French in Action is a language course developed by Professor Pierre Capretz of Yale. The course includes workbooks, textbooks, and a 52-episode television series. The series--the best known aspect of the course--was produced in 1987 by WGBH, Yale University , and Wellesley College, and funded by Annenberg/CPB, and has run consistently on PBS since then. This article is about the institution of higher learning in the United States. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The TV version of the WGBH drop-shadow logo WGBH are call-letters for Boston, Massachusetts longtime public television and public radio stations (PBS, and NPR & PRI affiliates, respectively). ... This article is about the institution of higher learning in the United States. ... Wellesley College is a womens liberal arts college chartered in 1870 by Henry Fowle Durant and his wife Pauline Fowle Durant. ... PBS re-directs here; for alternate uses see PBS (disambiguation) PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ...
The Episodes
Each episode is roughly half an hour long. The earliest episodes have four main elements:
A classroom session, featuring Capretz explaining the basic ideas of the episode to a group of American students;
An excerpt from an ongoing story, filmed especially for the series, and framed as a narrative that Capretz and his students are inventing in order to practice their French. The story focuses on American student Robert (played by Charles Mayer) and his French love interest Mireille (played by Valérie Allain).
Clips from French films and television shows illustrating the new vocabulary words of the lesson;
A brief punch-and-judy style puppet show recapping some element of the episode's story.
In later episodes, the classroom section is omitted, and the episode begins with the excerpt from the ongoing story.
The series uses context and repitition, rather than translation, to teach the meanings of words; except for the first episode, and a brief English-language introduction at the beginning of each subsequent episode, the series is conducted entirely in French.
The episodes are divided as follows:
Part I
1. Orientation
2-4. Genesis
5. Families
6-7. Portraits
8. Genealogy
9-10. Vacation in Brittany
11-13. Encounters
14-16. Getting Underway
17-18. In All Labor There Is Profit
19-21. Entering School Zone
22-23. Fishing for an Invitation
24-26. Bills of Fare
Part II
27-31. All Manner of Transpoirtation
32-35. Residences
36-40. Entertainment
41-42. A Matter of Chance
43-45. Think Vacation
46. Getting Away
47. What Variety!
48. What Riches!
49. What a Nightmare!
50. More Variety, More Riches
51. Parade and Review
52. All's Well That Ends Well
External Links
All episodes as free streaming video (http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html)
Cool Tools review of series (http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000521.php)
French in Action is a French-language course developed by Professor Pierre Capretz of Yale University.
The series uses context and repetition, rather than translation, to teach the meanings of words; except for the first episode, and a brief English-language introduction at the beginning of each subsequent episode, the series is conducted entirely in French.
French in Action for Teachers (Resource for teachers using "French in Action")
French In Action is a brilliant 52 episode video instructional program presented by Annenberg/CPB, an educational foundation.
The program was designed by Pierre Capretz to teach everyday uses of French and is intended for high school, college, and adult learners of French at the beginner to intermediate level.
Some knowledge of French is helpful to get the most out of the program, but if someone wanted to dive in to French, they couldn't go wrong with this program.
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