METROPOLITANFamiliarization &Short-term TrainingFOREIGNSERVICEINSTITUTE U.S.DEPARTMENTOFSTATEMETROPOLITANFamiliarization& Short-term TrainingbyMarie -Charlotte Iszkowskiwiththe editorial assistance ofHedy A. St. DenisFOREIGNSERVICEINSTITUTE U.S. DEPARTMENTOFSTATE1984METROPOLITAN FRENCHiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHIntroductionThe field test version of French, Familiarizationand Short-Term Training was prepare in 1981 by Marie-CharlotteIszkowski and Lydie Stefanopoulos. Editorial and technical guidancewere provided by Hedy A. St. Denis and Earl W. Stevick. The final ver-sion was written by Marie-Charlotte Iszkowski in 1983. Revisions werebased on observation of student performance and comments of both stu-dents and instructors at FSI, and other members of the foreign servicecommunity at post.While we realize that some questions regarding vocabulary, style,usage, and cultural matters will always be subject to variable inter-pretation, depending on country of origin or personal preference, wehave attempted to incorporate as many useful suggestions as possiblein this edition. We have drawn on the expertise of our native-speakingFrench staff, and also on that of others who have lived and worked inFrance, Belgium, and Switzerland. The revisions were produced througha collaborative effort of the following persons: Myriam Bourdin,Elisabeth de Maynadier, Josette Howarth, and Marie-CharlotteIszkowski, under the direction of Hedy A. St. Denis. Recording ofaccompanying tapes was done by Elisabeth de Maynadier, HenriFourcault, Marie-Charlotte Iszkowski, Alain Mornu, Hedy A. St. Denis,and Jack Ulsh, under the supervision of M. Ramirez in the FSIrecording studio, with the assistance of Mark Macklow. The text pho-tographs were taken by Marie-Charlotte Iszkowski. The cover photographwas provided by the FSI Overseas Briefing Center. Technical assistancefor art work was provided by Anne Meagher and John McClelland in theFSl audio-visual section, under the guidance of Joseph A. Sadote. Themanuscript revis ions were effected by MyriamBourdin. Arrangements forfinal publicationwere made by Allen 1. Weinstein.Jack Mendelsohn, DeanSchool of Language StudiesForeign Service InstituteDepartment of StateiiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHivMETROPOLITAN FRENCHTABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction iiiTable of Contents . vIntroduction to the CourseTo The Teacher: FAST Courses--Needs and Objectives ixPour l'Instructeur: Cours "FAST"--Objectifs AtteindreSarnple Teaching Techniques: Metropolitan French,Farniliarization and Short TermTraining Familiarisationet Formation: Le Franais en EuropeExemples de Techniques d'Enseignement To the Student: Ten Weeks of French xviixxvixxxivxliiiLesson 1 - Arrival--Meeting M. Bertrand 1-1Lesson 2 - Greeting M. Bertrand--Finding a Taxi 2-1Lesson 3 - In an EmbassyConversationwith theDri ver 3-1Lesson 4 - Finding the Embassy--Getting your Bearings 4-1Lesson 5 - ATaxi Trip to the Hotel--Getting your Baggage 5-1Lesson 6 - At thein 6-1Lesson 10 - At the Airport--Meeting a Relative Lesson 7Lesson 8Lesson 9- At the Hotel--Making a Long Distance CalI- At the Hotel--Comp1aining about your Room- At the Train Station--Going toVersailles........................7-18-19-110-1Lesson Il - No Taxis--Looking for the Metro Lesson 12 - Taking the Metro--Getting your Tickets v11-112-1METROPOLITAN FRENCHLesson 13-Meeting a Friend in a Caf ........................Lesson 14-Taking C10thes to the Dry C1eaner .................Lesson 15-Shopping for Food--At the Bakery ..................Lesson 16-Shopping for Food--At the De1icatessen ............Lesson 17-Shopping for Food--At the Greengrocer ............Lesson 18-Shopping for food--At the Butcher Shop ............Lesson 19 -Shopping in a Department Store ....................13-114-115-116-117-118-119-1Lesson 20 - Getting Stuck in a Traffic Jam .................... 20-1Lesson 21 - At the Restaurant--Ordering your MealLesson 22 - At the Restaurant--Choosing the Wines........................21-122-1Lesson 23 - Buying Medicine at the Pharmacy Lesson 24 - Ca11ing a Doctor Lesson 25 - At the Tobacconist--Buying Postcards Lesson 26 - Ta1king with a Friend--P1anning an Outing to theMov ies Lesson 27 - Ta1king with a Friend--P1anning an Evening at theOpera Lesson 28 - Going to Dinner in a French Home Lesson 29 - Conversing with your Friends during Dinner Lesson 30 - Getting your Hair Cut Lesson 31 - At a Department Store--Buying an E1ectrica1App1iance Lesson 32 - Answering the Phone at the Embassy 23-124-125-126-127-128-129-130-131-132-1Lesson 33 - Making an AppointmentLesson 34 - Greeting a Visitor at.............................the Embassy 33-134-1Lesson 35 - Getting a Traffic Ticket Lesson 36 - Dea1ing with a Minor Traffic Accident vi35-136-1Lesson 37Lesson 38Lesson 39Lesson 40METROPOLITAN FRENCHFinding an Apartment Accepting a Delivery Calling a Locksmith Responding to Emergencies 37-138-139-140-1AppendixIndices- Writing Letters (La Correspondance) ............... A-lExploring and VocabularyNotes Functional Notes, Cultural Notes and Practical Helps More Words, Index of Lists Glossary viiI-l1-41-8G-lMETROPOLITAN FRENCHviiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHTO THE TEACHER:FAST COURSES--NEEDS AND OBJECTIVESIs a Familiarization Short Term (FAST) course just anotherlanguage course? We don't think so. FAST courses have been welcomedby teachers and students alike for characteristics which are designedtomeet specifie kinds of language use needs.This course is not designed for self-instruction. Aresourcefuland imaginative instructor will be a big help in rapid and successfulmastery of the material presented. FAST courses are for those indivi-duals for whom approximately 300 hours of active well-targeted Frenchinstruction can mean a more successful living and working experiencein the host country. FAST courses help such individuals increase theirability to handle newsituations.A FAST course therefore differs from most traditional courses inits goals, in sorne features of its format, and in several techniques.GOALSLet's begin by being very clear about goals. The students' over-aIl goal, stated generally, is not "to know about the cul ture," or"to speak the language." It is to acquire the ability to apply thelimited amount of language at his or her disposaI to the situationsstudents are l ikely to encounter overseas--and to do so wi th conf i-dence. Knowledge and skills will be valuable only insofar as theymake people more effective ingetting things done. Alot of time spentwith academic facts or linguistic correctness is incidental to thestudents' real needs, and can be undesirable.Specifically, we have concentrated on certain situations withwhich almost everyone needs to cope: getting into a hotel, using thetelephone, dealing with local transportation, and so on. You willspend more of your time than in tradi tional programs in helping yourstudents with practice for these situations, and less of your time inteaching them forms or patterns to be applied in a broader contexteEverything in the lessons that you teach from the materials ei thershould be a simulation of a common activity in the host country, orshould contribute directly to such a simulation. This is the principleof "learning by doing" which, in FAST courses, largely overrides theacademic practice of "learning by studying about."Since the goal of the FAST course is to help students get thingsdone in certain selected everyday situations, your expectations aboutstudent performance--the criteria for their success--will have to bedifferent fromwhat we have heretofore assumed themto be.ixMETROPOLITAN FRENCHThus, you will be satisfied when understanding and speaking are suf-ficient to make students effective, even if they aren't producing thelanguage perfectly. Conversely, you won' t be sat isf ied wi th error-free language from them unless you see that they are also communi-cating effectively in a situation like one that they will meet out-side of class.As you bring your students to the point where they know that theyare able to handle everyday contacts with sorne comfort, you will becontributing toward the primary goal of FAST courses, that of buildingconfidence. Even the most relevant facts and skills are useless untilsomeone is willing to put them to use. Normally, students are notwilling to do so unless they are fairly confident that they will suc-ceed. FAST courses build student confidence in two ways. First, theybrief students rather fuIIy on howcertain things shouid be done in thehost country--this is informationai. Second, they give students re-peated experiences of success in reai or simulated examples of doingthose things--this is participatory. Confidence, in turn, leads tomore frequent and more successfui communication outside the class-room--and hence to fuller acquisition of language and culture.SPECIAL FEATURESConsistent with these goals, we have built into the materiaisfour generai features which bear sorne discussion here.1. Communication: We have aimed toward activities which are, ina very special sense, "communicative." The principle of "learning bydoing" states that what your students do successfuIIy, they are Iikelyto do more readiIy in the future. In the same way, what they do not dosuccessfully, they are very unlikely to attempt to use. For example,it is one thing to memorize and produce fluently in class thesentence:"Howfar is it fromParis to Geneva?""It's about 400 miles."What a student has succeeded at here is to produce sentences--nothingmore. To be sure, these are sentences which might under other cir-cumstances serve for communication, but they have not done so here--at Ieast not yet. It is quite another thing, when you need to have thesame information but don't have it, to ask:"Howfar is it fromParis to Geneva?"and to receive the reply:"It's about 400 miles."xMETROPOLITAN FRENCHIf the need is genuine, if one speaker absolutely must com-municate with the other or be unable to get to Geneva, we are dealingwith genuine communication--the resolution of uncertainty. Too oftenwe pretend to be communicating authentically for the sake of exercise,but the learner knows s/he is just pretending, and that what s/he isreally practicing is sentence production and comprehension--but notreal communication. The difference between pretending to communicateand really doing so cannot be overemphasized. In the latter, peopleactually find out things that they didn' t know before; in the former,they just pretend to. In a FAST course you won't be able to spend aIlof your time in real communication with your students, but you shouldspend a large part of each lesson in this way. Once more, if theydon't practice it successfully they won't learn to do it! If they dopractice it successfully, they will have the confidence and theexperience to communicate successfully in the future. In a FAST coursewe try to establish a genuine need for the student to communicate inorder to accomplish what s/he needs to do, not just to practice mani-pulating elements of language.2. Detailed information about the setting: Using language meansforming mental images from the words that one sees or hears (compre-hension), and responding in words that will convey the ideas which arein one' s own head (production). This is another thing that must bepracticed successfully if it is to be learned. Astudent who practicesassociating words wi th minimal images will have a very thin, one-dimensional grasp of the words and ideas s/he practices using. Forexample, i t' s easy to tell a student thatmeans "super-market." He or she can then borrow whatever image s/he had for theEnglish word and practice attaching that image to the foreign word.The image based on what s/he later encounters may be totallyfalse. Orwe can tell and show the student--in English if necessary--where themarket is, how large it is, what it sounds and smells like, and whatpeople do there. In this way we can enrich the image that the studentpractices associating with the word. We can also ensure that thisimage will fit more closely with what the student actually finds inthe host country.For this reason, you will find that FAST courses often go intoconsiderable detail, in English as weIl as in the target language,about the settings in which the dialogs and other materials are likelyto be useful. You may, of course, change anything which is obsolete,and add details fromyour own experience. Use the target language forthis purpose when it will contribute to the students' feeling of suc-cess and confidence; otherwise, use a little English.3. Comprehension: The field tests of these materials have showndramatically that students can understand much, much more than they canproduce in a foreign language--and much more than we had expected theycould! This has even been true of beginning students whose aptitude islow. We have found that after students have been exposed for a fewdays to lots of interesting material which they understand, they beginxiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHto use parts of it spontaneously when they need it, even withoutthinking about it. Here is a second way of gaining control of a newlanguage, alongside the more familiar way of copying oral or writtenmodels and being corrected.For this reason, FAST courses include activi ties in which stu-dents respond to new material in ways that don' t require them toreproduce it. For this reason also, you should look for opportunitiesto give your students the experience of understanding language that isover their heads. (This kind of comprehension is another skill whichmust be practiced if it is to be learned!) For example, you may some-times talk to your students in language that is close to what theyfound in the book, but not exactly like it. Then, as you see thatthey are ready for it, you can gradually widen the gap between whatyou say to themand what was in the book. Thus, students who know thecolors and who would be able to say, "the bus leaves the station onthe hour," might weIl be able to follow most of "The express bus--that's the coach with the red and white placard in the window--departsfrom the Central Station at 5 minutes after the hour and half hour,"if this is delivered vigorously, in context, and with appropriategesticulation. (Words which the students had never met are under-lined.)4. Fluency: You will notice that FAST courses contain relativelyfew drills on pronunciation and grammar. Notes on these matters areboth brief and informaI. We have written the materials in this waybecause we wish to emphasize developing fluency (and confidence!) overdeveloping a high degree of accuracy.This is an important point and is open to considerable misinter-pretation. It certainly reverses the policy that has generally pre-vailed within the language teaching profession. In making it, we donot mean that you are just supposed to teach students to butcher thelanguage happily. Nor do we intend that they depart with a defectivefoundation for aIl the rest of their experience with the language.(After aIl, successful practice of a mistake leads toward learning ofthat same mistake!)We don't want anyone to be unconcerned about making errors. But wealso don't want students to corne out of the course so squeamish aboutmistakes that they avoid contact with the people of the country. Andwe do consider the latter more urgent than the former. We want the stu-dents to get the very best language they can fromthis FAST course andwhatever they get, we want themto use it!Of course the students' foundation in grammar will be incomplete.That's inevitable for a course of this length. But the alternative isno course at all--and no foundation at aIl! On the positive side, we dotry to give the students a sound introduction to the grammar they willneed most frequently. This type of approach, of course, does notxiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHpreclude your filling in grammatical gaps for a student who desiresthis after s/he has finished the course.You should therefore spend very li ttle of your time in theclassical teacher functionof listeningfor and correctingerrors. Youwill spend much more of your time taking the role of a sympathetic andperceptive native speaker, listening for what your students are tryingtosay, and communicating with themas best you can.TECHNIQUESRemember that one central goal of a FAST course is tohelp peopleget ready to do things. Suppose, for example, that we have been askedto write such a course for people who are coming to live in Franco-phone-European cities. Among the things that they may need to do isride in a taxi. Alessonunit on this topic might include at least:Background informationSamples of language that students may hear and produceExploration of relevant grammar (notes and drills)Supplementary vocabularyCommunicative use of language for real or simulated purposesOf these, the last is most important. The others are preparationfor i t. Here are a few examples from an incomplete hypotheticallesson.Background information (instudents' native language)Although taxis can be expensive, you may need to take one, whenyou don' t ,know your way, or when you don' t want to take publictransportation.To hail a taxi, go to a marked taxi stand, usually at an inter-section or in front of an important building. (Just how taxi standsare marked varies fromcountry to country.) You cannot hail a taxi ifyou are close to a taxi stand because the drivers are not allowed topick up passengers, but if you are far away from a taxi stand you canflag one down.Sorne taxi drivers, especially in large cities, are reluctant totalk, and they are busy watching traffic. Therefore, if you have aquestion which must be answered before you get into a taxi, you shouldprepare it in advance, puttingit intoas fewwords as possible.xiiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHSample Dialog:You:Driver:You:Driver:You:Driver:You:Do you know howto go to the Arnerican hospital?Yes, sure. But i twill take sorne time. There' s a traff icjamon the way. l just heard it on the radio.l beg your pardon.The traffic. There's a lot of traffic.Oh! l see. How much will the fare be?l don't know. It depends how long it takes.Yes. l understand. WeIl, anyway to the American hospital,please.(Depending on the language, the dialog material may be presented intwo or four or more lines at a time.)Note on Structure: Sometimes parts of sentences are omi tted.dialog contains one example:The traffic.This(Notes in a FAST course are short and nontechnical. They are obser-vations rather than explanations. Mastery of grammar per se is not acourse objective, because our emphasis is on mastering communicationskills.)Practice on structure: When you are trying toget important informationfromstrangers, ln a limited amount of time, and on a noisy street, youespecially need to be able to do without these omitted words. You maytherefore want to take a minute or two topractice the following:Teacher: Student:the supermarket next to the supermarket?the post office in front of the post office?the intersection just after the intersection?the hotel at the entrance to the hotel?You can give the phrases alone, as in the above examples, or put theminto short sentences.xivMETROPOLITAN FRENCHCommunication Practice: In working with basic language rnaterials,every teacher has an individual style, made up partly of personality,partly of resource limi tations, partly of creativi ty, and partly ofconsideration for the needs of students. You will undoubtedly haveyour own preferences about which elements of the rnaterials to focuson. Given the sample materials, one instructor might have the back-ground information read aloud in class to make certain the studentshaven' t skipped over it. A second instructor might assume studentshave read it and simply use it as a springboard for talking aboutrelated topics in English and French (correct etiquette in a taxi, howthe fare is paid, the "character" of taxi drivers, etc.) Athird in-structor might quiz the students on the background information inFrench (allowing themto answer in English), and repeat in French whatthe students have said so that they can hear the information cor-rectly, but without being "corrected." You might also add informationtofill in gaps.In the same way, the dialogs may be used as the focal point of alesson or simply as a way of adding sorne useful material to the stu-dents' production inventory, to be checked out quickly before moving onto something else.In aIl cases, classroom activities using the materials shouldcontribute to student effectiveness in dealing with the situation athand. You should not concern students with the "rules" for using vo-cabulary and dialog materials in other situations. This approach is aselective rather than comprehensive way of teaching language and thecourse is not designed to be cumulative in terms of structure. If astructure is suitable to the situation, it should be used, but withoutreference to the entire entityof the language.Students will naturally want sorne explanation of the "rules" and,rather than frustrate them, it is probably best to spend a little timeanswering their questions after they have practiced the tasks andassignments of the lesson, and then only briefly. In this way we canconvey to themthat, while we are happy to deal with their concerns inan informational way, the course they are involved in has differentpriorities from those they may have encountered in a traditionalcourse.Adapting Materials to Post Language Programs (PLP's)Since the FAST courses emphasize the situational application ofthe language rather than its underlying patterns and structure, anyin-country program has the unique advantage of being able to put thematerials right to work. After discussing, for example, the taxisituation presented earlier, there is little point in simulating anxvMETROPOLITAN FRENCHencounter with a taxi driver in the classroomwhen a real encounter ispossible around the corner.Teachers in post language programs should probably considerapproaching the FASTmaterials in three stages:1) an introductory phase encompassing presentation of the situ-ation, objectives of the lesson, and information and language neededto performsatisfactorilYi2) a practical application phase in which the students put touse what they have learned under the guidance of the instructori and3) an analytical phase in which performance is cri tiqued, newelements added as necessary, and any remedial practice is taken careof. Since there is no determined amount of material which must be"covered" in the FAST course, the amount of class time spent on agiven situation depends on its utility, complexity, and applicabilitytoother situations, as determined by the instructor.Students who have completed the FAST course and wish to continuetheir studies can begin with the latter half of Volume l, or withVolume 2 of French Basic Course, after having reviewed those situ-ations, idioms, etc. in Volume 1 which may be useful to them.We don' t want to be too prescriptive in telling you how to pre-sent this material, since we don't want to stifle your creativity. Wewould be happy to hear from you regarding how your material was pre-sented and what the results were.xviMETROPOLITAN FRENCHPOUR L'INSTRUCTEUR:COURS "FAST"--OBJECTIFS AATTEINDREEst-ce que le cours de famil iarisat ion ~ court terme (" FAST" )n'est qu'un cours de langue parmi tant d'autres? Pas ~ notre avis!Instructeurs et tudiants ensemble apprcient le cours "FAST" pourses caractristiques conues en fonction de si tuations bien prcisesqui ncessitent l'usage de la langue.Ce cours n'est pas conu pour les autodidactes. L'imagination etl' ingnios i t de l'instructeur contribueront largement une ma triserapide et sare du matriel prsent. Les cours "FAST" sont destins ~ceux pour qui environ 300 heures d'instruction active et bien orientedu franais peuvent signifier une exprience professionnelle et person-nelle plus positive dans le pays d'accueil. Les cours "FAST" lesaident accrotre leur capacit dominer des situations nouvelles.Donc, tous les cours "FAST" diffrent des cours traditionnelspar leurs buts, certaines de leurs caractristiques, leur format etplusieurs des techniques utilises.LES BUTSCommenons par les dfinir clairement. Le but final de l'tudi-ant, gnralement nonc, n'est pas de "connatre la culture" ou de"parler la langue." C'est d'acqurir la capacit d'utiliser avec per-tinence ses connaissances limi tes de la langue face ce genre desituations que les tudiants sont appels rencontrer l'tranger--et de le faire avec assurance. La connaissance et les talents n'aurontde valeur que s'ils permettent aux gens de mieux accomplir ce qu'ilsauront faire.Consacrer beaucoup de temps l'acquisition deacadmiques ou d'une syntaxe correcte ne rpond pasr ~ e l s des tudiants et n'est peut tre pas souhaiter.connaissancesaux besoinsNous nous sommes particulirement concentrs sur des situationsauxquelles presque tout le monde doi t faire face, telles que: aller l'htel, se servir du tlphone, emprunter les transports en commundu pays, etc.... Al' encontre de ce qu'on fai t dans les programmestraditionnels, vous consacrerez plus de votre temps aider les tu-diants s'exercer en vue de ces situations et moins leur enseignerdes structures ou des modles utiliser dans des contextes plusvagues.Tout dans ce que vous enseignerez partir du matriel devrai ttre soit un simulacre d'une activit courante dans le pays d'accueil,xviiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHsoit en rapport direct avec ce simulacre. C'est le principe de"l'apprentissage par l'action" qui dans le "FAST" domine largementl'attitude acadmique de "l'apprentissagepar l'tude."Puisque ce but du cours "FAST" est d'aider les tudiantsagirefficacement facecertaines situations courantes ce qu'onattend d' eux--Ie cri tE!re de leur succs--devra tre diffrent de cequ'on a jusqu'ici prsum qu'il devrait tre. Donc, vous serez satis-fait quand leuret usage de la langue seront suffisantspour les rendre efficaces mme s'ils ne parlent pas parfaitement. Aucontraire, vous ne vous satisfairez pas d'une langue sans erreur moins qu'elle ne montre une communication efficace dans toute situationtelle que celles que les tudiants rencontreront frquemment en dehorsde la classe.En amenant vos tudiantsse rendre compte qu'ils sont dorna-vant capables de se comporter avec aisance dans des situations de tousles jours, vous serez sur la bonne voie, celle du but essentiel du"FAST:" faire naltre la confiance. Mme les faits et talents les pluspertinents possibles sont inutiles si une personne n'est pas dcide les mettre en pratique. En gnral, les tudiants ne le font pasvolontiersmoins d'tre raisonnablement sr de russir. Les cours"FAST" font nal tre cette assurance chez l' tudiant de deux faons.D'abord, ils documentent assez bien les tudiants sur la faon dontcertaines choses devraient tre faites dans le pays d'accueil.Ensuite, ils offrent aux tudiants maintes expriences positives de ceschosesaccomplir au cours de situations simules ou relles. Ceciest dans l'ordre des choses. L'assurance en retour conduitune com-munication de plus en plus russie en dehors de la classe--et donc une acquisitionplus complte de la langue et de la culture.LES ASPECTS PARTICULIERSFidlesces buts, nous avons introduit dans le matriel quatrepoints qui une discussion.1. Communication: Nous nous sommmes tourns vers des activitsqui, dans un sens bien prcis, sont des "sources de communication."Le principe de "l'apprentissage par l'action" nonce que ce que vostudiants accomplissent avec succs, ils le feront sans doute plusvolontiers dans l'avenir. De mme, ce qu'ils ne russissent pas, il ya peu de chance qu'ils essaient de l'utiliser. Par exemple, vouspouvez faire apprendre par coeur etcouramment en classe lesphrases:"Aquelle distance de Paris se trouve GenE!ve?""C'estenviron 400 milles."Ce que l'tudiant a accompli dans ce cas, ce sont des phrases, riendeplus. Bien sr, dans d'autres circonstances ces phrases pourraientxviiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHservir communiquer. Mais elles n'ont servi rien, ici--du moins,pas encore. C'est une chose biendiffrente quand, n'ayant pas le ren-seignement dont on a besoin, on demande:nAquelle distance de Paris se trouve Genve?"et qu'onobtient la rponse:"C'estenviron 400 milles."Si la personne qui parle a absolument besoin de communiquer avecson interlocuteur sous peine de ne pas pouvoir se rendre nousavons affaire Ala communication authentique--la rsolutiond'undoute.Trop souvent on fai t semblant de rellement communiquer pour le seulbnfice de participer A un exercice, et l'tudiant sait qu'il faitseulement semblant et qu'en vri t il s'exerce seulement formulerdes phrases etles comprendre--mais pas vraimentcommuniquer. Ladiffrence entre faire semblant de communiquer et la communicationrelle ne saurai t tre exagrment souligne. Dans le dernier cas,les gens apprennent quelque chose qu'ils ignoraient vraiment--dans lepremier cas, ils font semblant.Un cours "FAST" ne vous permettra pas de consacrer tout votretempsrellement communiquer avec vos tudiants, mais vous devriezpasser une grande partie de chaque leonle faire. Encore une fois,s'ils ne s'exercent pas avec succs ils n'apprendront pasle faire.S'ils s'exercent et russissent, ils auront l'assurance etl'exprience ncessaire pour bien communiquer dans l'avenir.Dans tout cours "FAST" on essaie de crer chez l' tudiant unbesoin authentique de communiquer de faon Ace qu'il accomplisse cequ'il doi t faire. On ne se limi te pass' exercerla manipulationd'lments de la langue.2. Renseignements dtaills sur le cadre: Utiliser une langueveut dire former dans son espri t des imagespartir des mots qu'onvoit ou entend (comprhension), et rpondre par des mots qui traduisentlesqu'on a en tte (production). C'est lA encore autre chose quoi on doit s'exercer avec succs si on veut l'apprendre. Un tudiantqui n'associe les mots qu'avec un minimumd'images aura une comprhen-sion superficielle, ! une dimension, des mots et ides qu'ils'exerceutiliser.Par exemple, il est facile de dire ! un tudiant le sens du mot"supermarch." Il peut emprunter ! l'anglais l'image que ce motreprsente, et s'exercer ! l'associer au mot tranger. Cet te imagepeut tre totalement fausse par rapportce qu'il rencontrera plustard. Ou, on peut dire et montrer! l'tudiant, en anglais s'il lefaut, oil est le march, sa taille, ses brui ts et ce que les gens yfont. De cette faon, on peut enrichir l'image que l'tudiant s'exercexixMETROPOLITAN FRENCHa associer avec le mot. On peut aussi s'assurer que cette imagecorrespondra de plus prs ace que trouvera vraiment dans lepays d'accueil.Pour cette raison, vous verrez que souvent les cours "FAST"entrent minutieusement dans leen anglais tout comme dans lalangueapprendre, pour parler auxdes cadres dans lesquelsles dialogues et autre matriel ont des chances d'treutiles.Vous pouvez, bien sar, changer tout ce qui apparal t dpass etajouter des dtails ns de votre propre exprience. Utilisez alors lalangue tudie quand cela aideradvelopper les sentiments d'assur-ance et de succs chez l'tudiant. Autrement ayez recours Aun peud'anglais.3. Comprhens ion: Les examens dans ce domaine ont largementque lespouvaient comprendre beaucoup de choses,beaucoup plus qu'ils ne pouvaient en exprimer, dans une langue tran-gre. et bien plus qu'on ne s'y attendait. Ce fait s'appliquemme aux tudiants dbutants de faible aptitude. Nous avons constatqu'qu'on leur a prsent pendant quelques jours beaucoup dematriel intressant et qu'ils l'ont compris, ils commencent Aen uti-liser des lments quand le besoin se fait sentir et sansy penser.VoilA donc une deuxime faon d'obtenir la mal trise d'une nou-velle langue, autre que celle, plus familire, qui consiste Acopierdesou crits et A tre corrig.Pour cette raison, les cours "FAST" comprennent des activits aucours desquelles les tudiants confronts avec du matriel nouveauragissent sans avoir le reproduire. Pour cette mme raison, vousdevriez procurer Avos tudiants toutes les occasions de comprendre lalangue Aun niveau au dessus du leur. (Cette forme de comprehensionest un autre talent auquel on doit s'exercer si on veut lePar exemple, vous pouvez en parlant Avos tudiants vous exprimer enrestant de ce qu'ils ont dans le livre, mais pas exactement commedans le livre. Puis, quand vous sentez qu'ils sont prts, vous pouvezpeupeu accentuer la diffrence entre ce que vous leur dites et cequi est dans le livre. Ainsi, qui connalt les couleurs etsait comment dire "le car quitte la gare l'heure juste" pourraitbien comprendre, peut tre, la plus'grande partie de "Le car express,c'est la voiture qui a une affiche rouge et blanchelavitre, part dela Gare Centrale5 heures et Ala demie," si cela est dit avec con-viction, dans un contexte, et avec les gestes appropris. (Les motsnouveaux pour lessont souligns.)xxMETROPOLITAN FRENCH4. LaVous remarquerez que les cours "FAST" contien-nent relat1vement peu d'exercices de prononciation et de grammaire.Les explications dans ces domaines sontla fois et nonmiques. Nous avons t le de cette faon parce que nousvoulons surtout laet l'assurance, plusqu'un d'exactitude.Ceci est un point important et qui prteconfusion. C'est cer-tainement l'inverse de la politique qui a prvalu dans laprofession de l'enseignement des langues. En indiquant cela, nous nevoulons pas dire que vous tes cens enseigner aux martyri-ser la langue. Ce n'est pas notre intention non plus qu'ils partentavec une mauvaise base, car c'est sur cette base que sera fonde leurexprience de la langue. (Aprs tout, la pratique d'une faute conduit apprendre cette mme faute.)Si, d'une part, nous ne voulons pas encourager lesadopter une attitude insouciante envers les fautes qu'ils pourraientfaire, nous ne voulons pas non plus qu'ils aient si peur d'en fairequ'ils vitent tout contact avec les gens du pays. Et nous considronsce dernier facteur plus important que le premier. Nous voulons que les obtiennent du cours "FAST" la meilleure connaissance de lalangue possible, mais quoi qu'ils apprennent, nous voulons qu'ilspuissent l'utiliser.La base grammaticale dessera, bien sr, incomplte.C'est chose invitable, vu la dure de ce cours. Mais l'alternativeserait qu'il n'yait pas de cours du tout--et pas de base grammaticaledu tout! Du positif, nous nous efforons de donner aux une bonne introduction la grammaire dont ils auront besoin le plussouvent. Cette mthode d'enseignement ne vous empcherai t pas toutefois de combler les lacunes grammaticales d'un qui dsireraitvotre aide aprs qu'il aurait complt le cours.Vous devriez par consquent passer trs peu de temps assumer lerle classique du professeur qui coute et corrige les erreurs.Vous passerez la plus grande partie de votre temps jouer lerle d'une personne du pays qui serait comprhensive et qui couteraitce que les tudiants essaient de dire et communiquerai t avec eux lemieux possible.TECHNIQUESSouvenez-vous que l'un des buts principaux du cours "FAST" est deprparer les gens pour ce qu'ils aurontfaire. Supposons qu'on nousdemande d'crire un cours de ce genre pour des gens qui habiteront dansdes villes europenes francophones; il leur faudra sans doute prendrexxiun taxi, par exemple.tout au moins:METROPOLITAN FRENCHUne leonsur ce sujet pourrai t incluredes renseignements de basedes exemples d'expressions que les tudiants pourraiententendre ou employerdes points de grammaire appropris (des notes et desexercices)du vocabulaire supplmentaireun usage de la langue orient vers la communication dans descirconstances soit soit simules.De tous les cici-dessus, le dernier est le plusimportant car les autres ne servent qu' prparer l'tudiant atteindre ce mme but--la communication.Voici quelques exemples d'une leon incomplte.Renseignements de base (dans la langue maternelle des tudiants)Bien que cela cote assez cher, il est possible que vous deviezprendre un taxi quand vous ne connaissez pas le chemin ou quand vousne voulez pas prendre les transports en commun.Pour trouver un taxi, vous devez aller une tte de station quise trouve un carrefour ou devant un immeuble important.(La faon d'indiquer une tte de station varie de pays en pays.) Vousne pouvez pas arrter un taxiproximi t d'une tte de station, carles chauffeurs de tax in' ont pas le droi t de prendre des passagersprs d'une tte de station. Mais si vous vous trouvez assez loin vouspouvez signalerun taxi de s'arrter.Certains chauffeurs de taxis, surtout dans les grandes villes,sont parfois peu bavarder et ils doivent faire attention la circulation. Donc, si vous avez une question poser et que vousavez besoin de laavant de monter dans le taxi, prparez-la l'avance en employant le moins de mots possible.Exemple de dialogue:Vous:Le chauffeur:Vous:Savez-vous on se trouve l'hpital amricain?Oui, bien sr. Mais a prendra un moment. Il y a unembouteillage pas loin de l. Je viens de l'entendre la radio.Pardon?Le chauffeur: La circulation. Il Ya beaucoup de circulation.xxiiVous:Le chauffeur:Vous:METROPOLITAN FRENCHAh! Je vois. Ca sera combien?Je ne sais pas. Cela du temps qu'il faudra.Ah! Bon. Je comprends. Eh bien! En tous cas, l'hpital S.V.P.(Suivant la langue on peutdeux ou quatre lignes ouplus du dialogue la fois.)Note concernant la structure: Parfois on omet certains membres dephrases. Un exemple dans ce dialogue est:La circulation.(Les notes du cours "FAST" sont brves et ne sont pas techniques. Cesont des remarques plutt que des explications. La matrise de lagramma i re , e Ile mme, n'es t pas un but du cours, tantquel'emphase est mise sur communiquer.)S'entrainer la structure: Quand on essaie d'obtenird'trangers des renseignements importants en un tempsdans unerue bruyante, on doit pouvoir le faire sansde mots. Peut-treaimeriez-vous donc consacrer une minute ou deux l'exercice suivant.Instructeur:au la posteau croisement l'htelElve:prs du supermarch?en face de la poste?juste aprs le croisement? de l'htel?Vous pouvez donner ces membres de phrasescomme ci-dessus,ou les dans des phrases courtes.S'exercer communiquer: Chaque instructeur utilise lematriel de classe, ceci en partie en fonction de sadesressources, plus ou moins limide saet de la priseendes besoins desSans doute, aurez vous vospropresquant aux du sur lesquelsinsister. En ce qui concerne les exemples de ci-dessus, l'un de vous peut lire vive voix en classe la docu-mentation de base, de crainte que les tudiants ne l' aient Un autre peut qu'ils l'ont lue et l'utiliser comme simplepoint de d'une discussion en franais ou en anglais sur lesxxiiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHsujets en question (comment se comporter en taxi, comment payer lacourse, lesdes chauffeurs," etc.). Un troisimeparmi vous peut vouloir en franais les connaissances desdiants concernant cette documentation de base (tout en leur permettantde en anglais) eten franais ce que les tudiants ontdit, leur permettant ainsi d'entendre le renseignement correctement sans les corriger. On peut galement ajouter d'autres ren-seignements pour combler les lacunes.De la mme faon, on peut utiliser les dialogues commede base de la leon ou simplement comme un moyen d'ajouter de la docu-mentation utile celle par les tudiants, et enrapidement l'acquisitionpour passer autre chose.Quel que soit le cas, lesde classe avec utilisation dudevraient aider faire face avec lasituation On ne devrait pas les encombrer de rgles pour l'usage du vocabu-laire et du matriel contenus dans les dialogues, dans d'autressituations.C'est une faon d'enseigner la langue par laplutt quepar la comprhension globale, et ce cours n'a pas pour but d'accumulerles structures. Si une structure est approprie dans la situationdon-on devrait l'utiliser sans faire l'entitdela langue.Bien sr les tudiants voudront avoir des explications concernantles rgles, et plutt que les frustrer, il vaut mieux consacrerquelques temps leurs questions aprs qu'ils se sontexercs accomplir lespreuves et tches de la leon, etde le faire brivement. De cette faon, on peut leur montrer que touten prenant volontiers en considration ce qui les le coursauquel ils participent a d'autresque celles qu'ils auraientpu attendre d'un cours traditionnel.Adaptation du matriel aux programmes d'tude des langues en poste(PLP's)Puisque les cours "FAST" insistent sur l'usage de la langue dansdes situations prcises plutt que sur des modles de structure, toutprogramme dans le pays mme a l'avantage unique de permettre l'utili-sationdu matriel. Par exemple, aprs avoir discut de lasituation propos du taxi,plus tt, il n'y a aucune raisonde simuler une conversation avec un chauffeur de taxi en classe quandune rencontre peut se produire deux pas.xxivMETROPOLITAN FRENCHLes instructeurs en poste devraient probablement 3tapes dans l'apprentissage du contenu dans le cours "FAST:"1) uned'introduction englobant la prsentationsituation, lesuts de la leon, la documentation, et la

de lalangue2) une tapepratique au cours de laquelle l'lve,sous la conduite de l'lnstructeur, met ce qu'il a appris en pratique.3) une tape d'analyse 00 l'on cri tique la mise en pratique eton. l'on ajoute de nouveaux si c' estet 00 l'ons'occupe de toute correction par la pratique. Puisqu'aucune quantitprcise de matriel ne doit tre "couverte" dans un cours "FAST," letemps consacr une situation dpend de son utilit, de sacomplexit, des possibilits d'adaptation d'autres situations,telles que celles conues par l'instructeur.Les tudiants qui auraient termin le cours "FAST" et seraientdsireux de continuer l'tude de la langue peuvent enchaner parl'tude de la deuxime partie du premier volume, ou par le dbut dudeuxime volume du cours de base (French Basic Course)--ceci, bien sr,aprs avoir revu les situations et les idiomes utiles dans le premiervolume.Nous ne voulons pas tre trop autoritaires en vous prescrivantcomment utiliser ce matriel, puisque nous n'avons aucun dsir detarir votre crativit. Nous serons heureux de prendre connaissance detoutes vos remarques concernant la faon dont vous l'aurez prsent etles rsultats que vous aurez obtenus.xxvMETROPOLITAN FRENCHSAMPLE TEACHING TECHNIQUESMETROPOLITAN FRENCHFAMILIARIZATION AND SHORT-TERMTRAININGThe 40 lessons of the Metropolitan French FAST Course aredesigned to be taught in 45 six-hour days. We anticipate that you willwant to spend an additional 30 hours or so to review. Each lesson isbuilt around sorne needs which virtually anyone posted to French-speaking Europe will experience. At the beginning of the day, studentslearn to understand a bi t of dialog in which sorneone copes success-fully with those needs. By the end of the day, with or without refer-ence to their books, they have an opportunity to deal with similarneeds inpractice situations.The teaching techniques described below are ones which FSI lin-guists have developed for using these rnaterials. Other experiencedteachers rnay find other techniques which work better for thern. We dorecornmend, however, that new teachers begin wi th the rnethods we havesuggested.xxviMETROPOLITAN FRENCHLISTENING IN1. Play the taped dialog.(Students' books are closed. They have not yet seen the dialog.)2. Immediately play the taped dialog again.(Students' books are still closed.)3 Ask the students what they understood.(Don't answer questions yet. Let the students help one another.)4. Play the taped dialog a third time.(Students' books are still closed.)5. Answer questions about the(Don't talk about grammarclosed.)meaningyet.of words andStudents' bookssentences.are still6. Play the taped dialog a fourth time.(Students' books are still closed.)The total time for these six steps should be between 8 and 12 minutes.The purposes of the "LISTENING IN" activities are:1. To allow the students' ears a chance to carry full responsibility,as they will often have to do in Europe.2. To get the meaning of the dialog clearly establ ished in the stu-dents' minds.LOOKING AT ITA. Connecting Sound and Spelling1. Play the taped dialog twice without interruption. Students' booksare open.2. Allow students to comment on A.l above, but do not spend much timeon this.The total time for this activity should be no more than 2 minutes.xxviiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHThe purposes of this activityare:1. To reduce the anxiety of students who depend heavily on their eyes.2. To allowaIl students to form a written as weIl as a spoken imageof the dialog.B. Functional Notes1. Let the students read the "Functional Notes" in English.2. Give brief answers to their questions.3. Add information about the same subjects, or tell relevant stories(in French if possible, in English if necessary) from your ownexperience.The total time for this activity should be 10 or 15 minutes.The purposes of the "Functional Notes" are:1. To make the dialog clearer.2. To provide information which the students will find usefuI inEurope.3. To allow the students to meet you as a person, and not just as ateacher.c. Filling in the Blanks1. Have the students open their books to the "Filling in the Blanks"part of the lesson and try tofill in the blanks lightly inpencil.2. Play the taped dialog. Stop the tape for 35 seconds after eachsentence to allow the students a chance to rnake changes or addi-tions to what they have written in the blanks.3. Have the students check one another's work for accuracy. (They mayrefer to the earlier part of the lesson to resolve uncertainties.)The total time for this activity should be 8 - 10 minutes.The purposes of this activityare:1. To focus the students' attention on responsibility for one word ata time, while leaving the words in a full contextexxviiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCH2. To allowstudents to do something with the words without having tospeak them.3. To reward this activity, whether it was done through visual memory,auditorymemory, listeningtothe tape, or sorne combinationof thesestrategies.ACLOSER LOOKA. The Vocabulary List1. Give the students a chance to look at the vocabulary liste2. Answer any questions they may have, but keep each answer under 5seconds. If they still don' t understand something, they can askfurther questions. By limiting the length of your answers, you canbe sure that what you do say fits in with what the students arewondering about. (Actually, there will probably be few questionsabout the vocabularylist.)The total time for this activity should be no more than 3 or 4 minutes.The purposes of this activityare:1. To remove any doubts about the meanings of individual words.2. In this way to increase the students' feel ings of securi ty aboutthe language.B. Culture Notes and Other Practical InformationWe will from time to time give students addi tional information whichshould help themdeal with perceived differences between their cultureand that of their post of assignment, as weIl as other practicalinformation. You will be able to give themadditional details.C. Word Study1. Have the students look at the Glossary and write in any Englishwords that they think will help them remember the French words.2. Give the students a chance to read the "Vocabulary Notes."3. Answer any questions, as in A.2 (above).xxixMETROPOLITAN FRENCHThe total time for this activity should be no more than 7 or 8minutes.The purposes of this activityare:1. To enhance the students' abili ty to remember the words in thislesson.2. To get the students into the habit of making these connections forthemselves.D. Pronunciation PracticeThere are two basic approaches to pronunciation practice. In the moreusual one, you choose the words and the students repeat them afteryou:1. Read a word or a short phrase, and have the students repeat afteryou in chorus. (Make no corrections at this time. This step isonly toget the students familiar with the sound.)2. Read the same word or phrase again and have the students repeat inchorus. Again make no corrections.3. Read a word or phrase twice for one student. The student repeatsafter you each time. Make corrections briefly. Do the same wordor phrase with each student. Then move on to the next word and goaround the class in the same manner.In a second approach to pronunciation practice, the students choosethe words:4. One student looks at the word list or dialog and selects a word orphrase. S/he theneither:a. says it aloud, orb. reads aloud the English equivalent.5. In either case, you say the French word or phrase. Do not correctpronunciation at this time. The student is supposed to be usinghis/her own ears.6. The student may repeat the French after you if s/he wishes. Again,you make no corrections.7. The same student does 4-6 above with the same word or phrase, orwith another word or phrase.xxxMETROPOLITAN FRENCH8. The students take turns doing steps 4-7. (The total activityshould be conducted with a quick and steady rhythm.)9. After each student has had several turns with steps 4-7, you makegeneral comments about points of pronunciation which are stillcausing difficulty. Then repeat steps 4-8.The total time for pronunciation practice (steps 1-3 or 4-9 or both)shoula be between 10 and 20 minutes at a time. You may want to doshort periods of pronunciation practice twice a day, rather than doingit once for a longer time.The obvious purpose of ei ther of these kinds of practice is to letstudents improve their own pronunciation by comparing it with yours.An addi tional purpose of steps 4-9 is to develop the students' inde-pendence and habits of responsibility in dealing with their ownlearning.EXPLORINGThe materials in this section consist of rather conventional transla-tion practice and grammar drills. Each should be done several times,until the students are thoroughly at home with them. Do themsometimeswith the students' books open, and sometimes with their books closed.The total time for these activities should be 15 - 30 minutes.The purpose of these activities is to allow the students to con-solidate their control of the material by working with it over andover in ways that they thoroughly understand, trying one small thingat a time and finding out immediately whether they got it right.MAKING ITWORKRole Playing1. Take the part of the European in the dialog. Have one student ata time act it out with you. Stick exactly to the words in thedialog. Let the students look at their books if they need to.2. Again take the part of the European and have the students act outthe dialog with you. This time they should try to do it withouttheir books.xxxiMETROPOLITAN FRENCH3. Do the same thing a third time, but this time you make smallchanges in your own part. Try to stay within what you think thestudents will understand.4. Do the same thing a fourth time. This time, add to your own partthings that fit the dialog but which the students may not under-stand. If a student asks you to repeat or says that s/he doesn'tunderstand, say the same thing in a different way in French.The total time for this activitywill depend on the number of studentsin the class: perhaps 10-12 minutes per person.The purposes of this activityare:1. To allowthe students to produce the sentences in the context of asimulated conversation.2. Ta increase gradually the dernands made on the student.3. Ta encourage memorization without requiring it.Playing the Words1. Have the students make cards for the words in the vocabulary listeEach card is 1/2 of a 3 x 5 index card. One side of each card isleft blank; the other contains either an English word or a Frenchword. It is easiest to make these cards one pair at a time.If there is only one student, you can help him/her make the cards.If there are two students, one can make the French cards as theother makes the English cards. If there are three students, onecan cut the cards and proofread themwhile the other two make them.In a similar way, divide up the responsibilities among 4, 5, or 6students. If there are more than 6 students, have two groups, eachwith its own table and set of cards.In each of the following activities, use 8 - 12 pairs of cards:2. Shuffle the cards and deal them out to the "players.Il Have thestudents cooperate in putting the French and English cards backinto the original pairs.3. Shuffle the cards again and place them in columns and rows facedown on the table. Each student takes a turne In one turn, thestudent picks up a card, shows the word on it, and gives the cor-responding word in the other language. (If a student has troublein doing this, s/he can ask for help from the other students.)The student then replaces the card, face down, and does the samexxxiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHthing with a second card. If the two cards happen to match eachother, the student removes them, places them aside, and takesanother turne If the two cards do not match, the next student takesa turne The game continues until aIl of the cards have been matchedand removed. Keep track of the total time required.4. Repeat step 3 (above), trying to complete the game more rapidlythan before.The total time for steps 1-4 above should should be 30 - 40 minutes.The purposes of this activityare:1. To provide pract ice wi th the words in the context of a goal-directed activityother than language-learning as such.2. To allow for a balance of competition and cooperation among thestudents.3. To allow the students to do their first pronunciation of the newwords in a setting where the focus is not on correctness andcorrection.USING ITThis final section of the lesson, unlike the other sections, allowsstudents to use the language in transmitting information. The realityfrom which this information is drawn may be world geography, personalhistoryor preferences, or something else. The situationpresented is avariation of the original dialog, the teacher always playing theFrench speaker' s part and the student being him/herself in a par-ticular situation.The total time for this activity should be 20 - 30 minutes.The purposes of this activityare:1. To provide one more kind of real practice.2. To leave the students with the feeling that the lesson has enabledthemto do something worthwhile.xxxiiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHFAMILIARISATION ET FORMATIONLE FRANAIS EN EUROPEEXEMPLES DE TECHNIQUE D'ENSEIGNEMENTLes 40 leons du cours de franais pour l'Europe francophone(Metropolitan French FAST Course) sontsur 45 jours raisonde six heures par jour. Vous aurez probablement besoin de 30 heures deplus pour laLe thme des dialogues de chaque leonporte surdes situations de la vie quotidienne de n'importe quel fonctionnaire dans un pays francophoneAude la lesse familiarisent avec des bribes d'une conver-sation dans laquelle ils font face aux exigences d'une situation. Alafin de la avec ou sans leurs livres, ils mettent en pratiquece qu'ils ont appris.Les techniques d'enseignement conviennent, selon les linguistesde FSI, au dans chaque leon. Il est possible cepen-dant que des professeurs emploient avec tout autant desuccs des techniques il est queles nouveaux professeurs se conforment aux qui sontxxxivMETROPOLITAN FRENCHECOUTER LE DIALOGUE1. Faites couter le dialogue enregistr.(Le livre des tudiants est f e r m ~ . Ils n'ont pas encore vu ledialogue.)2. Faites rcouter le dialogue enregistr.(Le livre des tudiants est toujours f e r m ~ . )3. Demandez aux tudiants ce qu'ils ont compris.(Ne rpondez pas encore leurs questions. Laissez les tudiantss'entr'aider.)4. Faites rcouter le dialogue enregistr.(Le livre des lves est toujours ferm.)5. Rpondez aux questions concernant la signification des mots et desphrases.(Ne mentionnez pas encore la grammaire. Le livre des tudiantsest toujours f e r m ~ . )6. Faites rcouter le dialogue enregistr.(Le livre des tudiants est toujours ferm.)Dure totale pour terminer les 6 tapes ci-dessus: 8 12 minutes."ECOUTER LE DIALOGUE" a deux buts biendfinis:1. Donner aux tudiants l'occasion de dpendre entirement de leurperception auditive, comme c'est souvent le cas en Europe.2. Bien comprendre le sujet du dialogue.VOIR LE DIALOGUE ECRITA. Le rapport entre les sons et l'orthographe1. Faites couter le dialogue enregistr deux fois. Le livre des tu-diants est ouvert.2. Laissez les tudiants faire leurs commentaires sur le rapport entreles sons et l'orthographe, mais ne consacrez pas trop de temps cela.xxxvMETROPOLITAN FRENCH totale de cettepas plus de 2 minutes."VOIR LE DIALOGUE ECRIT" a deux buts bien 1. Rduire l'inquitude des tudiants qui comptent beaucoup sur leurperception visuelle.2. Permettre tous les tudiants de former une image mentale dudialogueaussi bien B. Notes fonctionnelles1. Laissez les tudiants lire les "Notes fonctionnelles" en anglais.2. Rpondez brivement leurs questions.3. Ajoutez d'autres renseignements tout en restant dans le sujet.Vous pouvez aussi raconter des histoires tra tant du mme sujet(en franais si c'est poss ible, en anglais si c'est ncessaire)selon vospersonnelles. totale de cetteactivit: 10 15 minutes.Les "Notes fonctionnelles" ont trois buts:1. Rendre le dialogue plus clair.2. Fournir des renseignements utiles pour les tudiants qui vont enEurope.3. Permettre aux tudiants de vous connatre non seulement en tantque professeur mais aussi en tant que personne.C. Espaces 1. Aprs avoiraux tudiants d'ouvrir leur livre la section"Espaces dites-leur de les espaces en au crayon.2. Faites jouer le dialogueArrtez l'enregistrement la fin de chaque phrase et donnez 35 secondes auxpourqu'ils puissent corriger ce qu'ils ont crit.3. Laissez lescorriger leur travail entre eux.peuvent, s'ils le souhaitent, seaude lapour claircir certaines difficults.)(Ilsleon totale de cette8 10 minutes.xxxviMETROPOLITAN FRENCHLes buts de cette sont les suivants:1. Concentrer l'attention dessur un seul mot la foissans l'isoler de son contexte original.2. Laisser les tudiants travailler avec des mots sans avoir lesprononcer.3. Rcompenser le travail accompli soi t par la mmoire visuelle ouauditive, soit par de la bande enregistr, soit par cesdeux moyens combins.DISSECTION DU DIALOGUEA. Le vocabulaire1. Donnez auxl'occasion de voir le vocabulaire.2. brivement (pas plus detudiants. S'il y a quelque chosepeuvent poser d'autres questions.brves et assurez-vous que ce quedemandent les tudiants. (Il n'yquestions sur le vocabulaire.)5 secondes) aux questions desqu'ils ne comprennent pas, ilsLimi tez-vous desvous dites correspond ce queaura sans doute pas beaucoup deDure totale de cetteactivit: 3 4 minutes.Les buts de cette section sont les suivants:1. Eliminer les doutes quant la signification de chaque mot.2. Donner l'tudiant plus d'assurance dans la langue.B. Notes culturelles et autres renseignements utilesNous donnerons de temps en temps aux tudiants des renseignementssupplmentaires pour les aider se familiariser avec les diffrencesqu'ils peroi vent entre leur propre cul ture et celle du poste 00. ilsseront nomms. Nous leur donnerons galement d'autres renseignementsutiles et de votre vous pourrez ajouter des dtails supplment-aires.c. L'tude des mots1. Dites auxde regarder le vocabulaire et d'crire des motsanglais qui pourraient les aider se souvenir des mots franais.xxxviiMETROPOLITAN FRENCH2. Donnez aux tudiants l'occasion de lire les mots ou remarques surle vocabulaire.3. Rpondez toutes leurs questions en suivant la mthode employedans la sectionA.2.Dure totale de cetteactivit: 78 minutes.Les buts de cette sectionsont les suivants:1. Encourager la mmorisation des mots de cette leonpar l'tudiant.2. Habituer les tudiants faire ces rapprochements.D. Exercices de prononciationEn ce qui concerne les exercices de prononciation, il y a deux faonsde procder. Dans latraditionnelle, les tudiants vous les mots que vous choisissez.1. Prononcez un mot ou une phrase courte que les tudiantsen choeurvous. (Pour l'instant, ne fai tes pas de correc-tions. Cette tape ne sert qu' habituer les tudiants aux sons dela langue.)2. Prononcez nouveau le mot ou la mme phrase et faites-les rpterpar les tudiants. Ne faites pas de corrections.3. Prononcez un mot ou une phrase deux fois pour un tudiant. Celui-ci chaque foisvous. Faites de corrections etcontinuez ainsi avec chaque tudiant jusqu t! ce que vous ayeztermin laprsentationdes mots ou des phrases.Il Y a une autre faon de procder. Dans celle-ci les tudiantschoisissent un mot ou une phrase.4. Un des tudiants choisi t un mot ou une phrase du dialogue etprocde de la faon suivante:a. Il prononce le mot ou la phrase haute voix.b. Il lit haute voix l'quivalent en anglais.5. Dans les deux cas, vous prononcez enphrase. Pour l'instant ne corr1gezL'tudiant doit se fier A son oue.franaispas lale mot ou laprononciation.6. Si l'tudiant le dsire, il rpte en franais le mot ou laphrase aprs vous. Vous ne faites toujours pas de corrections.xxxviiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCH7. Le mme refait les tapes 4-6, se servant soit du mme motou de la mme phrase, soit d'unautre mot ou d'une autre phrase.8. Les tour de rle font les tapes 4-7.dcrites dans les 4-7 devraient se fairerapide et rgulier.)(Les activits un rhythme9. Aprs plusieursdes tapes 4-7, faites quelques com-mentaires sur certaines diff icul ts de prononciation. Refai tesles tapes 4-8.Dure totale pour chaque rptition des tapes 1-3 et 4-9 de la sec-tion D: de 10 20 minutesla fois. Vous prfrerez peut-trediviser le temps consacr la prononciation en deux sances pluscourtes au lieu de faire l'exercice en une seule fois.Le but vident de ces deux genres d'exercices de prononciation est delaiSS'"r aux tudiants le soin d' amliorer leur prononciation en lacomparantla vtre. Il estnoter qu'un autre but important destapes 4-9 est de dvelopper chez lesun--Sens de respon-sabilitet d'indpendance par rapportleur instruction.EXPLORATIONCette section comprend des exercices classiques de traduction etde grammaire. Chaque exercice devrai t tre prsent plusieurs foisjusqu' ce que lesse sentent toutfaitl'aise. Faites-le avec les livres des tudiants parfois ouverts, parfois ferms. Latraduction du dialogue en franais devrait tre faite avec la par-ticipation du groupe entier.Dure totale de cetteactivit: 15 30 minutes.Le but de cette activi t est de permettre aux tudiants de mieuxcontrler le matriel qu'ils ont tudi, l'exploitant plusieurs foisde faon ce qu'ils comprennent fond, et de faon ce qu'ilspuissent exprimenter une structure ! la fois, en dcouvrant sur lechamps'ils ont raison ou non.xxxixMETROPOLITAN FRENCHLA MISE EN PRATIQUEJouer un rle1. Dans le dialogue, jouez le rle de l'Europen. Un tudiant aprsl'autre joue le dialogue avec vous. Suivez fidlement le texte.Laissez les tudiants regarder le livre s'ils en prouvent lebesoin.2. Anouveau, jouez le rle de l'Europenet demandez aux tudiants dejouer le dialogue avec vous. Cette fois-ci, ils ne devraient pasregarder le livre.3. Refai tes la mme chose une t r o i s i ~ m e fois, mais introduisez depetits changements en vous limitant ce que, selon vous, les tu-diants devraient comprendre.4. Refaites la mme chose une quatrime fois. Cette fois-ci ajoutez votre rle des phrases qui se rapportent au dialogue mais queles tudiants risquent de ne pas comprendre. Si un tudiant vousdemande de rpter ou vous di t qu'il ne comprend pas, redi tes lamme chose toujours en franais mais d'une faon diffrente.La dure totale de cette activit dpendra du nombre d'tudiants danslaclasse: 10 12 minutes sans doute par personne.Les buts de cetteactivit sont les suivants:1. Permettre aux tudiants de reproduire des phrases dans le con-texte d'une conversation simule.2. Augmenter peu peu les difficults.3. Encourager les tudiants apprendre les dialogues par coeur sansl'exiger.Les jeux de mots1. Demandez aux tudiants de prparer des cartes pour les mots duvocabulaire. Chaque carte devrait mesurer 7,5 cmsur 9,5 cm, soit1/3 d'une carte de fichier. Un ct de la carte est laiss enblanc ~ sur l'autre ct, l' lve cri t un mot soi t en franaissoi t en anglais. Il est plus facile de prparer ces cartes parpaires.S'il n'y a qu'un lve, vous pouvez l'aider prparer les cartes.S'il y a deux lves, l'unpeut prparer les cartes en franais etl'autre en anglais. S'il y a trois lves, l'unpeut couper lesxlMETROPOLITAN FRENCHcartes et faire les corrections tandis que les deux autres criv-ent les mots. On peut partager les responsabilits de la mmemanire entre 4, 5 ou 6 S'il y a plus de 6divisez la classe en deux groupes, chacun ayant sa table et sonjeu de cartes. Dans chacune des acti vi ts su i vantes employez 8 12 paires de cartes.2. Battez les cartes et distribuez-les aux joueurs. Demandez aux de collaborer en refaisant les paires avec le franaiset l'anglais.3. Battez les cartesnouveau et placez-les eten colonnes. Les tudiants jouent leur tour. prendune carte, montre le mot, et donne dans l'autrelangue. (Si un tudiant prouve des difficults, il peut demander ses collgues de l'aider.) Il remplace la carte, toujourset fait la mme chose avec la carte suivante.S'il arrive que deux cartes forment une paire, lesenlve, les met de ct et en choisit deux autres. Le jeu continueainsi jusqu'ce que toutes les cartes soient mises en paires.Limitez ladu jeu.4. Refaire le no. 3 (voir ci-dessus) en essayant de finir la partieplus rapidement qu'avant. totale des tapes l 4: 3040 minutes.Les buts de cette sont les suivants:1. De fournir un exercice de vocabulaire lui permettantd'employer les mots dans une activi ayant un autre but que desimplement tudier la langue.2. D'encourager un juste milieu entre lation et lation parmi les tudiants.3. De permettre aux tudiants de s'aventurerde nouveaux mots sans que l'emphase desur l'exactitude de la prononciation.L'EMPLOIdans la prononc iat ionl'exercice soit miseCette dernire partie de la leon, diffrente des autres, permet auxtudiants de transmettre des renseignements rels, tirs de la go-graphie mondiale, de l'histoire personnelle de l'tudiant, ou d'autrechose. La situation prsente est une variation du dialogue original,xliMETROPOLITAN FRENCHle professeur jouant toujours le rle de l' francophone ettant lui-mme dans une situation totale de cette2030 minutes.Les buts de cette sont les suivants:1. Donner aux tudiants une mise en pratique 2. Laisser auxl'impression que cette leon leur a permisde faire quelque chose de vraiment valable.xliiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHTO THE STUDENT:TEN WEEKS OF FRENCHWhat's init for you?What are we going to ask of you?How can you get the most out of it?You 're going to a French-speaking country in Europe and you' vebeen given only a short time in which to prepare for it. Maybe you'vealready had experience wi th foreign languages or maybe you haven' t,but in ei ther case i t' s unlikely that you Ive studied one so inten-sively as you will in this FAST course. If you have any questionsabout these next few weeks, they probably fall into three categories:"What does the course have to offer me?", "What are they going toask me todo?", and "Howcan l get the most out of it?"What's init for you?Most important, a FAST course is more than just a languagecourse. Alanguage, after aIl, is only one part of what people do asthey live and work together. The purpose of a FAST course is topre-pare you for just that--for living and working side by side withpeople whose languages and customs are different fromyours. We willteach you to speak and unders tand sorne of the language, but you' Ilalso learn a lot about the people who use i t--where they live, whatthey do, what they expect fromone another, and what they will expectfromyou. If you knowthese things--that is, if you have sorne idea whopeople think you and they are, and what they think is appropriate andwhen--then even a small amount of language skill can open your eyesand ears to what is going on around you, and you' Il be able to par-ticipate more and more in i t as the weeks and months go by. Pleasekeep in mind that this course was not designed for self-instruction.Aresourceful and imaginative teacher will be a big help in masteringthe material presented.You' Il find that your new language skill is a basically simplepiece of equipment which is made up of a number of parts. This equip-ment is the thing that will enable you to make sense out of whatpeople say to you, and to say something that makes sense in return.Although the parts of this equipment are the same for everybody,people can be very unlike one another in which parts they get hold offirst, and in how they go about fitting the parts together. The pur-pose of this introduction is to help you to explore your own resourcesand your own style in assembling your new skills in French as it isspoken in Europe.xliiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHWhat are we going toexpect fromyou?The exact techniques are spelled out in the main part of thisbook, so we won't list themhere. In general, however, we expect youto:1. Worka. your mind, to build your own understanding of what youhear and seeib. your mouth, toparticipate in classroomactivitiesic. your imagination, to add color, detail, and life to thepictures and word-pictures that we present to you, and totie themtoyour own upcoming assignment in Europe.2. Be patienta. with us (of course!) andb. with your fellowstudents, and most of aIlc. with yourself.Specifically, though:3. We don't require you to memorize the dialogs--but you rnayfind it helpful to do so.4. We don' t want you to mernorize the supplementary wordlists--but we hope you'll knowwhat's in themso you can findwhat you need when you need it.5. We don' t expect you to understand everything that' s saidtoyou--but we do expect you to be able to ask for clarifica-tionof what you don't understand.6. We don't expect you to speak with perfect grarnrnar--but wedo expect you to communicate effectively.How can you get the rnost out of this course?Here are a couple of tests that you can try--or at least imaginethat you are trying--onyourself.First, suppose that you have just bought a new bicycle for your-self. It cornes disassernbled in a carton. Now, before you open yourimaginary carton, think of the different ways you could go aboutxlivMETROPOLITAN FRENCHunpacking and assembling your newpride and joy. You might unpack aIlthe parts and lay them out on the floor in an arrangement that madesorne kind of sense. Or you might prefer to find the directions firstand read through aIl of themcarefully before doing anything more. Oryou might get the greatest satisfaction out of reading one directionat a time and executing i t, before looking at tpe next one. Peopleseem to be quite divided as to which of these ways would bring themost satisfaction, but the one thing they agree on is the belief thatmost other people would go at it in the same way, and that their wayis the "doesn't everybody?" way.As a second self-test, imagine that someone is reading to you alist of 10 or 20 isolated English words: path , wall, moon, crumb,etc. Your task is to listen and then write down, in any order, asmany of the words as you can. In what formwould you remember them?Sorne people recall the sound of the words as they were spoken. Others,even though they did not see the words, copy themfromwrittenversionswhich their own minds produced as they listened. Still others get thewords by looking at pictures that the words called forth as the listwas being read. Which of these kinds of remembering would be mostnatural for you? It's strange, but no matter which way you select, alarge part of the rest of the world would do it otherwise, and with noapparent difference ineffectivness.These are only two of the ways in which people differ in the waythey learn. The differences among learning styles are interestingenoughi what is even more amazing is that most people are unaware thatmore than one learning style--their own style--exists. Contrasts ofstyle can lead to complications in any group of students. The peoplewho write the materials and the people who do the teaching may try toaccommodate a variety of styles, but the differences will still bethere. That 's where you come in. Your contribution is to know (asthe teacher cannot possibly know) what is going on in your mind, andto work directly (again, as the teacher cannot possibly do) with yourown learningprocess.One thing that any language student learns to do is to remembernewwords. When you say that you have "learned" a word, you mean thatyou have in your head sorne kind of image of that word, and that thatimage is strong enough and clear enough so that you can produce theword quickly and correctly when you need it. The "image" itself con-sists of a combination of sounds, spellings, pictures, feelings, andother kinds of data. As we said above, people differ as towhich com-ponents of the total image are clearest, most natural or most reliablefor them. Generally, however, the image that you carry away with youafter your first exposure to a foreign word is full of holes. Maybeyou can remember only how long the word was, or what the first letterwas. Or you may remember aIl the sounds but have them in the wrongorder. What to do?xlvMETROPOLITAN FRENCHThis is where differences in learning styles come in. If youproduce a word from an incomplete image, i t will come out distox::ted.Some people work mostly with spellings (including their own mentalspellings). If such a person is then "corrected" by a teacher, he orshe m,ay simply repeat the word aloud. Since this student remembersspeIII ngs (vi suaI images) bet ter than sounds (aud i tory images), how-ever, oral repetition may weIl be a poor way to improve memory forthe word. Instead, or in addition, what such a person might also dois look (either with the eyes or in the mind) at the previous incor-rect image, translate the teacher's correction (either visually ormentally) intowritten form, and then change the image inorder to makeit more like the correction. Similarly, a person who works best withthe auditory component of the image may profit fromreading a writtencorrection aloud.There' s a principle of learning which says that when any bi t ofbehavior meets wi th success, that same bi t of behavior will becomemore likely to take place in the future. (The psychological termforthis is "reinforcement.") But the thing that gets strengthened bysuccess is exactlywhat we do, and nothingelse.This app1ies to our efforts to master a word. Regardless of ourdifferences in 1earning style, we are aIl capable of producing a wordfromat least two sources:(1) we may simply make an immediate copy (spoken or written) ofa model that someone else has just provided for us, or(2) we may work fromour own image of the word.Whenever we get the word right by drawing on our image of it, thatimage becomes stronger and more accessible for future use. But if weget i t right merely by repeating after the teacher, then the onlybehavior that is rewarded and reinforced is the act of repetition.This has an important implication for what you do when you studyby yourself. Don' t just repeat things aloud or copy them over andover in writing. Let each repetition be a little test, which you canverify or correct immediately by looking at the book or listening tothe tape. Flashcards are one common way of doing this, but you canalso cover sentences in the book, try to say them, then uncover themto see for yourself what you got right and where you still need towork on your image of the sentence. You can do the same thing withtape by anticipating, that is by stopping the machine before a sen-tence, trying to say the sentence, and then listening to how the tapesays it.Even while class is going on, you will often find times when youare able to try something out (perhaps on1y mentally) just before theteacher gives it. Bere, too, you will be drawing on, filling out, andxlviMETROPOLITAN FRENCHstrengthening your personal stock of images. The more active you arein your own learning process, the faster and more comfortably you willmove forward.Another thing that every language student learns to do is to useeatterns. For example, if a student of English knows that "The answer1.S right" is a statement and "Is the answer right?", is a question,that student will be able to take the statement "The room is comfor-table" and turn it into the question "Is the room comfortable?" byfollowing the analogy of the first pair of sentences. That's what wemean by a "pattern": it's a relationship which exists between severalpairs of items, and not just between one pair. The important patternsof a language exist between hundreds and even thousands of pairs ofitems. So in French, if garon is 'boy' and garons is 'boys' andlivre is 'book' then the word for 'books' ought to be livres, which itin fact is. Parrots and mynah birds can learn words and even senten-ces, but they cannot learn to use patterns in order to make up newwords or sentences. This ability to respond to and use patterns asweIl as images is what makes language what it is.Like the images of sounds and words, patterns can be checked fortheir adequacy only when we hear or read the words and sentences whichthey produce. But again, as with images, those same words and senten-ces can come either fromour operation of the pattern we are learning,or from a relatively mechanical reaction to sorne kind of model thathas just been presented to us. The principle still applies: Thething that gets stengthened by success is exactly what you do, andnothing else. So you may begin by reacting mechanically to the soundof sample sentences that illustrate a pattern, but it's a good idea togo on and start working from the pattern itself as soon as possible.People will go at this process in different ways depending on theirlearning styles. Sorne derive great benefit out of drills in which thepattern cornes up over and over again until they develop a "feel" forit. Others find that memorizing sentences that contain the pattern issufficient, and have little need to think or talk about the pattern interms of abstract rules. Still others find that rules are the mostefficient way to get hold of a new pattern, and may be uncomfortableif no rules are given. Again, people whose minds work in one way findit hard to believe that others' minds work in sorne other way. Andagain, you yourself must monitor your own learning and design your ownstyle of studyoutside class.But enough of our introduction! Now it's time for you to listento a littleFrench, and soonyou'll be speaking sorne too!xlviiMETROPOLITAN FRENCHxlviiiMETROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1A DAY WITHOUT FRENCHWhether you first arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport (also knownas Roissy from the village nearby), or at the airport in Brussels orGeneva, you will soon discover that the majority of airport personnelspeaks enough English to deal with your needs. You won't have to speakFrench. It's likely that someone from the Embassy will welcome you andget you qu ickl y through pol ice cont roI and customs. Perhaps, if youare not too tired, you will f irst check in at the Embassy where aIllocal employees speak English, of course. Then you will be takenei ther to your hotel or to Embassy quarters. If you are going toParis, your temporary apartment will probabl y be in the neighborhood(quartier) of Neuilly, a close, elegant suburb. You may actually spendyour first day in Paris without having to use your French at all! Butdon't bet on it.1-1METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1SETTINGSoon, you will meet someone who will want to talk to you. Itcould very well be the concierge (now known as le gardien or la gar-dienne, if it's a woman) of your building (immeuble). Let's call himM. Bertrand. Yes, you are about to have your first conversation inFrench.CONVERSATION 1LISTENING INListen to the conversation twice. See how much you canunderstand. Compare notes with your classmates. Ask your teacherabout anything you still don't understand.1-2METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1LOOKING AT ITBonjour, Monsieur. Vous:Le Franais: Bonjour. Vous tes Monsieur/Madame ..........,Vous:Le Franais:Vous:n'est-ce pas?* On vous attendait.Pardon? Oui, je travaille l'ambassade.Oui, bien sr. Je suis le gardien, M. Bertrand.Ah! Je comprends.*(You can fill in your name.)Functional Notes1. In French-speaking European countries, people who don't know eachother weIL only use Madame or Monsieur without the last name whenaddressing each other. Mademoiselle is used for very young womenonly. These terms are abbreviated as follows: Madame (Mme); Monsieur(M.); Mademoiselle (Mlle). If you don't know whether a-;Qman ism;rried or not, use Madame. It may happen that an unmarried womaninsists that she be addressed as Mademoiselle. The French rarelyagree on anything. Why don't you ask your teacher for his/heropinion?2. Do not forget to shake hands! When two people meet for the firsttime in their lives, for the first time that day, or if they aresaying good-bye, they shake hands. It might be a good idea whenplaying out your conversation to shake hands with your teacher.Fill in the BlanksListen to the tape and write the missing word(s) in the blanks.Then check your work by looking at the printed conversation 1. Vous:Le Franais: Monsieur/Madame.Bonjour. Vous Monsieur/Madame1-3Vous:Le Franais:Vous:METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1 , n'est-ce pas? On vous attendait ? Oui, travaille l'ambassade.Oui, bien sOr. Je suis le , M. Bertrand.Ah! Je comprends.Bonjour, 2. Vous:Le Franais: ............ Vous tes .....................,Vous:Le Franais:Vous:FranaisbonjourMonsieurMadamevoustesn'est-ce pas?onattendaitn'est-ce pas? On vous attendait.Pardon? Oui, je l'ambassade.Oui, bien sOr. Je le gardien,M. Bertrand.Ah! Je comprends.A CLOSER LOOKEnglishgood morningSi r, Mr.Mrs.youareisn't it?onefrom the verb attendre:to expect, wait1-4pardonouijetravaillel'ambassadeouisuislegardiencomprendsbien srMETROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1pardon meyeslfrom the verb travailler:to workatthe embassyyesamtheconciergefrom the verb comprendre:to see, understandof courseRecognizing your FriendsWhen most people meet a newlanguage, aIl they can notice is theforeignness of it--the things that they can't understand, or thethings that sound strange. These parts of the language stand out solarge that they block out the ways in which the newlanguage is likethe native language. As a matter of fact, in the past 50 yearslinguists have studied thousands of languages fromaIl over the world,and they've discovered that there are some ways in which aIl languagesare alike.But aside from that, some pairs of languages are more alike thanothers. So languages descended from the same ancient language havemore things in common than languages that are unrelated. The same istrue of languages that are geographically located near each other. Asan English speaker learning French, you have both of these factorsworking in your favor. If you go back far enough, both French and Eng-lish are descended from an extinct language called Proto-Indo-European.More important, England and France are only a few miles apart and havebeen in continuous contact for a thousand years. Most important ofaIl, though, William, Duke of Normandy, laid claimto the throne ofEngland, conquered the country in 1066, and brought in with hima1-5METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1flock of carpetbaggers who took over control of the country, eventuallyintermarried with the local population, and never left. Though thegrammar of the language has remained basically Germanie, the vocabularyof English took intoit literally thousands of French words, and manyof those are with us to this day. Their pronunciation has changed, ofcourse, and many of themhave also changed their meanings, sometimes invery interesting ways, but they remain, by and large, your loyal andhelpful friends as you begin your work with French. English has alsoborrowed words from French more or less steadily ever since, and theselater arrivaIs will make things easier for you, too.Let's look at a few examples. Some of the words that Englishshares with French are so obvious that you won't need anybody to pointthemout to you: Paris is the capitaleof France, for instance. Theword capitale is spelled almost exactly as in English. The meaning inthis context is exactly the same, and even the pronunciation is veryclose.There's a second group of words where some historical relation-tionshipexists, but it's too obscure to be of much practical value toyou. The English question-word what?, for example, is ultimatelyrelated to its French counterpart, quoi?, but the connection is sohard to explain that we won't take up our time or yours with this kindof thing.There's a third group, however--a very large group of wordswhere you might not notice the connection, but once the connection hasbeen pointed out to you, it can help you immeasurably in remembering aword when you need it. A very simple example is the French word tout,which means "aIl." It doesn't sound anythinglike our English wora--aIl, but it is related to a common English word whose meaning is simi-lar to aIl, and that word is total. 50 if you can match up in yourmind the-t-o-t of total and the t-o-u-t of French tout, you at leasthave a head start on retaining this bit of French vocabulary.Another example is a bit more interesting. One word for abuilding in French is immeuble. That's unrelated to the English wordbuilding, of course, but it is related to immovable, and that's justwhat a building is froma French point of view--an immovable pieceof property! If you think we're joking, look at the French word forfurniture, which is meuble--a movable piece of property!We'll be coming back in every lesson with similar informationabout other French words as you meet them. The principal purpose isto give you some authentic memory pegs. A secondary purpose will beto help you get the hang of looking at words in this way so thatyou'll begin to put things like this together yourself. Just remem-ber: you've got lots of friends in French. Keep your eyes out fortheml1-6METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1Vocabulary Notesbonjour: literally, good morning; but it is used as hello until theevening.Vous tes Monsieur ?: You are Mr ? Or you cansay: Etes-vous M ? Questions can be formed either byusing the usual subject-verb-object word order and rising intonationas in the first example, or by inverting subject and verb, as in thesecond example.n'est-ce pas?: isn't it? used at the end of a sentence, when oneexpects agreement with the preceding statement.travaille: present, singular formof the verb travailler: to work.bien sr: of course.on vous attendait: we were expecting you.Pronunciation Practicea. Repeat the words or sentences after your teacher aIl together.b. Repeat the words or sentences after your teacher individually.Exploringje suis: l am; vous tes: you are. As in the English verb to be,French tre is irregular.Practice1. Fill in the blanks.Je amricain.Vous Monsieur Johnson -vous Monsieur Johnson?1-7METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON lJe Monsieur Bertrand.Vous a m ~ r i c a i n ?2. Translate into English.Bonjour, Monsieur.Vous tes Monsieur Johnson, n'est-ce pas?Pardon?Oui, je suis le gardien.3. Translate into French.l am the concierge.Are you Mr. Johnson?Hello!Sorry!l work at the embassy.4. Read the following sentences aloud with a rising intonation to aska question.Vous tes le concierge?Vous tes M. Johnson?Vous tes amricain?Pardon?5. Write two sentences using: vous tes, je suis.dictionarg.)1-8(You can use gourMETROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON lHome StudyThe other forms of the verb tre in the present tense are:elle/il estnous sommesils/elles sonts/he iswe arethey areWe will study these verb forms in more detail later on.ExploringGender:AlI French nouns are either "masculine" or "feminine." Gender isindicated by a marker (definite article): le for masculine nouns(e.g., le gardien) and la for feminine noun;-(e.g., la gardienne).These markers correspona-to English "the." When a noun starts with avowel sound, the marker becomes1: (e.g., 1:ambassade). Since thegender is not immediately apparent, it will be given when you en-counter the word for the first time.Practice1. Look at the followinglist of nouns (they are almost the same asin English). Ask your teacher whether they are masculine or feminineand write the corresponding marker in front of each word.- cafhtelrestaurant- cinma- ambassade1-9METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 1banque- classe- c a f ~ t ~ r i a- consulat2. Your teacher will call out one of the nouns on the liste Respondwith le or la according to the gender of the word. If you don'tremember, ask your classmates or consult the liste3. Translate the following words into French.-the hotel-the embassy-the bank-the cafe-the restau rant-the cafeteria-the consulateMAKING IT WORKTaking Your Part1. Listen twice to "CONVERSATION 1," book closed.2. Reviewthe pronunciation.3. Go over the dialog with the instructor taking the French speaker'spart. Keep the book open in front of you.4. Go over the dialog with the instructor taking the French speaker'spart. Don't use the book this time.1-10METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 15. Go over the dialog again.small changes in the texteThis time your instructor will make6. Do it again. Your instructor will now make greater changes.Interpreter Situation- Good morning.Bonjour. Vous tes Monsieur/Madame , n'est-ce pas?On vous attendait.- Excuse me? Yes, l work atthe embassy.Oui, bien sr. Je suis legardien, M. Bertrand.- Ohl l understand.ACTIVITYWith your teacher, look at a map of the United States and also ata map of France or Belgiumor Switzerland.- Compare the geography of your country with that of your countryof assignment.- Compare the sizes of both countries.- Compare the coastlines.- Compare the latitudes of, let's say, New York and Paris.- Locate the capital of your host country.- Locate the major cities.- Compare the latitude of the city of your birthplace with that ofyour teacher's birthplace.1-11METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON lYour teacher will tell gou:- Je suis n ~ ( e ) en (France), (Nice).Tell your teacher:- Je suis n ~ ( e ) aux (Etats-Unis), en (Virginie), (Richmond).Practice the French pronunciation of the name of your nativecountry, your state, and your city, with the help of your teacher.Playing the WordsUSING ITYou will now engage in conversation with your teacher, using thematerial in this lesson as a point of departure. Use your imagina-tion!1-12METROPOLITAN FRENCH - LESSON 2SETTINGSuppose you meet Mr. Bertrand in front of your building, who isjust the person you were looking for. He has a friendly face and cantell