Using Hot Potatoes and Google Docs to create quizzes about the French movie “Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain”

Class or Subject Area: French

Specific Learning Objectives:

Writing (intermediate / advanced):

Students summarize and synthesize information and arguments from a number of sources.

Students understand and summarize the plot and sequence of events in a film and answer further questions of detail.

Grade Level(s): 10-12

Activity Summary:

After watching in class the movie “Amelie” , students complete a series of 6 online quizzes. The completion of quiz 1 gives access to quiz 2 etc.

What you need:

Access to Internet

Access to Google Docs

Hot Potatoes, a quiz maker available for free on the Internet

How it works:

The teacher previews the movie and writes a series of questions relevant to the objectives of the lesson.

If needed, the teacher downloads tutorials on how to use Hot Potatoes and how to make quizzes by using the “form” feature on Google Docs.

(S)he breaks down the series of questions in several quizzes. Students will need to reach a given score to be able to go from quiz to quiz.

Preparation:

Preview the movie.

Make a list of 50-60 questions about the movie.

Download Hot Potatoes and familiarize yourself with the application.

Visit Google Docs and familiarize yourself with the “form” feature; there are plenty of tutorials on the Internet on how to make quizzes with Google Docs.

Spread out your list of 50-60 questions in several quizzes (created with Hot Potatoes and/or Google Docs) and publish those quizzes on the web.

Explain the assignment to your students.

Directions for the students:

“ Let’s see what you remember from the movie “Amelie”. In order to do so, go to the following web page [url of quiz 1]. If you reach the following score (it is up to the teacher to decide if the students need or not a perfect score), you will get access to the next quiz.

Sample:

Here is the starting quiz of a series of six, made with Hot Potatoes. Here is the last quiz of that series, made with Google Docs. Another option is to ask students to use Google Maps to list all the places mentioned in the movie and to write comments about those places by using the information given by the quizzes, like in the following example.

Using Windows MovieMaker or Apple i-Movies to create a trailer for a film adapted from a book studied in class

Class or Subject Area: English / Foreign Language

Specific Learning Objectives:

Writing (intermediate):

Students give a straightforward prepared presentation on a given literary work in a clear manner.

Students describe the plot and sequence of events of a film or book, and narrate a story.

Writing (advanced):

Students produce clear, smoothly flowing, storyboard for the adaptation into a movie of literary works.

Students critically appraise classical as well as contemporary literary texts in different genres.

Speaking (intermediate / advanced):

Students deliver announcements fluently, almost effortlessly, using stress and intonation to convey finer shades of meaning.

Grade Level(s): 10-12

Activity Summary:

After a short tutorial on how to write a storyboard, students use Windows MovieMaker or Apple i-Movies to translate their own storyboard into a short film. They are asked to create a trailer for a hypothetical movie adapted from a book studied in class.

What you need:

Windows MovieMaker or Apple i-Movies

How it works:

The teacher previews the trailer of a movie of his choice. He then transforms that trailer into a storyboard that he gives her/his students as a model while showing them the trailer used as sample. Students work in groups to create their own storyboard. Then, they shoot their movie, edit it with Windows MovieMaker or Apple i-Movies and publish it.

Preparation:

Preview the trailer of a movie and adapt that trailer into a storyboard. Give them a short tutorial about Windows MovieMaker or Apple i-Movies if needed.

Explain the assignment to them

Directions for the students:

“ You have been asked by a movie producer to work on the trailer of [title of the book studied in class]. You will (1) write the storyboard for that trailer and (2) shoot it and edit it. To understand how it works, let’s demonstrate with … (you model the activity by showing an example of a storyboard you created yourself).

Sample:

Here is a sample model of a storyboard created after the trailer of the French movie “Entre les murs” (The Class), available on YouTube.

Using Microsoft Word’s “Track Change” feature as well as Wix.com for a project in Creative Writing

Class or Subject Area: English / Foreign Language

Specific Learning Objectives:

Writing (advanced): Students narrate a story.

Writing (advanced): Students write clear detailed descriptions of imaginary events and experiences.

Writing (advanced): Students write a short critical review of a piece of fiction giving reasons for their opinion.

Grade Level(s): 10-12

Activity Summary:

Students work on a draft copy of a short story they need to write (about 450 words).

Teacher uses Microsoft Word’s “Track Change” feature to edit students’ draft copy.

Students publish their story on Wix.com.

What you need:

Microsoft Word

Access to Internet

Access to Wix.com

How it works:

Students write a short story according to constrained writing techniques loosely based on Charles Baudelaire’s French poem, “Correspondances” (see Directions for the students below).

They submit their first draft copy to the teacher who uses Microsoft Word’s “Track Change” feature to make comments and offer suggestions.

They submit a second draft copy which is reviewed the same way by the teacher.

They work on their final version which is reviewed a last time by the teacher before publication on Wix.com.

Preparation:

Make a list of themes you want your students to include in their short story. Those should be related to the contents of your curriculum.

Explain the many meanings of “correspondance” (French for correspondence):

- similarity, analogy

- exchange of letters (or the letters themselves)

- [only in French]: connection between places or modes of transportation

Assign each student two of the themes on your list:

Have them write a short story including those themes and edit their text.

Have them publish their final copy on Wix.com.

Directions for the students:

Each student receives the following written instructions:

STUDENT	PLACE	THEMES
Pierre	Madrid’s railway station	a map of rome a CD-ROM

Your task is to write in 450 words minimum a short story including :

• a place (a raiway station or a train coming from or going to that railway station)
• an anecdote
• A THEME (also used as the title of your story)

In the example here above, Pierre should write a story whose action happens in Madrid’s railway station (or in a train coming from or going to Madrid). The whole story is about a CD-ROM (that someone lost? is seeking? is keeping safe?). At some point in the story, Pierre has to allude to a map of Rome; that map has no relevance to the story; it is merely anecdotic.

The story

• is a fiction (all characters are imagined, without any reference to real people, dead or alive);
• is coherent (with an opening, a plot, a resolution)
• describes a word altogether realistic and contemporaneous

Illustration

• image : your story comes with a black and white picture (2’’ x 2’’, jpeg format)
• sound : your story comes with a soundtrack (mp3 format)

Notes

• do not share with your classmates the contents of your assignment before completion of the project
• use web resources to help you with realistic descriptions of the assigned places and avoid stereotypes!

Sample:

Here is a sample planner for a class of 7 students in AP French:

ETUDIANT	GARES	THEMES
Etudiant 1	Berlin, Zoo Station	une tasse en porcelaine de Chine UN SAC A MAIN EN CUIR ROUGE
Etudiant 2	Londres, Waterloo Station	une montre ancienne UN EXEMPLAIRE DU JOURNAL « LE MONDE »
Etudiant 3	Los Angeles, Union Station	des soeurs jumelles UNE MONTRE ANCIENNE
Etudiant 4	New York, Grand Central Station	un exemplaire du journal “Le Monde » UN BOUQUET DE ROSES
Etudiant 5	Gare de Lima	un couteau de cuisine un hôtel UNE TASSE EN PORCELAINE DE CHINE
Etudiant 6	Gare de Moscou	Un sac à main en cuir rouge UN COUTEAU DE CUISINE
Etudiant 7	Gare de Beijing	un bouquet de roses DES SŒURS JUMELLES

Notice that the anecdotic theme assigned to a given student becomes the main theme for another student, which allows hyperlinks from text to text when the work is published on line, hence the title for the activity: “Correspondances”.

Here is the 2011 project published on Wix.com.