World Languages: Culture & Geography Resources

Resources for the World Languages assignments.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in France

Provins Town of Medieval Fairs UNESCO World Heritage Site castle wall and portalFollow these steps for a successful assignment:

STEP 1:  Create a Google Slides presentation with 5-10 slides.

  • On the first slide, put the name of your UNESCO World Heritage Site and your name(s).
  • On the last slide, put this as your title:  Works Cited.  This is the slide where you will put your MLA Style citations to show where you found information. 
  • Use your name(s) and shortened name of your site as the title of the file. 
  • SHARE the Google Slides presentation with bplatter@bergen.edu and jdalrymple@bergen.edu

STEP 2:  Find your World Heritage Site on the list of sites in France

STEP 3: Determine if it is a cultural, natural, or mixed site.

STEP 4: Use information from the website in STEP 2. Look at the Description, Maps, Documents, Gallery, Video. Use information from those sections to respond to the research prompts and fill in your slides. On the Works Cited slide, create an MLA Style citation to show where you found the information. 

STEP 5:  Search for articles about your World Heritage site using the library databases. Here are two suggested databases:

STEP 6:  Look on the Internet:

  • Do a Google search for your site.
  • Use these recommended websites:
    • Official tourism websites. Most World Heritage sites will have an official website for visitors.
    • Regional and local government websites.
    • Centre des Monuments Nationaux (Center of National Monuments)

 

Image above is Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs (France); Editions Gelbart; Author: Jean-Jacques Gelbart

Databases

  • Countries, Peoples, & Culture: 
    • Defaults to Western Europe. Search "All Titles" for countries outside Western Europe. 
    • Search by country name.
  • Look for background information about your country. 
  • In the entry about your country, look for a section about holidays. Also look at information about food or religions.  
  • Select a country, and look at the category "People and Culture." You may want to explore other categories too.
  • Search combinations of keywords using your country name and words like: education economy feast  holiday  games  parades  music
  • Use the list of keywords in the box on the right for more ideas
  • Try an Advanced Search:  select "Advanced Search". Put in your country name in the first box. In the next box, select "location" in the pull-down menu.  Then put additional keywords in the search boxes below it. 
  • Like ProQuest above, search using combinations of your country name and keywords.
  • Use the list of keywords in the box on the right for more ideas

Search French-language and Francophone magazines, journals, and news sources. 

  • Click on "Browse" (top of page)
  • Under "Browse Sources" filter by country: select France.
  • Topics: select "Society & Lifestyle"
  • Select titles to add to your search
  • Click "OK Continue" on right side of screen.

Enter your search terms in French. For example:  

  • fêtes nationales
  • le 14 juillet

 

Government, NPO, & Other Trusted Sites

Web Sites: Keywords to search

Create a search strategy by combining the name of your country with combinations of the following keywords:

  • feast
  • holiday 
  • celebrate 
  • parade 
  • festival 
  • music 
  • games
  • food
  • cuisine (you can also choose specific culinary dishes or beverages, e.g. "france and wine")
  • culture
  • customs
  • gifts
  • tradition
  • religion
  • education, education system
  • sports
  • travel, tourism
  • government
  • politics
  • military
  • economy
  • transportation
  • energy

Regions of France

General Information about the Regions

Official Region Sites

Dialects & Languages

Cuisine by Region

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Example of a citation for a website in MLA style:

"Pays de la Loire - A Regional Guide." About-France.com, about-france.com/regions/pays-loire.htm. Article. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.

Subjects: World Languages