NATIONAL FRENCH WEEK:  LA SEMAINE DU FRANÇAIS NOVEMBER 5-11, 2007 & 2008

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND CAREERS

French version

Science, Technology, and Careers will be celebrated throughout the U.S. in universities, large and small school districts, urban and city schools, and community French education classes.  Choose one or more of these themes which could inspire a broad spectrum of activities depending on the age and interests of your students. Since the French-speaking world is a leader in medicine, transportation, and communications, you may want to select activities which highlight these themes to students who are fascinated by science and its applications.   The computer now plays a large role in students' lives, and accessing France through the Internet brings the language into real-use situations.   In addition, parents are interested in the career  possibilities open to young people fluent in French.

Below are possibilities for projects which can be incorporated into National French Week  celebrations. The challenge is to take these  activities out of the classroom and into the school  and community to maximize the visibility of French.  As you consider projects, think how they can be played out on a larger scale in the student center, the town library, the  local newspaper.  Engage the support of merchants and travel agents who  deal with French products and French-speaking countries on a daily basis.  Local industries may have chemists and researchers who might lend their expertise and ideas.  Involve the parents of your students whose occupations are related to science, technology, and career placement.  The challenge is to create, with the talent and resources at your disposal and in a dynamic and imaginative way, a celebration of French using these themes.
 

SCIENCE

"Thank you Monsieur Pasteur”
At the elementary level draw inspiration from science and health lessons.  Discuss Louis Pasteur and pasteurization.  Ask students to imagine a life without chocolate milk, cheese for pizzas, or ice cream.  The students can draw the pasteurization process from milking the cow through the purification and distribution of dairy products to their table. “Thank you, Monsieur Pasteur” letters and art work  can be created after such a discussion and displayed in the town library or at grocery stores. To culminate the project, the students could enjoy a French ice cream party! Involve the grocery stores for contributions.

The following activities can be tailored for all levels.  They require lead time for research, posters, or banners and encourages  interdisciplinary cooperation.

Name that Scientist
Students create posters for the school corridors featuring drawings or pictures of faces of French-speaking scientists, mathematicians, and inventors with a brief description of when they lived and their contributions.  Display these posters during National  French Week.  On November 9 a trivia contest can be organized in the library for students and faculty, challenging them to match facts and faces  featured on the posters.

The same type of contest could occur every day of French Week with information about the “Scientist du Jour” read during announcements by French students.

Involve the chemistry and physics teachers in projects designed to highlight French scientists. Projects centering on chemists: Claude Berthollet, Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac, Antoine Lavoisier, Louis Pasteur, and Paul Sabatier could be subjects of experiments or posters.  Leaders in the world of physics such as Jean D’Alembert, Charles Coulomb, André Ampère, Sadi Carnot, Pierre et Marie Curie,  Irène Joliot-Curie, Pierre Duhem, Hippolyte Fizeau, Léon Foucault, Joseph Fourier, Augustin Fresnel, Antoine Becquerel, and Maurice de Broglie could inspire projects, papers, or models for display in common areas of the school or community.

France: World Leader in Medicine
Students are often unaware of the advances Francophone scientists have and continue to make in medicine and pharmacology.  The Pasteur Institute isolated the Aids virus and is responsible for significant research in the field of medicine.  Students interested in medical careers could be motivated to research this institute.  Famous French physicians who could be featured in the who’s who of  medical leaders include  Jean Fernel, Julien La Mettrie, Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis, Luc Montaigner, and Philippe Pinel.  We can also add Nostradamus to the list!

Where in the world?
French geographers and navigators who opened many parts of the world to us and who  included Samuel de Champlain, Paul Vidal, Cavalier de La Salle, Jacques Cartier, and the rustic voyageurs, explored the  U.S.  Students can develop a school-wide  guessing game on how many counties, lakes, or towns bear French names or names of French explorers.  If your school is located in an area explored or settled by the French there is a rich source of  potential community awareness.  Place an ad in the paper or write a feature article on the strong ties your region has to the French-speaking world. (See the Web sites for the Louisiana and Wisconsin celebrations of French heritage at [http://crt.state.la.us/] and [http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/]).

What would our life be like without?
French inventors have changed our world.  Louis Braille, André Citroën, Jacques Cousteau, the Lumière brothers, and  the Montgolfier brothers are significant contributors.  Each of them created valuable and exciting products which daily impact our lives. Students can have fun making models or posters of their inventions for display with a history of the evolution of the product and the rapport it has with local industries.

It adds up!
Math teachers will welcome collaboration about Blaise Pascal and René Descartes since their contributions to mathematics comprise a significant part of algebra and geometry.  Solicit their support in displaying student-generated posters for the classroom or featuring these scientists in all of their classes that week.

CAREERS AND FRENCH

The French Language Covers the World

• Materials: bulletin board in a conspicuous place; paper for drawing outline of map; stencils for lettering; colored markers; copy of AATF flyer entitled Speaking French: An Investment in the Future.
• Preparation time: one week
• Audience: Students, faculty, school administrators
• Procedure: For the bulletin board, students recreate the  central panel of the above-mentioned document.  The finished bulletin board should include not only the map but the list of careers beneath it.  Career possibilities listed can be tailored to local opportunities and augmented with job ads from urban newspapers calling for skills in French.

French  Companies in the United States

• Materials: bulletin board in a conspicuous place; paper on which to  draw outline map of the U.S. or use a ready-made map; stencils for lettering; colored string or yarn;  colored construction paper; map showing French investment in U.S..
• Preparation time:  one week
• Procedure: Recreate the map, which has lines drawn from the various states to circles.  In each circle is a number  corresponding to French investment in the state.  For the bulletin board, replace the lines with colored string anchored by pins. The circles should be cut from construction paper.  Add a list of some French companies below the map.
• Audience: students, faculty, administrators

French Companies in Our State

• Materials: same as for the other bulletin boards
• Preparation time: one week from receipt of statistics
• Procedure: Write the Department of Commerce or State Development Board to obtain information about French investment in your state.  Use this information to create a bulletin board similar to those described above.  Also include investment by Francophone companies from countries other than France.  Information can be in the form of a pie chart or bar graph and can be divided into two panels, one for France and one for the Francophone world.
• Audience: students, faculty, administrators

Guess the Nationality

• Materials: same as for the other bulletin boards
• Preparation time: minimum one week, depending on amount of research
• Procedure: Students make an interactive bulletin board by cutting fold-overs out of construction paper.  On the top fold is the name of a company.  Students lift the top fold and underneath is the nationality.  Make sure that there are some real surprises by including such companies as Square D (Groupe Schneider), Zenith computers (Groupe Bull), and RCA-Thomson.  More advanced or highly motivated students could research the companies and provide additional information about each company under the flap along with the nationality. (Source: Ambassade de France, Service de l’Expansion Économique, 4101 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington DC 20007-2173).  You may also contact the Trade Attaché of your regional French Consulate.

French and Careers

• Materials: Heavy paper or light pieces of plywood cut into rectangles with some kind of cord attached to loop around a child’s neck; stencils for lettering; colored markers
• Preparation time needed: two weeks
• Procedure: Younger students can study the names of careers in French and learn how French can be useful in each.  Each child chooses or is assigned a career in which French is useful and, with the aid of the teacher, letters a simple sign stating “Je suis infirmière" or “Je suis avocat,” "Je parle français” or “J’utilise le français dans mon métier.”  Students wear their signs on the day of National French Week when careers are emphasized.  They may want to decorate the signs with something that represents the profession such as  a  stethoscope for a nurse or doctor, an airplane for a flight attendant, or a book for a librarian. You may want to make these as sandwich boards, but students should be able to sit down comfortably while wearing them.
• Audience: students, faculty, administrators

French: A Language of Business

• Materials needed: flyers, brochures, labels, and direction leaflets in French from a variety of products.  Students can look for labels written in French in supermarkets; many products (cars, dishwashers, cameras, VCRs)  provide directions in French, and some dealers (for example, Honda and Westinghouse) will furnish these in French.
• Procedure:  Students combine written texts with product images to form a colorful collage, with the title “French: A Language of  International Business.”  Involve the art teacher and make this into a more elaborate permanent display on plywood that can be used for several years.
• Audience: students, faculty, administrators

What’s Your French IQ?

• Materials needed: bulletin board in a place where people  have to wait such as next to an elevator or near the school cafeteria; construction paper;  colored markers, stencils for lettering; flyer entitled Speaking French: An Investment in the Future (see Virginia Tech French Web  [www.majbill.vt.edu/fll/french/whyfrench.html])
• Preparation time: one week
• Procedure: Students create an interactive question-answer bulletin board using questions based on information from the flyer and Web site.  The questions are written on the bulletin board but the answers are hidden under a flap that can be lifted to reveal the answer.  Sample questions: Which French-speaking country is the most important export market for the U.S.? Which French-speaking country is the number one tourist destination in the world? Which French-speaking country is a member of NAFTA?  Which of the following items does the U.S. import from France?  A variation might be to post one or two questions each day during National French Week.
• Audience: students, faculty, administrators

RECORDED INTERVIEWS OR GUEST SPEAKERS

French across the Campus

• Materials: video or audio recording equipment; list of prepared questions; informed consent form. Editing equipment is helpful.
• Preparation time: Several weeks will be needed to

1. identify professors willing to be interviewed (possibilities are anthropology, linguistics, history, medicine, biology, physics, English);
2. practice interview techniques and practice with the video camera;
3. schedule interviews;
4. record and edit the interviews.

• Procedure: The interviews should be done with a partner, one interviewer and one camera operator.  People being interviewed should be told how the recording will be used and be asked to sign an informed consent form.  Interviews should deal with the way the professors use French in their work but should be in English in order to reach the widest audience.  The video should be shown during a prearranged time on the campus station.  The recorded material may also be used by professors of French teaching required courses in order to encourage students to take more advanced courses.
• Audience: faculty, students and administrators

French in the World of Work

• Materials: audio or video recording equipment
• Preparation time: several weeks will be needed for the project from start to finish
• Procedure: Same as above but using interview subjects outside an academic setting (international lawyers, diplomats, business people, librarians, missionaries, journalists, hotel employees)  who use the language in their line of work.  The local Alliance Française may be a good starting point for identifying subjects for interviews.  A variation to interviewing and recording these people in their place of work  would be to invite a speaker or panel of speakers to the campus and record their presentations. (Forward with French, a similar video done by the Western  New York AATF Chapter.)
• Audience: faculty, students, administrators

Quizzes/puzzles
Quizzes and puzzles can be run in the school newspaper during National French Week.  Prizes may be given as an incentive to get the entire school to participate with the answers being revealed on the last day of National French Week.  For instance, create a crossword puzzle or other word puzzle using the names of French companies and the products they manufacture.  Software for making crossword puzzles is available.

Most Influential Languages
Students receive  an alphabetical list (on a leaflet or in the student newspaper) of the world’s ten most influential languages and asked to arrange them in rank order.  According to Language Today, a publication  for  language professionals, the order is: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Hindi/Urdu.  The complete article from which this information was taken was reprinted in the January 1999 National Bulletin (Vol. 24, No. 3)  All students should participate in this school-wide contest.

Which Companies are Owned by French or Francophone Countries?
Students receive a list of names of companies (on a leaflet or in the school newspaper) and asked to guess which are French or Francophone owned.  Be sure to include names of companies that are not obviously French or Francophone such as Bic, Mack Trucks,  and Square D along with well-known companies such as Michelin. School-wide participation should be encouraged.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

Models of Modern French Engineering Feats
Students make models of French technological marvels such as the Ariane rocket, Concorde,  TGV, Eurotunnel, Eiffel Tower, Eiffel bridges, or the Pont de Normandie for display in a prominent places.

Create a French Web Page
Students can create their own Web page(s) linking any French projects to the main page.  For detailed instructions on creating a Web page, see [www.frenchteachers.org/technology/self/default.htm].

Technology in French Life: The Marvels of the Minitel
Students could report on technology in daily French life from the multiple uses of the Minitel, the télécarte, touchscreen ticket distributors, and other similar innovations to demonstrate how the French use technology extensively in their daily lives.

Bon Voyage!
France is the number one tourist destination in the world.  Students may want to interview travel agencies for insights as to how many people in their community travel to French speaking countries every year.  In addition, students could contact industries to ascertain how many employees travel to Francophone countries and how often.  A poster could be created using brochures from the agencies and countries with the message: "Travel and French: A Daily Connection."

Career Fair
Create a career fair in conjunction with the counseling department to bring to school companies who have international operations. Contact U.S. Government and state agencies, the fashion and garment industry, U.S. subsidiaries of French companies,  French subsidiaries of American companies, telecommunications, civil engineering, aeronautics, travel, hotel chains, import/export companies, sports stores, food distributors, and others. This is an excellent opportunity to point out Canada as our major trading partner.

The French-speaking World in Your Life
In the local daily community paper students should note for a month how many references appear about Francophone politics, economics, sales, entertainment, food, and travel.  These articles could be pasted onto a large banner which when displayed proves that we are influenced and touched daily by the Francophone world.

Vive le Sport Now and in the Future
Many students eat, breathe, and participate in sports and might be anticipating a career in sports.  Since many champions from French-speaking countries are known world-wide, a large collage should be displayed with photos and headlines from Sports Illustrated, biking, skiing, sailing, and soccer magazines.  A trivia contest could be organized. How many French have circumnavigated the world alone?  How many days does the Tour de France last?  Local sports stores might donate posters and advertising.  The Montreal Canadiens Hockey team has bilingual broadcasts, and many U.S. hockey teams have French-speaking Canadian players who can be contacted for support.

Create a Toy
Students create packaging for  a real or imaginary product. The box features pertinent information in French, and students create an advertisement for it, including instructions for use and warnings about dangers.

The Great  Bonbon Sales Campaign
As a fundraiser, the French students sell French candy.  The advertising, through posters and announcements, should be in French with enough graphics to convey meaning for non-Francophone students.  Tee-shirts can be tie-dyed and puff-painted with French slogans for the salespeople to wear on a sales-blitz day.  Parents can sell candy at work and display the student-generated flyers written in French.

TECHNOLOGY

If you have access to the Internet, visit the AATF Web site "Teaching with the Internet" for ideas.

Scavenger Hunt
Have the students make up questions based on Francophone culture, history, Paris, châteaux, etc. with a bibliography of Web sites consulted.  Publicize these to the school and have students find as many answers as possible. Offer prizes to the winners.  Example: How many arches are there under the gallery at Chenonceau?

"French Rocks"
Students film themselves throughout the fall in skits, mock rock video lipsync's, and student-created commercials which are played on a VCR with a big screen in a continuous loop in a prominent place at school as a kickoff to French week. This  program could be offered to community television for airing.

Parlez-vous français?
With the cooperation of community television, students produce three or more lessons on basic French for travelers or diners which would be shown during National French Week. They also could offer their services at the local library for mini-classes at that time.

Télématin or the Today Show
Students produce a show with two hosts, a weather person, a cooking demonstration, three commercials, a sports report, and a feature story. This project could take a week to write and two days to film, but the results would be not only fun but great visibility for the program if shown at parent conferences on a loop, at school, or on community television.  Invite students' friends to stop by during National French Week for candy and a viewing.

Opération Afrique
The Peace Corps connects teachers and volunteers for letter and audio-tape exchanges [www.peacecorps.gov/wws].  Link each class with a volunteer  in a Francophone country and learn early what the children in the village could use: pencils, pens, paper, etc.  Start early and collect funds throughout the school to purchase these products.  Have an official send-off party during National French Week with press coverage of the event. Play African music on that day.

Key- and Penpals From Around the World
Depending on the technical facilities available, link your students with pencils or e-mail to correspondents from Francophone countries.  Students love pictures, audio-tapes done in the students' native language, recordings of favorite songs, etc. If you have a computer lab with Internet connections, keypals can write each other or establish communication on chat lines.  Although this has to be carefully monitored, the benefits are worth the effort.  A banner with a copy of the photo of each correspondent could be made to display in the school with the caption "French-Speaking Friends From Around the World.  Explore officially linking your school with a Francophone sister school and maximize the publicity.  Perhaps a decree from the foreign school's principal or town mayor could make the link official.  Ask your principal and mayor to do the same.

The Virtual High School
For students versed in HyperStudio, Powerpoint, or Clarisworks and armed with a digital camera or scanner, the students can create a Virtual High School with these multi-media presentation programs. They take pictures of students in class, gym, the cafeteria, the school store, and at school events.  These pictures would be accompanied by captions explaining the images and assembled with music from the school band or orchestra as background. Then, the program on disk could be transmitted to a Francophone school to share with students of English. This project would be announced in the fall and take two months to complete.

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Reprinted from AATF National Bulletin, Special Issue, Vol. 24 No. 5 (May 1999)

For more information contact AATF National Headquarters, Mailcode 4510, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901-4510; Tel: (618) 453-5731; Fax: (618) 453-5733; E-mail: abrate@siu.edu

Created: April 25, 1999
Last update: December 6, 2007
 

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