This series can be introduced the first week of French 1.  It will add variety to your classroom, no matter what textbook you use.  It is rich in comprehensible input supported by visuals (pictures and props) and acting.  Who are the actors?  You -- the teacher -- and your students!  It allows for the students to be listening, talking, reading, writing, drawing, improvising dialogues within a specific dramatic context, working at times alone, in pairs, or in small groups -- and it allows you, the teacher, to be creative.  

            The series consists of 16 episodes and a trial (in transcript form).  Starting in French 1, it takes two years to reach the conclusion (including substantial reviewing in French 2).  The series could also be done in its entirety in French 2 alone.  

            On average, you will present one episode every two or three weeks.  Each story will be given an initial dramatic presentation, entirely in the target language, supported by props or other visuals to make it comprehensible.  At this point the teacher’s role is storyteller in a one-man or one-woman show.  You’re on stage!  In the following days and weeks, the story is reviewed, and the students get to participate in the story through a variety of projects.  

·        In French 1, you can cover 12 to 14 episodes at the rate of one episode every 2 to 3 weeks.  These are all in present tense, with episodes 12 through 14 introducing a few verbs in the passé composé.  At the end of the year, the students will be left wondering what will happen to the characters next.  

·        In French 2, the episodes you covered in French 1 are repeated but this time using the passé composé and the imperfect, and covering the earliest, introductory stories at a faster pace.  This way, the students who didn’t have you in French 1 will be learning the stories, your “vétérans” from French 1 will be reviewing them, and all the students will be learning the past tenses.  Then you finish the remaining episodes and conclude with a dramatic trial.  

            As you read through the stories for the first time, you will notice that the vocabulary and the sentence structures start out at a very basic level, and slowly but steadily advance in complexity.  The episodes constantly recycle (or spiral) vocabulary that has come before, and draw upon other input that you are likely to cover in your textbook or other class activities.  Accompanying each episode are instructions on how to initially present each story, what props you will need, lesson plan ideas for follow-up or reinforcement activities, ideas for student participation projects and assignments, and a written test or suggestions for other forms of assessment.  There is also a section listing the vocabulary and structures that are introduced or targeted for emphasis in each story. 

Presenting the Stories  

            Each story is given its initial dramatic presentation in one of the following ways:

1.      Telling the story with pictures (provided in this book).

2.      A vegetable “puppet show,” using a tall bookcase as a “puppet stage.”

3.      A felt board using cut-out felt characters (instructions for making them are included).

4.      Acting out the story, using props.  

            In reviewing the story the next day, have the students re-tell the story by asking them questions about what happened.  When you ask questions, move up or down the following scale, depending on the students’ ability to respond: 

·        Questions requiring a oui ou non answer

·        Questions requiring an either/or answer

·        Questions requiring a short answer

·        Open-ended questions

              After one or two days of reviewing the episode in this way, there are a variety of reinforcement activities and projects that you can have your students do, before ultimately testing them on the story about two weeks later.  

Setting the Stage:  The Center Area

        In my classroom, the students’ desks are arranged in a C-formation.  The center area is where I do my teaching, and it serves as a “stage” when I’m presenting a story.  (My desk is off to the side somewhere, and that’s just for doing paperwork, not where I am when I teach.) In other types of seating arrangements, consider the front of your classroom as the stage area.  

            I have four essential pieces of furniture in that center area that give me great flexibility in the classroom, and you will need to obtain or approximate these in order to perform the stories:  

1.      An empty, standard school-issued bookcase (mine is metal, 48” high), which you will face backwards toward the class (that is, with the back facing the students).  You will use this in some stories almost as a “puppet stage.”  You will keep your props on the shelves, facing you, and the “action” will take place on the top surface.  (A substitute for this is to put two boxes sideways on a table with their openings facing you, allowing you to conceal the props within.  Two boxes side-by-side will give you enough of a top surface area for the “action” to take place.)  Most of the time this bookcase is pushed up against a wall; I pull it out to the center area when I need it.  

2.      A smaller, 2-shelf bookcase (30” high) which I picked up for a few dollars at a garage sale or thrift shop.  This also faces backwards toward the class.  (In a pinch, you could probably use a large carton, or two boxes taped one atop the other.)  It serves as a prop in many stories (for example, it serves as the oven when Philippe Tomate’s grandma comes to visit -- she opens an imaginary oven door and puts a chicken inside it).  Most of the time it serves as a low lectern when I’m doing “normal” teaching.  Its shelves are very convenient for keeping papers, objects and pictures handy.  

3.      A standard school-issued 4-legged stool (30” high). Normally I am on this stool behind my thrift shop bookcase/lectern. The stool is sometimes drafted as a prop in the stories -- for example, it becomes a tree by placing a potted plant (mine is plastic) on it.  (Of these four pieces of furniture, the stool is the most dispensable.  If you can’t get one, you’ll be able to manage without it.)  

4.      A little table (another garage-sale find).  The one I have is 26” high.  Something like a folding TV-tray will do.  This serves as a dining table in some of the stories.  

            I’ll tell you how you’ll need to place these items to set the stage for each story.  They will be referred to respectively as the tall bookcase, the low bookcase, the stool and the little table.  By the way -- some chairs will be needed from time to time too.

scampbell@eee.org