Harriet J. Bauman
This unit uses mystery or adventure stories to teach advanced students of French how to read, understand, and enjoy French literature. These stories are written on an intermediate level, for students. The unit focuses on teaching students how to read in French, encouraging them to want to read through exciting stories, and teaching them the current or popular language of today. The skills to be taught will be: summarization, finding the author’s point of view, the author’s techniques, and how to analyze literature. In addition to reading, a series of activities and games is planned which concentrate on finding clues, unraveling puzzles, following directions, etc. which will stimulate the students to think in French. A cultural component is also stressed in this unit. Because the stories take place at certain holidays or in certain places, the readers will learn about them. This is a basis for further discussion of customs, holidays, and French-speaking countries. Another cultural phenomenon, that of the popularity of detective fiction both in France and the United States, will lead to further study, reading and research to develop the answers to why they are so popular.
(Recommended for 10th, 11th, and 12th grades French II, III, IV)
Key Words
Mystery Foreign Language Instruction French Stories
