French Stereotypes Activity
TOOLBOX GROUP
AUDIENCE
foreign students on an exchange programme in France
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When on mobility in France, to help foreign pupils to go beyond and above stereotypes about French people and to engage communication about what they expected/they perceived as “being French” and what they are experiencing while being hosted in a French family
TIME
30 minutes
NECESSARY MATERIALS
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hf3wOCUr7s
STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY
Have students watch the advert and stop after each statement to ask students to comment on it:
On dit que les français… MAIS… = discuss the stereotypes.
After the video activity, ask students what they liked about their stay in France, what they expected before coming, if it changed their vision of French people…
Ask them to give the definition of what a stereotype is and to think about stereotypes they have heard on their own culture and how it differs from reality.
RECOMMENDATIONS / TIPS
Be careful on students’ reactions to the image of a white woman sleeping with a black man: this was interpreted by some people as insane interracial propaganda from the TV channel TF1 which produced this advert (this TV channel often broadcasts world news seen from a pro-French and rather conservative, narrow-minded perspective…)
REFERENCES
Activity created by José Fernández, Spanish teacher at Lycée Gabriel Faure, Tournon (France)
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