9th Grade World Languages

Corbin Williams

Cultural Notes

3rd Quarter/2019

Ms. Krulock

Freshman Year - French 1 - Investigate the World - Selects and uses multiple international and domestic sources to identify relevant evidence that addresses a global question.

The artifact that I have selected for my world language section is a sheet of notes that two of my classmates and I took during my French 1 class during my freshman year. However, these were not just regular vocabulary notes, but ones on different cultural customs in France and other French-speaking nations. The ISSN domain that I feel fits best with this artifact is “Investigate the World.” During this particular section of the textbook, we learned about different cultural customs in France that we may not be familiar with. These are different actions or things that you can do to make an impression on French people when you meet them, and they are things that are considered polite in French culture. It is very important to investigate these different cultures and their customs to be able to understand the world around us and know what is polite to do where.

During my French 1 class, we were instructed to split up into small groups and take notes on multiple sections in our textbook that discussed different cultural differences between French-speaking countries and the US. This artifact, which is attached, was a sheet of notes that we took in addition to starting a discussion within our group about these customs. The customs that we took notes on included kissing people on the cheek as a greeting. This custom is not very common amongst Americans, but is very common and considered polite in France. We also discussed how most Americans prefer a handshake in formal settings, and sometimes no physical greeting at all. We also learned about the fact that in France it is greatly appreciated when somebody makes an effort to speak the language correctly and politely. We also discussed differences between the US and France for this category as well.

This assignment from my freshman French class demonstrated global competency because we used our French textbook to investigate customs in different parts of the world. This helped me gain a greater understanding of how different customs can vary based on the region of the world and it helped make me a better global citizen. I now know a number of different French customs and traditions, as well as polite ways to communicate, which can come in handy in the future and it helped me grow a lot as a JAGS student.