Pedagogical News and NotesAuthor(s): Alexander GibsonSource: The French Review, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Dec., 1969), pp. 312-313Published by: American Association of Teachers of FrenchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/386573 .

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312 FRENCH REVIEW

Why: il a leve le bras But: il s'est coupe le bras My on-the-spot essay at an explanation: Take the sentence above, and also:

il s'est lave la/les main(s), il s'est casse la figure il a ouvert l'oeil il a leve le bras (again); il s'est ouvert le bras

There is no problem here as to the indicator of possession by the subject which is, as normal for parts of the subject's body, the definite article. It would seem that the last three sentences give us some hint of the reason for the reflexive pronoun in addition to the definite article. That is, that when the action comes entirely from within the subject, no reflexive pronoun; but when the action is done to (and/or by) the subject, with the aid of something exterior to him, then the reflexive pronoun is needed:

il s'est coupe le bras (avec un couteau) il s'est cass6 la figure (sur la porte/avec son propre poing) il s'est ouvert le bras (avec un couteau/en tombant sur une pierre pointue)

Now: Could this question be raised in your "Coin" so as to get a clearer/simpler/more accurate/correct (?) response? I remember an article of R.-L. Wagner in Le Francais dans le Monde some time ago, wherein he reports on a series of courses he had been doing in

England; he notes that the students' problems in grammar were not those of French students, and came as would be expected from their encounters with problems like the one I raise, which apparently are not treated as such in French French grammars; this is why I ask if anyone can supply a reference to a place where this is treated in a good grammar.

VI. RECOMMANDE, DANS REALITAS (aouit 1969, p. 20): Les Etudiants contre la

soci&te, par Tanneguy de Qubnetain.

ANNE SLACK 20 Dennett Road Marblehead, Mass. 01945

PEDAGOGICAL NEWS AND NOTES

edited by Alexander Gibson I.

In "Micro-Teaching-A New Approach to Teacher-Training and Research," which appeared in the May 1969 issue of Hispania ("Shop-Talk," pp. 244-248), Prof. Robert Politzer of Stanford University describes a project "pioneered and introduced at that institution by Professors R. N. Burke and Dwight W. Allen. It is currently a part of the teacher-training program conducted at the Stanford Center for Research and Develop- ment in Teaching.

After preparatory teaching in the summer session, the intern combines a part-time teaching position with continued "academic and professional training on a part-time basis." The preparatory training in summer school stresses: (1) a micro-lesson (5-10 minutes); (2) concentration on a specific teaching item of limited scope. The teaching done by the intern is "carefully supervised by a master teacher, as well as by a member of the Stanford staff."

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DEPARTMENTS 313

In order to permit a study of teaching behavior, extensive use is made of video tapes. This permits the establishment of a modeling situation and provides an opportunity for reinforcement and feedback. This approach makes possible a better integration of theory and practice in the training of young teachers.

II.

The Cambridge University Press publication, Language- Teaching Abstracts, for July 1969 (p. 193) carries a summary of John Clark's article, "French in the Primary School," which appeared in a 1968-69 issue of the Audio- Visual Language Journal (London, 6 2/3).

Although the following statement from the original article may seem trite to some, its point deserves emphasis.

"For psychological reasons the contemporary oral approach to language learning is most effective at primary schools. The age of puberty and inhibitions is not the best time to ask pupils to make foreign sounds and to express themselves in a foreign language. If they have been introduced to this at an earlier age, it is easier for them to continue."

III.

The Canadian Modem Language Review (pp. 49-50) for June 1969 carries a concise list of "Do's" and "Don'ts" for administrators of foreign language programs. It originated with the Minnesota Department of Education and was first reprinted in the Canisius College Language Methods Newsletter. We quote the following:

"DO offer a minimum three-year sequence."--"DON'T be content to have as a final objective anything less than a four-year sequence."-"DO introduce a second foreign language only when you are assured that the school has a sufficient enrollment to sup- port a long sequence in it as well as maintaining the sequence in the first language."- "DON'T begin offerings in elementary or any other grades until a total commitment through grade 12 in the same language can be made."-"DO provide each foreign lan- guage teacher with a classroom of his own with much display space so that he can estab- lish a cultural background for his language and the countries where it is spoken."- "DON'T develop programs so small and sequences so short that the language teacher will have to teach part-time in other fields."-"DON'T expect teachers to teach in other rooms besides their own or in a booth-type language-laboratory."--"DON'T im- pose the use of an obsolete text merely because it happens to be on hand in the school and has a recent 'revision' date and a good binding. "-"DON'T have foreign language classes of more than 20-25 students."

Phillips Academy (Emeritus)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The piece of evidence I give below prompted me to consider writing an article on the state of the evaluative tools of our profession. There is need for critical analysis of the situation. But on second thought I believe it may be more effective to let this evidence speak for itself in a letter to the editor. For at least as long as my professional memory we have been repeatedly assured that achievement-testing instruments in general-and CEEB tests in particular-no longer have the flaws they had just yesterday, but are now

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