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Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices

View & Analyze the Video

As you reflect on these questions, write down your responses or discuss them as a group.

Before You Watch
Respond to the following questions:

  • How would you organize the teaching of a full-length film or literary work in your class?
  • How do you strike a balance between students’ ability to interpret and think about abstract topics and their level of expressive language?
  • What is the teacher’s role when working with a challenging film or literary work?

Watch the Video

As you watch “Interpreting La Belle et la Bête,” take notes on Mr. Pasquier’s instructional strategies, particularly how he helps students interpret and discuss challenging materials. Write down what you find interesting, surprising, or especially important about the teaching and learning in this lesson.

Reflect on the Video
Review your notes, and then respond to the following questions:

  • What steps has Mr. Pasquier designed for this lesson? Trace the activities from the students’ perspective.
  • Which parts of the lesson provide for student interaction?
  • Which parts of the lesson require more teacher input to negotiate meaning and raise the level of discussion?

Look Closer

Take a second look at Mr. Pasquier’s class to focus on specific teaching strategies. Use the video images below to locate where to begin viewing.


Video Segment: Comparing a Story and Its Film Adaptation

You’ll find this segment approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds after the video starts. Watch for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Students discuss the differences between the original story and Cocteau’s film adaptation.

  • What aspects of the story and the film are students comparing?
  • Which of the students’ statements are based on fact, and which are opinion?
  • How does Mr. Pasquier facilitate a group discussion?

Video Segment: Experiencing the Dénouement

You’ll find this segment approximately 10 minutes and 30 seconds after the video starts. Watch for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

The class watches the rest of the film.

  • How does Mr. Pasquier prepare students to view the last segment of the film?
  • How do students react while watching the classic black-and-white film?

Video Segment: Interpreting Symbols

You’ll find this segment approximately 20 minutes and 30 seconds after the video starts. Watch for about 3 minutes.

The class discusses the use of symbols in the film.

  • How does Mr. Pasquier organize students for their conversation about the symbols?
  • Observe students’ oral proficiency during this group work: Do students communicate primarily using sentences, both compound and complex (intermediate performance)? Do any students go beyond that?
  • When do students’ answers reflect that they are operating at a concrete level? At an abstract level?

Series Directory

Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices

Credits

Produced by WGBH Educational Foundation with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 2003. 2016.
  • Closed Captioning
  • ISBN: 1-57680-731-2

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