Unit 1

• Sorting ceremony

Read the following extract 

“There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School,” said Voldemort. “There will be no more Houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling, p.617.

Since I am no Voldemort and this is not Hogwarts, there will be a Sorting in this class. 

• 4 houses: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales 

Here is the repartition. 

• House organization

In your house, you will have :

-     a prefect (oversees what everybody does, in charge of examples and checking that everybody is doing their job, says "hello" at the beginning of the lessons)

-  someone calling roll (calls out the names and takes care of the computer)

-  someone in charge of paper (deals the worksheet, goes to print them, picks up any homework and checks for the signature if needed)

- a board master (checks that the classroom is clean, cleans the board and writes the date)

- the time master (checks the time and alerts the teacher at the end of an activity)

On your table, there are two papers: one with the calendar of what house is in charge when, and the other where you need to put your names in for the rest of the year.

• Points

To earn points for your house you can:

-     give a good answer, or participate positively

-     be a cutie pie

To lose points :

-     behave badly

-     have a gum in class

Lesson 2

Watch the video and try to figure out the title of the unit: 10 letters, 1 word (NEWSPAPERS)

• Let's build a mind map with different categories

In your house, fill in the table below:

Then, write a report about your group summing up your results. 

Now, walk around the classroom and interview the students in other groups. Write their names in the columns corresponding to their answers:

Discuss the findings with the class and decide which columns gets the largest number of students.

• Then, write a few lines using the right quantifiers (all, most of, many, a lot of, a few, few, no, none).

Lesson 3

Have a look at the chart below.

• Introduce the document (type, author, date, source, topic, opinion). Compare it to your own results in the classroom. 

Read the method below and then the text:

THE JOURNALIST'S CREED

by Walter WILLIAMS

I believe in the profession of journalism.

I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.

I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness, are fundamental to good journalism.

I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.

I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.

I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one's own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another's instructions or another's dividends.

I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interest of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.

I believe that the journalism which succeeds best-and best deserves success-fears God and honors man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid; is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance, and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today's world.

• First, let's do some research to try and find out the who, where and when. 

Once you know a bit more about the author, let's focus on the content. 

• Focus on each paragraph and find out the main idea. 
• Why would it have been important to have a journalist creed at that time?

=> Assignment: Which paragraph is the most important for you? Explain why.

Rappel sur le comparatif et le superlatif (Bescherelle p.70-71 / 126-127)

Lesson 4

Each house will have to study 2 videos and create a quick presentation for your classmates. The presentation should sum up the main ideas of the videos and give some examples (either from the video or from another source). It should last no more than 3 minutes and no less than 2. 

We will watch Video 1

England will watch Lesson 1

Wales will watch Video Lesson 2

Scotland will watch Video Lesson 3

Northern Ireland will watch Lesson 4

England and Wales will watch Lesson 5

Scotland and N.Ireland will watch Lesson 6

Lesson 5

Listen to your classmates and take notes on their presentations. 

In your house, regroup your notes and make a list of all the important points you think are important to be discussed. 

At home, read the worksheet below and your Bescherelle p.120-121 / 172-173 focusing on how to give advice

Check your understanding:

Lesson 6

What can we change about the Creed today? 

• In your house, brainstorm new ideas we could add to the Journalist's Creed following the content of the videos
• Let's write those ideas on the board.

Dispatch the different ideas in the different houses and write a paragraph for them.

• Give your paragraph to your teacher in order to create your own creed. 

Lesson 7

• Class project:

Every month on a Thursday, you will have to produce two pages on a specific topic. 

Every member of your group will have to produce an article and then send it to me for correction on the Tuesday of the same week. On Thursday, we will build our newspaper and design it and we will put it online by the end of the hour.

The first edition will be printed on October 1st. 

Choose 4 different topics you want to work on. 

• In 6 groups, have a look at the document on the table. You have 7 minutes to discuss it and produce three sentences describing it.

Once done, elect a spokesperson and come to the board to present it to the class. Focus on the reason those pictures were chosen. There is a hidden meaning. Check it. Understand it. 

• Focus on the quotes:

- why do they work?

- how are they constructed?

=> Assignment: Those pictures illustrate one of the many dangers of information. Do you think they work? Why? Why not? (50 words minimum)

Lesson 8

Have a look at the picture below. Read the titles and say if you think they're true or not and why you think that.

With all the information collected since the beginning of the unit, try to fill in the table below:

=> FINAL TASK: You are now in Year 9. You're the oldest students in secondary school and you have been witnesses of misinformation as well as information. Your job today is to create a poster to sensibilise your schoolmates on what information could be, is and shouldn't be.  To help you, here is an example produced by the International Federation of Library Associations

Lesson 9

To be able to write your article using the proper syntax, let's focus on some reminders.

• Be concise
• Use short sentences
• Organise your ideas 
• Give your article a catchy headline 
• Use time-connective words that will show the events in the order that they occurred
• Write in the past tense
• Use adjectives to present an interesting picture to the reader

Also, check your Bescherelle as well as the few grammatical reminders below:

GRAMMAR POINT

SVO

○ GN: déterminant - adjectif - nom 

-> déterminant: an/a - the - Ø

I killed a dog this morning. The dog crossed the road in front of my car. It’s sad, Ø dogs are nice.

-> déterminants possessifs: my / your / his (boy) - her (girl) - its (objet) - our - their

-> adjectif: TOUJOURS INVARIABLE

-> nom propre: Ø + nom propre SAUF the USA, the UK, the Netherlands…  et les noms de fleuves The Thames, The Rhone, The Mississippi…

○      GV : 

-> pronoms sujet : I - you - he - she - it - we - they 

1.     Présent simple: S + BV (-s à la 3ème personne du singulier) He watches TV

-> habitude, vérité générale, opinion, caractéristiques physiques - morales

2.   Present: S+ BE+ING He is watching TV.

-> action en train de se dérouler

3.   Present perfect: S + HAVE (au présent simple) + p.passé (réguliers = BV-ed / irréguliers = 3ème colonne) - He has watched TV

-> conséquence d’une action passée sur le présent

4.   Preterit: S + BV-ed (si verbes réguliers / si verbes irréguliers - 2ème colonne) - he watched TV

-> action passée et terminée, temps du récit

5.   preterit BE + ING: S + BE (au preterit) + BV-ing - he was watching TV

-> action longue dans le passé

6.   past perfect: S + HAVE (au préterit) + p.passé (verbes réguliers : BV-ed / si verbes irréguliers : 3ème colonne) - he had watched TV

-> action antérieure au passé

7.   futur de volonté: S + WILL + BV - he will watch TV

-> on se donne les moyens d’arriver à la réalisation de l’action

8.   futur quasi-certain : S + BE (au présent) GOING TO + BV - he is going to watch TV

-> 99% de chance de réalisation

MODAUX:

MUST - devoir, certitude

CAN - capacité

WOULD - politesse, marque de l’irréel, futur au passé, habitude dans le passé

COULD - capacité dans le passé, probabilité

SHOULD - conseil

WILL - volonté, marque du futur

MAY - permission, probabilité

MIGHT - probabilité

SHALL - obligation morale “thou shall not kill”

○ Objet:

-> GN

-> Pronoms compléments: you / it / me / her / his / them/ us

-> SVO

Lesson 10

At home, print anything that should be of service to help you write your article for the school newspaper. 

Consider everything we have talked about in class on how to look for information.

Have a look at all the posters in the class and check that you have respected every instructions.

If you are happy with your preparation, read the Creed again, sign it and then start writing (keep your grammar points close by).

Lesson 11

In the computer room, open Scribus.

Delimit the writing area with the member of your houses. Download your article from the folder, copy and paste it. Add pictures (careful with the copyright). 

Once you are nearly finished, choose the most important article and start working on the first page.

Don't forget to write the page number at the bottom as well as your name.