Social issues and lit all in one hit

On my A level French resources site I'm trying to blend resources together so that both teacher and student can have a clear idea of where they are going in the course. Whilst I've had a blind faith over the last decade that teachers are going to see the light and cotton onto VLEs (moodle, fronter or whatever) I am slowly beginning to realize that there are other equally valid ways of doing things that can pack a punch.




The A3 "VLE on a page" idea on the Alevelfrench.com site is a first go at making an accessible course which presses all the buttons to achieve success at A level. It's by no means finished but kind of feels right to me. The main social issues are covered by all boards but it is hard to give students a feeling of engagement without going into the soul of French/French speaking people going through them. I feel personally that it is important to get students reading and to study some of the books that really pull you in. Hence I've chosen Les Petits Enfants du Siècle which I've always enjoyed and Kiffe Kiffe Demain.



These books bring in the early days of what we now consider to be the banlieue with the latter days - both are first person novels through the eyes of young girls. In both we have to do much of our own interpretation of how social issues are impinging on the protagonists. I guess it would be perfectly valid to just do certain extracts from the novels to highlight aspects of the social issues. I just feel that the more humdrum daily routine written in a ironic, humorous tones does a lot more to enlighten us than the violent point of view we see in La haine.



I don't know whether you could do the history of the Banlieue for an AQA topic. In terms of history I thought there are some key individuals who could be brought in -L'abbé Pierre, Le Corbusier, Harlem Désir, Le Pen and Sarkozy, to name but few.



For the Welsh board one of the books could be studied for the oral maybe alongside La Haine for the essay paper. I'd be really interested in what people think with regard to the OCR and Edexcel boards.



I'm intending putting in language powerpoints using the social issues as exemplification and also a student study plan although I guess that would depend on the board. Let me know what you think! To get at the VLE on a page just go to my A level French resources site.