Décibel par M. Butzbach, et al

Abstract

Reviews 197 directly connected to three Ps thus requires careful planning from instructors. They will need to evaluate how to integrate language learning in a way that demonstrates best practices and responds to ACTFL guidelines for each of the selected readings. Nevertheless, the strength of La culture francophone can be seen in the quality selection of its cultural components as well as its variety. This focus, in turn, provides more freedom to instructors to structure their classes around the essential questions on which they would like students to reflect. University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Virginie Cassidy Butzbach, M., C. Martin, D. Pastor, et I. Saracibar. Décibel. Paris: Didier, 2015. Méthode de français A1. ISBN 978-2-278-08107-3. Pp. 95. Cahier d’activités A1. ISBN 978-2-278-08120-2. Pp. 66. Méthode de français A2.1. ISBN 978-2-278-08336-7. Pp. 106. Cahier d’activités A2.1. ISBN 978-2-278-08347-3. Pp. 66. Méthode de français A2.2. ISBN 978-2-278-08337-4. Pp. 106. Cahier d’activités A2.2. ISBN 978-2-278-08350-3. Pp. 95. This three-part series is designed for middle school but could be used at the secondary level as supplementary resource. It is leveled A1, A2.1, and A2.2 under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which correlates to the ACTFL Novice Low through Intermediate Mid proficiency levels. Décibel’s goal is to prepare students for the DELF certification. Materials include the Méthode de français, Cahier d’activités, teacher resources (DVDs and CDs), and online access to a Guide pédagogique. In the first two books, traditional topics such as “Les commerçants de mon quartier”and“À la maison”dominate. In level A2.2, students interact with more current topics such as social justice and ecology. Unit objectives include vocabulary and grammar topics, perfunctory culture, and DELF test preparation. Teachers accustomed to the ACTFL“Can-Do”statements and proficiency goals will find that the unit goals are designed for test performance. Herein lies the conflict for United States teachers looking for more “authentic” materials from a French publisher: The objectives and exercises do not match the ACTFL National Standards. The program was designed mainly for Europeans preparing for the DELF exam. The textbooks and ancillary content focus mainly on vocabulary and grammar while setting aside engaging communicative activities. The weak coherence between unit lessons is distracting. In an A2.1 unit,“Les quatre saisons,”the introduction presents a review of basic weather phrases. Lesson one discusses savanna animals, speed records, and comparisons. Lesson two introduces predictions about future life on the planet with the future tense. Lesson three revisits superlatives and comparisons with recordbreaking places in France. The writing activity returns to describing an animal. There is a short bande dessinée that combines weather and physical comparisons of humans. Finally, in the “Bilan oral,” a drawn scene of a protest for the protection of bees provides a series of six short exercises that award points for describing the weather, circumlocution, describing an animal, making comparisons, and understanding conversation about the weather.While each of these topics was touched on in the unit and in the workbook, the summative exercises do not provide a pedagogically-sound assessment of students’linguistic progress. The workbook proposes mainly busy work including crossing out a nonsense word in a string of words and writing the dialogue that remains, matching pictures to numbers or filling in verb forms or vocabulary terms. These types of exercises harken back to a more traditional, non-communicative style of language acquisition that emphasized task completion, not progress toward proficiency. Metropolitan France dominates the ancillary resources, and the DVD vignettes (available with subtitles in French) present adult-focused geography and cultural information that does not always relate to the unit objectives. While Décibel is not an ideal text for the United States system, one may keep in mind that it is the teacher, not the textbook, who sets the curriculum. The provided materials could support teachers who have access to more communicative interpersonal and presentational activities, but who...