Course Description

 Objectives:  Students will continue to develop and strengthen their French language speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills.  We will review vocabulary and grammar that was presented in previous years and add more sophisticated grammar and vocabulary in order to express concepts like probability, possibility, and necessity, as well as more precise descriptions of actions and time.  Students will use more pronouns and idiomatic expressions in their writing and speaking.  Students will be able to communicate about a variety of topics including leisure activities, vacations, music and dance, geography, and the daily news with detail and emotion.  We will continue to explore Francophone culture through literature, music, and film.

Methods:  French 5-6 is taught entirely in French.  Easier activities such as model/repeat and TPR will still be part of the class, but students will be leading more of the discussions and performing most of the reading aloud. Longer individual and paired speaking activities will be part of the daily class routine.  The bulk of written work will be completed outside of class. 

Materials:  We will use the Glencoe text Bon Voyage 3 and its ancillary materials as well as handouts from other sources.   Our aim is to cover Chapters 1-8.   We will use supplementary material such as music, video, web sites, short stories, news articles, and exercises from the SAT II prep book as appropriate and as time allows.

Students are expected to bring their textbooks, workbooks, French binder, and writing material EVERY SINGLE DAY OF CLASS. 

Format: French 5-6 meets every day for 40 minutes, except on block days when it meets for 80 minutes or not at all.   Students will read, write, hear, and speak French every day. 

Chapters will take approximately 3 weeks.  Students will have one or two short quizzes per week and a graded speaking assignment once or twice a week.  Students will write at least two short compositions per quarter and will make one or two 15-minute presentations per quarter.

Grades:  Student performance is assessed by lesson quizzes, conversations and oral quizzes, class activities, projects, chapter tests, semester tests, and completion of daily work.  Students will have homework ALMOST every day that ranges from copying vocabulary lists to workbook exercises to short writing assignments.   Whether or not homework is assigned, students should review current and previously studied French vocabulary and grammar at home every day.  Repetition is fundamental to learning a foreign language, and students are better prepared to actively participate in class if they review outside of class.  Student participation is essential to learning a language, and adequate outside review makes speaking French in class easier and more fun!  Homework counts as almost 30% of the quarter grade. 

Each quarter grade is 40% of the semester grade with the semester exam comprising the

other 20% of the grade.

Letter grades appear on report cards and progress reports.  The letters are based on the following percentages:

98-100A+            73-77   C

91-97     A            70-72   C-

90   A-                 68-69   D+

88-89    B+            63-67   D

83-87    B              60-62   D-

80-82    B-            Below 60 % is an F

78-79    C+