ReelFrench is an interactive webpage which provides the language learner with a series of 9 short video clips on everyday topics such as food, clothing and pastimes. Each video clip is accompanied by a series 10 practice exercises which allow the student to improve his listening comprehension, and expand his vocabulary. Upon successful completion of the exercises, the student can print out a personalized certificate, with the name of the completed unit and his final score on the accompanying exercises.
Type of Material:
Short video clips accompanied by cloze paragraphs and other practice exercises designed to improve the student's comprehension of French, as well as their cultural knowledge of France, Canada, and other countries around the world.
Recommended Uses:
I would recommend ReelFrench.com as a supplementary source of practice for beginner to intermediate students in a traditional French language class. It can also be a helpful site for students in an online course and/or independent learners who are seeking simplified examples of French conversations in real-life settings.
Technical Requirements:
Adobe Flash 9.0 or higher
Identify Major Learning Goals:
By watching and completing accompanying activities, French language learners
• will model and improve their listening comprehension skills as well as their speaking by listening to native speakers,
• Demonstrate comprehension and mastery of oral language by accurately completing a variety of activities based on the video,
• Gain insight of francophone cultural and social practices as outlined through the texts
Target Student Population:
These videos will be useful for French beginners with guidance as well as to more advanced French learners both in high school and college wishing to assess their ability to understand native speakers.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
A basic knowledge of the French language is required to complete the practice exercises. Students must be familiar with French interrogative pronouns and possess a basic French vocabulary related to everyday events including meals, getting dressed, and common hobbies, in order for them to be able to respond to the questions in the practice exercises.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The video clips are short and will not therefore intimidate the beginning language student. The option to view subtitles while the video is playing, as well as the ability to view the complete script are helpful scaffolding features. The computer-corrected practice exercises allow the student to obtain immediate feedback, and becoming progressively more difficult.
The content of the videos accurately depicts each concepts introduced, • They cover some basic concepts found in a classic the French core curriculum
Concerns:
The subtitles and script do not always match the spoken dialogue in each video.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
• This site can be used to model and practice French language and assess student’s listening comprehension.
• Practice activities are interactive and provide immediate feedback.
• French learners will increase their comprehension by listening while reading captions
Concerns:
Students will realize that the video clips have been specifically created for them (the beginning language student), and are not in fact authentic conversations. However, being able to understand the basic dialogues presented on ReelFrench.com should increase their confidence.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The site is aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate and the instructions for the practice exercises are very clearly written. Being able to pause the videos and to turn the subtitles on and off at will, are excellent features.
Concerns:
I was unable to enlarge the videos by using any method other than a "zoom in", which rendered the images blurry and also cut off the beginning of the subtitles. The cursor which follows the progress of the video cannot be dragged forward or backward to skip or replay certain sections.
Other Issues and Comments:
None (other than the handful of incongruities between the video dialogues and the subtitles/scripts).
Creative Commons:
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