TitleIII Technology Literacy Challenge Grant

Learning Unit

Overview | Content Knowledge | Essential Questions | Connection To Standards | Initiating Activity | Learning Experiences | Culminating Performance | Pre-Requisite Skills | Modifications | Schedule/Time Plan | Technology Use

OVERVIEW

This learning unit is for the advanced levels of French. The students will be learning about the causes and the results of the French Revolution. They will also be learning about the role of the French monarchy (specifically Marie-Antoinette) and the role of the people (le Tiers-Etat) immediately before and during the French Revolution. The students will also be improving their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in the target language.

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

 The essential question for this learning unit is "what would you be willing to die for?"

CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
List Standard # and Key Idea #: Write out related Performance Indicator(s) or Benchmark(s)

LOTE Standard #1- Communication Skills for Checkpoint C

Key Idea #1: Listening and speaking are primary communicative goals in modern language learning. These skills are used for the purposes of socializing, providing and acquiring information, expressing personal feelings and opinions, and getting others to adopt a course of action.

Students can:

• Understand the main ideas and significant relevant details of extended class discussions or class presentations, and of movies.
• Draw on a wide range of language forms, vocabulary, idioms, and structures in order to participate in class discussions and act out Marie-Antoinette’s trial.
• Engage in extended class discussions and in Marie-Antoinette’s trial, and express their opinions about Marie-Antoinette’s fate.

Key Idea #2: Reading and writing are used in languages other than English for the purposes of socializing, providing and acquiring information, expressing personal feelings and opinions, and getting others to adopt a course of action.

Students can:

• Comprehend the content of the text and various readings that they may find on the Internet.
• Write short paragraphs and a newspaper article in which their thoughts are unified and presented in an organized fashion; errors in form may occur, particularly when the students are writing about complex themes or issues requiring the expression of opinions.
• Use culturally appropriate learned vocabulary and structures associated with a broad range of topics, and structures such as simple and complex sentences to communicate through the full range of time frames when they complete their writing assignments.

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Students will watch a short clip from a movie about the French Revolution (such as, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Pimpernel, etc.). The clip should focus on some of the conditions that led to the French Revolution. Students will complete 5 Words-3 Words-1 Word worksheet in French which gets the students thinking about the French Revolution and the video clip that they were shown.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES
In chronological order including acquisition experiences and extending/refining
experiences for all stated declarative and procedural knowledge.

Students will acquire and integrate the vocabulary terms (la noblesse, la Revolution francaise, and le Tiers-Etat) by completing Key Term worksheets in French using information from the text. They will be able to understand these 3 vocabulary terms that will be used frequently during this unit.

Students will acquire the basic facts about the French Revolution by completing a Central Idea Graphic Organizer (Describing a historical event) in French using information from the text. Students will be able to understand the basic facts (who, what, where, when, and why) about the French Revolution.

Students will acquire knowledge of the storming of the Bastille by searching the Internet. Students will refine and extend their knowledge of the storming of the Bastille using the results of the Internet Search and the information from the text to write a newspaper article in French about that event. The uses and the formation of the passé compose and the imparfait will be reviewed and used in the writing of the newspaper article. Students will write from the perspective of American journalists who are in Paris on July 14, 1789 and witness the storming of the Bastille. Students will need to explain in French what happened on July 14, 1789 in the third person. Students will analyze the perspectives of all sides that were involved with the storming of the Bastille. Students will edit and rewrite until a satisfactory final draft is achieved. The newspaper article will be graded as a normal homework assignment.

Students will acquire information from the text and from videos to help them complete a character profile in French about Marie-Antoinette and about the French people. The character profile includes information about the character’s personality, actions, attitudes, and relationships with other people. The students will understand the roles that Marie-Antoinette and the French people played in the time leading up to the French Revolution. The character profiles of Marie-Antoinette and the French people will be used in classroom discussions and to help the students produce Marie-Antoinette’s trial.

Students will extend and refine their character profiles by writing short paragraphs in French about Marie-Antoinette and the French people. Students will use inductive reasoning to form a conclusion about each character. The written paragraphs will be graded as a regular homework assignment.

Students will refine and extend their knowledge of Marie-Antoinette and the French people by orally comparing and contrasting Marie-Antoinette and the French people in small groups. This activity will begin as a paired-activity in which each pair will compare and contrast their essays and produce a written list in French (using the Open Compare and Contrast worksheet). One pair will share their list with another pair and they will add to their list. The activity will end as a class discussion in French where the teacher will compile a final list of in French. Students will be graded on their participation according to the regular participation rubric.

Students will refine and extend their knowledge of the French Revolution by writing a paragraph in their French journals to answer the essential question at the end of this unit. They will use inductive reasoning to answer this learning unit’s essential question, "what would you be willing to die for?". This assignment will be graded according to the French journal rubric.

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Include rubric(s)

Students will produce and will act out Marie-Antoinette’s trial in French and will then deliberate her fate (the guillotine, life in prison, or freedom) in French.

Each student will be assigned a role (Marie-Antoinette, Marie-Antoinette’s lawyer, the prosecutor, the judge, witnesses) for the trial. The trial must include information about Marie Antoinette’s lifestyle and her role as queen. The trial will be presented in class. (The trial can be videotaped so that the students can watch it during the deliberation to help them make an informed decision about Marie-Antoinette’s fate.)

Then, the students will have to deliberate Marie-Antoinette’s fate (the guillotine, life in prison, or freedom) based on the following criteria:

• Marie-Antoinette’s lifestyle (how she lived and her important contributions to French society).
• Marie-Antoinette’s role as queen (her reputation (the attitude of the people toward her) and her leadership abilities).

Each criterion should be weighted equally in the decision about Marie-Antoinette. The decision about Marie-Antoinette’s fate will depend on the students’ perception of the evidence (the information presented for each criterion). Students must provide rationale for their decision (students must support why they came to their decision).

Students will orally decide Marie-Antoinette’s fate and will orally give their rationale for their decisions in French.

Students will use their readings from the text and their results from the Internet Searches to take some brief notes (outline form) in French that will help them in playing their roles and in making their decision about Marie-Antoinette’s fate.

Students will hold a trial in French. Each student will be assigned a role and will orally participate.

PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS

 Students will be able to conduct an Internet search.

Students will be able to communicate according to Checkpoint C standards.

Students will be able to work in pairs and in small groups.

Students will be able to correctly use the passé compose and the imparfait.

MODIFICATIONS

This unit can easily be adapted to fit a Social Studies curriculum. It can be tailored to a Social Studies text that has a unit dealing with the French Revolution. This unit could also be an interdisciplinary unit with the Social Studies teacher.

UNIT SCHEDULE/TIME PLAN

 6 1/2 week unit

Week 1: Initiating Activity and 5 Words-3 Words-1 Word worksheet about the French Revolution, text readings and Key Term worksheets.

Week 2: Start filling in the character profiles of Marie-Antoinette and the French people based on the text readings and on the video shown during the Initiating activity. Review the formation and the uses of the passé compose and the imparfait (provide additional review if necessary). Text reading about the storming of the Bastille in the text and Internet research about this event.

Week 3: Begin writing newspaper article about the storming of the Bastille. Edit and write final draft. Finish text readings.

Week 4: Finish the character profiles based on the text readings. Internet research about Marie-Antoinette. Pair/ Small group activity using the Open Compare and Contrast worksheet.

Week 5: Write Marie-Antoinette’s trial.

Week 6: Practice Marie-Antoinette’s trial. Perform the trial (videotape for use during the jury’s deliberation).

Week 7: Deliberate Marie-Antoinette’s fate.

TECHNOLOGY USE

Internet research about the storming of the Bastille and Marie-Antoinette.

Videos: Your choice for the Initiating Activity

Marie-Antoinette (starring Emmanuelle Beart)- Les Jupons de la Revolution series, Scherzo Distribution, 1989, 90 minutes.

Text: Tresors du Temps, Glencoe/ McGraw-Hill, 1997.

Videocamera, tripod, and videocassette (if videotaping Marie-Antoinette’s trial)