In-Class Writing: Portraits from Post Cards

Level: Elementary. Could be adapted to higher levels.

Immediate Application: French 101, Voilà, Leçon 10 or 11.

Skills: Writing.

Structures: Present, futur proche, and passé composé.

Functions: Describing

Learning Styles:

Good for students who like to work cooperatively; students who feel pressure speaking French but enjoy participating often like to model. Visual and somewhat hand-on.

Background: Students have learned the passé composé and you want to give them practice contrasting usage of present, future and past tenses in a given narrative context.

Materials Needed:

Photos. I use post card reproductions of figurative French paintings. To make the activity move along more quickly, hand out, project, or write on the board the questions students will answer in their descriptions:

• Qu'est-ce que cette personne aime ou aime faire? (2-3 phrases)?
• Qu'est-ce qu'il/elle est en train de faire (sur la photo)? (2-3 phrases)
• Comment se sent-il physiquemment ou affectivement? Pourquoi? (2-3 phrases)
• Qu'est-ce qu'il/elle a fait hier? (2-3 phrases)
• Qu'est-ce qu'il/elle veut/va faire plus tard aujourd'hui ou demain?

[In French. Hold up or project a picture to use as a model as you give instructions and brainstorm with students)]

• You and your partner are going to create a short "autobiographical" sketch of a person represented in a painting.
• You will write from his or her point of view.
• Use the following questions as a guide for writing your description. [hand out or project questions.]
• What verb tenses will you need to use?
• Make sure the answers to your questions flow together to create a portrait. Don't write random sentences. Consider motivation, cause and effect.
• Form your groups
• [Teacher hands out post cards.]
• Decide who will be the scribe for each group. Scribes, raise your hands.

• Teacher circulates as students write.
• Try to catch errors and guide self-correction.
• Let students know when they have only 2 minutes left and tell them to wrap it up.
• Stop them no matter how much they beg for more time--and even if one group falls a sentence short. If some groups finish early, have them recopy their paragraphs neatly for projection.

• Collect the post cards. Line them up against the chalk board (or project them one by one) and assign each a number.
• Ask each group to decide who will read their description
• Students listen to each description, guessing which picture is being described.
• Do not interrupt the presentation with error correction.
• Take notes on errors and do a global correction afterwards.

Go over important corrections--those within the focus of this and previous chapters. Use the chalkboard. Involve students.

Expansion:

Lots of possibilities for an expanded group or individual writing assignment.

Comments:

• Students tend to pay attention as groups present their descriptions, in part because they must hear to determine which picture is being described, and in part because the pictures just seem to catch their interest.
• You may want to ask student to use specific verbs.

• Sample 1
• Sample 2

Copyright 1998 by Cheryl Krueger
Department of French
University of Virginia