French in Action
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French in Action is a French-language course developed by Professor Pierre Capretz of Yale University. The course includes workbooks, textbooks, and a 52-episode television series. The series — the best-known aspect of the course — was produced in 1987 by WGBH, Yale University, and Wellesley College, and funded by Annenberg/CPB, and has been aired frequently on PBS since then.
Contents |
[edit] The episodes
Each episode is roughly half an hour long. The earliest episodes have four main elements:
- A classroom session, featuring Capretz explaining the basic ideas of the episode to a group of American students.
- An excerpt from an ongoing story, filmed especially for the series, and framed as a narrative that Capretz and his students are inventing in order to practice their French. The story focuses on American student Robert (played by Charles Mayer) and his French love interest Mireille (played by Valérie Allain).
- Clips from French films and television shows illustrating the new vocabulary words of the lesson.
- A brief Punch-and-Judy-style puppet show recapping some element of the episode's story.
In later episodes, the classroom section is omitted, and the episode begins with the excerpt from the ongoing story.
The series uses context and repetition, rather than translation, to teach the meanings of words; except for the first episode, and a brief English-language introduction at the beginning of each subsequent episode, the series is conducted entirely in French.
The episodes are divided as follows:
[edit] Part I
- 1. Orientation
- 2-4. Genesis
- 5. Families
- 6-7. Portraits
- 8. Genealogy
- 9-10. Vacation in Brittany
- 11-13. Encounters
- 14-16. Getting Underway
- 17-18. In All Labor There Is Profit
- 19-21. school zone
- 22-23. Fishing for an Invitation
- 24-26. Bills of Fare
[edit] Part II
- 27-31. All Manner of Transportation
- 32-35. Residences
- 36-40. Entertainment
- 41-42. A Matter of Chance
- 43-45. Think Vacation
- 46. Getting Away
- 47. What Variety!
- 48. What Riches!
- 49. What a Nightmare!
- 50. More Variety, More Riches
- 51. Parade and Review
- 52. All's Well That Ends Well
