Magazine Francophone: La Femme et la Francophonie

Activity authored by Laura Franklin, Professor of French at Northern Virginia Community College, to be used in conjunction with the original website tv-francophonie.com
Author Profile
This material was originally developed through Merlot
as part of its collaboration with the SERC Pedagogic Service.

Summary

In this just-in-time activity, students will examine the changing role of Francophone women in various countries by watching a video online. The sub-titled video will provide students with information about education, health care, family life and entrepreneurship in Benin, Cameroon, Mauritius, Romania and Canada. For homework, students will answer questions based on the video on an instructor provided worksheet. This worksheet will prepare them for a substantive in-class discussion


Learning Goals

  • Students will develop their familiarization with women's roles in Francophone countries, dispelling myths and preconceived notions.
  • Students will develop listening comprehension in French.
  • Students will develop French vocabulary to discuss women's role in the Francophone world.

Context for Use

This assignment is suitable for Francophone civilization courses, advanced French language courses and women's studies courses taught in French. The size of the course is not an important factor, as it is an individual assignment done outside of class.

Description and Teaching Materials

  • Go to the tv-Francophonie.com website.
  • Click "Regardez les émissions"
  • Click "Les Ėmissions sous-titrées"
  • Click « Femmes francophones, Pouvoir et développement »
  • Watch the video, making notes of the main points.
  • Answer questions on the Femmes francophones worksheet (Microsoft Word 25kB Aug11 09).
  • Be prepared to contribute to a discussion of the video in class.

Teaching Notes and Tips

  • The ability to stop, start and replay this video and the inclusion of subtitles make it an effective teaching tool for listening comprehension.
  • This video is appropriate as a lead-in activity to readings on Francophone Africa, micro-credit and women in business.
  • The tv-francophonie.com website has a wealth of videos on French around the world that could be resources for similar activities.

Assessment

Student performance will be evaluated based on the accuracy of the answers on the worksheet and the individual students' reuse of the vocabulary from the video.

References and Resources

"Informal Capitalism Grows in Cameroon" - an article in the New York Times about the "tontine" loan system

This article will shed light on a business practice that is widespread in Africa and that is featured in the video.