This unit was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. The Center's goal is to improve student learning of foreign languages in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). To this end, the Center provides professional support for foreign language educators through ongoing research projects, publications, and national summer institutes. In the summer of 1996, the Center offered the Culture and Children's Literature Institute of France and Mexico. Forty participants (20 teachers of French and 20 of Spanish) were selected from applicants across the nation to participate in the 10 day institute. This institute focused on effective strategies for the development and teaching of thematic curriculum units based on cultural knowledge and children's literature of France and Mexico. A key component of this institute was small group collaboration in the development of thematic units integrating language, culture, and content. Each small group selected a work of children's literature and created a unit. During the fall of 1996, the teachers piloted their units in their own classrooms after which final revisions were made. This unit is based on the children's book, "Jean de la Lune". The activities presented in this unit are organized in three categories: "Prelecture", "Lecture", and "Apres avoir lu". "Activites prelecture" are intended to survey and activate students' background knowledge related to selected topics. "Activites lecture" are designed to focus students' attention on selected aspects of the story while either reading or listening as "Jean de la Lune" is read aloud. "Activites apres avoir lu" are designed as follow-up to the story and focus on topics that relate both to the story and other areas of the curriculum. Multiple readings of "Jean de la Lune" are an integral part of this unit because they increase students' familiarity with the language and promote connections with other areas of the curriculum. The variety of activities presented under each category is intended to offer a choice of instructional approaches.