Incorporating Media into the French Curriculum

Abstract

For the past twelve years, foreign language departments have faced downsizing and many challenges as staff complements have been reduced due to dwindling student numbers. The French Department of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University decided to reposition French by adding Media as a new component to its language curriculum. The restructuring was preceded by a project which explored a taskbased and action approach. The two-stage project was a successful introduction to the notion that linguistic and non-linguistic skills could be taught at the same time in order to make students more employable in the current marketplace. This article describes the second stage of the project as well as the incorporation of media into the French curriculum.

Key words: interdisciplinary, media, non-linguistic skills, foreign languages, challenges