1. Mangeons un Repas Français
Introduction:
A Webquest
Oh là là! Chef Jacques needs your help… and quick! There is a new restaurant opening on
the third floor of the Eiffel Tower at the end of the month, and the head chef, Jacques, cannot
come up with any good ideas about what to serve when the American Ambassador and other
governmental representatives of the United States come to eat at the restaurant on opening
night. Jacques is convinced you can help him! Since you yourselves are Americans, what
kinds of French foods would you want to try if you had the opportunity to eat at the
restaurant? Be careful when choosing though… French meals are a little bigger than what
you may be used to!
The Task:
2. Chef Jacques is putting together a special meal at a new restaurant called Voilà! on the third
floor of the Eiffel Tower for the United States Ambassador and other governmental officials
of the United States. You and your classmates have been charged with selecting the food
that will be served at this special meal. Caution: You must choose foods which accurately
represent each part of a French meal:
* l’entrée
* le plat principal
* le fromage
* le dessert
* le vin
Working in teams of three, you will choose French foods to represent each of the five
groups listed above, and then each team will prepare a presentation for Chef Jacques in
order to convince him that your team has worked both diligently and carefully to select the
best foods for him to prepare and serve at the dinner. The goal of your presentation is to be
as creative as possible. They sky’s the limit! You may present your meal idea however
you’d like to. However, you must present in French, and you must address each of the
questions listed in the “process” section of this Webquest. Remember: the Chef is looking
for creative, innovative ideas.
The Process:
3. 1.) We need to learn about the different courses involved in a typical French meal. What
kinds of foods are usually served as entrées? http://www.ffcook.com/pages/dentree-p.htm
2.) What about the main dish, or le plat principal en français? Which main dishes are the
most popular in France? Check out this website for some delicious, popular French
recipes! Once you find some recipes that look appealing, jot down two or three you can
choose from to use in your presentation. http://www.aftouch-cuisine.com/french-
recipes.htm
3.) France is very popular for all of its fine cheeses. Cheese is often served after the main
dish and before dessert. But which cheeses are most common in Paris? Visit this website
to find some answers. http://www.frencheese.co.uk/cheeses/cheeses.php When you get to
the website, click on the “search for French cheeses” link on the left hand side of the page
under the news tab. Next, click on the section of the map labeled “Île-de-France.” L’Île-
de-France is the region of France in which Paris is located. Finally, after scrolling through
some of the cheese varieties, jot down three cheeses you would like to try, the strength of
those cheeses, and the type of milk the cheeses are made from. Finally, visit
http://www.cheese-france.com/club/top10_cheese.htm to discover the top 10 most
popular cheeses in France. Compare the list on this website to the cheeses you wrote
down, and use both lists to help you choose the three cheeses you’d like to have served at
Voilà! on opening night.
4.) The dessert is probably the most famous, sought-after part of a French meal, and the
choices are limitless! Visit http://www.traditionalfrenchfood.com/french-desserts.html
and http://french.lovetoknow.com/Famous_French_Desserts for more information. At the
first website, read a few of the dessert descriptions to get an idea about what looks most
scrumptious to you. Then visit the second website which describes the characteristics of a
French dessert BEFORE making your dessert choice. After all, a good dessert is the key
to a good meal.
5.) French people typically like to drink wine with their meal. However, wines come from
many regions throughout France; thus there are plenty of options to choose from. For
example, there are white wines, red wines, rose wines, dry wines, and sweet wines. To
learn more before making your wine choice, visit: http://www.french-
wines.com/index.htm
6.) How are the three French meal courses served, and how is the table set? Go to
http://www.food-links.com/countries/france/french-meal-customs.php to find the answers to
these questions. Think about some differences between how a typical American meal is served
and how a French meal is served. You may also visit http://www.ffcook.com/pages/dinner.htm
and take a look at some of the menus to help give you an idea about how you’d like your meal to
look. CAUTION: Do NOT copy items directly from the menu! The objective of this assignment
is to be creative.
7.) After you’ve gathered all the necessary information, design your presentation! Don’t forget
to be creative! Visit http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Tips-For-Designing-Extraordinary-
Presentations&id=2543656 for some tips about how to create extraordinary, innovative
presentations.
*** Don’t forget to find pictures of your meal choices and to use information from your
research in your presentation to explain to Jacques why you made the choices you did!
*** To get back to the Webquest after clicking on these links to visit websites, simply leave
the Webquest open, and close the internet page after you’ve gathered the necessary
information.
5. Objective: F D C B A Score
Students
Will…
Work co- Contributes to Contributes Contributes Works toward Consistently
operatively group To group to group group goals most and actively
in groups. only when with without of the time; works
prompted. occasional prompting; usually sensitive toward
prompting; shows toward feelings group goals;
participates sensitivity to of others; is sensitive
in needed the feelings sometimes helps toward
changes with of others; group identify feelings of
occasional willingly and make others; helps
prompting. makes necessary group
needed changes. identify and
changes. make
necessary
changes.
Commun- Occasionally Speaks Speaks Actively speaks Consistently
icate in speaks French French when French when French when and actively
French when doing doing doing doing research speaks
research and research and research and and working French
working with working with working with with others; when doing
others; does others with others, rarely sometimes research and
not present some resorting to encourages working
meal idea in prompting; English; uses others to use with others;
French uses some French most French; uses always
French of the time French during encourages
during during presentation of others to
presentation presentation meal idea. speak
of meal idea. of meal idea. French; uses
French
during
presentation
of meal
idea.
Questions Did not use Used Had trouble Had trouble with Worked
resources resources with provided well finding
provided to provided, but provided resources, but answers to
answer didn’t focus resources; still answered all questions
questions in on the therefore questions in using
“process” assignment unable to “process” provided
section; not on enough to answer all section. resources;
task. answer all questions in successfully
questions in the “process” answered all
“process” section. questions in
section. “process”
section.
Demon- Selects none Selects none Selects some Selects most Accurately
strates an of the correct of the correct foods foods accurately selects all
under- foods for foods for accurately for each foods for
standing of l’entrée, le l’entrée, le for each category: each
the French
plat principal, plat category: l’entrée, le plat category:
6. Conclusion:
Congratulations! You have now completed your specific
menus for the opening night of Voilà! Chef Jacques will be
reviewing your presentations and making his decision very
soon. Now that you’ve learned more about a typical French
meal and the vocabulary that goes along with describing it,
I’d like you to take some time to reflect on the assignment.
Please write a 1-2 page reflection that addresses the following
questions: What did you like about the Webquest? What didn’t
you like about it? What would you change about the assignment
to make it more meaningful to you?
Credits:
Teacher Page:
Introduction: My goal for students upon completing this Webquest is for them to
understand the different courses involved in a typical French meal as well as the
French vocabulary that goes along with describing the meal. I would like students
to be able to point out differences between a typical French meal and a typical
American meal, and I would like them to practice using their creative minds to
develop and present projects to their classmates using both French they have
learned previously and new French vocabulary that they learned while completing
the Webquest. Finally, I would like students to gain practice reading French
menus so that if they one day decide to study abroad in France, they will have
some idea about what they’d like to order at a restaurant.
7. ***To complete this assignment, students will work in groups of
three, pretending they are trying to prepare a meal for Chef Jacques for a special
dinner he is serving at a restaurant called Voilà! on the third floor of the Eiffel
Tower. To do this, students will look at a variety of online resources to learn more
about the following meal courses: l’entrée, le plat principal, le fromage, le dessert,
et le vin. After they have obtained the necessary information and answered the
questions in the “process” section of this Webquest, students will then work in
groups of three to design a creative presentation to convince the chef that he should
serve their meal at the opening night of his restaurant.
Learners: This Webquest is designed for 8th graders who have already been
exposed to one year of French. As such, students should be able to use verbs
expressing “likes” and “dislikes” such as “aimer” and “détester” to describe foods
that may or may not sound appetizing to them. Students should also be able to
recognize the names of simple foods they’ve studied the previous year, such as
“steak-frites,” “fromage,” “coca,” “glace,” and “poisson.”
Curriculum Standards: From the 5 C’s:
- Communication: Communicate in languages other than English.
A.) Interact using extended spoken, signed or written communication by
providing and obtaining information.
B.) Express a wide range of feelings and emotions, and discuss and support
opinions.
J.) Present original work and cultural material.
-Cultures: Gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures.
D.) Analyze, discuss, and report on significant contributions from the target
culture.
-Comparisons: Develop insight into the nature of language and culture.
C.) Compare and contrast practices and perspectives of the target culture and
students’ own culture.
D.) Compare and contrast products and perspectives of the target culture and
student’s own culture.
Process:
1.) We need to learn about the different courses involved in a typical French
meal. What kinds of foods are usually served as entrées?
http://www.ffcook.com/pages/dentree-p.htm
8. 2.) What about the main dish, or le plat principal en français? Which main
dishes are the most popular in France? Check out this website for some
delicious, popular French recipes! Once you find some recipes that look
appealing, jot down two or three you can choose from to use in your
presentation. http://www.aftouch-cuisine.com/french-recipes.htm
3.) France is very popular for all of its fine cheeses. Cheese is often served
after the main dish and before dessert. But which cheeses are most
common in Paris? Visit this website to find some answers.
http://www.frencheese.co.uk/cheeses/cheeses.php When you get to the
website, click on the “search for French cheeses” link on the left hand
side of the page under the news tab. Next, click on the section of the map
labeled “Île-de-France.” L’Île-de-France” is the region of France in
which Paris is located. Finally, after scrolling through some of the cheese
varieties, jot down three cheeses you would like to try, the strength of
those cheeses, and the type of milk the cheeses are made from. Finally,
visit http://www.cheese-france.com/club/top10_cheese.htm to discover
the top 10 most popular cheeses in France. Compare the list on this
website to the cheeses you wrote down, and use both lists to help you
choose three cheeses you’d like to have served at Voilà! on opening
night.
4.) The dessert is probably the most famous, sought-after part of a French
meal, and the choices are limitless! Visit
http://www.traditionalfrenchfood.com/french-desserts.html and
http://french.lovetoknow.com/Famous_French_Desserts for more
information. At the first website, read a few of the dessert descriptions to
get an idea about what looks most scrumptious to you. Then visit the
second website which describes characteristics of a French dessert
BEFORE making your dessert choice. After all, a good dessert is the key
to a good meal.
5.) French people typically like to drink wine with their meal. However,
wines come from many regions throughout France; thus there are plenty
of options to choose from. For example, there are white wines, red
wines, rose wines, dry wines, and sweet wines. To learn more before
making your wine choice, visit: http://www.french-wines.com/index.htm
6.) How are the three French meal courses served, and how is the table set?
Go to http://www.food-links.com/countries/france/french-meal-
customs.php to find the answers to these questions. Think about some
differences between how a typical American meal is served and how a
French meal is served. You may also visit http://www.ffcook.com/pages/
dinner.htm and take a look at some of the menus to help give you an idea
9. about how you’d like your meal to look. CAUTION: Do NOT copy
items directly from the menu! The objective of this assignment is to be
creative.
7.) After you’ve gathered all the necessary information, design your
presentation! Don’t forget to be creative! Visit
http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Tips-For-Designing-Extraordinary-
Presentations&id=2543656 for some tips about how to create
extraordinary, innovative presentations.
*** Don’t forget to find pictures of your meal choices and to use information
from your research in your presentation to explain to Jaques why you made
the choices you did!
*** To get back to the Webquest after clicking on these links to visit websites,
simply leave the Webquest open, and close the internet page after you’ve
gathered the necessary information.
Resources: Other than the World Wide Web and programs such as PowerPoint
and Microsoft Word, resources for this project will include whatever materials
students may need to design their creative presentations. Examples include but are
not limited to: poster board, markers, colored pencils, plastic food models, and
stencils.
Evaluation: (See the Student Page of this Webquest.)
