#LaClasse: B1, méthode de français by Sophie Bruzy Todd, Delphine Jégou, et Cédric Vial (review)

High school teachers who embrace project-based learning and revel in an all-French classroom will find much to admire in this intermediate-level French textbook intended for grands adolescents. As the title suggests, the book addresses social media culture and aims to create a community of language users through activities and themes—the media, youth rights, humanitarian organizations, controversial art and music—designed to appeal to teens. The book contains six units featuring tasks leading to a final project relevant to today's adolescents: creating content for a web TV channel. Each unit is organized identically: an opening page detailing the unit project; four two-page spreads corresponding to the four steps of each project; four pages dedicated to linguistic structure; and a culminating activity. Each unit is richly illustrated with full-color images, cartoons, and authentic documents and includes a variety of text types: written, audio, and video. The appendices comprise an eight-page grammar précis, verb conjugations, a list of vocabulary, and the script for all audio and video texts. A DVD-ROM containing the audio and video activities in the student book (and supplemental workbook) is also included. Although not provided for review, a guide pédagogique and a cahier d'activités accompany the student book. The two-page spreads in each unit prepare students to accomplish in a step-wise fashion the final project. They include a variety of multimedia texts (short articles from the web, images, authentic documents, cartoons, audio recordings, video clips, and literary excerpts) accompanied by comprehension and production exercises. These texts are interspersed with short lists of lexical items set off in yellow-bordered boxes. Blue-bordered grammar boxes highlight relevant forms as they appear in sentences culled from the texts and are accompanied by questions leading students to discover grammar in context. The subject of each grammar box is presented in detail in the Utilisons les outils de la langue pages, exclusively in French and accompanied by one or more application exercises. Two pages devoted to phonetics and vocabulary round out the linguistic tools section. Phonetic activities include audio recordings targeting recognition as well as individual, pair, and group activities. Finally, each unit concludes with a culminating activity directing students to use the unit's vocabulary, grammar, functions, and themes to complete an additional task. Francophile North American teachers might be put off by the relatively large place accorded to people and events not from the French-speaking world. For example, a video segment and several photos focused on Michael Jackson's mysterious death, a text and activities about Malala, the Noble Peace prizewinner from Pakistan, several activities focused on the film Sully, and a literary excerpt from George Orwell's Animal Farm presented in French translation with no reference (apart from the author's name) to indicate its British origins. While these materials no doubt appeal to the international youth market, they may be less suitable for American high school students learning French. Nevertheless, for an adventurous teacher looking for a truly immersive classroom experience, this book would be a great resource.