Life and Death in Paris (La Vie et la Mort à Paris)

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Author: Emily Brouwer

School District: Madrid-Waddington Central School District

Intended Audience:
Content Area: French
Course Title: French 4
Grade Level: 11

Technology Integration:
Technology Hardware: Promethean Board or LCD Projector
Technology Software: Google Earth
Internet Resources: virtourist.com, pere-lachaise.com

Other Content Areas for STEM Integration:
Content Area:

  • Art
  • Social Studies
  • Music
  • English

New York State Learning Standards and Performance Indicators Addressed by this Learning Experience:
Modern Languages
Standard 1: Students will be able to use a language other than English for communication.
Key Idea: READING & WRITING are used in languages other than English for the purposes of socializing, providing and acquiring information, expressing personal feelings and opinions, and getting others to adopt a course of action.

Performance Indicators–Students will:

  • Checkpoint B: write short notes, uncomplicated personal and business letters, brief journals, and short reports

Standard 2: Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understandings.

Key Idea: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION involves meanings that go beyond words and require an understanding of perceptions, gestures, folklore, and family and community dynamics. All of these elements can affect whether and how well a message is received.

Performance Indicators–Students will:

  • Checkpoint B: exhibit more comprehensive knowledge of cultural traits and patterns

Problem Statement:
Monuments and landmarks exist in all cultures . What is the significance of monuments and landmarks to the history of the culture as well as the importance to today’s society?

Essential Question:
How is the life of an individual linked to the history of the culture in which he/she lived?

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this learning experience students will be able to:

  1. Navigate a virtual Google Earth tour of Paris, France and its monuments/landmarks.
  2. Use virtourist.com to read about and answer biographical information about the monuments/landmarks in the tour.
  3. Navigate pere-lachaise.com virtual tour and choose a monument and person of interest to research.
  4. In French, write a short (100-200 word) biography of this individual and how their life intersected with Parisian culture.

Necessary Resources:
List all materials that the teacher or students need to complete this learning experience.

Textbook(s), Workbook(s):
Reference Book(s):
Handout(s): “La Vie et la Mort à Paris”
Other: Google Earth virtual tour of Paris, France with virtourist.com and pere-lachaise.com links; student research sites (wikipedia.com, etc.)

Steps for Implementing Learning Experience:
See “Time for Implementation and Assessment” below.

Instructional Modifications:
Modifications as per IEPs: teacher notes, extended time, partnered interaction, etc.

Time used for Planning:
Research : 10 hours
Curriculum development and design: 5 hours
Materials preparation: 10 hours

Time for Implementation & Assessment:
Each of the following five days is in the context of a typical 42-minute class period.

  1. Google Earth introduction and interaction.
  2. Taking tour and beginning work on handout.
  3. Continuing tour and completing handout.
  4. Review French past tenses and begin work on French biographies.
  5. Complete biographies. (Editing, as necessary, will take place the following week, outside of class time.)

Assessment Tools:
Grade handout.
Rubric for writing.

Reflection:
I was quite pleased with this Learning Experience. I’m a technology “novice” and found working with the various web-based technologies and sites a really empowering experience for myself and my students. The virtual tours are informative and very “real”. We found the layers and options of Google Earth really quite amazing.
Adam Huckle, MWCS Art teacher with whom I collaborated on much of this experience, and I had hoped to combine classes and partner Art and French students in a cooperative learning experience, but our schedules didn’t mesh this year. If schedules allow next year, we will make appropriate modifications to the learning experience.
In future implementations of this learning experience, I might consider swapping out the writing and have partners create French conversations playing the roles of their persons of interest.

Student Work:
Attach one sample of student work that demonstrates a mastery, average, or below average level.

Rigor and Relevance Target:
The Rigor/Relevance Framework has four quadrants. Each is labeled with a term that characterizes the learning performance of the student at that level. Select the quadrant that is most appropriate regarding this learning experience.
A. Acquisition

  • Students use Google Earth and virtourist.com to tour Parisian monuments and landmarks and answer questions.
  • Students use pere-lachaise.com and other internet sites to gather and distill biographical information.

B. Application

  • Students create reports relating the life of their subject to Parisian culture.

C. Assimilation

  • Students use previously acquired French language skills to express their research and conclusions in French.