The “Le Mont St. Michel” site introduces listening activities and exercises. These activities are based on “Le Mont St. Michel “history and legend. According to legend, the Archangel Michel appeared to Aubert, Bishop of Avranches in his dreams and instructed him to build a “church” on the mountain named “Tombe”, where the Angel had defeated Satan. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull.
“Le Mont St. Michel” include three listening activities: the Legend (an audio file for listening purpose), Histoire (a fill –in –the blank) and Lettre (Listen and repeat). All activities provide immediate feedback.
This website, created by a French school for non-native speakers of French, offers a short introduction to and two exercises on the history of the famous abbey. The first part, entitled “Légende”, provides a short audio and written introduction to the story of Saint Michel, his fight with the devil and the creation of the mont Saint-Michel. Synonyms of underlined words in the text are provided when cursor is rolled over. The second section, entitled “Histoire”, is an oral comprehension exercise on historical dates pertaining to the place. The third and final part, entitled “Lettre”, is a reading comprehension exercise with MC-type questions based on a letter. It is also accompanied by an audio recording. All exercises are graded.
The material is free to use.
Unsure if the material is licensed under Creative Commons
Type of Material:
Mostly drill and practice but can also be used as an assignment.
Recommended Uses:
Can serve as listening and reading material in the classroom.
Individual use.
Can also be given as extra homework to students for further practice in listening and reading in French.
Technical Requirements:
Any browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Provides students with a brief history of the mont Saint-Michel.
Provides students with listening practice.
Provides students with reading comprehension practice.
Students will be able to: Recognize ordinal and cardinal numbers and letters of the alphabet. Recognize and spell numbers he/she hear. Repeat words and phrases for clarification and pronunciation correction. Produce consonant and vowel sounds, and manage suprasegmentals(use of pitch, accent and intonation).
Target Student Population:
Middle School, High School, College General Ed, and College Lower Division.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
One to two semesters of French.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
It is clearly presented. The font, style and images are pleasant.
The exercises provide good listening and reading practice.
The written texts are always accompanied by an audio recording.
Concerns:
The site could profit from one more reading comprehension exercise, right after the reading in the first section “Légende”, for instance.
Users could profit from more help with the vocabulary in the “Lettre” part, especially concerning food.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The information in “Le Mont St. Michel” listening comprehension
Activities is presented in ways that are familiar to students, the material is easy to navigate, interactive and provides immediate feedback for user actions. The “Le Mont St. Michel” is in the most part self-contained.
There are no distracting design elements (e.g., color, animation, too much on a page). Related parts of the site are clearly formatted. No bugs (links that do not work) found.
Concerns:
Content: The activity Histoire:” Ecouter et Taper” is about listening historical dates. Users are asked to type numbers. However, the activity does not take into consideration the French number spelling system when writing answers.
Additional activities (from the proposed content) are needed to strengthen listening and/or writing skills.
Because learning objectives and prerequisite knowledge are not listed, only the teacher can know in advance if the exercises are suitable for her audience. The “Légende” part could profit from a follow-up reading comprehension and/or vocabulary exercise to make sure that the students have read and understood the text.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The information in this tutorial is presented in ways that are familiar to students, the material is easy to navigate, interactive and provides feedback for user actions. Self test questions give immediate feedback to users when an incorrect response is given
There are no distracting design elements (e.g., color, animation, too much on a page). Related parts of the site are clearly formatted. No bugs (links that do not work) found.
Concerns:
Audio Feature:
The forward and backward audio buttons are missing for listening “La Lettre” content. Users must start all over to listen to a word they may have missed.
Other Issues and Comments:
None
Creative Commons:
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