Students in Honors French IV worked in groups to write a play based on the French book Le petit Nicolas written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé. 

The project is meant to strengthen reading comprehension and communication skills and expand students’ vocabulary through speaking and writing. according to french teacher Pascal Parra. 

“It’s hard to adapt to reading in a second language,” sophomore Clementine Mohun said. “But it is extremely helpful with discovering words you might not have known in the foreign language and pinpointing exact subjects one might not be as strong in.”

Students have been divided into small groups and each adapted one chapter of the book into a play written in their own words. 

“This project has really helped me improve my reading comprehension skills,” junior Olivia Callander said. “While reading the book, I have become aware of so many new words and phrases I wouldn’t be able to learn on a regular basis.”

Reading a book in a foreign language is extremely beneficial in aiding fluency as it allows for one to become aware of grammatical structures and nuanced structures of sentences and words, according to FluentU.

“Working on this play has broadened my speaking skills as well,” Mohun said. “We will present the plays to our individual class or to other French classes as well depending on if our schedules correlate.”

The Honors French IV class is comprised of students that possess a high fluency in French so the goal of the class is to immerse students in French culture and improve student’s weaker areas in the language. 

“Students in this class range from freshman to senior and are on different levels,” Parra said. “So this project fits well for this class because it allows for each individual to contribute edits and learn from their partners in the group project.