French 2—Final Test

For the final test in French 2, students must write a dialogue in which one person proposes an idea of attending an event. The others will agree or disagree until everyone has decided on an event that they would like to attend. The event could be a film, concert, sporting event, dinner, shopping excursion, etc.

In the second part of the dialogue, the actors will discuss how and why they enjoyed (or did not enjoy) the event.

Choose one or two partners. Your script must be checked by the teacher for accuracy and grammatical forms. The past tense must be used. The approved dialogue must be memorized and acted out using good French pronunciation and acting skills, so that the audience (your classmates) can hear and understand you. Your dialogue will be scored in accordance with the rubric on the reverse side of this handout.

The typed script is due Thursday 2 June.

The final test will be on Wednesday 15 June.

Performance Tips

1. Write a good script in French. If you write the script in English and attempt to translate it, you will find it difficult. There will be many problems with idioms, verb tenses, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Do not use a translation program either. Translators such as Google Translate or Yahoo! Babel Fish do not always work correctly (they always use vous for ‘you’, for example) and will yield results that neither you, your partners, nor your audience will be able to understand or pronounce.

2. Your role-play should last one minute per partner in the group. If you have one partner, your role-play should last two minutes. If you have two partners, your role-play should last three minutes, etc.

3. Practice enough so that you will be confident. Your role-play script needs to be memorized. The more you prepare the more ready you will feel and therefore the more relaxed you will be.

4. Keep your audience in mind.

a. Talk loud enough. The audience does not want to strain to hear. They want to be surrounded in sound. If you cannot be heard, you will receive a zero on your test.

b. Use vocabulary from the class because the audience knows it. If you are going to introduce new vocabulary, teach important words to the class first.

c. Use the “stage”

d. Identify characters with signs on desks or hung around necks, mustaches, rattles, or other props.

5. Act big. Act well. Make it funny if you can.

6. Be a good audience.

Respect your classmates’ work by being quiet and paying attention. Audience members who do not conduct themselves appropriately may receive a zero on their own final role-play test.

Nom ______

Rubric

0 / 10 / 15 / 20
Content / Role-play is very short. Script does not include required content is poorly written. / Role-play is short or script does not include required content. Script is of modest quality. / Role-play is long enough, or almost long enough. Required content is used. Script is good. / Role-play meets required length. Required content is used. Script is well-written and dialogue seems natural.
Voice Projection / Students cannot be heard. / Students giggle, speak too softly to be heard, mumble, and/or speak so fast or slow as to impede understanding by the audience. / Students generally speak in loud, clear voices, with understandable rapidity. / Students consistently speak in loud, clear voices, with understandable rapidity.
Pronunciation / A native speaker of French would find the play extremely difficult to understand due to pronunciation errors. / The play is often difficult to understand due to pronunciation errors. / Students generally use French effectively. Some difficulty in understanding may occur due to pronunciation errors. / Students effectively use French to convey the meaning of the play.
Memorization / Play is not memorized. / Play is memorized poorly. / Some lapses in memorization. / Memorization is faultless.
Individual Score

Total: ______%