Case Studies

To give students in upper secondary classes with 3-5 years of French studies the opportunity to meet French in authentic situations and to have real communication in class.

To create authentic language situations by widening the classroom to the world through internet. To encourage students to use French in communication with other French speaking students at their own age, or others, learning about culture, traditions and everyday life in their respective countries.

The pedagogic method is to involve into the classroom a French-speaking "third part" who is familiar with the topic or part of the world the student work with, for example
-a French class who has read the same text or book in order to exchange opinions or make assignments
-a French author of a text or a book the students´ just read and can discuss on the net.
-with a Belgian class the students´ have discussed about violence, racism and the Euro
-with on French and two German classes the students´ have discussed the European Identity
-with a Moroccan class the students have chatted about the role of the woman in family an society
-writing letters to French newspapers on current topics
-writing love stories reflecting cultural differences as relay writing together with other French classes
- participating in the poem and picture description contests on different web sites
This method gives students a valuable opportunity to meet genuine French in class.

Through communication online students gained knowledge about socio-cultural and family issues in other countries and they acquired better understanding of their own society and culture. French speaking poets, writers and other native French speakers took part in the literature teaching. Students gained more self confidence to use the French. Students got high grades in the final year of the upper secondary school.

I applied for the ELL because I felt that using the internet in language teaching was the right way to go, because students like to communicate on the Internet and they have grown up using ICT. The more traditional way of language teaching should rather be the base for follow-up assignments.

In addition to a web site three cd:s have been produced: on European identity, on Hans Christian Andersen and on picture illustrations for the web site (the last one was tested and approved by the French "Café pédagogique").

The project French in Cyberspace was selected because it is consistent with the priorities of the European Commission in the field of language learning specifically because it provides added value in the use of ICT in language teaching. The new technology also motivates the students to improve their language skills. In particular, the project promotes contacts across the borders and improves the understanding between cultures. In addition, the project supports language skills that students can acquire through non formal and informal conversation on the net.