AP French Language V
Course Overview:
This course prepares candidates for both the Advanced Placement Language and HL/SL International Baccalaureate exams since the school does not offer separate classes. The course is conducted entirely in French; raises the bar of proficiency to conform to national and international expectations; and seeks to give students a more advanced perspective of grammar, vocabulary, history, contemporary French culture, and literary styles. Each unit centers on a cultural and structure theme, with measurement in speaking, listening, writing, and reading comprehension.
It should be noted that for those who remain in French beyond the level V year, small seminars have been created in recent years to explore works from the AP Literature curriculum and other sources. Over the last three years, students have learned to analyse poems and read in their entirety such works as Pierre et Jean, La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu, L’École des Femmes, Candide, L’Enfant noir , Le Cid, Moderato Cantabile, Une Tempête, L'Étranger, and Les Caprices de Marianne.
Course Objectives:
Since most students in this course seek/will seek validation by AP and IB examiners, success depends greatly on demonstrating competence in these areas:
a) written language – handling grammar and syntax accurately through practice exercises, guided and original composition; increasing vocabulary thematically and in context [C6]
b) spoken language – developing fluency and authenticity in describing their daily life, discussing global issues, and showing understanding of several aspects of contemporary France [C5]
c) cultural interaction – working in appropriate cultural and social contexts with a variety of authentic texts in print, on line, from televised sources, and on audio tape/CD [C2, C3, C7]
d) message – understanding ideas on paper and aurally and, at a higher level, properly organizing them for oral and written communication [C4, C5, C6]
e) evaluation – demonstrating proficiency on a national (AP) or international (IB) test in the required format of those [C2]
The ultimate goal centers on lifelong communication in French. With a solid French language base in high school, students can pursue greater educational, travel, and career opportunities. Because this is an advanced course, use of the target language is required. [C1]
Primary Resources:
- Interaction, Sixth Edition. (Thomson Heinle, 2003) [C2]
- Interaction: Workbook/Lab Manual
- French Four Years: Advanced French with AP Component (Amsco, 2006)
Complementary Resources:
· Video segments from France 2 and TV5 (available nightly and on-line; projected on state-of-the-art whiteboard) [C3]
· Poems and short texts that emphasize the course themes [C2, C4]
· Past AP tests and resources from AP Central, as well as released IB exam questions dating back to the mid-1990s [C2]
· Four films in French: Au revoir, les enfants, Les Choristes, Chocolat, and Le Chambon: La Colline aux Mille Enfants [C3]
Evaluation
Tests and quizzes on chapter/theme vocabulary and grammar make up 70% of the grade along with frequent AP/IB quick-start exercises, chapter orals*, and composition.
* includes 3 required IB internal assessment orals
Homework completion is valued at 30%.
Topical outline (by quarter)
QUARTER 1
Unit 1: Le Commerce et la consommation
- Themes: French consumer and eating habits
- Structures: regular and irregular présent, imperatives, nouns, articles, voilà, il y a
- Functions
1. stating preferences
2. giving directions and orders
3. expressing intentions
- Vocabulary: foods, stores, quantitative expressions, merchants
- Literary selection: “Le croissant du trottoir”(Philippe Delerm, 1997) [C2, C4]
- Written Assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: L’importance de l’argent chez moi et dans la société moderne [C6]
- Oral activities: preparation of a meal, eating habits, or shopping preferences; picture or sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
Unit 2: Modes de vie
- Themes: Past and present living situations in France; youth lifestyles
- Structures: regular présent, negatives, reflexive and reciprocal verbs, verbs in –oir, être and avoir idioms, use of depuis
- Functions:
1. daily routines
2. states and conditions
3. interrogation
- Vocabulary: housing, technology, school
- Literary selection: passage from Les Armoires Vides (Annie Ernaux, 1974) [C2, C4]
- Written Assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Tu étudies maintenant en France. Ce n’est plus l’Amérique! Explique comment ta vie et ton horaire ont changé [C6]
- Oral activities: weekends, habits at home; picture or sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
- Movie: Au revoir, les enfants (Louis Malle) [C3]
Unit 3: La vie des jeunes
- Themes: Youth lifestyles past and present
- Structures: irregular verbs in –ir, adjectives and adverbs, comparison
- Functions:
1. describing people and places
2. making comparisons
3. states and conditions
- Vocabulary: relationships, sports and leisure, personal belongings, social issues
- Literary selection: “Roman”(Arthur Rimbaud, 1870) [C2, C4]
- Written Assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Quand j’avais sept ans [C6]
- Oral activities: comparison of teen life in U.S. and in France; picture or sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
- Film: Les Choristes [C3]
QUARTER 2
Unit 4: Les télécommunications
- Themes: Rise of the media in France, computerization of contemporary society
- Structures: irregular verbs with –oire/-re, passé composé with avoir and être
- Function: narration in past tense
- Vocabulary: home electronics, television, parts and functions of a computer
- Literary selection: “Farming Class Hero”(Didier Daeninckx, 1992) [C2, C4]
- Written Assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Ce qui s’est passé sur mon émission favorite cette semaine [C6]
- Oral activities: The role of technology in an adolescent’s life; picture and sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
Unit 5: La presse et le message
- Theme: Rise of print media in France: newspapers, magazines, French reading habits
- Structures: imparfait, plus-que-parfait, dates
- Function: continued narration in the past tense
- Vocabulary: press, literary terms, types of writers and writing
- Literary selection: “L’objectivité existe” (Jean-François Revel, 1984) [C4]
- Written assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Est-ce que la lecture est en baisse? (or) L’indifférence envers les paroles et les actualités [C6]
- Oral activities: description of a good book that you have read or a contemporary event, discussion of bias in the press; picture or sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
Semester 1 testing: mid-December – four-part testing involving listening, reading, oral, and structures (spread out over several days as is the Language Department tradition). This evaluation will reflect the format of the AP Language exam administered in May. [C1, C2, C4, C5, C7]
QUARTER 3
Unit 6: Le mot et l’image
- Theme: French film industry
- Structures: interrogative adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns
- Functions:
1. seeking information
2. expressing time
- Vocabulary: movie terms
- Literary selection: passage from Plaisir des yeux (François Truffaut) [C4]
- Written assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Imagine l’intrigue pour un nouveau film [C6]
- Oral activities: research a French actor, actress, or director on the internet and speak about that person’s life as if you were him/her; picture or sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
Unit 7: Les transports et la technologie
- Theme: rise of technology and transportation in contemporary France
- Structures: object, disjunctive, possessive, and demonstrative pronouns
- Functions:
1. making arrangements
2. indicating possession
3. making distinctions
- Vocabulary: travel, airplane, train
- Literary selection: passage from La Planète des singes (Pierre Boulle, 1963/1967) [ C4]
- Written Assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Compare les avantages et les inconvénients de voyager en train, en voiture, et en avion [C6]
- Oral activities: description of a trip across the United States; picture or sequence [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
Unit 8: À la fac
- Theme: Education in France
- Structures: present and past subjunctive
- Functions:
1. stating opinions
2. reacting and expressing feelings
3. personal values
- Vocabulary: (high school) and university life
- Literary selections: several views of school (Guy Tirolien, Camara Laye, etc.) [C4]
- Written Assessment: chapter test with vocabulary and thematic reading(s) [C2, C4]
- Essay: Comment je changerais l’enseignement aux États-Unis [C6]
- Oral activities: my future career path, essentials for a happy life; picture or sequence to describe [C5]
- Various AP structure and comprehension activities from workbook and test bank [C2, C3, C4]
At the end of Quarter 3, all IB students are subjected to a ten-minute internal assessment oral that is sent to Europe or Canada for grading. This score plus the grade from one of the year’s interactive orals is used to determine 30% of the final diploma assessment. [C1, C5]
- AP testing candidates will take a similar oral, with an added picture sequence. [C1, C5]
QUARTER 4
Unit 9: La francophonie
- Theme: French world identity (Acadie, la Nouvelle France, Louisiane, le Maghreb, etc.)
- Structures: prepositions with infinitive phrases, present participles, relative pronouns
- Functions:
1. expressing intention
2. specifying purpose or nature of objects
3. talking about location, duration, and qualifying information
- Vocabulary: geography and identity
- Literary selections: in lieu of the text’s passage, two or three short texts from African or Caribbean authors [C4]
- Written Assessment: short chapter test on vocabulary
- Final review for AP testing from workbook and full published exam [C2, C3, C4]
AP testing at the beginning of May; IB assessment over two-week period as well. [C2]
Supplementary Unit: Les préjugés et l’immigration en France
- A study of groups and attitudes toward Maghrébins and Jews
- Viewing of two films: Le Chambon: la Colline à Mille Enfants and Pierre Sauvage’s Le Chambon [C3]
- 2 Orals: Comment survivre un ennemi qui occupe mon pays; les défis et les bienfaits de l’immigration [C5]
Semester 2 test [multi-part evaluation similar to the one administered at the end of Semester 1] for all remaining non-Seniors. Test combines AP and IB elements.
[C1, C2, C4, C5]