Unit 5 · 5 lessons
La francophonie, Language and Writing
Explore how French spread and what it means in Acadia, Haïti, Sénégal and Ontario, handle register, on and regional vocabulary, use idioms and proverbs well, read with strategy and word families, and write cover letters, surveys and opinion texts for a real audience.
- 44 practice questions
- 47 flashcards
Lessons
- 1French-Speaking Communities and Their HistoriesWhy French is spoken in Moncton, Port-au-Prince, Dakar and Saint-Denis de La Réunion: the colonial history behind the francophonie, the deportation of the Acadians, Haïti's independence in 1804, the wave of independence around 1960 and the founding of what became the OIF. Then the Grade 11 skill: comparing two communities in clear, accurate French.8 questions
- 2Register, on, and Regional FrenchChoosing tu or vous and a familiar, neutral or formal register for your audience; the three meanings of on (we, people in general, someone) and how it agrees; and the regional vocabulary you will meet across Québec, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Africa, from meal names and numbers to tips and phones.9 questions
- 3Idioms and ProverbsExpressions whose meaning is not the sum of their words: the literal image versus the figurative meaning, how to conjugate and adapt an idiom in a real sentence, French proverbs and their English equivalents, money idioms, a few well-known Québec expressions, and when an idiom suits your audience.9 questions
- 4Reading Strategies and Building VocabularyHow to read authentic French without a dictionary on every line: strategies before, during and after reading, explicit and implicit messages, telling fact from opinion and feeling, recognising text forms (news report, opinion piece, play script), and growing your vocabulary through word families, prefixes and suffixes, cognates and faux amis, and quantity expressions in a tourism text about Senegal.9 questions
- 5Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion TextsWriting with a purpose and a reader in mind: the structure and fixed formulas of a cover letter, survey questions that are clear and neutral, an opinion text built with a thesis, connectors, concession and comparison, the writing process from plan to final copy, and how a single comma or colon can change what a sentence means.9 questions