La Dyslexie: A French language podcast

This page authored by Laura Franklin, Northern Virginia Community College, based on the Neopodia website
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This material was originally developed through Merlot
as part of its collaboration with the SERC Pedagogic Service.

Initial Publication Date: August 27, 2010

Summary

In this listening comprehension exercise, students will complete a questionnaire based on a podcast on the topic of dyslexia. Students will listen to the podcast at the website Neopodia and answer comprehension questions in complete sentences in French. This exercise has the additional purpose of enlarging the student's thematic vocabulary on health topics. Once at the Neopodia site, the student will find a myriad of short free podcasts on diverse topics.

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Learning Goals

  1. Students will improve comprehension of authentic texts in French by strategic listening.
  2. Students will increase their vocabulary on health topics.
  3. Students will increase their awareness of a disorder that is prevalent in France as it is in other cultures.

Context for Use

This activity is intended as an individual skill builder, thus not much classroom time should be devoted to it. If the instructor collects the exercise as homework, it would be easy to simply provide the students with an answer key to check their comprehension. In this way, it would not be necessary to grade each paper and the assignment could be used with an infinite number of students.

Description and Teaching Materials

The questionnaire is attached. Student Handout for Dyslexia Lisitening Assignment (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 13kB Aug27 10)

The podcast used for this assignment is from the Health section of the Neopodia podcast website. Moderator Gilles Raillard interviews dyslexia specialist Dr. Annie Dumont, author of the book " la Dyslexie, published by Cavalier Bleu.

Teaching Notes and Tips

Podcasts are excellent for listening comprehension and this activity is an easy way for students to check comprehension and build vocabulary at the same time.

The instructor distributes the questionnaire as a lab or homework assignment and the student hands it in during class or electronically.

Assessment

This activity could be assessed as a quiz grade; however, it is more of a skill-getting activity than an assignment for assessment. If assessed, the questionnaire could be graded with points.

References and Resources

The Neopodia podcast on dyslexia is a good resource for language classes as it can be re-played as many times as the learner needs. The podcast site Neopodia contains a wide variety of interviews with presenters and guests who articulate clearly. The sound quality is excellent and the accompanying text aids comprehension.