Unit Plan Template

A template based on Understanding by Design

Title of Unit

Grade

Le Petit Prince

Grade 11/12

Level
Subject

Core French

4-6 weeks

Time
Frame

Developed By

Pauline Sidhu

Stage 1 Desired Results

Thinking

Personal and Social

Communicatio
n
Big Idea:

"With increased proficiency in French, we can discuss and justify opinions with nuance and clarity"
"Experiencing the creative works of other cultures helps us develop our appreciation of cultures worldwide"
With these two big ideas and the novel Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, I hoped to meld the experience
of French literature with discussion and active communication between the students and with the text. The
students will learn to appreciate the French culture by interacting with this novel and improve their speaking skills
by participating in active discussion to discuss the novel and their ideas. However, while the emphasis is on
speaking and communicating, throughout the unit students will also have a chance to work on their listening,
writing, and reading skills. Personally, I had a profound experience with this novel when I was taught it and would
love to share that experience with students.

Essential Question:

What does it mean to have an imagination?

How does language allow us to express ourselves?

Is it better to be an adult or be a child? Why?

How do creative works allow for an appreciation of other cultures?

What students will be able to DO

What students will KNOW

Content learning standards:

Students will be able to:

be able to read and follow along with a French novel

explore and interpret a wide variety of texts
respond personally to a variety of texts
express themselves effectively, with fluency and
accuracy, orally and in writing
express, support, and defend opinions on a variety
of topics of interest
synthesize, evaluate, and respond to the opinions of
others

Students will know how to:

use an increasingly complex vocabulary and
sentence structure to communicate meaning
ask and respond to a variety of questions, both
orally and written
express, support, and defend their opinions, both
orally and written
communicate in multiple tenses (past, present,
future)
read and interpret a text meaningfully
deconstruct a text to derive meaning from it and
build their vocabulary

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence

Formative
Assessments
exit slips
written responses
partner/group/class
discussions
dialogues/role play
worksheets (chapter
questions, drawing
activity) to check for
understanding
informal checks for
understanding (thumbs
up/down etc.)

Summative Assessments
students will create a story board
of their own
a creative project around the
themes presented in Le Petit
Prince
a Socratic seminar around a
particular topic in Le Petit Prince

Self-Assessment / Peer
Assessment
journals to track their reading progress
(i.e. what do they understand is going on)
one minute oral summaries with partners
to peer assess oral skills and
understanding of text
peer editing of their written verb and
providing/communicating oral feedback
self assess their participation/contributions
in Socratic seminar

Stage 3 Learning Plan

Should be Differentiated
Potential Barriers to Success / Areas to Differentiate:

Motivation/Engagement: students may not take interest in reading or engaging with the novel
Language ability: Students may struggle to communicate (will provide scaffolding and extra help)
Reading level: Students may struggle in various areas with reading (will provide visual and oral supports e.g. audio
book/video clips)

Giving students voice and choice: how you will adjust for differentiation needs

Will provide both visual and oral supports when needed

Will provide word banks or vocabulary words with pictures when needed
Will allow to option to choose between oral or written if needed (whichever is more comfortable)
Will provide different worksheets with different levels if required
Will allow for partner/group work as much as possible
Integrating Aboriginal worldviews and perspectives:
Searching for folklore/stories both in the Aboriginal community as well as the Mtis community, that connect with
the themes presented in Le Petit Prince to develop a deeper understanding of the text. (i.e. "La Dame Blanche")

Sequence of Lessons: The basics of what you plan to do in each lesson of the unit. The first one will be how
will you engage students at the beginning of the unit? (motivational set your hook it could be accessing their
background knowledge in some way)

* I have included the first lesson, and how a typical chapter lesson would proceed. Because there are
other activities, I've outlined those in this lesson sequence for variety. Thus these would not be in
sequence.
#

Lesson Title

1
Intro

Lesson Activities (Learning

Experiences)
1) Anticipation Guide: Oral/Written
Students will receive a worksheet with 10
statements written in French on their
paper. Examples of statements will
include: Il y a des diffrences entre les
enfants et les grandes personnes/Etes-

Assessment and
Core competency
- students will be able to
read statements in
French and respond to
them
- students will listen and
speak to partners and

Resources
- anticipation guide
worksheet (10 statements)
- picture of chapeau from
novel
- white board markers

vous imaginatif /cratif ou plutt logique ?

Expliquez. Students will first respond with
true/false or yes/no to the statements and
include point form notes to support their
response. The students will practice first
in pairs or small groups to share their
answers. Then we will bring it back
together as a whole group and have a
discussion around perhaps 2 or 3
statements.
2) Finish off with the hook of the
chapeau picture.
Students will be shown the picture (either
drawn on the board or projected) and told
to make a guess as to what it could be
and how it relates to the story. Then next
class we will find out when we begin
reading the novel. The guesses will be
written by the students on the board with
the displayed picture; the how it relates
to the story will be an exit slip activity.

2
Chapters 1-3

1) Start off by reviewing our guesses from

last class
2) Have either a guiding question or an
important quote from the first three chapters
displayed on the board (tell the students to
keep this idea in their head as we read)
3) Begin reading novel to discover if anyone
guessed correctly: we will stop once we
discover the answer and have a discussion
4) The reading will be with the youtube clip
that provides visual components as well:
students can hear the words as they follow
along
5) Students will receive vocabulary work
sheets for which they can fill in new words
that they learn (I will provide the key ones for
each chapter; but they will also have empty
space to include their own). This will allow
them to create a visual dictionary to refer to
6) After reading, we will return to the guiding
question/quote. Students will have time to

then as a class to their

responses
- students will practice
communicating their
ideas and speaking out
loud and learning/dealing
with new vocabulary
- students will be
assessed orally on their
discussion through
observation
-students will be
assessed with writing via
exit slips and their
guesses on the board

- students will
communicate their
guesses
- students will have a
discussion around their
guesses
- students will follow
along with the text
(reading and listening)
- students will acquire
new vocabulary
- students will be
assessed orally via their
discussion

- youtube clip of chapter

one and following chapters
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=dvRIccSAHEwk
- vocabulary worksheets
- guiding quote/question

collect their thoughts and write them down.

Then we will have group discussions before a
whole class debrief.

3
Chapters 4-6

1) We would always review the chapters

previously read: students would be encouraged to
do one minute summaries with partners (they
could do a skit/dialogue/rap etc.) Would have one
group volunteer randomly each week to perform
for the class, so their is accountability and all
students receive a chance.
2) Do the reading of the chapter. (Switch weekly
between reading along with video clips and doing
a class reading).
3) If we are doing a class reading; I would have
the students perhaps for one chapter do a
drawing activity (i.e. they would listen to the
story, and draw what they understand is
happening). This could be used as assessment.
4) Students will continue to build their
dictionaries
5) Students will continue to have a guiding
quote/question for discussion/debrief of the
reading

- students will follow along

with the text (reading and
listening)
- students will acquire new
vocabulary
- students will be assessed
orally via their discussion
- students will demonstrate
aural skills with their
drawings

- vocabulary worksheets
-plain paper for drawing
- video clips
- perhaps props for one
minute summaries
- guiding quote/question

4
Chapters 7-9

1) Review previous
chapters via one
minute summaries
2) Do the reading of
the chapter via video
clip or as a class
3) Students will work
on visual dictionaries
4) Students will
participate in guiding
question/quote
discussion
5) Students will
complete selfassessment journals
(their understanding

- students will follow along with the text

(reading and listening)
- students will acquire new vocabulary
- students will be assessed orally via their
discussion
- students will complete self-assessment of
their understanding of the novel

- vocabulary worksheets
-guiding quote/question
- journals
- props for one minute summaries

of novel so far/what
they like or don't
like/questions and
predictions they have
etc.)

5
Socratic
Seminar

1) Students would have been assigned a

reading (an article or story that relates to
the novel thematically). They will complete
this reading and answer preliminary
guiding questions (this can be point form).
- to assist the students, we can complete
the reading in a previous class to ensure
understanding
2) Students will lead their own discussion
in the Socratic seminar format (a big circle
or two circles of chairs facing each other).
They will go through the guiding questions
in relation to the novel, the reading, and
other sources they may wish to draw upon.
They will listen and respond to each others
ideas and opinions. The teacher is there to
facilitate but mostly takes a background
role; I too will listen to assess their
participation/discussion.
3) After completing the seminar, students
will self- assess their participation and
discussion via a worksheet.

- students will be
assessed on their
completion of the
readings + prep of
questions
- students will be
assessed on their
participation and
discussion
- students will self-assess
their participation and
discussion
- students will bring in
their own
ideas/opinions/examples
to relate to text and
article

- Socratic
seminar
questions
- Socratic
seminar article
- self assessment
sheets
- chairs set up in
circle(s)

6
Story Board

1) Students will learn the components of a

story as we follow along with the novel (i.e.
setting/climax/rising action). They will then
be charged with the task of creating their
own story inspired or based around the
themes presented in Le Petit Prince.
2) We will do this over a series of classes,
and the story boarding will also be included
in the chapter lessons as we will build a
gradual understanding.
3) We will also discuss the
differences/similarities in French literature
and English literature.

- students will learn the parts of a story

- students will create and write/illustrate
their own story

- storyboard
worksheets
- paper and art
supplies to create
their own stories

Chapters 13-15
Chapters 16-20
Variations of the above chapter
lessons

Chapters 21-23
Variations of the above chapter
lessons

Chapters 24-25
Variations of the above chapter
lessons

10

Chapters 26-27
Variations of the above chapter
lessons

References and Bibliography

Le Petit Prince unit plan, http://madameshepard.com/?p=219
Socratic seminar format and self-assessment worksheet: from SA and colleague during long practicum