La+Rentrée

Unit Title: La Rentrée

__**Level:**__ Grade 8 social studies content, appropriate for grades 6, 7, and 8 __**Language:**__ French __**Author:**__ Lisa Urso, French/Spanish teacher, John Winthrop Middle School, Deep River, CT

E-mail questions and comments to lurso@jwjhs.com.

__**Guiding questions:**__
 * Where are different French-speaking countries located?
 * What are some similarities and differences between schools in different French-speaking countries?

__**Summary:**__

This unit is based on several seventh and eighth grade social studies content standards. "La rentree" is the term used in France to describe the return to school after summer vacation. I designed this unit to be the first one that my students study upon their return to school for their eighth grade year. In the seventh grade, French classes met every other day, between two and three days a week, depending on the A/B rotation at our school. In the eighth grade, French classes meet every day. This unit reviews the language concepts and structures that my students learned in the seventh grade: the verb etre, the present tense form of ER verbs, adjectives, and names of classes.

In terms of content, the students will study the geography of the Francophone world. They will first learn the names of the continents in French, followed by the names of three or four French-speaking countries or regions located on each continent. (The only exception is South America, where French Guyana is the only French-speaking nation on that continent. La Wallonie is a nation of islands located near Australia and New Zealand). Once they have learned about these different countries, students will then have to research the education systems in the French-speaking country of their choice. They will have to answer such questions as: What subjects are studied? What do students do during school? What do students do after school? What subjects do students like? What do they dislike? How long do they go to school during the year? Can they afford to go to school?

In both the presentational and interpersonal assessments, students will pretend to be students from the French-speaking country that they choose to research. They will have to present their research findings as if they lived in that French-speaking country.


 * Here is the unit plan for this unit**:


 * Here is one of the handouts that I use during the unit. It is a picture dictionary depicting school subject vocabulary**:


 * These are the directions for the presentational assessment**:


 * This is the graphic organizer that students will use as they complete their research for their presentational assessments**:


 * Here is the rubric that is used for assessing the students' presentational assessments**: