Paralleles: Communication Et Culture (English and French Edition) - Hardcover

Fouletier-Smith, Nicole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0131832360 ISBN 13: 9780131832367

Publisher: Pearson College Div, 2003

Synopsis

Parallèles is an introductory French program that offers an exciting and innovative approach to language and culture. As the title indicates, Parallèles users are encouraged to explore the target culture and its language by drawing parallels between their own world and the francophone world. KEY TOPICS The Parallèles approach provides learners with tools to compare and contrast their own language and culture with another language and culture. The program systematically develops linguistic skills along with conceptual and cultural understanding, and fully integrates ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity within France and the francophone world. For individuals interested in improving their use and knowledge of the French language and culture.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Paralleles is a complete introductory French program that offers an exciting and innovative approach to language and culture. It develops students' language and communication skills white systematically encouraging them to explore the parallels and diversities between their own culture and that of the French and francophone world.

The Paralleles program offers a well-integrated supplements package, including the latest in educational technology. The interactive Student Video CD-ROM contains the entire Paralleles video, along with pre- and post-viewing activities. The unique Companion Website, now linked to an online gradebook for instructors, provides access to the Paralleles audio program, web exploration activities, and self-soaring activities for practicing grammar and vocabulary.

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR

• Annotated Instructor's Edition (0-13-183238-7)
• Instructor's Resource Manual (0-13-183239-5)
• Testing Program on CD (0-13-183418-5)
• Testing Program (0-130183415-0)
• Image Resource CD (0-13-183420-7)
• Video on Cassette (0-13-183426-6)
• Answer Key for the Cahier d'Activites (0-13-183422-3)

FOR THE STUDENT

• In-Text Audio on CD (0-13-183416-9)
• Cahier d'Activites (0-13-183378-2)
• Complete Audio Program on CD (0-13-183421-5)
• Student Video CD-ROM (0-13-183423-1)
• Companion Website ( www.prenhall.com/paralleles )

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Overview

Paralleles is a complete introductory French program that offers an exciting, innovative approach to language and culture. Its goal is to develop students' cultural understanding in tandem with their language and communication skills. Moving beyond stereotypes, students systematically explore the parallels and divergences between their own culture and the cultures of France and other Francophone countries. They learn to appreciate the important role culture plays in shaping thought and behavior, while deepening their awareness of the setting in which the French language is actually used.

At the heart of Paralleles is the belief that effective use of a language requires cultural understanding as well as a command of linguistic structures and vocabulary. Even the most basic communicative tasks, such as acknowledging the presence of others or greeting others appropriately, presuppose a certain level of cultural insight in addition to a knowledge of the language itself. Paralleles is designed to cultivate and foster this kind of insight in students from the very beginning of their experience of the French language. Students begin each chapter by observing critically their home culture and its diversity, and then are guided throughout the chapter to make comparisons with a Francophone culture as it is presented through texts, images, and recordings.

Paralleles has been designed to reflect the "five C's" of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21th Century. The Paralleles program fosters (1) communication in French in genuinely meaningful contexts; (2) an understanding of the cultures of France and Francophone countries; (3) connections with distinctively French and Francophone perspectives and points of view; (4) comparisons offering insight into the relationship of the French language and French-speaking cultures, and comparisons of students' own culture and that of French and Francophone countries; (5) a sense of community nurtured by the use of French beyond the classroom through varied activities, the video, and other media-based opportunities.

While an integrated presentation of language and culture is of fundamental importance, Paralleles is also designed to be a practical, flexible, and accessible classroom textbook. Thematically organized chapters progress straightforwardly through manageable instructional units that incorporate both lexical and grammatical content. These units are complemented by high-interest, culturally focused sections at the beginning and end of each chapter. A rich array of print and media supplements provides support to instructors and material for out-of-class work by students.

Highlights of the Third Edition

While the underlying goals of the Paralleles program remain unchanged, the third edition has been greatly improved by suggestions from instructors who have used the previous editions in their courses. Major changes include the following:

STREAMLINING OF CHAPTER ELEMENTS. Many chapter elements in Paralleles have been streamlined in order to make the chapters more manageable, to control length and the level of difficulty, and offer more options to accommodate different course structures. For example, the Cultures en paralleles presentations are now more concise, accessible, and focused, as are the Contexte presentations and the end-of-chapter Decouvertes sections.

EXPANDED COVERAGE OF THE FRANCOPHONE WORLD AND OF MULTICULTURAL REALITIES IN FRANCE ITSELF. In each chapter one or more of the culturally oriented Contextes (based on surveys, dialogues, realia, interviews, and other authentic language samples) has been replaced in order to focus more specifically on countries of the Francophone world. There is a greater emphasis as well on the increasingly multicultural nature of society in France itself. This expanded multicultural focus is enhanced through the new culture notes and through the revised content of other sections, such as Decouvertes.

NEW EST-CE EVIDENT? CULTURE NOTES. Going far beyond a collection of scattered facts appended to the language presentation, the Est-ce evident? culture notes enrich the overall linguistic and cultural presentation within each Contexte in a coherent way. They offer information about customs and language usage as well as social and historical context that lend interest and enlarge students' perspectives. In addition, the cross-cultural questions that conclude each Est-ce evident? section prompt further intellectual inquiry and communicative use of French, encouraging active learning at many levels. The Est-ce evident? sections are written in English through Chapitre 3, and thereafter in French.

NEW READINGS. New readings, including additional literary passages and poems, provide a more rounded, interesting, and current perspective on France and the Francophone world.

MORE VARIED EXERCISE SEQUENCES. The carefully structured exercise sequences now include more manipulative, skill-getting practice at the outset, while culminating in realistic, interesting, and imaginative communicative opportunities. New activities engage the whale class in a common effort of discovery. Students are encouraged to learn together in pairs or in small groups as they practice new structures and vocabulary, search for information, and share and compare their findings.

EXPANDED PEDAGOGICAL SUPPORT. Expanded annotations for the instructor offer not just suggestions and amplifications, but practical, effective ideas for presenting and working with each lesson in ways that actively involve students.

A NEW VIDEO. An interesting, accessible new video filmed in France, En parallele: Rencontres amicales, has been developed to enhance the textbook. The video is grounded in the textbook content and consists of brief interviews with native speakers. It is complemented by a new video guide with pre- and post-viewing activities.

Chapter Organization

The Paralleles textbook includes a preliminary chapter plus thirteen thematically organized chapters. The basic, highly functional chapter structure and its essential components have been retained and refined. These include:

Cultures en paralleles

One Cultures en paralleles section opens each chapter, introducing the chapter theme and encouraging students to reflect on their own culture. A second Cultures en paralleles section helps to wrap up the chapter by asking students to make comparisons between their own and French culture. This format is central to the book's integration of language and culture, offering interesting, structured opportunities for observation and reflection that support and unify the chapter's thematic and linguistic presentation. The Cultures en paralleles sections are written in English through Chapitre 2 and, beginning with Chapitre 5, appear entirely in French.

The Voyage en francophonie section (formerly D'un parallele a l'autre) invites students to "adopt" a francophone country, then to explore in conjunction with each chapter a specific aspect of that country and to share the information with classmates.

Etapes

The four Etapes (formerly Volets) each include paired Contextes and grammar presentations (Structures). In each Contexte, the focus on vocabulary development and discourse samples within a thematically oriented cultural framework is enhanced by widely varying presentations incorporating authentic material.

The related grammar sections, the newly named Structures, provide functional presentations dictated by the communicative needs of beginning students.

Both the Contexte and Structure sections are complemented by ample manipulative and communicative opportunities for classroom practice. The carefully structured exercise sequences, culminating in interesting and imaginative communicative activities, now offer an enhanced initial focus on manipulative and skill-getting practice as well as progressive practice emphasizing emergent communicative competence.

The pronunciation and listening sections

The accessible, well-regarded pronunciation sections (Phonetique) appear toward the end of each chapter. Structured En direct listening activities, recorded on the In-Text-Audio CD, appear after Etape 2 and Etape 4 within each chapter.

Decouvertes

The synthesizing Decouvertes section includes a communicative activity (A vous la parole), structured reading practice (Lecture), a process-oriented writing activity based on a real-life task (A vos stylos), cultural components (Paralleles historiques), and multimedia references (A l'ecran). New readings, including literary passages and poems, provide a morerounded, interesting, and current perspective on France and the Francophone world. The concluding Maintenant, je sais... activity prompts students to review and define the chapter's fundamental cultural concepts.

Tous (es mots

An end-of-chapter vocabulary list gathers all chapter vocabulary for ease of reference.

Additional Components of the Paralleles Program

For instructors:

ANNOTATED INSTRUCTOR'S EDITION (0-13-183238-7)
The generous marginal annotations in the Annotated Instructor's Edition have been written with both novice and experienced instructors in mind. They include suggestions for warm-up activities, resource notes, supplementary cultural information, suggestions for use of the Image Resource CD, and suggestions for using and expanding the material and activities in the student text. The annotations also include the scripts and answer keys for the En direct listening sections.

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About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson College Div
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0131832360
• ISBN 13: 9780131832367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 557