L'Hôtel

"The hotel" is a global simulation with a specific objective, or functional simulation, and adapts very well to the curriculum of French for business or French for Tourism courses. It was adapted from Alain Pacthod text (L'Hôtel, Hachette 1996) to the use of the internet and the web by michèle magnin.

It is also a simulation that allows the participation of a multitude of "players" divided into two teams: employees and customers.

Site miroir en français

USEFUL LINKS for chosing the location and style of your hotel:

Some of the se links are for French web sites, many offer a choice of English or French

ACCOR (Hotel chains: Atria, Coralia, Jardins de France, Novotel, Parthénon, Sofitel, Thalassa, Etap, Formule 1, Ibis, Motel 6)
Tourism
3 000 hôtels in the world
Sofitel
Hôtels paris
Official Site of the City of Paris : lodging (click on "préparer votre séjour". Then on "Hébergement".)
Hotels in Paris Have fun with our hotel descriptions! Accommodation in Paris hotels. Periodically updated special offers.
Paris Hilton
Hôtels and inns in Québec
Le Méridien in Polynesia
The Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club Resort and Hotel, Phuket Thailand
Le Méridien in Rio de Janeiro
Office of Tourisme of Paris

Once the

location

is chosen

and the

In order to familiarize students with these names, write them on index cards, mix them up and ask the students to organize them into different categories: management, kitchen staff, reception, secretarial staff. Or with a floor plan of the hotel, mark down where each employee works, or place the index cards on the floor plan.

Second, let the students imagine the identities of the customers: according to the location of the hotel (mountains, downtown, or beach) and the type of hotel (one to 5 stars)

Using the following categories

. Family on vacation

Business man or woman

Conference attendee

Lottery winner

Tourists (Indicate the country of origin)

Tourists belonging to a club or group (yoga class, seniors, pilgrims,

gourmet tour, oenology club, racing team, archeologists...)

Fill out the registration forms.

At this point, each student will choose a team (customer or employee)
and an identity.They will make their characters come to life through
journals, compositions, and improv matches.

Third, create situations where hotel residents come into contact or interact with the employees.

In this type of role playing...

start from an incident and

Encourage the participants to describe the circumstances of the encounters

Write dialogues

Play out the dialogues in front of the class

Make sure you use the hotel setting, floor plan, and decorative scheme

Each student will write a journal, using his or her chosen identity. Students should be encouraged to change completely, and should especially avoid to reproduce exactly their real identity when they are not employees (an American student of French visiting France for instance), otherwise, the hotel quickly turns into a dorm!

Another activity:

After visiting the hotel websites at the top of this page, compare the type of information given by each site (photos of the outside and inside of the hotel, price lists, activities offered in the area, local weather forecast, links to local newspapers, map of the area...) and create your own hotel web site, complete with links to desirable resources of your choice.

Finally... become campus leaders and take this project to a higher level by including your colleagues from

the business school -for help in marketing and managerial aspects
law school - legal aspects of hotel management and crisis resolutions
geography - learning about the region and climate around the hotel
history - learning about the past historicallandmarks and culture of the region
cooking school - discovering the local cuisine and specialties
drama - guidance in staging and role-play
computer science - creating a web site

Your Foreign Language Department will gain visibility and consideration

Send your ideas or feedback [mmagnin@acusd.edu]

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