⚖️French Level 2, Activity 05: Les prénoms et les pronoms démonstratifs / First Names and Demonstrative Pronouns (Face-to-Face)
Products: Saint Day/Name Day
Practices: A law created in 1803 mandated that all French people name their children after Catholic Saints, which was only amended in 1993. Due to this, many French people celebrate the feast of the Saint that shares their name in addition to their birthday!
Perspectives: Tradition is important in France and sticks around well into the modern age.
- In which ways can you notice how France’s history of being a Catholic country has influenced modern French culture?
NCSSFL-ACTFL World-Readiness Standards:
- Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations or correspondence in French to provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
- Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret spoken and written French on a variety of topics.
- Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures of the francophone world.
- Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of French and their native language.
Idaho State Content Standards:
- COMM 1.1: Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.
- COMM 2.1: Understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
- CLTR 1.1: Analyze the cultural practices/patterns of behavior accepted as the societal norm in the target culture.
- CLTR 1.2: Explain the relationship between cultural practices/behaviors and the perspectives that represent the target culture’s view of the world.
- COMP 2.1: Identify, describe and compare/contrast products and their use in the target culture with the learner’s culture.
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can discuss dates and days of the week.
- I can clarify objects/people that I discuss.
- I can recognize some cultural norms in French-speaking countries.
Materials Needed:
- Whiteboards
- Whiteboard markers
- Google Slide Presentation
Warm-up
1. Begin by introducing the Can-Dos for today’s activity.
Aujourd’hui, nous allons discuter la prononciation, la culture et les descriptions. (Today we will discuss pronunciation, culture, and descriptions.)
2. Introduce students to la fête (Saint’s day).
En plus des anniversaires, les cultures francophones fêtent aussi la fête, ou Saint’s Day. C’est un jour où les gens fêtent leur prénom. Chaque personne avec un prénom chrétien a un jour associé avec son prénom. (In addition to birthdays, Francophone cultures also celebrate la fête, or Saint’s Day. It’s a day when people celebrate their name. Every person with a Christian name has a day associated with their name.)
3. On the first slide of the warm-up, provide an example from February.
Par exemple, le 26 février est la fête d’Alexandre. (For example, February 26 is Alexander’s Day.)
4. Now, go through each of the months and read a few names. Have students tell you the date that the name falls on. Then, switch it up and tell students a date, having them read off the name.
Maintenant, je vais vous lire quelques noms de chaque mois. En groupes, vous irez à tour de rôle pour trouver la date. Par exemple, le mois de février, (Name of one person from each group) va essayer de trouver la fête d’Agathe. C’est quel jour ? (Now, I will read you a few names each month. In groups, you will take turns to find the date. For example, the month of February (Name of one person from each group) will try to find Agathe’s Saint’s Day. What day is it?)
Oui, la fête d’Agathe, c’est le cinq février. (Yes, Agathe’s Saint Day is the fifth of February.)
Tout le monde est prêts à commencer ? (Ready to start?)
Main Activity
1. Go through the slides, having students take turns asking questions about the items listed on the screen.
À tour de rôle, vous devrez poser des questions aux autres étudiants. Par exemple, tu peux dire : “Est-ce que tu préfères cette pizza-ci ou cette salade-là ? (In turn, you will have to ask questions of the other students. For example, you can say: “Do you prefer this pizza or that salad?)
2. The other students will respond to the question.
Les étudiants devront répondre à la question: “Je préfère cette pizza-ci.” N’oubliez pas qu’il faut utilisez le bon démonstratif : ce, cet, cette, ces. (Write these on the whiteboard to help) (Students will have to answer the question: “I prefer this pizza.” Do not forget that you have to use the demonstrative good: this, this, this, these.)
Wrap-up
1. List items and have students write down the item with its appropriate demonstrative.
Pour cette activité finale, je vais vous donner un mot à la fois. Vous allez écrire le mot avec son démonstratif. Par exemple, si je dis “crayon”, vous écrivez “ce crayon”, parce que c’est masculin et singulier. (To wrap-up, I am going to give you one word at a time. You are going to write the word with its demonstrative. For example, if I say “pencil”, you write “this pencil”, because it is masculine and singular.)
2. Here is a list of words if you have trouble improvising them:
Fille (f) (Girl)
Garçon (m) (Boy)
Femme (f) (Woman)
Homme (m) (Man)
Chat (m) (Cat)
Maison (f) (House)
Hôpital (m) (Hospital)
Parc (m) (Park)
Piscine (f) (Pool)
Sandwich (m) (Sandwich)
Pomme (f) (Apple)
End of Activity:
- Can-Do statement check-in… “Where are we?”
- Read can-do statements and have students evaluate their confidence.
- Encourage students to be honest in their self evaluation
- Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future activities!
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can discuss dates and days of the week.
- I can clarify objects/people that I discuss.
- I can recognize some cultural norms in French-speaking countries.
Cultural Resources
This video gives more context to the warm-up activity:
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