Unit planner La Francophonie
📘 Version imprimable
Retrouvez le Unit Planner complet au format PDF.
🗂️ Unit at a Glance
Overview of the unit and its learning focus
Language Acquisition – French
MYP 4 • Grade 9 • Beginner
14–16 hours
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🔎 Inquiry – Establishing the Purpose
The conceptual framework that guides learning
The French language connects diverse communities around the world, while different cultural contexts shape the messages, identities and forms of expression of francophone speakers.
💡 Inquiry Questions
📌 Factual
Where is French spoken in the world and what does the term “francophonie” mean?
🧠 Conceptual
How can a shared language connect people from very different cultures?
⚖️ Debatable
Does sharing a language create a common cultural identity, or can each francophone community remain completely distinct?
🎯 Learning Goals
- explain the meaning of francophonie and identify different francophone regions;
- locate selected francophone countries and regions;
- understand simple spoken and written information about the French-speaking world;
- extract facts, opinions, messages and supporting details;
- analyse purpose, audience and conventions;
- make connections between language, geography, culture and identity;
- explain personal reasons for learning French;
- describe and compare francophone countries;
- participate in a short conversation about Francophonie;
- write a simple postcard from a francophone destination.
📝 Assessment Overview
🎧📖 Listening and Reading
Students work with audiovisual and visual material about the French-speaking world.
- identify explicit and implicit information;
- analyse conventions;
- analyse connections;
- interpret maps, infographics and texts.
🎤 Speaking
Students discuss Francophonie and a selected francophone country using a visual prompt.
- use relevant vocabulary;
- communicate clearly;
- respond to questions;
- make cultural comparisons.
✍️ Writing
Students write a postcard from a francophone destination.
- use appropriate postcard conventions;
- describe place and activities;
- express opinions;
- organise ideas coherently.
A combined Criteria A + B assessment can assess comprehension efficiently, followed by a Criterion C oral task. The postcard can be formative Criterion D or summative depending on the yearly assessment plan.
🌱 Formative Assessment
Locate francophone countries and regions.
Short videos about French speakers around the world.
Extract information from statistics and visual texts.
Ask and answer questions about Francophonie.
Build short descriptions of francophone destinations.
Vocabulary and grammar exercises with hidden corrections.
🗣️ Language Development
📚 Vocabulary
- countries and nationalities
- continents and regions
- languages
- geography
- travel
- culture and identity
- reasons for learning French
- holidays and tourism
🔤 Grammar
- articles with countries
- en / au / aux
- à / de / d’
- nationality adjective agreement
- present tense
- aller and venir
- parler + language
- habiter / vivre
- pour + infinitive
- parce que / car
- comparisons
- postcard expressions
🌍 Cultural Understanding
- Francophonie and francophonie
- French around the world
- France
- Canada and Québec
- Africa
- Europe
- the Caribbean
- Indian Ocean francophone regions
- linguistic and cultural diversity
🧭 Approaches to Learning
🛤️ Learning Journey
1 • Qu’est-ce que la Francophonie ?
Explore the meaning of Francophonie, where French is spoken and why the language is present on several continents.
2 • La Francophonie en chiffres
Interpret maps, statistics and infographics about French speakers around the world.
3 • Pourquoi apprendre le français ?
Explore personal, cultural, educational and professional reasons for learning French.
4 • Les pays francophones
Discover countries and regions where French is spoken and compare cultures and geographical contexts.
5 • Voyager dans la Francophonie
Learn how to describe a francophone destination and write a postcard.
6 • La Semaine de la Francophonie
Use an infographic as the basis for discussion and individual oral communication.
7 • Demonstrate Learning
Complete comprehension and oral assessment tasks using authentic francophone material.
🌈 Differentiation and Support
| Area | Support | Extension |
|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Word banks, maps, images and sentence starters | Extended geographical and cultural vocabulary |
| Reading | Short texts with visual support | Interpret more complex infographics and statistics |
| Listening | Repeated listening and pre-taught keywords | Identify implicit messages and connections |
| Speaking | Question prompts and sentence frames | Extended spontaneous conversation |
| Writing | Postcard template and model | Longer descriptions and cultural comparisons |
🌱 Learner Profile Connections
Recognise that francophone communities have diverse histories, traditions and identities.
Investigate where and why French is spoken around the world.
Communicate information and opinions about the francophone world in French.
Make connections between language, culture, history and geography.
Reflect on their own relationship with languages and cultural identity.
📦 Resources
- AFP – Le français dans le monde
- TV5MONDE – Francophonie and French-language learning resources
- Francophonie maps and infographics
- La France à la loupe – beginner worksheet
- Bonjour ! Vous parlez français ?
- La Francophonie en chiffres
- Pourquoi apprendre le français ?
- Francophonie speaking infographic
- Postcard models and writing support
- Semaine de la Francophonie oral task
🪞 Reflection
⭐ Indicators of Successful Learning
- explain the meaning of Francophonie;
- identify several francophone countries and regions;
- understand key ideas in simple spoken and written French;
- interpret basic information from maps and infographics;
- identify purpose, audience and conventions;
- make connections between language and cultural identity;
- explain why learning French can be useful;
- speak about a francophone country using simple connected language;
- write a short postcard using appropriate conventions;
- compare their own linguistic or cultural context with another francophone context.
💡 Essential Question
How can one language connect people from different countries while allowing each community to maintain its own identity?
Related unit pages:
- Qu’est-ce que la Francophonie ?
- Le français dans le monde
- La Francophonie en chiffres
- Pourquoi apprendre le français ?
- Les pays francophones
- Voyager dans la Francophonie
- Écrire une carte postale
- La Semaine de la Francophonie
- Critères A et B – Compréhension
- Critère C – Expression orale