Project 3: Amis de Partout

General Information Project Overview Curriculum Connections Learning Outcomes Technology Outcomes Resource Connections Evaluation

  General Information

  Project Overview

Grade 8 French students at Mary Queen of Peace School will participate in a project in which they will use the WWW and e-mail to communicate with French students around the world. One unit in their core French program encourages them to find francophone penpals and communicate with them throughout the year. Students involved in this project will achieve the objectives of the program using e-mail and publishing information for others on the WWW.

Students will use the WWW to find schools in France, Quebec, or other French-speaking areas. They will approach these schools and invite a class of Grade 8 students (or the equivalent) to participate in the project. Throughout the year they will exchange information through e-mail and their web sites.

They will also use videoconferencing to have face-to-face communication with classes in other countries.

A group of students will be selected to become involved in the development of a Web site which will inform their Amis de Partout of what is happening at Mary Queen of Peace School. They will be taught to:

• use e-mail (Eudora, Netscape Mail, and/or Internet Explorer Mail)
• use a web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer)
• create web pages (HTML Editor or WordPerfect 7)
• design graphics (CorelDRAW)

Amis de Partout will provide opportunities for grade 8 French students to have real communication experiences with francophone students their own age, something which would be motivational and bring alive the reason for learning a second language.

  Curriculum Connections

This project will be integrated across two main curriculum areas:

• French
• Technology Education

Amis de Partout will introduce Grade 8 students to the Internet and the creation of a dynamic WWW site, the contents of which will be updated until the results of the overall project are published on the web site. Students will be given the opportunity to communicate to a global audience utilizing current technology.

  Learning Outcomes

At the end of this project students will:

• utilize the Internet and its resources to communicate with other students around the world
• communicate orally and verbally with francophone students via e-mail, a WWW site and videoconferencing

Students selected for the enhanced project will:

• use e-mail to communicate in French with other students
• create a French web sites
• produce graphics to be used on a web site
• work as a team to produce a web site
• teach their peers to use the WWW and e-mail

  Technology Outcomes

At the end of this project students will:

• utilize the following programs to produce a Amis de Partout web site:
  • Microsoft Word
  • Corel WordPerfect 7
  • Windows 95
  • HTML Editor
  • Netscape
  • Internet Explorer
  • CorelDRAW!
  • Netscape Mail
  • Eudora
  • CU-See Me
• utilize the following hardware to complete their project:
  • computer with mouse
  • scanner
  • digital camera
  • CCD video camera
  • microphone input

  Resource Connections

A Stellar School Internet connection will give students and teachers the time necessary to develop and maintain a WWW site entitled - Amis de Partout

Other resources to be utilized throughout the length of the project include:

• texts
• CD-ROM
• print materials in the Resource Centre
• scanner - for inclusion of artwork/illustrations
• digital camera

>  Evaluation

This project will be evaluated in several ways.

The Process:
At the end of the project students will have:

• completed a minimum of one piece of writing
• presented the results of their research to a group of their peers
• used a digital camera, downloaded photos and included them on the web site
• used a scanner to digitize artwork/illustrations
• incorporated graphics on a web page
• designed and maintained a web site on the WWW
• used e-mail to communicate with teachers, parents and students

This project will have a positive effect on the school as a whole. The Grade 8 students will have made contact with several French classes around the world. They will have communicated with these classes in French and produced a French web site. They will have truly communicated in French and the purpose of learning French as a second language will have become clear. Several will have produced a web site. They will have been published in the true sense of the word. This will have a positive effect on their perceptions of their school and of themselves. Finally, the exposure to technology will open their eyes to the potential of the WWW as a source of information and communication.

The Product:
The web site will be evaluated by the response students receive to the project. This may be in the form of electronic, verbal or written feedback from people who visit their site.