ielanguages.com is a site which provides free French language audio clips (to which one can subscribe as a podcast), each accompanied by a complete transcription, as well as a cloze paragraph exercise to help both the beginning and advanced French language student improve his listening comprehension and writing ability through exposure to authentic French conversations on culturally pertinent topics.
Type of Material:
Tutorial
Recommended Uses:
• In the classroom to model, practice and/or assess oral pronunciation comprehension
• As homework to reinforce oral proficiency at home
. The audio clips could be used to supplement a high school or college-level French language class.
. The accompanying transcriptions and cloze paragraphs also make the site useful to individuals wishing to improve their knowledge of the French language and culture.
Technical Requirements:
HTML/web browser, flashplayer (to listen to audio files)
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Students will model and improve their French oral comprehension as well as their pronunciation by listening to native speakers and show comprehension and mastery of oral language by accurately completing cloze activities.
They will also gain insight about French cultural and social practices as outlined through the texts.
Target Student Population:
This listening resource will be useful for French beginners with guidance as well as to more advanced French learners both in high school and college wishing to assess their ability to understand native speakers.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
A basic knowledge of French subject pronouns, present tense verb conjugations, and noun-adjective agreement is needed in order to be able to tackle the cloze paragraphs labeled as "facile" (easy).
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
• These listening resources accurately and completely depict each concepts introduced,
• They cover a very important skill (listening) and important concepts in the French core curriculum
• The site provides links to other multilevel resources to practice French reading and listening as well as French grammar and vocabulary.
Concerns:
n/a
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The complete transcription as well as the ready-to-use cloze paragraph for each clip are excellent tools for classroom use. If a student is having difficulty with the cloze paragraph, he/she can choose to be provided with a hint. The topics for each audio clip are well chosen to reflect issues that are culturally relevant in France today, as well as issues that would be of interest to a traditional high school and college student. In addition, the "half conversation" at the bakery in which students must repond to a series of questions in the pauses provided, is a wonderful way to encourage student interaction with the site. The "eavesdropping" and "interview" clips are equally invaluable for providing a student with an opportunity to listen for key words when a conversation is taking place in a noisy location and/or between several individuals who change topics frequently (such as at the dinner table).
Concerns:
• Could expand variety in terms of activities in order to appeal to multiple learning processes.
• Inclusion of more images and/ or video would increase comprehension.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The site is very aesthetically pleasing and very easy to navigate. In addition, there are many options to suit your needs: transciption with the audio, cloze paragraph with the audio, MP3 file to download to your iPod, and easy and difficult versions of several audio clips which makes the site appealing to both beginning and more advanced learners of French.
Concerns:
none
Other Issues and Comments:
none
Creative Commons:
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