Big Ideas
Big Ideas
Listening and viewing with intent supports our acquisition and understanding of French.
Expressing ourselves and engaging in conversation in French involves courage, risk taking, and perseverance.
Acquiring a new language can shape our perspective and identity.
Cultural expression
Forms of cultural expression represent the experience of the people from whose culture they are drawn; for example, customs, folklore, language use, traditions, ways of celebrating, and creative works (e.g., architecture, dance, filmmaking, musical composition, painting, poetry and prose, sculpture, theatre).
can take many different forms.
Acquiring French allows us to interact with the Francophone world.
Acquiring French allows us to explore diverse opportunities
for example, educational, personal, professional, social, and travel opportunities
.
Content
Learning Standards
Content
commonly used vocabulary and sentence structures for communication in past, present, and future
for example, J’ai étudié pour mon test hier soir; Il faisait des sports quand il était jeune; Elles ne sont pas à l’école aujourd’hui; Nous allons regarder un film demain
time frames:- various types of questionsfor example:
- intonated questions (e.g., Tu as faim?)
- Est-ce que questions (e.g., Est-ce que tu as faim?)
- inversion questions (e.g., As-tu faim?)
- questions using different interrogative words (e.g., Comment…?; Où…?; Pourquoi…?)
- sequencesusing words that indicate sequence (e.g., premièrement, en premier, tout d’abord, deuxièmement, après, ensuite, troisièmement, finalement, dernièrement, enfin)of events
- degrees of likes and dislikesfor example, J’aime…; J’aime bien…; J’adore…; Je n’aime pas…; Je n’aime pas du tout…; Je déteste…
- hopes, dreams, desires, and ambitionsfor example, Je veux…; J’aimerais…; Je vais…; J’aurai…; Je finirai…
- opinions about familiar topics
elements of a variety of types of texts
for example, format (e.g., letter versus email message), language, context, audience, register (e.g., formal versus informal), purpose
common elements of stories
for example, place, characters, setting, plot, problem and resolution
idiomatic expressions
for example:
from across la francophonie
- expressions using avoir, faire, être (e.g., avoir besoin de, faire beau, être d’accord)
- expressions from l’argot (e.g., jaser for bavarder)
- other expressions (e.g., coûter les yeux de la tête, c’est dommage, un coup de foudre)
lives of Francophone Canadians
including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people; immigrants to Canada; and Canadians of diverse backgrounds
and their contributions to society
ethics of cultural appropriation
use of a cultural motif, theme, “voice,” image, knowledge, story, song, or drama, shared without permission or without appropriate context or in a way that may misrepresent the real experience of the people from whose culture it is drawn
and plagiarism
Curricular Competency
Learning Standards
Curricular Competency
Thinking and communicating
Explore and derive meaning
comprehend key elements, supporting details, time, place
from a variety of texts “Text” refers to all forms of oral, written, visual, and digital communication, including authentic or adapted texts (e.g., advertisements, articles, biographies, blogs, brochures, cartoons, charts, conversations, diagrams, emails, essays, films, forms, graphs, indigenous oral histories, instructions, interviews, invitations, letters, narratives, news reports, novels, nursery rhymes, online profiles, paintings, photographs, picture books, poems, presentations, songs, speeches, stories, surveys, text messages).
Use a range of strategies to support communication
- include strategies to comprehend and express meaning
- will vary depending on the context and the individual student
- for example, interpreting body language; listening to intonation and expression; paraphrasing, reformulating, reiterating, and repeating; substituting words; using cognates, context, images, parts of speech, prior knowledge, reference tools, similar words in first language, and text features
Seek clarification
using a variety of statements and questions (e.g., Je ne comprends pas; Répétez, s’il vous plaît; Répète, s’il te plaît; Peux-tu répéter?; Que veut dire…?; Comment dit-on…?; Comment écrit-on…?)
of meaning
Make word choices
for example, nuances of different verb forms (e.g., J’avais peur versus J’ai eu peur), pronouns (on versus nous), word placement within a sentence (e.g., ma propre chambre versus ma chambre propre), words with close but not identical meanings (e.g., les chaussures versus les souliers; retourner versus revenir; sortir versus partir)
to convey meaning
Engage in conversations
virtual, online, and/or face-to-face; with peers, teachers, and members of the wider community
about familiar topics can include personal, local, regional, national, and global topics of interest
Express themselves with increasing fluency, both orally and in writing
Narrate
using common expressions of time and transitional words to show logical progression using past, present, and future time frames
stories Stories are narrative texts that can be oral, written, or visual. Stories can be simple or complex and may be derived from real or imagined experiences. They can be used to seek and impart knowledge, entertain, share history, and strengthen a sense of identity. Examples are indigenous oral histories, personal stories, skits, series of pictures, songs, student-created stories.
, both orally and in writing
Personal and social awareness
Explore regional variations
for example, accents, idiomatic expressions, slang, other vocabulary
in French
Explore Francophone cultural expression
Recognize connections between language and culture
as expressed through, for example, regional dialects, historical origins of words, idiomatic expressions, and creative works (e.g., architecture, dance, filmmaking, musical composition, painting, poetry and prose, sculpture, and theatre)
Recognize that language and culture have been influenced by the interactions of First Peoples and Francophone communities
for example:
in Canada
- the Michif language, which includes First Nations and French vocabulary and structures and expresses a distinctive Métis culture
- Chinook Jargon, which was used for trading along the West Coast
- the fact that First Peoples writers in Quebec, such as those from the Innu Nation, have used the French language through prose and poetry to bring attention to the negative effects of colonization on their families and communities
Explore the lives and contributions of Francophone Canadians
Explore the importance of story
Stories are an important way to seek and impart knowledge, beliefs, customs, perspectives, traditions, values, and worldviews. In doing so, they can share history and strengthen a sense of identity.
in personal, family, and community identity
Engage
through, for example, blogs, classroom and school visits (including virtual/online visits), clubs, concerts, courses, exchanges, festivals, films, pen-pal letters, magazines, newspapers, plays, social media and other online resources, stores/restaurants with service in French
in experiences with Francophone communities and people