⚖️French Level 2, Activity 05: Les prénoms et les pronoms démonstratifs / First Names and Demonstrative Pronouns (Online)

Woman with a question mark inside a thought bubble decides between a cupcake or an apple
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Description: In this activity, students will be learning about Saint’s Day and take turns asking and responding to questions. They will also practice using demonstrative pronouns.
Semantic Topics: demonstrative pronouns, la fête, pronunciation, names, culture, les pronoms démonstratifs, prononciation, noms, Saint’s Day

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.

NCSSFL-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.

Idaho State Content Standards:

  • COMM 1: Interact with others in the target language and gain meaning from interactions in the target language.
  • COMM 2: Discover meaning from what is heard, read or viewed on a variety of topics in the target language.
  • CLTR 1.1: Analyze the cultural practices/patterns of behavior accepted as the societal norm in the target culture.
  • CLTR 1.3: Function appropriately in diverse contexts within the target 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:

Warm-up

1. Begin by introducing the Can-Dos for today’s activity.

 

2. Explain la fête (Saint’s Day) to your students. Help them find their Saint’s day on the calendar by searching for their name (or finding a name close to theirs).

“En plus des anniversaires, certaines cultures francophones célèbrent aussi la fête des Saints, ou Saint’s Day. C’est une fête où les gens fêtent le jour de leur prénom. Chaque personne a un jour qui est associé avec leur prénom ! Par exemple, le prénom associé avec le 20 février est Aimée. Aujourd’hui, nous allons trouver nos propres jours et les noms qui y sont associés !” (“In addition to birthdays, certain francophone cultures celebrate Saint’s Day or la fête des Saints. It is a celebration where people celebrate the day of their first name. Each person has a day that is associated with their first name! For example, the name associated with February 20th is Aimee. Today, we are going to find our own days and the names associated with them!”)

 

3. Slides 4-15 have the months and names on each day. Flip through the slides, giving the students a chance to find their name.

Les diapositives 4-15 contiennent les mois et un nom pour chaque jour. Regardez les diapositives et demandez aux étudiants de trouver leur prénom.

 

4. When they find their name, have them tell the group the date in the correct format.

 Lorsque vous trouvez votre prénom, partagez votre date de naissance avec le groupe. Par exemple, si je suis Aimée, je dis “Ma fête est le 20 février.” (When you find your name, share your date with the group. For example, if I were Aimee, I would say “My celebration is February 20th.”)

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 étudiant(e)s. Par exemple, tu peux dire : “Est-ce que tu préfères cette pizza-ci ou cette salade-là ?” (Alternately, you must ask questions to the other students. For example, you could ask: “Do you prefer this pizza or this 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 utiliser le bon démonstratif : ce, cet, cette, ces. (The students must respond to the question: “I prefer this pizza.” Don’t forget that you must use the demonstrative good: this, this, this, these.)

Wrap-up

1. Practice saying a noun and have the students type the word in the chatbox with the correct demonstrative pronoun.

Écoutez les mots que je dis. Vous devez taper le mot avec le bon adjectif démonstratif. Par exemple, si je dis “crayon,” vous allez taper “ce crayon”, puisque c’est masculin. (Listen to the words I say. You should type the word with the correct demonstrative pronoun. For example: If I say “pencil,” then you are going to type, “this pencil”, because it is masculine.)

☆ Make sure that the students are aware that objects that begin with a vowel sound receive the demonstrative adjective “cet,” even if they are masculine.

List of possible nouns:

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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Let's Chat! French Copyright © 2022 by Alexandre Bourque-Labbé; Amber Hoye; Andrea Blythe; Antoine Abjean; Cassy Ponga; Danyelle Quincy Davis; Emily Blackburn; Jasmine Wall; Jorge Corea; Josepha Sowanou; Justin Snyder; Kylene Butler; Lily Nelson; Manon Pretesesille; Michael Quiblier; Mimi Fahnstrom; Olivier Roy; Rylie Wieseler; Samantha Lind; and Tori Fisher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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