The next IB Theme that I will cover in my combined French 4/5 class is Communications et Médias. Although I haven’t specifically addressed this theme in the past, I had a lot of fun choosing subjects and creating activities on this theme for my students. While the plan I’ve included in this post does not include all of the lessons (my fabulous colleague, Nicole, also contributed several great activities), it might help others get started on this theme, which encompasses aspects of both the Contemporary Life and Science and Technology AP themes.
Click here (Updated link: 6/29/18) for the agenda to which the resources of each lesson have been linked and see a brief description below.
In order to hook the students’ attention, we started by having the students read an article about popular French youtubers and fill in a table with details from the article. As a follow up activity, I asked the students to watch one video from one of the youtubeurs they read about and post a review on our Learning Management System, Schoology. I also asked them to watch one of the videos shared by a classmate and add their own opinion. It is my hope that introducing my students to these youtubeurs might encourage them to watch other videos in the future.
The next lesson will serve as a quick introduction to French television. As an advance organizer the students will discuss a series TV-related questions in small groups and will then read an article and listen to interviews about TV in France.
The next several lessons are organized around the topic of advertising. The students will watch a video about advertising, discuss some print ads in small groups and then read an article about print ads before preparing a presentation about a print ad.
After the lessons on print advertising, the students will watch a video about TV ads and discuss a TV ad before reading an article about the possible end of TV commercials during children’s shows in France. After reading this article, they will perform a role play and then write a speech based on this article.
The next series of lessons will address the topic of Fake News. The students will read and discuss an infographic about Fake News and then interpret an article and video on the subject. Following these interpretive activities, they will select a Fake News article of their own and express their disbelief at facts in the article. These sentences will allow the students to both demonstrate their comprehension of the “facts” in the article and use the subjunctive mood in a contextualized way. Finally, they will write a Fake News article of their own.
As always, all feedback on these lessons is appreciated!
Image Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/iphone-technology-iphone-6-plus-apple-17663/