Peer Review

Francoclic

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Reviewed:: Aug 4, 2009 by World Languages

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: Francoclic is a French language resource site in five modules. Designed with the Brazilian learner in mind, it makes so much use of the target language that French learners who do not read Portuguese should still be able to use it. Some highlights are the impressive collection of external links, many of which are already in the MERLOT World Languages collection such as Bonjour de France, TV5monde, 7 Jours sur la Planete and more. Designed by le Ministerio da Educaçao do Brasil in collaboration with the French Ministere de la Culture and le Ministère des affaires étrangères français, Francoclic is bilingual (Portuguese and French). It is accessible for anyone who wants to improve his or her French. First, Reflets Brésil is adapted from the French program Reflets. Designed mainly for Brazilian learners, this method is based on 24 videos (Episode and variations) in French that recall « telenovelas ». The explanations (grammar, and cultural points) are in Portuguese and the video are in French. The course can be downloaded with the scripts and exercises in French for each episode. Br@nché !is a TV program oriented on French culture from the French channel, TV5 Monde. France Feelings is a module where each movie/report has a transcript and series of original exercises and corrections. Le monde francophone has links to dictionaries, administrative resources, current affairs, cultural events, headlines. Agriscola is a FLE module oriented on agriculture. The module is completely in French, a very structured French course with a French movie than can been seen with French or Portuguese subtitles, supplemented by grammar modules in French and exercises that are immediately corrected. « Images de France » is conceived by le Ministère des affaires étrangères français, and contains cultural images.
Type of Material:: Tutorial
Recommended Uses:: Can be used by independent learners as a learning and testing tool. Can be used in the classroom as a resource (videos with transcript). Tests (with corrections) are a useful feature. Many resources for teachers such as pictures, videos and articles.
Technical Requirements:: Media player, Flash player. Some memory. It is best to close most applications when watching the videos if you are using an old pc.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: All skills- listening, speaking, reading, writing and culture.
Target Student Population:: Beginners, Intermediate and advanced. School, Colleges, Universities.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Some of the videos require second year proficiency.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The material is impeccably correct and the modules are well-designed. With the aide of an instructor, a good curriculum can be planned with these materials. Each module has a clear purpose and an adequate depth. It definitely includes an adequate amount of material. Most of the videos and modules have been made in France and then adapted/translated/completed by the Brazilian ministry.
Concerns:: The user must remember that the intended audience is Brazilian, so dubbing and subtitles are done in Portuguese. However, for those who favor target language immersion, this is not a great obstacle.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The teaching modules identify the learning objectives and the prerequisite knowledge. Some modules can be useful as a teacher resource and for independent studies. Many documents from branche can inspire a learning assignment. All these products are extremely diverse and cover widely the diverse aspects of the learning process.The students will find so much authentic French here that they are bound to be engaged. There are exercises with corrections along side culturally rich videos and image banks. The modules invite non-sequential short visits. There is a lot to discover and explore.
Concerns:: All these modules are very different in quality and effectiveness. The francophone links bank needs to be maintained for currency.Some links are not necessarily up to date.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: Most of these modules are very easy to use and have clear instructions. The site can be engaging andit covers many different subjects. Most of the modules provides an excellent quality multi-media object. Certain written exercises provide the accentuated vowels, some modules provide online exercices, some provide pdf exercices, others provide word documents exercices . The design is different for each module.
Concerns:: Some of the modules are very confusing, some links do not work. Each module has a different navigation scheme. Some modules provide better media quality than others.

Other Issues and Comments:: I would give 5 to certain modules and 3 to others/ I do not think that this website should be treated as a block the richness variety and quality of the modules is too heterogeneous.
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