French L7: Example 3
Example 3: Lunchtime conversation with host mother
Madame Bricier — Quels sont les plats typiquement néo-zélandais?
Damien — Ah, je ne suis pas certain. Un moment, je réfléchis. Je ne connais pas de plats typiques en Nouvelle-Zélande comme en France. Peut-être les desserts comme la pavlova, vous connaissez la pavlova?
Madame Bricier — Non, qu’est-ce que c’est?
Damien — C’est une meringue. Oui, c’est bon vu que c’est sucré. À mon avis c’est le meilleur dessert en Nouvelle-Zélande.
Madame Bricier — Ça a l’air bon. Je suis sûre que j’aimerais, et vous avez d’autres plats ?
Damien — Euh, un moment je cherche un autre exemple. Le hangi, c’est un plat māori. Oui, je recommanderais le hangi. Vous ne le connaissez pas en France, c’est typique de la Nouvelle-Zélande. Je ne sais pas comment expliquer le hangi.
Madame Bricier — C’est un plat avec de la viande?
Damien — Oui, c’est ça. Il y a de la viande et des légumes comme les kumaras et on le fait cuire dans la terre. Est-ce que tu comprends ce que je dis?
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Context and text type
Damien, a New Zealand exchange student who has recently arrived in France, and his host mother, Madame Bricier, discuss New Zealand food over lunch.
Text type
Conversation, semi-formal. Interactive.
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Examples showing how the student is:
Communicating information, ideas and opinions through increasingly extended and varied texts
Following his host mother’s enquiry:
- Quels sont les plats typiquement néo-zélandais?
Damien attempts to describe specific dishes and how these are prepared, for example:
- Il y a de la viande et des légumes comme les kumaras et on le fait cuire dans la terre.
Damien’s reflects on the response he will give to Madame Bricier’s question. He uses a hesitation marker, and explains his hesitation:
- Euh, un moment je cherche un autre exemple.
There is clear evidence in the text that Damien has not yet internalised the tu/vous distinction in his spoken output. At first he uses vous to address his host mother:
- vous connaissez la pavlova? At the end of the conversation we note he switches to the tu form of the pronoun: Est-ce que tu comprends ce que j’ai dit?
It is important to remember that this is a spoken interaction. Therefore, spoken features such as pronunciation, intonation, rhythm patterns, delivery speed, audibility, and stress patterns have a bearing on the overall effectiveness of the communication and must also be taken into consideration.
Beginning to explore the views of others
Damien asks a question to explore his host mother’s prior knowledge:
- Vous connaissez la pavlova?
He checks the effectiveness of his communication by asking a specific question to that effect:
- Est-ce que tu comprends ce que je dis?
He acknowledges his difficulty in responding to his host mother’s question:
- Je ne sais pas comment expliquer le hangi.
This acknowledgement serves as an invitation to his host mother to give her view by offering a suggestion:
- C’est un plat avec de la viande?
Beginning to develop and share personal perspectives
Damien clearly expresses a personal opinion:
- À mon avis, c’est le meilleur dessert.
He also expresses his uncertainty:
- Ah, je ne suis pas certain.
Beginning to justify own ideas and opinions
Damien provides an explanation for a personal opinion:
- C’est bon vu que c’est sucré.
Damien is possibly challenged to reflect on his own identity as a New Zealander when he chooses the example of hangi as typical New Zealand food. The text illustrates his underlying thought processes when, after a period of reflection, he offers le hangi as the example, explains it, then positively reinforces his choice of example:
- Le hangi, c’est un plat māori. Oui, je recommanderais le hangi.
Beginning to support or challenge the ideas and opinions of others
Madame Bricier is supportive of Damien’s efforts to describe typical New Zealand dishes when she replies:
- Ça a l’air bon. Je suis sûre que j’aimerais, et vous avez d’autres plats?
This encouragement helps Damien as he struggles to find appropriate responses to her inital question:
- Quels sont les plats typiquement néo-zélandais?
He obviously finds the question challenging.
Some who engage with this text may be challenged by the items that Damien proposes as typical of New Zealand. Others may support his choices, or have a range of opinions.
Beginning to engage in sustained interactions and produce extended texts
Damien negotiates meaning and prepares to give more explanation:
- Est-ce que tu comprends ce que j’ai dit?
He admits a difficulty:
- Je ne sais pas comment expliquer le hangi.
This admission acts as an invitation to Madame Bricier to step in to sustain the interaction. She responds by asking a question:
- C’est un plat avec de la viande?
Damien engages in sustained interaction. He offers an example, reflects on the example offered, accepts it, then explains its uniqueness:
- Le hangi, c’est un plat māori. Oui, je recommanderais le hangi. Vous ne le connaissez pas en France, c’est typique de la Nouvelle-Zélande.
Interpreting ways in which the target language is organised in different texts and for different purposes
Damien uses appropriate conversational conventions to keep the dialogue going. For example, he makes explicit mention of pausing to give him time to reflect:
- un moment, je cherche un autre exemple; Un moment, je réfléchis.
At another time the Euh in the text is a hesitation marker to signify the sound he makes while pausing to reflect.
The text illustrates the use of questions to sustain interaction. The questions are used to connect with the other person and check their prior knowledge, for example:
- Vous connaissez la pavlova? or their understanding of what is being said, for example: Est-ce que tu comprends ce que je dis?
The appropriate use of the tu and vous forms to address others is a key feature of conversational French. Madame Bricier clearly uses the vous form when she talks to Damien, although this is not evidenced until mid-way through the conversation:
- … et vous avez d’autres plats? Damien may have been more focused on maintaining the conversation when he inadvertently switches to using the tu form: Est-ce que tu comprends ce que je dis?
His use of tu in this instance shows that he has not yet completely internalised the tu/vous distinction when speaking.
Damien clearly find himself in an 'intercultural' space during this dialogue when he is challenged by his host mother’s question:
- Quels sont les plats typiquement néo-zélandais?
He reflects on French culture and relates it to his own culture:
- Je ne connais pas de plats typiques en Nouvelle-Zélande comme en France. Peut-être les desserts comme la pavlova, vous connaissez la pavlova?
During the rest of the interaction, we can see him constructing his personal meanings of particular aspects of New Zealand culture, for example:
- Euh, un moment je cherche un autre exemple. Le hangi, c’est un plat māori. Oui, je recommanderais le hangi.
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Opportunities for developing intercultural communicative competence
In the intercultural space in which he finds himself, Damien is confronted with his own identity as a New Zealander and reflects on practices across cultures, identifying some differences in food and food preparation associated with France and New Zealand.
Explore with your students how they might react to the same question in that situation. What would be the foods they would choose, why would they choose them, and how would they describe them? How would they feel? What connections could they make to foods in a specific French culture?
Explore with your students other situations and their reactions, for example, in response to the question: Quels sont les sports typiquement néo-zélandais?
Last updated January 16, 2013
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