Travailler l'oral avec la radio par Delphine Barreau, Marine Bechtel et Déborah Gros

Abstract

Reviewed by: Travailler l'oral avec la radio par Delphine Barreau, Marine Bechtel et Déborah Gros Jessica L. Sturm and Michael Foster Barreau, Delphine, Marine Bechtel, et Déborah Gros. Travailler l'oral avec la radio. PU de Grenoble, 2019. ISBN 978-2-7061-4258-1. Pp. 173. These 19 different lessons centered around authentic RFI radio broadcasts recorded in 2018 are meant to help learners of French practice and develop their oral expression skills. The broadcasts are included on an accompanying audio CD and are appropriate for the intermediate level (i.e., level B1 on the CEFR scale) learner who is looking for examples of naturalistic spoken French. The lessons focus on a variety of contemporary topics such as education, sports, science, art, and the environment. Each lesson, divided into five main parts, is appropriately sequenced from pre-listening activities up through activities encouraging personalized language production at the end. The pre-listening section helps students recall what they already know about the topic before listening to the broadcast. The listening section focuses on two different aspects: a more generalized understanding with the first listen, and then a second, more focused listen for a deeper understanding. Each lesson has a variety of comprehension activities like "true and false" or selecting the word one hears after the first listen and fill in the blank or short answer following the second listen. The section focusing on relevant linguistic structures in the broadcast helps learners understand what is being communicated, such as how the imperfect tense is used to describe the past, in the broadcast focusing on childhood memories. In the final section, learners are encouraged to use the language in a personalized way, such as formulating their opinion of a dish they tried, in the lesson on gastronomy. Additionally, the lessons are sprinkled with helpful resources for cultural explanations specifics on the radio broadcast's structure, and extension questions to help encourage further thinking on the lesson's topic. For instructors who are looking to integrate this book into their existing course curriculum as an additional resource, the table of contents at the end provides quick references to each lesson's content, the linguistic structures covered in each lesson, the type of personalized output that learners will produce in each lesson, and the broadcast date of each radio broadcast. The book also contains an answer key for all activities so that learners can check their work at the end of each lesson. The audio CD has all tracks as sequential listening activities that correspond to track numbers listed throughout each lesson in the book making it easier for learners to follow along. Transcripts of all radio broadcasts are also included so that learners can follow along while listening and then clearly see the relevant linguistic structures presented in a contextualized manner as they focus on language use. Furthermore, a companion website provides supplementary pedagogical resources for teachers to help them adapt the lessons to their specific needs. [End Page 287] Michael Foster Eastern Michigan University Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French