"Ma famille" unit

1. Ma Famille (My Family)
Big idea: Students will use all four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) to identify and
describe their own and others’ families.
21st Century Skills
-Creative thinking: students will engage in creative thinking when making up imaginary families and asking
questions of their peers.
-Collaborating: Students will collaborate by peer-editing blurbs about their families and by asking and answering
questions about which family they belong to during the “sticker on the forehead” game.
-Communicating: Students will be communicating about their families both through written and oral activities
-Technology literacy: Students must access and use correctly the various websites provided to complete the unit
on family.
-Initiative: Students must take the initiative to complete each activity. Otherwise, they may let down a group
member who is counting on them to have completed their work in order to advance through the unit.
-Social skills: Students will be working a lot on social skills, as there is quite a bit of group work in this unit, and
students must be able to work effectively and respectfully with others.

2. California Content StandardsCONTENT
1.1 Students address discrete elements of daily life, including: b. Family and friends c. Pets
2.1 Students address topics related to self and the immediate environment, including: a. Social relationships
COMMUNICATION
2.0 Students use created language (sentences and strings of sentences).
2.1 Engage in oral, written, or signed (ASL) conversations.
2.2 Interpret written, spoken, or signed (ASL) language.
2.3 Present to an audience of listeners, readers, or ASL viewers.
Functions
2.4 Initiate, participate in, and close a conversation; ask and answer questions.
2.5 Demonstrate understanding of the general meaning, key ideas, and some details in authentic texts.
2.6 Produce and present a simple written, oral, or signed (ASL) product in a culturally authentic way.
CULTURE
1.2 Recognize similarities and differences in the target cultures and between students’ own cultures.
STRUCTURE
2.0 Students use sentence-level elements (morphology or syntax or both) to understand concrete and factual topics.
2.1 Use sentence-level elements (morphology or syntax or both) to produce informal communications.
2.2 Identify similarities and differences in the sentence-level elements (morphology or syntax or both) of the languages
the students know.
SETTINGS
1.0 Students use language in highly predictable common daily settings.

3. STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVE #1: Students will demonstrate aural comprehension of family vocabulary and write about different
members of the family in French.
ASSESSMENTS #1: Students check for aural understanding by answering the questions on “Français Facile” and on a teacher-created
worksheet that accompanies the “AudioLingua” recordings.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVE #2: Students will present their (real, made-up, or famous) families orally in small groups, paying
attention to correct grammar and pronunciation.
ASSESSMENT #2: An in-class presentation given in small groups to minimize the anxiety of shy students or English Language
learners who may be reticent to speak in front of the whole class.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVE #3: Students will demonstrate reading comprehension by reading about three authentic,
diverse French/francophone families. Students will also practice speaking by working collaboratively by asking and answering
questions involving family.
ASSESSMENT #3: Students will answer reading comprehension questions which will be checked in class.
Students will also find the family they belong to by participating in a game in which they must ask effective questions to their classmates
in French and understand their classmates’ answers.

4. Learning Activities
LESSON #1 ACTIVITIES
1) After studying “family” vocabulary on “Français
Facile”, students view the video and answer/self-
correct the questions that follow.
2) Students go online to Audio Lingua where they
listen to Camille and Guy describe their families. They
answer questions on a worksheet while listening to
each recording.
3) As homework, students bring in a labeled photo or
sketch of their own families (or an imaginary/famous
one) to class the next day along with a brief blurb
about each family member. (i.e. This is my mom. She
is nice and she likes to read…)

5. Learning Activities
LESSON #2 ACTIVITIES
1) Students will present their families in small groups
using complete sentences.
2) Students will peer-edit any written mistakes, and
the instructor will go around the room to correct scripts
while students peer-edit.
3) Volunteers will present their families to the class as
a whole, and their classmates will be given the
opportunity to ask questions.
4) Students will then write down a question to ask me
about my own family.

6. Learning Activities
LESSON #3 ACTIVITIES
1) Students will read about three diverse French-speaking
families. Cultural elements will be embedded in each
reading.
2) After checking for understanding by answering reading
comprehension questions posted on Socrative, the
classroom will be divided up into three sections
representing each family. Students will be given a sticker
labeled with the name of a member of one of the three
families to put on their forehead. Students will go around
the class asking classmates about their assigned
character and go to the appropriate section of the room
once they find out to which character and family they have
been assigned.

7. Why did I choose this unit?
I chose this unit because it is relevant
and meaningful to each student’s life. I
have found that students really enjoy
talking about themselves and their
families as well as learning about their
classmates’ families. It is also a very
practical topic that will come up very
often when conversing with French
speakers. This unit also lends itself well
to the use of technology, as there are
several websites that address the topic
of family.