Peer Review

French as a Second Language

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Jan 27, 2017 by World Languages

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Ratings

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

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Overview:: This website gathers resources for teachers, mainly K-12, on teaching French as a foreign language. Documents and links include class activities, course planning and program support material (some specific to the Canadian school system), as well as theoretical resources on teaching techniques and pedagogy.The CASLT's French as a Second Language site provides flash games, technology projects and helpful links for French language teachers.
Type of Material:: Animated games and classroom activity worksheets.
Recommended Uses:: The site can be used both inside and outside of the classroom, by individuals or groups of students.
Technical Requirements:: works with Firefox, Safari Macromedia Shockwave Flash RealAudio plug-in
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The CASLT's French as a Second Language site is designed to help students expand their French vocabulary, improve their knowledge of Canada and its French-speaking regions and inhabitants, as well as provide them with the opportunity to practice listening to, writing in and speaking in the French language. The site provides games for beginner French language learners who are in need of practicing their colors, numbers, shapes, and feelings, in addition to technology projects for all levels of French language learners.Supports instructors’ teaching by providing teaching resources (activities, pedagogical tools and course design and lesson plan models)
Target Student Population:: The material is designed for all levels of French learners, with the animated games targeting beginners at the elementary school level, and the technology activities targeting beginner elementary school learners through advanced high school learners.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Downloading Flash and plug-in

Content Quality

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Strengths:: The animated games are colorful and user-friendly, and they feature themes (colorful ballons, trains full of circus animals) that would appeal to the very young language learner. The technology activities provide students with practical situations in which they can use their French language skills, and which allow them to increase their knowledge of French and French-Canadian culture: Sample activities include creating a travel brochure and recipe book, researching and then e-mailing a famous French-Canadian, and planning a train trip to Jonquière.
Concerns:: Many of the site's links are no longer working: all but one of the links in the Francophones in Canada section, the IGA grocery store link in the A Visit to the Supermarket activity, and the links in both activities featured in the Shopping section. In addition, the game board in the Travel Canada activity is missing clues. Finally, the site www.Momes.net no longer appears to have a Correspondant option.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: The games will most certainly engage young French language learners. The graphics and themes are attractive, and the written French is reinforced by audio cues as the user scrolls over the images and/or drags a graphic to the correct location. Many of the technology projects have themes which will appeal to students of all ages: discovering traditional French/French-Canadian foods, writing a French e-mail to a new pen-pal, researching the restaurants and museums of Canada, etc. In addition, the worksheets that accompany each technology project are high quality and easy for students to use as they gather the information that is required for each task.
Concerns:: The fact that many of the site's links in the technology project section are not functioning will make it necessary for teachers to provide alternative web pages to their students who wish to complete the assigned task. • A lot of links provided to students for online research activities are in English • Activities are presented without context and learning goals

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: The site is well-organized and the instructions for each game and technology activity are written clearly.
Concerns:: The site could use an aesthetic update: Using fonts of different sizes and colors would make the material more visually appealing, as would incorporating additional audio and video files into the technology project section.

Other Issues and Comments:: The CASLT website also provides a section of classroom ready activities that were featured in past issues of Réflexions (the CASLT's quarterly journal). However, these activities are only available to current CASLT members. A handful of additional classroom activities that were not published in the organization's journal are also included, as well as a list of of useful websites for the French language teacher. Note: The link for LangCanada.ca no longer appears to be active.
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