French-Speaking Places
The following is a list of countries where French is spoken to varying degrees. Names in brackets are islands (as are of course the places listed under "Islands" headings.
En Europe (In Europe)
La Belgique
/Belgium
, [
la Corse
/Corsica &ndash
; although an island, use
en
when speaking about living there], la
France/
France
, le
Luxembourg
/Luxembourg
,
le Monaco
/Monaco
(use
à
when speaking about living there),
la Suisse
/Switzerland
En Afrique (In Africa)
L'Algérie (f)
/Algeria,
le Bénin
/Benin,
le Burkina Faso
/Burkina Faso
, le Burundi
/Burundi,
le Cameroun
/Cameroon,
la République centrafricaine
/Central African Republic,
le Tchad
/Chad,
la République démocratique du Congo
/Democratic Republic of Congo,
la République du Congo
/Republic of Congo,
la Côte d'Ivoire
/Ivory Coast,
la République de Djibouti
/Djibouti,
la Guinée équatoriale
/Equatorial Guinea,
le Gabon
/Gabon,
la Guinée
/Guinea, [
le Madagascar
/Madagascar],
le Mali
/Mali,
la Mauritanie
/Mauritania, [
l'île Maurice
/Mauritius,]
Le Maroc
/Morocco,
le Niger
/Niger,
le Rwanda
/Rwanda,
le Sénégal
/Senegal,
le Togo
/Togo,
la Tunisie
/Tunisia
Les Îles des Antilles (The Caribbean Islands)
La Guadeloupe
/Guadeloupe,
le Haïti
/ Haiti,
la Martinique
/Martinique
En Amérique du Nord (In North America)
Le Québec, au Canada
/Quebec, in Canada),
la Louisiane
,
aux États–Unis
/Louisiana, in the U.S.,
Le Maine, aux États–Unis
/Maine, in the U.S., [
le Saint–Pierre–et–Miquelon
/Saint Pierre and Miquelon]
En Amérique du Sud (In South America)
La Guyane française/
French Guyana
Les Îles de l'Océan Indien (The Islands of the Indian Ocean)
Les Îles Comores
/Comoros,
la Réunion
/Réunion, les
Seychelles
/Seychelles
Les Îles de l'Océan Pacifique (The Islands of the Pacific Ocean)
La Nouvelle Calédonie
/New Caledonia,
La Polynésie française
/French Polynesia –
most notably,
le Tahiti/
Tahiti,
Le Vanuatu
/Vanuatu
En Asie (In Asia)
Le Cambodge
/Cambodia,
le Laos
/Laos,
le Viêt Nam
/Vietnam
Mapping
By linking the people studied to places on a map, the intention is that students will start developing that sense of the larger world around them, as well as the prevalence of French across continents. Up until now, students will have seen maps that indicate that French is spoken in many different places throughout the world; we will have made a fairly superficial mention of how much French is spoken in many countries in Africa, in parts of Canada, in European countries outside of France, in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean islands. A few students will have mentioned having and/or visiting family or vacationing in some of these places, and one or two will have a pre–existing interest in geography. But most will have little familiarity with the world outside of the United States; some will have never left the Greater New Haven area, while others may have traveled to visit family as far away as South Carolina, Chicago, or Puerto Rico. The seventh grade Social Studies curriculum will introduce students to world civilizations, so students will have the opportunity to build this global understanding across disciplines. However, that work will be done after we explore geography in our world languages classes, so we must take care to help pave the way for our students to continue developing a more connected understanding of world geography.
As we "meet" new people, we will have posters on the walls of different regions of the world, and we will place a picture of each person along with a symbol or image representing who they are in the appropriate locations. We will also put small pictures of them on a larger classroom map of the whole world, which we will revisit and refer to over the course of the unit as well as the year. This will help students internalize the learning.