Quick overview: The BBC site Ma France is a website that contains many media rich FSL activities and exercises related to every day life.
What does it do? Don’t be deceived by the “France” in the website name. Most of the exercises and activities on the Ma France (http://tinyurl.com/2tr9dk) website can be used by our Quebec FGA students too. There are sections on Shopping, Dating, News, etc.. One of the features that I really like is that in certain topics, your students can play a video (see screenshot below) with a “live” simultaneous written translation in English and French.
How can I use it in the classroom? As I mentioned, there are many activities that can help with French oral and reading comprehension. In terms of practicing oral conversations, the Ma France website also provides a “simulated conversation” with character named Stéphane who will speak typical phrases for particular topic. While the website cannot hear your student’s answer, it may help you gauge your student’s oral comprehension. The “simulated conversation” can be a little hard to explain with words, so here’s a link to an actual example: (http://tinyurl.com/6yhbhk)
