Integrating Francophone African cultures and perspectives into a high school French curriculum

The capstone study investigates how to integrate Francophone African cultures and perspectives into a high school French curriculum by designing a curriculum unit for use in a fourth-year high school French classroom. The study was motivated by numerous factors, such as the need to recognize Francophone Africans as members of the French-speaking community, the increasing number of African-born students studying in Minnesota, and the desire to dispel stereotypes and increase cultural sensitivity toward Francophone Africans. Curriculum unit themes include the cultural, geographic, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity within Francophone Africa, daily life in rural and urban Francophone African countries, the Francophone African products, practices, and perspectives of Animist, Muslim, and Christian religions, and the current political, social, and environmental situations in Francophone Africa. The study offers a potential curriculum unit for teachers of French who wish to integrate Francophone African cultures and perspectives into their classrooms