LAITS provide a range of videos, some made students from the students at Texas University,  that can be used as practise for criteria A. The quality of the videos is varied and they are perhaps a little outdated in place, but the dialogue is at a slow speed and therefore very accessible for novice students  Along with the videos, there are other activities and resources available  on the same topic to support student learning.

As I was preparing to introduce the topic of train travel and the train station in France, I was very happy to find the advert below for TGV travel throughout France. In this beautiful advert you see many of the top tourist attractions in Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower, Le Sacré Cœur and Notre Dame, as well as the beautiful lavender fields in the south and the vineyards of Bordeaux.

Whilst watching the video, my students completed the visible thinking routine "I see, I think, I wonder". When considering what they could see, there was plenty of opportunity for them to practice their French vocabulary on different types of buildings and architecture (e.g. le café, la plage, le château, le pont), geographical landmarks (e.g. une montagne, une rivière, un champ) and activities (faire du snowboard, faire de l'escalade, faire du surf). A few students "thought" that the video showed beauty of France and it was motivating them to visit the country while others "wondered" if the advert was filmed in one day (an interesting reference to the times shown) and what it was that the people on the train were doing.

Following this activity, we were then ready to start discussing the conventions of the text with questions such as...

• What is the message of the advertisement?
• Which age group is the advertisement aimed at? How do you know?
• How do the images and music contribute towards the message of the advertisement?
• Do you think that the advertisement is successful? Why? Why not?
  

The Mary Glasgow website has lots of videos with transcriptions that can be used for Criteria A.  To help my French Phase1/2 students prepare for their summative listening assessment, today they practised with a formative assessment using the video La mode which is available in the Allons-Y section dedicated to débutants (beginners). If you have a subscription to the website then the document below maybe use to you. If you have any suggestions about this activity please leave a comment a below.