How to Prepare Your Students for the AP French Language & Culture Persuasive Essay

1. How to Prepare Your Students for the AP French Language & Culture Persuasive Essay Milton Alan Turner, NBCT Saint Ignatius High School mturner@ignatius.edu http://faculty.Ignatius.edu/turner/

2. Overview • Introduction to AP French Language & Culture Exam • AP Central Website • Free-Response Section Tasks • 2012 French Persuasive Essay • Persuasive Essay Rubric • Authentic Resources • French-language Media Web Sites • French-Language Media Apps for smartphones/tablets • AP French Language & Culture Facebook Group • Student Activities- Les JT et les Causeries

3. AP Central http://apcentral.collegeboard.com • Course Description • Planning Guide • Teacher Community • Free-Response Questions • Scoring Samples and Commentary

4. AP French Language & Culture Exam “The AP course provides students with opportunities to demonstrate their proficiency in each of the three modes in the Intermediate to Pre-Advanced range.” Overarching Premise “When communicating, students in the AP French Language and Culture course demonstrate an understanding of the culture(s), incorporate interdisciplinary topics (Connections), make comparisons between the native language and the target language and between cultures (Comparisons), and use the target language in real-life settings (Communities).” AP French Language & Culture Course and Exam Description Effective Fall 2011

5. AP Cultural Themes

6. AP French Language & Culture Exam Format

7. Task 2: Persuasive Essay • Students must write a persuasive essay on a given topic clearly indicating their own viewpointand defending it thoroughly • The essay topic is based on three sources • Printed article • Printed graph/chart/map • Audio source (podcast/interview) • Students have 6 minutes to read the print sources (article and graph) and 6 minutes to hear the audio source twice • Students have 40 minutes to write the essay

8. Task 2: Persuasive Essay Scoring Rubric • Holistic scoring (“Alan’s shoulders”) • Task oriented • Progressive • integrates vs. summarizes information • Number of sources referenced • effective vs. suitable vs. unsuitable information • Multiple ways to successfully use sources • 2012 Scoring samples and commentary available at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/4559.html

9. Preparation Suggestions • Regular exposure to authentic resources from Day 1 Level 1 • Web sites • Podcasts • Apps • Social media • Le Grand Concours • Practice Tests • Course and Exam Description • Practice Test (AP Audit)

10. Authentic Resources • My AP French Language & Culture Web Site http://faculty.ignatius.edu/turner/apfrenchlang.htm • Media Web Sites • Le Monde www.lemonde.fr • Radio France Internationalewww.rfi.fr • France 24 http://www.france24.com/fr/ • Smartphone Apps • Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/apfrenchlang/

11. Student Activities • Les JournauxTélévisés http://faculty.ignatius.edu/turner/tj.htm • Les Causeries http://faculty.ignatius.edu/turner/causeries.htm