Didactics and practice of spoken French as the mother tongue [ LROM2950 ]

To start the observatory teaching practice the same year.

The course will take bearings on the cardinal questions that every French teacher has. These questions can be for instance: what is at stake ? What are the objectives and the tools to teach French ? What are the teaching and assessment methods ? ,.... The conceptual and methodological outlines will also be seen, allowing the teacher to develop the pupils' reading, writing and oral expression skills, following the requirment of the school. It will also give the pupils some reference knowledge in the language and literature field. The course will also present some entire didactic sequences, which will illustrate the diversity, complementarity and coherence of the activities, that need to be implemented when teaching French. These different objectives will be based on a bibliographical system of reference and on numerous stimulating documents.

Thanks to practical work sessions the students, in small groups, will try out :

1° several activities and different tools to teach French;

2° the different basic constituents of oral expression (voice, rhythm, speech articulation, diction, enunciation situation...) and subtle oral expression skills (expressive reading, conferences, oral report, verbal interactions).

1° To initiate, theoretically and through practice, to the notions, methods and disciplinary tools neccesary to be a French teacher for French as a first language.

2° To allow the command of different kinds of oral expressions by systematically trying them out .

1° French didactics : students must write a paper, presenting a didactic sequence, put together with elements coming from different parts of the course and exercises, analysed programs and some personal reading from the bibliography course. An extra oral discussion on the command of the course contents is possible.

2° Oral expression skills : Two brief oral presentations in front of the students' group, followed by an assessment meeting with the teaching person.

The lectures are interspersed with a variety of practical exercises which enable the students to trial different teaching activities which they could use for their teaching practice. The lectures contain a strong interactive element, both spoken and written, between the lecturer and the students.

14 sessions of magistral course :

1. The cardinal questions are : what is at stake ? What are the objectives and the tools to teach French ? And what are the teaching and assessment methods ?

2. The knowledge and know-how of the French course : the language, the literature ; reading, writing, oral expression.

3. Some examples as an illustration : poetry, narration of life, songs.

13 sessions of workshop in two parts :

1. French didactics : how to start a course or session, how to get people to speak, how to make pupils read and write functional and literary texts, how to use images and sounds together, and how to build a long-term didactic project.

2. Oral expression skills : reading out loud, tellingtales and presentation techniques. While doing the different suggested exercises the students'performance is videotaped. This enables the students to make a self assessment, which will allow him to improve.

Main reference work : SIMARD, Claude, DUFAYS, Jean-Louis, DOLZ, Joaquim et GARCIA-DEBANC, Claudine, Didactique du français langue première, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 2010. Students also receive an 80 page bibliography guide which sets out the main resources for the different objectives in teaching French.

Teaching materials : the students receive from the very start of the course some notes collecting methodological suggestions on different theories of teaching French as well as bibliographical orientations. They also receive a copy of the slides and documents used at each session and an analysis grid containing the constituents of the oral expression. Others : The practical work sessions of French didactics are given by pedagogical collaborators, coming from different types of secondary schools. The sessions of oral expression exercises are supported by pedagogical collaborators specialised in oral expression activities.