AFNORTH International Middle/High School
French IV
Course Syllabus
SY
2004-05
Course Title: Grade 10 Core
French Academic (French 4) Course Code: FSF 2D
Teacher: J.Everingham
Email: John_Everingham@eu.odedodea.edu
Textbook: Destinations 4 - Pearson
Required material: Pens, pencils, erasers, ruler, lined paper (in
binder), French/English dictionary
Course Expectations: By the end of this course, students will:
Ø listen and respond to a variety of spoken texts;
Ø listen and respond to a variety of non-structured media works;
Ø express ideas and opinions in conversations and teacher-guided discussions;
Ø make oral presentations on a variety of topics;
Ø use appropriate language conventions during oral communication activities;
Ø read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of texts and simple authentic materiel; (minimum 60 pages)
Ø apply critical thinking as they read (e.g., infer meaning from the text, analyse information, determine cause and effect, and go beyond the surface meaning);
Ø identify and understand language conventions used in their reading materials;
Ø express ideas and opinions in short written texts;
Ø create short written texts in structured and open-ended situations;
Ø identify and use appropriate language conventions in their written work.
EVALUATION: Throughout the course, students
will be engaged in diagnostic and formative assessments (that
don’t “count”) which will lead to
improvement in student performance and provide feedback. All students must complete all summative
evaluations (ie. unit tests, major oral presentations, final unit projects
etc.) which will count in the final
calculation of marks. Unauthorized
absence may result in a mark of zero (F) being assigned. Students will
be given every opportunity to complete course work but as in the work world,
there are deadlines. Late assignments
may not be assessed and a completion contract or parental contact may be
required for students to complete missed assigned.
Formative
Assessment
There will be several short assignments,
quizzes and tasks in each unit of this course that do not “count” toward the
final mark for the unit. These tasks
are opportunities for teacher feedback about what you are doing well and what
you need to improve. In some cases, you
will be encouraged to work on the improvements, and hand the assignment in for
further feedback. These tasks will be
directly related to the final summative assignment (test, activity or
performance task) for the unit.
Therefore, despite the fact that you will not lose marks for not
completing these tasks, you are encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities
for very useful teacher feedback.
Summative
evaluation
The summative assignment(s) and/or test(s) for every unit MUST be
completed successfully in order for a student to pass the course. If this does not occur, a second opportunity
will be provided according to arrangements made by the students, the teacher
and the parents.
Learning
skills do not contribute to the academic mark
Five areas have been identified as learning skills and are being
evaluated separately from academic achievement: work habits/homework, organization, initiative, teamwork and
“works independently”. These are
very important skills for you to learn at school and at home, and they are
crucial in determining how successful you will be in your future employment or
post-secondary schooling. Both parents
and students need to pay close attention to this section of the report card,
and to understand the impact that these skills have on their learning, despite
the fact that they are not directly factored into their academic mark.
Performance expectations will be measured using
Language Strands (oral communication, reading and writing, language
structures and vocabulary) and the Achievement Levels (1-4) under the
categories: (Communication, Comprehension, Organization of Ideas and
Application of language knowledge).
Marks will be determined by linking the required curriculum expectations
with the strands and achievement categories. The total
of all formative and summative evaluations for the school year (term work) will
represent 70% of the final grade. The
final evaluation which represents 30% of the students' final
grade will include a written exam (15%) and a final rich performance
task (15%).
A variety of assessment and evaluation
methods is used to determine your performance level. There will be regular
unit tests, smaller verb/structure and vocabulary tests, dictations, oral
performances , skits and dialogues, end-of-unit projects, discussion appraisals, invitations, post cards, short
book reports, listening comprehension tests, reading comprehension tests, etc.
Students will be engaged in the Continuous School Progress goal of
improving written communication skills across the curriculum by referring to
The 6 Traits + 1 model.
Because punctuality is a “learning skill” academic marks will not be deducted from work that is handed in late. However, there will be other non-academic consequences if this occurs without prior arrangements with the teacher or adequate justification.
Formative work not handed in on time will simply not be marked therefore the students will not benefit from the feedback needed to perform well in summative evaluations.
Please think ahead and be prepared.
Much of the students’ work, particularly
for complex tasks and assignments, will be marked using a rubric and the final
mark will be given as a level (1 to 4).
For this work, a rubric will be provided to the students ahead of time
so it is very clear what criteria must be met in order to get a particular
level. The marks assigned will reflect very specific standards and criteria
that are outlined in the curriculum documents for the course. Assessments will take into consideration
four categories of achievement:
Ø Knowledge
and understanding
Ø Thinking,
Inquiry and Problem Solving
Ø Communication
Ø Applications
Final
Evaluation:
The total of all summative assesments for the year will represent 70% of the final grade.
The final evaluation which represents 30% of the students' final grade will include a written exam (20%) and an oral presentation (10%).
AFNORTH International Middle/High School’s CSP (Continuous School Progress) goal is, “All students will improve their written communication skills across the curriculum.” The 6 + 1 trait is the model selected to improve school-wide writing in all subject areas. The 6+1 Trait writing framework is a powerful way to learn and use a common language to refer to characteristics of writing as well as establish a common vision of what “strong” writing looks like. Teachers and students will use the 6+1 Trait model to identify areas of strength and weakness as they continue to strive towards continued writing improvement. Success of all students requires that the 6 + 1 Trait become a consistent and integral component of each course taught at AFNORTH International Middle/High School.
The writing in this class will be assessed
and evaluated using different rubrics.
These rubrics will reflect the integration of the different traits that
are applicable to each assignments. The
traits that will be in focus are as follows:
o Ideas: clear central idea enriched with related details.
o Organization: well presented introduction, paragraphs containing related sentences,
smooth
transition between
paragraphs and effective conclusion.
o Voice: Expression of the writer’s feelings, opinion and
interpretations. Individual writing.
o Word choice: use of precise vocabulary
o Sentence fluency: use of appropriate French sentence structures