince. I think that to use this book, I would first read it in English to my class, maybe a little bit each day, and then I would have the class read the French version of the book as a play, for there are many different parts in the book.

Age Level: I feel that this book could be used in either a middle school or a high school.

**This is my personal favorite! J

LeMieux, A. (1997) Dare To Be Me. New York: Avon Books, Inc.

This is a book about 2 young female best friends. One girl, Justine, has been away in Paris with her family for a year, while her best friend, Mary Ellen stayed in the United States. The book goes through the changes the two have to endure when Justine returns and how to deal with how she has changed since living in France. I think that this book would be good for students to understand the cultural differences and how peoples views and attitudes may change after spending time in a foreign country.

Age level: I believe that this book would be good for middle school students for that is where the characters in the book are at. I think that this book would appeal more to girls than boys for the fact that it is about two female best friends and how they try to make their relationship stand the test of time and distance.

Camus, A. (1946) The Stranger (L’Etranger) New York: Vintage International

This is a story of an ordinary man who gets drawn into a murder, in Algeria (that is where Camus is from). It is on a more difficult level of reading.

Disney Books: (1994) Hachette Edition Italie: G.E.P. Cremona

Le Roi Lion – The Lion King
Le Chat Bott� – Boots the Cat
Le Bossu de Notre Dame – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Cendrillon - Cinderella
La Belle au Bois Dormant – Sleeping Beauty

I would use these books as introductions, right at the beginning of class. They are stories that a lot of students will already know, so they may have a better chance of picking up the vocabulary.

A list of holidays and traditions of the French. (See attachment #1) I would use these throughout the year. We would do comparisons on the differences between their traditions and the traditions of my students.

Ganeri, A. & Wright, R. ( 1993) France-Things to Make-Activities-Facts. New York: Franklin Watts.

This is a book that has many interesting and important facts about France and its culture. The book also has directions for fun activities, for example, making a Mardi Gras mask. This is a very good resource for teachers.

Age level: This book is written in English, but the facts in it are necessary at all levels, especially the beginners of French. I would use the activities in all of the French classes because I feel they would be useful and fun.

Chiarelli, B. ((1997) The Atlas of World Cultures. Florence (Italy): McRae Books.

This is a book that focuses on all the different cultures of the world. This is a book that covers a lot of ground in a short time, but is good for beginners to help them learn about the differences that exist among the many cultures of the world.

Age level: I would use this book in French I and maybe French II. It would be a great resource book for students who have to research a bit on the French and francophone cultures.

Crespi, F. (1995) A Walk in Monet’s Garden. London: Frances Lincoln Ltd.

This is a package book that has a spectacular pop-up display and a 24 page booklet that explains a little about each of Monet’s paintings and his life. The pop-up display contains color reproductions of Monet’s gardens, his famous lily pond, his studios, and his house.

Age level: I think that this book would be a good display to have up in the classroom, especially during the time where the class is studying the Renaissance, Monet or art. It can be used at all age levels for all students to view.

Copplestone, T. (1998). Pierre-Auguste Renoir. New York: Gramercy Books.

This book contains pictures of 50 of Renoir’s paintings. Beside each picture there are small paragraphs that tell about the painting, the year, the size, and a brief explanation. A story about Renoir’s life is on each page of the book.

Fern�ndez, J.J. ((1998) Quick-to-Solve Brainteasers. Ontario, Canada: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

This is a book that has pages and pages of brainteasers about many different subjects. Some subjects include: weights, family ties, clocks and calendars.

Age level: I think that I would use this book at all levels of my French. I would use it as a read-aloud at the beginning of the class. I believe it is a good change from always using materials related to France and the French culture.

This is a newspaper designed for students at the high school level. It contains many articles on all subjects ranging from what the new music trend is, to movies, to what is happening in the economy and government.

Use: I would use this newspaper, if I was able to subscribe to it and have each student get one, as a weekly type of project. We could read an article each week on different topics to introduce the students to French writing and reading.

Le Figaro. Premier Quotidien National Fran�ais. Weekly paper. This is the national newspaper of France. It has articles arranged in a fashion like those of our local newspaper.

Discovery Guide: France. A publication of the French Government Tourist Office. This is a yearly publication that goes over many different aspects of France. It mainly focuses on attractions for tourists, and explains about those attractions or places.

Use: I would continue to personally subscribe to this magazine and would place in it my classroom in the reference area. I feel that students at all level could use this English written magazine to help them when they are researching information on France for a project. It may also help them to find out where or who they could contact for more information on a specific place or attraction.

L’Express. This is magazine that compares to our Time magazine. It contains many articles on many different subjects from movie reviews to politics.

Use: I would subscribe to this magazine and take articles that I found from it to use in my class to enhance discussion or to emphasize a particular theme or topic that the class is studying.

Perrin-Chattard, B. et J.P. (1997) Toute La Cuisine Fran�aise. Paris: Gisserot. This is a recipe book of famous and most used French recipes. It is written in French. There are a lot of pictures along with the recipes to help you see what it is that you are making.

Age level: I think that this book could be used with students from middle school on up. I could use it to help teach the students about the different plates the French have when they eat, use it to learn about the numbers and the difference in measurements, or use it to have the students try recipes on their own to have the class sample during a culture unit.

Child, J. (1996) The French Cookbook. New York: This is a book that contains many famous French recipes.

Use: I would use this book to help teach culture and the differences between cultures through the food that they eat. A project that I could do with this book would be to have the students try recipes at home with their families from the book and compare it with recipes from their family heritage. We could even make a French Class Cultural Cookbook with recipes, pictures, and small descriptions of each recipe. We could then maybe have a cultural day where we could invite parents to come and taste the students work while viewing other work that the students have done it class.

Haviland, V. ((1959) Favorite Fairy Tales Told in France. New York: Little, Brown and Co.

This book has five famous French fairy tales in it (i.e. Puss in Boots). I think this book would be a good read-aloud book so that the students could listen to some of the French’s famous nighttime stories and relate them to the ones we have in the United States.

Age level: I believe that this book could be used in at a middle school level, and I would read it to them in English; at the senior high level, I would try to find the stories in French to read aloud to the class.

Pour rire: Une histoire des voyaguers. (I am still looking for the information on where I found this story)

(see attachment #2)

Use: I would use this in a class to show my students how the French "play on words". It would also be good to use during a unit on travel.

There are many resources for both students and teachers at this site. First for students there is a link to a dictionary and to exercises and fun sites about France. For teachers there are a lot of links to discussion groups which are very helpful. There are also links to French papers so that you can keep up on the news in France.

www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html - Tennessee Bob’s Famous French Links

This is a wonderful source for links to many sites that are related to France. It is divided into categorize to help make the searching easier. I believe that both students and teachers would benefit from this site.

www.courses.has.vcu.edu/smoore/index/html - French Activities

This site has an alphabetical listing of different activities for a wide range of topics that one could use and apply in their classroom. Most activities are very fun and I have found this site to help as an idea starter when I have no idea what to do for a certain topic.

www.facc-chicago.com/content/overview1.html - The French American Chamber of Commerce of Chicago. This is both a resource for teachers and students. There is a lot of information about the influence on France in the United States, the French economy, and French subsidiaries in the U.S.

www.info-france.org/main.htm - Info France – USA, The French Embassy.

The French Embassy site has wonderful information about France, their relation with companies in the United States, news, and a wonderful link for kids.

www.itp.berkeley.edu/~thorne/HumanResources.html - Foreign Language Resources on the Web

This site offers many quality links to pages related to France, such as a virtual tour of the Louvre, a metro map of Paris, and a fun page with information about unique French items like bidets.

D�jeuner du matin

Il a mis le caf�
Dans la tasse
Il a mis le lait
Dans la tasse de caf�
Il a mis le sucre
Dans le caf� au lait
Avec la petite cuiller
Il a tourn�
Il a bu le caf� au lait
Et il a repos� la tasse
Sans me parler
Il a allum�
Une cigarette
Il a fait des ronds
Il a mis les cendres
Dans le cendrier
Sans me parler
Sans me regarder
Il s’est lev�
Il a mis
Son chapeau sur sa t�te
Il a mis
Son manteau de pluie
Parce qu’il pleuvait
Et il est parti
Sous la pluie
Sans une parole
Sans me regarder
Et moi j’ai pris
Ma t�te dans ma main
Et j’ai pleur�.

Jacques Pr�vert dans Paroles
Editions Galimard, 1949 - copyright

Un matin l'escargot gris

Un matin l'escargot gris
las de tra�ner son logis
s'en va chercher un ma�on
pour construire une maison
il frappe chez le li�vre
le li�vre a de la fi�vre
il sonne chez l'�cureuil
l'�cureuil a mal � l'oeil
il s'en va chez le serpent
le serpent a mal aux dents
tant pis dit l'escargot gris
je garderai mon logis !