Through these roles we will discuss name, nationality, country of origin, language(s) spoken, job, gender, birth year, age in a given year, where one is going, how one is getting there, and what one wants or is looking for. By discussing what people want I hope to convey a sense of the motivations behind the immigrations. Occupations will also get at that.
Roles may be generated in several ways or formats, according to the needs of the class or student. For those classes (or students) needing the most support, index cards could be made with full sentence identity information in random order:
J'ai 35 ans. / Je m'appelle Richard DuBois. / Etc.
Here, students are mostly reading the sentences, but meaning is still being made as conversation must flow logically and information will not be listed in order. Or, cards may list information in varying but logical conversation order, so that students must really listen and think about appropriate responses.
The next step or option could be to have index cards with identity information given in order, like on a form:
Nom: Richard DuBois / Âge: 35 ans / Etc.
This gives students less of the linguistic structure than the first suggestion. Another option could be to have all the identity information mixed up on the card with no labels, and students would have to deduce the appropriate corresponding sentences:
35 / Richard DuBois / Etc.
Or you could generate image cards, using symbols combined with identity keywords so that students have to determine and apply needed vocabulary. For example, a picture of France means "I am from France," a picture of an arrow going to the United States means "I am going to the United States," etc.
As indicated earlier, you may choose a particular delivery style for the whole class or you may provide different styles of role cards to different students based on need. Some days you may want to keep students within their comfort zones, while other days you may wish to lead them outside of those zones. Another option is to progress through these choices throughout the course of the unit as a structured scaffolding. Information gap activities may be created for use here. And students may be asked to use a variety of graphic organizers to keep track of information according to the needs you see fit.
Students may role-play by identifying themselves to border agents during their travels, by re-introducing themselves to the former neighbors who they are using as contacts for immigration to the U.S., or by introducing themselves to people or families they meet in the U.S. Then they may practice talking about others as they introduce or describe their families to any of the people indicated above. And of course some students will need to take on the roles of border agents and contact or other families.
From the foundation of the first-person role cards, students must be guided to make the changes to third-person discussion. Be sure to stress the similarities and differences in both written and oral form, and emphasize the parts with which students struggle. Often that includes the difference between masculine and feminine third-person subjects, the changes in some verb forms and the way some changes are seen in writing but not heard in speaking, and using the correct form of "my" when identifying family members. And of course, family member vocabulary must be learned and used.
Students often have a tough time internalizing the difference between language, nationality, and country; for example they often say things like
Je suis de français
(I am from French) instead of
Je suis français
or
Je suis de France
(I am French/I am from France.) Continued explicit practice of those skills is necessary as we move to third-person usage.
Just for fun, we will put on exaggerated silly voices to convey gender, since there are more male characters in general combined with fewer males in my class. In the fifth and sixth grades, students loved when we got silly with our voices, so I'm hoping that the nostalgia factor helps add to the fun here. Elements of costume or use of large pins could also help define and represent our roles and help students distill relevant information.
There is an online searchable database of border crossings from Canada to the United States, from 1895-1956, that can be browsed for authentic information to be used in some of the roles. (21) Although most roles will be for French Canadian immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, I have include a few early explorers and you may create other roles along the way, to illustrate conceptual or linguistic points needing emphasis, or to offer variants for contrast in terms of key points like time period, occupation, or location.
Below, I have listed sentence templates for the key components to be practiced in role-plays; they may be easily modified to the options delineated above. Following them, there is a set of three sample identities from a French Canadian "family," as well as the three identities for explorers mentioned previously.
-
My name is…. /
Je m'appelle….
-
I am (nationality). /
Je suis….
-
I am from (Country – city in parentheses) /
Je suis de….
-
I speak (language). /
Je parle….
-
I am (job, no definite article). /
Je suis….
-
I am (a man/woman/child/boy/girl). /
Je suis un homme / une femme / un enfan t/un garcon / une fille
-
I was born in (year). [died in …..] /
Je suis né(e) en ….(mort en ….)
-
I am # years old. /
J'ai # ans.
(22)
-
It is the year …. /
C'est l'année….
(23)
-
I am going to (place). /
Je vais à….
-
I travel by (means of transportation). /
Je voyage en …
-
I want to (verb phrase). /
Je veux…
(24)
Jean-Paul Barrette (Husband): Je suis français. / Je suis de Québec, Canada (Trois-Rivières). / Je parle français. / Je suis fermier. / Je suis un homme. / Je suis né en 1872. / Je vais au Rhode Island. / Je voyage en train. / Je veux travailler à une usine textile.
Catherine Barrette (Wife): Je suis française. / Je suis de Québec, Canada (Trois-Rivières). / Je parle français. / Je suis fermière. / Je suis une femme. / Je suis né en 1876. / Je vais au Rhode Island. / Je voyage en train. / Je veux trouver un poste à une usine textile.
Paul-Phillippe Barrette (Son): Je suis français. / Je suis de Québec, Canada (Trois-Rivières). / Je parle français. / Je suis étudiant et fermier. / Je suis un garçon. / Je suis né en 1896. / Je vais au Rhode Island. / Je voyage en train. / Je veux aller à l'école, mais je dois travailler à une usine textile avec mon père et ma mère.
Jacques Cartier: Je suis français. / Je suis de France (Saint-Malo). / Je parle français. / Je suis explorateur. / Je suis un homme. / Je suis né en 1491 (mort en 1557) / Je vais à l'Amérique du Nord; Je vais au Canada. / Je voyage en bateau. / Je veux explorer, trouver l'or et les épices, et trouver une route à l'Asie.
Samuel de Champlain: Je suis français. / Je suis de France (Brouage). Je parle français. / Je suis explorateur et fondateur de la ville de Québec. / Je suis un homme. / Je suis né en 1567 (mort en 1635). / Je vais à l'Amérique du Nord, au Canada et aux États-Unis. / Je voyage en bateau. / Je veux explorer et réetablir le commerce de la fourrure.
Christophe Colomb: Je suis italien. / Je suis d'Italie (Genoa). / Je parle italien. / Je suis explorateur et navigateur. / Je suis un homme. / Je suis né en 1451 (mort en 1506). / Je vais à l'Extrême-Orient… Mais j'arrive en Amérique! / Je voyage en bateau. / Je veux trouver une route à l'Asie, pour les épices et la soie.
Selected vocabulary: English Canadian – adjective (
anglo-canadien/ne
) / English Canadian – person (
Un/e Anglo-canadien/ne
) / French Canadian – adjective, general (
canadien/ne français/e
) / French Canadian – adjective, denoting French-speaker (
canadien/ne francophone
) / French Canadian – person, general (
Un/e Canadien/ne français/e
) / French Canadian – person, denoting French-speaker (
Un/e Canadien/ne francophone
) / from Quebec – adjective (
québecois/e
) / from Quebec – person (
Un/e Québecois/e
)