On Fridays my students and I like to play what we call "Vendredi Français," or "French Fridays." So far I play with my level 2s and up, but my 1s will be starting very soon! I think I got this idea from somewhere else on the internet, but I can't remember the blog/pin where I found it...
I set a jar of clothespins on the desk nearest to the door. As students enter the room, they grab a clothespin and attach it to their clothing (shirt sleeve or collars are most preferable). Once the clothespin is attached, the game begins! I explain the rules like this:
1. Your clothespin must stay attached to clothing only at all times. You cannot fiddle with the clothespin on your fingers. Though tempting, this always leads to clothespins breaking, flying apart, or flinging across the room. You cannot put the clothespin on your hair, earlobes, lips, nose, tongue, etc... I explain to the kids that someone else has probably already absentmindedly put the clothespin on their own body. This grosses them out and they immediately pin them back to their sleeves. :)
2. While wearing the clothespin, you must speak only in French. English is allowed if they are asking a question about the lesson (but first they must ask in French if they can ask a question in English, and I'm allowed to turn them down) or if I ask them to translate something from French to English.
3. If someone says an English word, the students closest to him/her are allowed to steal the clothespin. The student who is stealing must say "Donne-moi" (give me--good practice with commands!) and hold out his/her hand for the pin. A student across the room may have heard it first, but I limit it to the closest students based on some kids-leaping-over-desks experiences. The students are not allowed to attack one another and snatch away clothespins--they must be handed over willingly. If kids start arguing about it, I get the clothespin.
4. If your clothespin gets stolen, it is not a "Oh well now I'm free to speak in English all class period" event. I remind the students that this is a challenge moreso than a game. Even if you have no clothespins, you should try to remain in the target language. Plus, you can always steal clothespins back if you listen carefully!
5. The student with the most clothespins at the end of the class period gets a piece of candy. If no one wins or if it's a tie, I don't give out any candy.
You'll probably encounter a VERY quiet class the first one or two times you play French Friday. After that, the students will begin to realize that they HAVE to figure out how to communicate. Overall, the kids usually feel a mixture of dread/anticipation for French Friday. My levels 3-5 students always speak in French anyway, but they still slip up from time to time and the clothespins keep it fun. My level 2s know that it is practice for next year.
Let me know if you do something similar or if you try it out in your classroom! :)
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Dessinez...
I'll start my first post with a very simple idea that I use on an almost-daily basis. Whenever I give a short assessment (whether I collect it or have students peer-check, if it's a small assignment), I tell the students that when they are finished, they should doodle something on the back of their paper. Sometimes I ask for suggestions, and I usually take the first thing a student calls out: "A turtle!" With upper-level students, we'll add on to the idea: "A turtle at a party!" If the students can't think of anything, I make something up off the top of my head. I write the word(s) on the board in French and encourage the students to label their drawings so that they remember the vocab.
At first my students seemed confused as to why we do this doodling activity. I explained to them several reasons:
1. I love doodling.
2. It's a chance for the students to learn a new vocabulary word that they probably wouldn't encounter in the classroom. Tell me, do your lessons include the word "octopus" very often?
3. The students get a chance to learn the word for something they like. Students often shout out their favorite animals or hobbies, and I've definitely seen them insert those words into later exercises.
4. It's a great "sponge" activity for the quicker students who finish first. It's the easiest way to keep them working on something while everyone else is finishing up. Instead of preparing a second activity for them to work on (which I often do after big assessments), it's fast and easy and can take as much or as little time as the rest of the class needs to finish. (And you don't need to grade it!)
5. It's a fun way for the students to be creative and do something silly. Not everyone gets to take art class, and even the kids who "can't draw" manage cute little stick figures sometimes.
Sometimes, if we have extra time, we look at some of the best ones on the document camera. The kids love seeing their artwork up on the board! Sometimes when I'm grading, I'll doodle something extra (ex. I'll give the party turtle a birthday hat) to make them smile. Sometimes when the grades are depressing to look at, the cute images on the other side cheer me up and remind me that they're just kids after all.
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| Dessinez un gorille qui porte un chapeau! |
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At first my students seemed confused as to why we do this doodling activity. I explained to them several reasons:
1. I love doodling.
2. It's a chance for the students to learn a new vocabulary word that they probably wouldn't encounter in the classroom. Tell me, do your lessons include the word "octopus" very often?
3. The students get a chance to learn the word for something they like. Students often shout out their favorite animals or hobbies, and I've definitely seen them insert those words into later exercises.
4. It's a great "sponge" activity for the quicker students who finish first. It's the easiest way to keep them working on something while everyone else is finishing up. Instead of preparing a second activity for them to work on (which I often do after big assessments), it's fast and easy and can take as much or as little time as the rest of the class needs to finish. (And you don't need to grade it!)
5. It's a fun way for the students to be creative and do something silly. Not everyone gets to take art class, and even the kids who "can't draw" manage cute little stick figures sometimes.
Sometimes, if we have extra time, we look at some of the best ones on the document camera. The kids love seeing their artwork up on the board! Sometimes when I'm grading, I'll doodle something extra (ex. I'll give the party turtle a birthday hat) to make them smile. Sometimes when the grades are depressing to look at, the cute images on the other side cheer me up and remind me that they're just kids after all.
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| Dessinez quelque chose qui me fait rire! |
Je me présente...
Bonjour!
I've had many blogs in the past that recounted my adventures living abroad and teaching back in my home state. However, recently I've been taking inspiration from other teacher blogs that I've been beginning to follow. Reading through other teacher's blogs has given me fresh ideas for games and activities, and it has encouraged me to begin documenting and sharing my own good ideas. I also intend to include personal stories from the classroom, as I have a terrible memory and would love to keep track of my experiences, both good and bad. I'd love to be one of those big teacher blogs with a TPT account and lots of readers, but realistically, I don't think I have enough free time to dedicate myself so fully. We'll see!
So, a brief introduction without giving away too many personal details (though I'm sure my students could find me online in a heartbeat--they're so sneaky!)... I'm twenty-eight years old and teach in a rural town in the south of the US. This is honestly not where I thought I would end up, but at the time, it was the only school eager to hire me. Of course, the year after I took this job a bunch of other positions opened up closer to areas I wanted to live in, but c'est la vie. ;)
My school has fewer than 900 students, of whom I teach about 110. Being the only French teacher at my school, I teach all levels: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I honestly hate the amount of time and effort and organization it takes to plan for all of these classes and keep everything straight, but I love the fact that I have all of my students year after year and am the only person responsible for their entire French education. As a perfectionist and a control freak, it's kind of nice not having to plan or share with someone else. It's also fairly isolating and I often get stuck in planning ruts (hence the blog-reading!).
This is my fourth year of teaching, and so far it's the best one yet. I'm finally getting the hang of classroom management, I'm able to reuse lessons and materials from previous years, I'm honing my skills in creating fun activities and efficiently explaining them to students. My rapport with students is better than ever, and I'm finally gaining respect from coworkers who have spent entire their lives teaching at my school. I'm even the most senior member of my department, and thus I'm the department head over all of the Spanish teachers. I feel like I've finally hit my stride and I'm very confident about the job I do (which is amazing to be able to say!).
Hopefully I'll be able to share ideas and materials that other teachers can use in their own classrooms, and I'll document my own stories from my early years of teaching.
On y va!
I've had many blogs in the past that recounted my adventures living abroad and teaching back in my home state. However, recently I've been taking inspiration from other teacher blogs that I've been beginning to follow. Reading through other teacher's blogs has given me fresh ideas for games and activities, and it has encouraged me to begin documenting and sharing my own good ideas. I also intend to include personal stories from the classroom, as I have a terrible memory and would love to keep track of my experiences, both good and bad. I'd love to be one of those big teacher blogs with a TPT account and lots of readers, but realistically, I don't think I have enough free time to dedicate myself so fully. We'll see!
So, a brief introduction without giving away too many personal details (though I'm sure my students could find me online in a heartbeat--they're so sneaky!)... I'm twenty-eight years old and teach in a rural town in the south of the US. This is honestly not where I thought I would end up, but at the time, it was the only school eager to hire me. Of course, the year after I took this job a bunch of other positions opened up closer to areas I wanted to live in, but c'est la vie. ;)
My school has fewer than 900 students, of whom I teach about 110. Being the only French teacher at my school, I teach all levels: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I honestly hate the amount of time and effort and organization it takes to plan for all of these classes and keep everything straight, but I love the fact that I have all of my students year after year and am the only person responsible for their entire French education. As a perfectionist and a control freak, it's kind of nice not having to plan or share with someone else. It's also fairly isolating and I often get stuck in planning ruts (hence the blog-reading!).
This is my fourth year of teaching, and so far it's the best one yet. I'm finally getting the hang of classroom management, I'm able to reuse lessons and materials from previous years, I'm honing my skills in creating fun activities and efficiently explaining them to students. My rapport with students is better than ever, and I'm finally gaining respect from coworkers who have spent entire their lives teaching at my school. I'm even the most senior member of my department, and thus I'm the department head over all of the Spanish teachers. I feel like I've finally hit my stride and I'm very confident about the job I do (which is amazing to be able to say!).
Hopefully I'll be able to share ideas and materials that other teachers can use in their own classrooms, and I'll document my own stories from my early years of teaching.
On y va!
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