Submitted by Elizabeth Chaigne
Objectives:
Content:
Students will...
- understand that a character's personality and physical traits help determine its language and vocabulary.
- understand that a character's personality and physical traits help determine its gestures and behaviors.
Cultural:
Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...
- conjugate the conditional form of verbs such as to say (dire) and to do (faire) for the 3rd person singular to discuss behavior and language choices for characters.
- use the following key vocabulary correctly: physical traits (traits physiques), character (le personnage) and behavior and gestures (le comportement et les gestes), to express ideas about characters.
- use adjectives with their proper gender agreement such as gros/se; petit/e; doux/ce; agressif/ve; gentil/le; méchant/e;calme; fort/e; courageux/use; craintif/ive; (voix) grave/aigue; brave; timide; jeune; vieux/vieille to describe a character’s physical and personality traits with a peer.
- make predictions about their character using the present tense of the verbs to have and to be with expressions such as: il/elle est/a …donc…; sa personalité est…alors…; a cause de…il/elle… ; grâce à son/sa/ses...il/elle ; étant donnée...il est probable que l’animal...
Language: Content Compatible
Students will...
- review the following animal body parts to discuss and list the physical characteristics of their chosen character: les crocs; la bouche; la guêle; les sabots; les pattes; les oreilles; la fourrure; les poils; le groin; le museau; les moustaches; les cornes; la queue.
- use the verb “to have” with the definite article of animal body parts to discuss characteristics of their assigned character (i.e. le loup a de gros crocs…)
- use the third person singular of the following verbs/verb expressions to talk about their characters with a peer : être; avoir;manger; ressembler; avoir l’air; parler; utliser une voix.
Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...
- work cooperatively with a partner to fill out two graphic organizers.
- use a cause and effect flow chart to list the physical characteristics and personality traits that give rise to a character’s language and behavior.
Time Frame:
1 - 2 periods of 50-60 minutes
Materials Needed:
A short children's picture book
Overhead transparencies of the graphic organizers (see Attachments below)
Copies of the graphic organizers for the students (one per pair of students)
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
Pre-task:
Have students meet in partners at the beginning of the lesson to share their 'tirades' from the previous day's lesson. Collect the 'tirades' for evaluation as your grading system allows.Using the following questions, the teacher will solicit answers from the class: In what situations in life do our physical traits influence the activities we choose to do? (Comment est-ce que les attributs physiques influencent les activités que nous choisissons à faire?)(i.e. If I am really tall I might decide to play basketball.) How might these traits help us develop a character? (Comment ces attributs physiques nous aident à créer un personnage à jouer?) (If we have be a spy, we might creep around.instead of walking normally.) Give me some examples as to how you think your physical traits and personality determine the words you choose. (Expliquez-moi comment les attributs physiques et la personalité pourraient influencer le langage qu'on utilise.) (i.e. As a young student, I would ask permission to leave the classroom. I wouldn’t give orders.) Explain that the students will be examining the physical and personality traits of a character and organizing this information on a chart to develop language and behaviors for that character.
Review some familiar characters from fairytales that students know. For this lesson I have chosen the rabbit character from the children’s story Le loup est revenu, a story that the students have already read from a previous unit. Use this character to model the work for students’ focused learning. (You can use a transparency of the actual worksheet they will use so they can easily transfer the modeling later during their independent work. Ask the question: Which physical traits of this character are the most outstanding and help define the character as a rabbit? (Quels sont les attributs physiques les plus importants de ce personnage?) (See CO language objectives) The class should come up with two or three physical characteristics (i.e. his long ears, oversized feet, twitching nose). List these on the behavior and gesture transparency mentioned. Solicit some personality traits that this character possesses and list them in the appropriate boxes on the graphic organizer (i.e. his curiosity, fear of being caught by a predator). Addressing each of the characteristics listed, students are asked how it affects the kind of gesture or behavior that the rabbit might have (i.e. Instead of stroking his chin, he might stroke his long ears; He might have to walk funny because his feet are so big; He might have a nervous twitch or always be looking around nervously because he is afraid of being hunted.) During this classroom discussion, be sure to highlight the CO language objectives regarding this type of language. This will aid in preparing students for using this same language during partner work. List these appropriately on the graphic organizer highlighting how the personality and physical traits lead to or flow into the gestures and behavior.
Then using the word and expression graphic organizer, do the same, this time focusing on what kinds of expressions or words the character might use based on the same physical and personality traits listed by the class for the behavior and gesture graphic organizer. (i.e. The rabbit might say things like, Jumping carrots! when he is excited; he might compare scary things to being caught by a wild animal.)
During-task:
Have students get together with a partner and choose a fairytale character to work on. Let them know that they will be using this character over the next two lessons, so they will want to choose one they can explore deeply. They will discuss the character's personality and physical traits in order to fill out the graphic organizers together. Before beginning their work, go over the content compatible and content obligatory language needed to complete the activity with the whole class. This information should be left on display for student referral during their partner work. Allow about 10 minutes for students to discuss and begin fillng out the graphic organizers.
(Depending on how quickly things went the first day, you may interrupt the 'during task' activity and save the remaining work for day 2.)
Beyond-task:
During the second session, partners will finish their graphic organizers and prepare to talk about their ideas for developing their character to the class. Prior to students presenting their work, remind students of the language necessary to talk about drawing conclusions. (See the content obligatory section on predicting information.)
Assessment:
Students will hand in their completed graphic organizers for informal assessment.
Attachments:
NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)Behavior and Gesture Graphic Organizer
Word and Expression Graphic Organizer