French Level 2, Activity 12: La maison / Home life (Face-to-Face)

Did you know that you can access the complete collection of Pathways Project French activities in our new Let’s Chat! French pressbook? View the book here: https://boisestate.pressbooks.pub/pathwaysfrench 

Please Note: Many of our activities were created by upper-division students at Boise State University and serve as a foundation that our community of practice can build upon and refine. While they are polished, we welcome and encourage collaboration from language instructors to help modify grammar, syntax, and content where needed. Kindly contact pathwaysproject@boisestate.edu with any suggestions and we will update the content in a timely manner. 

Home Life / La maison

Description

In this activity, students will be talking about their living situation- where they live, who they live with, if they live at a house, apartment, etc. Students will also practice buying furniture for their home.

Semantic Topics

Home, living, shopping, furniture, maison, faire du shopping, meubles, choices, les choix

Products

Homes

Practices

Living in homes, what type of home people choose to buy

Perspectives

The French typically have smaller homes than Americans, and most French people live in either apartments or duplexes!

NCSSFL ACTFL World-Readiness Standards

  • Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations or correspondence in French to provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
  • Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret spoken and written French on a variety of topics
  • Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures of the francophone world."

Idaho State Content Standards

  • CLTR 1.1 - Analyze the cultural practices/patterns of behavior accepted as the societal norm in the target culture
  • CLTR 1.2 - Explain the relationship between cultural practices/behaviors and the perspectives that represent the target culture's view of the world
  • CLTR 1.3 - Function appropriately in diverse contexts within the target culture
  • CLTR 2.1 - Analyze the significance of a product (art, music, literature, etc...) in a target culture
  • CLTR 2.2 - Describe the connections of products from the target culture with the practices and perspectives of the culture
  • CLTR 2.3 - Justify the underlying beliefs or values of the target culture that resulted in the creation of the product

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements

  • I can talk about my current living situation.
  • I can talk about furniture and their prices.
  • I can recognize the difference between furniture from my culture and the French speaking world.

Materials Needed

Warm-up

1. Begin by introducing the Can-Dos for today’s activity.

Aujourd'hui, nous allons parler de nos domiciles et rechercher des meubles sur les site-webs. (Today, we are going to talk about our homes and search for furniture on websites.)

2.  Discuss these questions with your students:

  • Habitez-vous dans un appartement, une maison, dans une résidence universitaire ou ailleurs ? (Do you live in an apartment, a house, a dorm or elsewhere?)
  • Habitez-vous avec vos parents ? Votre partenaire ? Vos amis ? (Do you live with your parents? Your partner? Your friends?)
  • Avez-vous un balcon ? Un garage ? (Do you have a balcony? A garage?)
  • Aimez-vous décoré vos pièces ? (Do you like to decorate your rooms?)

Main Activity

1. Introduce the students to three popular furniture stores throughout the Francophone world. Support with pictures if you'd like.

  • EQ3 est un magasin de meubles partout au Québec. Les prix tendent à être plus chers. (EQ3 in Quebec, there are several locations throughout Canada. Prices tend to be more expensive.) 
  • Leroy Merlin est en France. Il y a plusieurs à travers Europe. Les gens font du shopping là puisque les prix sont similaires à ceux de Walmart. (Leroy Merlin in France. There are several locations throughout Europe. People tend to shop here because it is cheaper. Prices could be compared to those at Walmart in the U.S.)
  • Nova Home est en Haïti. Il y a un seul site à Port-au-Prince. Les prix sont similaires à ceux d’IKEA. (Nova Home, Haiti. One location in Port-au-Prince. Prices could be compared to IKEA.) 

2. After, students are going to practice buying furniture for their home. They will be given a budget for their living room and bedroom. They must carefully decide which items they would buy without going over the budget amount.

Aujourd’hui nous allons acheter des meubles pour nos domiciles! Je vais vous donner un budget pour la salle de séjour et votre chambre. Vous allez choisir des meubles parmi les choix, mais vous ne devez pas dépasser le budget!

 3. Have the students either log onto the websites for these stores and choose furniture within the budget, or choose a few items from each website and give them to the students to choose from. The students should be prepared to explain why they chose the furniture they did.

Après vous choisissez vos meubles, dites “pourquoi” vous les avez choisi.

Wrap-up

Ask the following question(s) to finish the activity:

  • Où est-ce que tu achètes les meubles pour votre chambre ? (Where do you buy furniture for your room?)
  • Qu'est ce que c'est plus important ? La qualité ou le prix ? (Which is more important? The quality of the price?)

Cultural Resources

What types of homes do French people live in?

French Country Style

Paris and Haussmann architecture

End of Activity

  • Can-Do statement check-in... “Where are we?”
  • Read can-do statements and have students evaluate their confidence.
  • Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation
  • Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future activities!

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements

  • I can talk about my current living situation.
  • I can talk about furniture and their prices.
  • I can recognize the difference between furniture from my culture and the French speaking world.

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