Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet

Day and Date: Thursday, April 20

 Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Topics in French politics

Goal of the class: Since the French presidential elections are this weekend, we will discuss some topics related to the French politics like the universal income or the legalization of the cannabis.

How did you structure the class?

  1. Warm-up: “What is the “Revenu universel”? If you don’t know, can you guess what it could be?”
  2. We watch a video about the universal income and we review the vocabulary as well as some concepts like the SMIC (minimum salary) or RMI (income for unemployed people).
  3. I put sentences on the table (see below) and one student has to pick one and say whether she agrees with or not with this sentence. She also has to justify her point of view. Then, she picks another student to react to what she has just said.
  4. We watch another video about the legalization of the cannabis. We discuss the difference between the United States and France regarding this topic and whether we should legalize it or not in France.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

http://www.lemonde.fr/sante/article/2017/04/04/cannabis-un-debat-de-campagne-inedit_5105363_1651302.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3zme9z_dessine-moi-l-eco-le-revenu-universel_school

Sebastian Marxhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q6pCGK3tsI

Topics for the third activity: https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://leszexpertsfle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/parler-du-revenu-universel.pdf&hl=fr 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

This class was a bit harder for some students since the proficiency level is very heterogeneous, however the topic interested everyone. The debate with the universal income was more interesting since they didn’t share the same opinion. The last video was a bit lighter and easier (because it had also French subtitles) so I think it was a good idea to show it to wrap-up with a simpler debate. 

How could this class be improved/ modified?

This class should be done at the end of the semester with an intermediate level class because it is denser: we should make sure the students are comfortable enough to express more thoughtful opinions. 

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).