Comments: Cultural Project

Summary: Réseau: Communication, Intégration, Intersections is an exciting and innovative intermediate French program based on the notion of linguistic and cultural intersections. This new text introduces students to the diversity of the French speaking world via well chosen readings and discussion topics designed to encourage critical thinking within a language learning context.



The second year of foreign language study can be difficult for both students and teachers. Today’s college students struggle with authentic readings and preparing quality written work, which leads to many of them avoiding advanced classes. Based on the authors’ 25 years of combined teaching experience, Réseau is designed to address these issues by providing students with the tools to be successful at reading and writing. In keeping with the National Standards’ “Five C’s,” Réseau is rich in oral and written communicative activities, cultural information, comparative reflections on both linguistic and cultural elements, communities both within the classroom and extending into the global arena, and connections to knowledge beyond that of the anglophone world. Compelling, authentic readings both motivate students and serve as models for the different genres of writing they will be asked to produce. Through the tight integration of the vocabulary and grammar activities and the reading selections, students are encouraged to stretch themselves intellectually by practicing the four skills in increasingly complex and cognitively challenging contexts, preparing them for advanced courses.



FEATURES:
# Integrated grammar presentations

* Réseau alternates between grammar presentation and readings in order to break up the monotony of potential grammar overload that can arise when students are asked to deal with one point after the other. From a pedagogical perspective, this alternating format also creates a more content-rich environment for the presentation of grammar.

# Focus on foreign language writing skills

* Whereas the vast majority of intermediate-level textbooks ask students to produce experientially-based descriptive, narrative, and expository essays, which from a cognitive perspective are relatively easy to produce, Réseau specifically targets the argumentative essay, incorporating both process and genre-based approaches so as to best prepare students for advanced-level literature and culture courses.

# Use of the L1 and the L2

* Based on the philosophy that both L1 and L2 learning are necessary for maximum student learning and retention, Réseau explains French grammar, with its many English cognates, in the target language. The all-French grammar presentations are simple, yet not simplistic, and include built-in activities intended to help students focus on the differences between English and French and solidify their knowledge.

# Cultural diversity, globalization, and identity

* Réseau incorporates themes that will provide students a multidimensional view of French and Francophone culture. Through the careful selection of cultural and literary readings, Réseau presents a strong thematic articulation between the two readings that unifies each chapter and presents opportunities for students to discuss topics from multiple points of view.

# Critical Thinking and Language Learning

* Réseau seeks to encourage students to probe the “why” and “how” of relational, sociological, cultural, political, psychological, and literary issues. Accordingly, questions are sequenced from easy to more complex to accommodate students of different skill levels who are in the same class. Moreover, activities are designed in a variety of formats so as to provide instructors with a wide range of resources from which to choose in order to tailor their classes individually according to the levels of their students.