AP French new Summer Assignments new

AP French Summer Assignments
It is important that you maintain some contact with French during the
summer. During the coming school year, you will be immersed into
communication while sharpening your listening, speaking, writing and reading
skills. The goals of the AP course as outlined by the College Board are:
1. to develop the ability to understand spoken French in various contexts;
2. to develop a French vocabulary sufficient for reading newspaper and
magazine articles, literary texts, and other non-technical writings without
dependence on a dictionary; and
3. to develop the ability to express oneself in French, both orally and in
writing, coherently, resourcefully and with reasonable fluency and accuracy.
Assignments:
1. Visit the college board website: www.collegeboard.org. Please read
through the description of the test before we start in August.
2. In a good notebook, record two weeks of journal entries. Talk about
various activities, feelings, events, etc. Be creative, use some new
vocabulary words and vary your sentence structures: (for exemple: le
subjonctif, présent, passé composé, si sentences with le conditionnel).
3. Write a 5 paragraph essay on one of the following topics:
a) Que signifie pour vous le mot “tradition”? Quelles traditions avez-vous en
famille? D’où viennent-elles? Comment les maintenez-vous? Est-ce que’elles
vous sont importantes? Lesquelles sont en train de disparaître? Répondez
en citant des exemples.
b) A votre avis, est-il important d’avoir une vie heureuse ou d’avoir beaucoup
d’argent? Expliquez votre choix.
c) Depuis un siècle, de plus en plus, les machines dominent notre vie. Il y a
une machine pour toute tâche. Ces “gadgets” sont-ils vraiment nécessaires à
maintenir la qualité de vie? Expliquez et justifiez votre opinion.
4. Go to the site www.tv5.org, watch two programs of "7 Jours Sur La
Planete", read the transcription, and do the intermediary and advanced
exercises (print out a copy to give to me) OR Read 2 newspaper or magazine
articles. Please give me a copy of the article with new words highlighted.
Make a vocabulary list for each article + the definitions in your notebook.
Also, write a good resume telling the main points of the article. (Dans cet
article, il s'agit de ....) At this same site, read the headline news each week.
5. Listen to French songs on youtube. (The songs by Garou, Céline Dion,
and Patrick Bruel are excellent.) Print the lyrics and translate. (two songs)
6. Do review grammar lessons at languagesonline.org.uk (review past
tenses: le passé composé, l’imparfait, le plusque parfait; the future and
conditional tenses, the subjunctive tense, the present and the imperative. Do
exercises on direct and indirect object pronouns, adverbs, si sentences …)
Please print one exercise from each category as evidence of your work or
write them in your notebook.)
**Some sites for you to visit:
www.24heures.ch is a Swiss newspaper. It has political cartoons which
usually give a link to at least one current event article.
http://www.parismatch.com this magazine is a cross between People and
Life. The articles online are filled with pictures and videos, and these should
help you to follow the meaning.
www.phosphore.com is a magazine designed for "les ados".
http://www.letour.fr is the official site for the Tour de France, with lots of
news each day, as well as historical information and links to other cycling
events. The Tour de France takes place in July.