In most topic areas we present language which can be used to make cultural comparisons. For example, a list of breakfast foods / drinks can be split into what is more popular in the UK + what is popular in Spain, etc. You may need to ensure that you do present some items more likely to appear in the target language culture! By then using a Venn diagram for students to categorise the language you introduce an element of cultural comparison. This can apply to so many different contexts – sports, hobbies, holiday destinations, etc. My PowerPoint slide with a Venn Diagram is attached below.
POWERPOINT an easy approach to cultural understanding
Clearly earthquakes are a common feature in many countries and we know of the devastating effects that these events can have. To draw attention to the fact that a number of French-speaking countries are on fault lines and are at risk of earthquakes, we can incorporate the use of earthquake drills in schools into our teaching when the covering the imperative. The idea is to build up to a type of “Jacques a dit” activity giving orders to students.
The resources are below + there is also an interesting video on the BBC Learning Zone about a school in Guadeloupe and an earthquake drill – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/au-coll-ge/1716.html
WORKSHEETS READING Telling people what to do in French The imperative in French What should you do in the case of an earthquake Earthquake reenactment script
Le Kiloshop sells its clothes by the kilo. Having presented clothes to students they can come up with interesting conversations in the shop buying different weights of clothes. As well as being a more unusual way of dealing with the topic of shopping for clothes this provides a bit of cultural background on a rather unusual shop. I am only aware of the kiloshop in Lille. There may be others!
Flights cancelled all over northern Europe due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland has drawn attention to plate tectonics and will be providing geography teachers with some excellent footage to illustrate how volcanos occur. At my previous school we taught a unit for many years on volcanos in Iceland. The resources are attached below. We taught this as part of a Content and Language Integrated Learning programme (CLIL). This topic area could also be addressed when looking at town and country or environment and La Réunion is a francophone focus for such work in French. One of the worksheets below is based on the French TV programme “C’est Pas Sorcier-volcans, séismes et tout le tremblement” which can be bought on Amazon.fr.
WORKSHEETS c est pas sorcier Islande Introduction c est pas sorcier VIDEO WORKSHEET higher C est Pas Sorcier LA REUNION La Réunion BACKGROUND
With the end of term approaching those teaching Spanish may want to do some work on a carol. Campana Sobre Campana is a famous one but was also recorded by the Mexican pop group RBD (Rebelde). This gives you an opportunity to learn about the band, its members and also provides an opportunity to look at Mexico. Below is a PowerPoint, a worksheet on two of the members of the band as well as a link to the RBD website. www.grupo-rbd.com
POWERPOINT Campana sobre campana WORKSHEET REBELDE miembros del grupo
With the groups all decided now for the summer’s World Cup all those opportunities return for some international dimension work with Languages at the core. There are many resources already out there but just in case you are in need of something a bit different to help present countries the attached video in French from Youtube is useful.
And for Spanish the attached resource might be useful.
Los futbolistas Reyes + Guti