STEFE Database

Learning Activities:  Context: University in France

Note: this should be done first.

FOCUS  advice to other students attending French university classes 

WAY OF WORKING work and discuss together as mixed nationality groups

PROCEDURE

Find the name Séverine in the French group of students in the column headed Classroom teaching skills.  Click on Séverine..  Read what is printed in BLACK. 
 

TASK

Séverine makes a very important distinction between the Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course in the UK and the Maîtrise: Français Langue Étrangère (FLE) course in a French university.

Given the difference describe how you think the content should differ to suit the different publics for whom each is designed.

CONTEXT university in France         ACTIVITY Two

FOCUS  relationships with other students and the university tutor 

WAY OF WORKING work and discuss together as mixed nationality groups

PROCEDURE

Find the name Rita  in the English group of students in the column headed Social experiences and cultural differences.   Click on Rita.  Read what is printed in BLACK.
 

TASK 

Are you surprised at Rita's description of French students' expectations about social life at university in France?  She also finds the student-tutor relationship, in her word 'weird'.  If this mirrors your experience how would you react? 

Compare an incident when an English student was very honest with a French tutor.  Was Lucy justified in what she said?

Find the name Lucy  in the English group of students in the column headed  Classroom teaching skills.   Click on Lucy.  Read what is printed in BLACK.

FOCUS  what makes for good university teaching 

WAY OF WORKING work and discuss together as mixed nationality groups

PROCEDURE

Find the names Annette, Denise  and Rachel  in the English group of students in the column headed Classroom teaching skills.  Click on each in turn.    Read what is printed in BLACK.
 

TASK 

List the teaching practices which Annette, Denise and Rachel describe.  What do you consider to be 'good practice' and what do you consider to be 'bad practice'?

What is the role of the tutor and the role of the students in these situations?

Discuss and agree on what a 'good', worthwhile seminar at university might consist of. 

CONTEXT university in France         ACTIVITY Four

FOCUS  advice to other students attending French university classes 

WAY OF WORKING work and discuss together as mixed nationality groups

PROCEDURE

Find the name Nadine in the English group of students in the column headed Classroom teaching skills.  Click on Nadine.  Read what is printed in BLACK. 
 

TASK

From what you have read so far (Activities One and Two and what you have read  from Nadine) how would you portray French university lectures and seminars?
 

For other students who will go to lectures or seminars on topics which are new to them (as phonetics was here) what advice would you give them?

Divide your comments into:

   1  what to do before the course starts
   2 what to do during the sessions
   3 what to do after the sessions

Is there a cultural dimension in student-tutor relationships which you think worth mentioning?

Now read what two other students say.  Would you modify your description?

Find the names Bernadette and Francesca  in the French group of students in the column headed Classroom teaching skills.  Click on both.  Read what is printed in BLACK.