Stereotypes of the French

Author:

Pam Wesely

Subject:

Humanities

Institution Name:

CoBaLTT Project|University of Minnesota

Collection:

Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition

Grade Level:

Primary

Abstract:

This unit comprises four major lessons which are distinct yet cumulative. In the first lesson, the students will lay the groundwork for their examination of French stereotypes by generating those stereotypes themselves. They may draw, write, or find examples of what they think are "typical" French things. In the second lesson, they will be required to change perspective -- instead of being the examiners, they will be the examined culture. Students will look at various examples of stereotypes of Americans, as shown through websites and books about Americans. Thus, in Lesson 2 they will begin to examine stereotypes and their relationship with truth. In the third lesson, they will shift again to the role of examiners of French culture – the teacher will show movies, books, pictures, and websites which might reflect the same stereotypes the students generated in Lesson 1. This lesson will demonstrate concretely to the students that the image that they have of French people is created and maintained by strong forces in American culture. In the fourth lesson, learners will explore those French stereotypes in order to understand their origins and relationships with daily life and reality in France today. These lessons will culminate in a final multimedia presentation project in which small groups of students working collaboratively will be asked to examine a cultural myth, generalization and cultural reality of French people and show their relationship to French society today.

Course Type:

Learning Module

Languages:

English, French

Material Type:

Lesson Plans

Media Format:

Graphics/Photos, Text/HTML

Conditions of Use:

Custom Permissions