General Resources
Ados.Fr http://musique.ados.fr/Zazie/Je–Suis–Un–Homme–t144044.html A music video with lyrics to a song called "
Je suis un homme
/I am a man
" sung by a woman. This can help liven up the practice of identifying gender, as she is addressing gender roles between man and woman as well as the idea of man as humankind compared to animal–kind and perhaps how we all are related.
Bertrand Boutin. http://www.bertrandboutin.ca/Folder_151_Grammaire/E_c_noms_geo.htm#_%CELES_ET_ARCHIPELS Exhaustive list of French vocabulary for geographical terms, including countries, islands, states, and bodies of water
CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the–world–factbook/index.html Resource for background information on countries
Facebook. www.facebook.com. I went to the Facebook page of living people to look for information about them. For example, I figured out that Tony Parker was probably a spokesperson for Kinder Bueno chocolates when I saw he "liked" them on his page. From there I went to Youtube and found a link to a commercial he did for Kinder Bueno, which can be used in class. Also, I set my Facebook profile to French to make the vocabulary for my Fauxbook template as close as possible to the original, except where it fit my needs better to change it.
Google (French). www.google.fr. Doing an image search here is a good source for pictures for the celebrity masks. In general, searching on the French version will yield more useful results for information searches as well.
ibiblio: The Public's Library and Digital Archive. http://www.ibiblio.org/. I used ibiblio as an English language starting point for research. For artists, I used the WebMuseum at ibiblio for access to images of paintings.
Le français avec Madame Brown. http://lefrancaisavecmadamebrown.com/index.html. This French teacher's website has links to French-speaker project assignments (as well as many other great French teacher resources). But what proved indispensable to the selection of French-speakers in this unit is the list of names accompanying each of the projects, in the following categories: Writers, Artists, Scientists and Engineers, Athletes, Entertainers, and Fashion. Merci mille fois, Madame Brown!
International Organisation of Francophony. http://www.francophonie.org/English.html. Comprehensive resource for current information on Francophony
Monsieur–Biographie. http://www.monsieur–biographie.com/. This website is powered by Wikipedia. Although I generally insist on using primary resources for factual research, in this case I have chosen to start my research with this source. We aren't going deep with what we need, but we are going wide, and this site gives us consistent resources, in clear and reliable French. Plus it gives people the option of submitting comments about the people you are researching. Although online comments aren't the best example of perfect French, if you share the site with motivated students, it will give them some real context for exploring the language. Visually, this site looks more modern and interesting than the Wikipedia site, which will hook students if used with them.
TES. The largest network of teachers in the world. Username: pelaperine. http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching–resource/talking–about–yourself–facebook–template–French–6043939/. Links to two templates for Facebook pages. You must register to view the pages, but registration is free.
Youtube. www.youtube.com. Searching for a person's name + en français can result in videos that can be used to bring the personalities to life. I like the idea of showing clips of Surya Bonaly's 1994 Olympics ice–skating routines and then some of the interviews with her from this year, that really showcase her transformation from child to grown woman.
Targeted Resources
Resources are listed by the French-speaker to whom they refer.
Bonaly, Surya
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Bonaly. Surya links to the English–language version of this wikipedia site from her Facebook page.
http://skatinginc.com/Skaters/Bonaly/. Although the page has not been updated in a very long time, there is some information under the "Fun Facts" section that could be used; I found out that she used to do gymnastics there.
http://archives–lepost.huffingtonpost.fr/article/2010/02/09/1932548_la–ferme–celebrite–adline–blondieau–et–suya–bonaly–combattantes–antifourrure.html. Article about her anti–fur campaign with PETA, including pictures.
Bouabré, Frédéric Bruly
http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/frederic–bruly–bouabre/. Background information
http://icarusfilms.com/new2005/brul.html. Information about the alphabet system he created.
Chabannes, Amelie
http://ameliechabannes.com/work/. English resource for information and images of art. NB: I will focus on her installation art, as many of her sculptures are inappropriate for the middle school classroom.
Mauresmo, Amélie
www.ameliemauresmo.fr/. Site for all things Mauresmo.
http://www.sport–for–life.ch/fr.php. This foundation teaches children the power and benefits of sports and the values one learns in participating in them. Amélie is the Ambassador. There are lots of links to pictures and videos!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/nov/26/tennis.features1. Good background information on Mauresmo. Includes information on her sexuality, which you may or may not want to incorporate into your unit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBX7kf_kVfo. Video with 10 golden rules of working out, that I think kids would enjoy.
Monet, Claude
http://www.fondation–monet.fr/fr/. There is so much great information on this French website, including video clips of his house and gardens. Site also available in English.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14056/14056–h/14056–h.htm. English eBook on French Impressionism, with links to images and discussions of artwork Mauclair, Camille. The French Impressionists (1860–1900). Translated by P.G. Konady. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1903. ebook.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/. English source, with links to good quality images of paintings
http://www.monsieur–biographie.com/celebrite/biographie/claude_monet–1289.php. French source for biographical information
Parker, Tony
http://www.metrolyrics.com/tony–parker–albums–list.html. The site is English, but the lyrics to his 2007 songs/raps are in the original language, a mix of French and English.
http://www.monsieur–biographie.com/celebrite/biographie/tony_parker–7519.php. French source for biographical information
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tony_parker/bio.html. English source for sports statistics
Tintin
http://www.tintinologist.org/. English website with lots of information on Tintin
http://www.tintin.com/index2.php. French source full of information on Tintin (includes English language link)
