Each day, in every single one of my classes (even French 1!) I start with the same question: Quoi de neuf? ("What's new?"). It's a simple, but extremely effective way, to get students speaking in the TL in a no-pressure situation. I let them speak about whatever they want, for however long they want, and anyone who wants to talk gets a chance to have the floor - so long as it's in French. I used to do this mostly on Fridays or Mondays, to discuss weekend plans and goings-on, but it has since expanded into everyday use.
I used to - well, who am I kidding, really, I still do - feel the pressure of having to "get to work" and maximize our scant 55 minutes to dig into our current unit topics and spending this kind of time to just talk to one another about whatever was on our minds felt like an enormous waste. But then I thought about it - doesn't language exist for this reason? To have conversations? What use is it to rush into vocabulary and grammar and reading/writing/listening, however authentic and CI-based they may be, if the kids are happy to just use the TL to speak to each other? So now we talk, for however long we'd like; sometimes it's 5 minutes, sometimes it's 25 minutes. The students are happy because they think they "didn't do anything" in French class that day, and I'm happy because we got to practice speaking without me having to actually prep anything special. :)
I've found extraordinary participation during this Quoi de neuf conversation. Even students who wouldn't normally be willing to participate in regular speaking activities or games are willing to raise their hands and tell me what's going on in their lives that day; I have three tests today, or I'm going to dinner with my family, or I have homework in five classes! Sometimes I'm sneaky and get in a little bit of a grammar reminder, like when a student says that she's "going to go to a restaurant this weekend" and it's Monday - I'll say something like, "Going to go this coming weekend?" as if I'm verifying her detail, and typically that will be enough for the student to smile, re-assess, and tell me, "No, I went!"
My students regularly tell me that this conversation time is their favorite thing about class, and I often get comments such as, "You're the only teacher that actually wants to know about our lives." I feel fortunate that, as the only French teacher in my building, I get to know these students so well and can share these moments with them.
So, go ahead...quoi de neuf?
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Monday, November 24, 2014
J'ai entendu dire que...
We just wrapped our unit on Amour et Amitié (Love & Friendship) in my split French 3/4, and I have to say, I am so far thrilled with the results. I administered an IPA for this unit, as opposed to a traditional test, and I have been very pleased with my students' performances. I combined Storytelling with the inclusion of more authentic resources and lots of in-class discussion. For more structured interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational activities, I used an IPA-style approach to prepare them for what to expect on the summative assessment.
One particular part of the unit that we had a lot of fun with was the gossip/rumor-telling portion. During that time, our targeted structure was J'ai entendu dire que... (I heard that...) as well as refining our use of indirect discourse. I started off using Martina Bex's idea for teaching the structure "Dijo" but instead of focusing on the structure "said" (which my students already know pretty well), I focused on starting off each rumor with "J'ai entendu dire que." The kids LOVED this activity and we kept it going for nearly the whole hour! Like Martina, I had a lot of "Person A likes Person B" but plenty of other very creative rumors, too - I think my favorite was "Mademoiselle actually prefers to speak Spanish." In any case, it was a great way to provide lots of Comprehensible Input for students, and have fun, too. I always love to hear kids say, "We didn't do anything in French class today." They have no idea what they've accomplished!
We also took this time to review how to officially "do" indirect discourse - they already knew, but as I have particular grammar points I am required to hit throughout the course of the year, I took this time to do some more explicit grammar instruction (very limited, however).
After that, I had prepared some questions for discussion, which the students prepared first in partners, and then shared with the whole group:
1. Have you ever told a rumor about a friend?
2. Has a friend ever told a rumor about you? How did you feel when you found out?
3. What kind of problems can rumors cause?
4. Are rumors a big part of our culture? How do you know?
I was fishing for a particular answer for number four, which the kids provided readily when they talked about America's obsession with celebrities, hollywood, tabloid magazines, etc. I used that as a jumping-off point for analyzing an article from the French version of Marie Claire, who had done a write-up on an interview that Carla Bruni had given, discussing her marriage to Nicolas Sarkozy and whether or not she believed he had ever been unfaithful to her, in response to the endless rumors about the two of them. The kids read the article in partners and did the IPA-style activities; this particular article was chock-full of our unit vocabulary, so they actually found it quite easy to read!
After they read, they completed the interpersonal portion of the activity, in which they discussed with a partner the various contexts in which they themselves have been part of the rumor mill, and whether or not there was any truth to things they had said or heard. They were also provided with a series of scenarios that they had to rank using adjectives like "scandalous" or "revolting" and be prepared to orally defend why they felt the way they did. It was interesting to hear their perspectives on what would be the most shocking to them - many reported that the president having an affair would not rock their world, but their favorite athlete taking drugs would be an enormous scandal/shock. Interesting!
Ultimately, this whole thing acted as a lead-in to our discussion of François Hollande and his big cheating scandal, as well as marriage and relationship conventions in France.
In any case, I am providing the link to the work I developed. I departed a little bit from the traditional IPA format and CI conventions by including a very brief grammar section to review the construction of indirect discourse - this can be easily omitted if that is your personal preference! I also do not have a presentational part included for this particular assignment - the students in my classes had to write a blog entry on the theme of rumors and their impact on others, but you could add something in of your own choosing.
Carla Bruni et les rumeurs
One particular part of the unit that we had a lot of fun with was the gossip/rumor-telling portion. During that time, our targeted structure was J'ai entendu dire que... (I heard that...) as well as refining our use of indirect discourse. I started off using Martina Bex's idea for teaching the structure "Dijo" but instead of focusing on the structure "said" (which my students already know pretty well), I focused on starting off each rumor with "J'ai entendu dire que." The kids LOVED this activity and we kept it going for nearly the whole hour! Like Martina, I had a lot of "Person A likes Person B" but plenty of other very creative rumors, too - I think my favorite was "Mademoiselle actually prefers to speak Spanish." In any case, it was a great way to provide lots of Comprehensible Input for students, and have fun, too. I always love to hear kids say, "We didn't do anything in French class today." They have no idea what they've accomplished!
We also took this time to review how to officially "do" indirect discourse - they already knew, but as I have particular grammar points I am required to hit throughout the course of the year, I took this time to do some more explicit grammar instruction (very limited, however).
After that, I had prepared some questions for discussion, which the students prepared first in partners, and then shared with the whole group:
1. Have you ever told a rumor about a friend?
2. Has a friend ever told a rumor about you? How did you feel when you found out?
3. What kind of problems can rumors cause?
4. Are rumors a big part of our culture? How do you know?
I was fishing for a particular answer for number four, which the kids provided readily when they talked about America's obsession with celebrities, hollywood, tabloid magazines, etc. I used that as a jumping-off point for analyzing an article from the French version of Marie Claire, who had done a write-up on an interview that Carla Bruni had given, discussing her marriage to Nicolas Sarkozy and whether or not she believed he had ever been unfaithful to her, in response to the endless rumors about the two of them. The kids read the article in partners and did the IPA-style activities; this particular article was chock-full of our unit vocabulary, so they actually found it quite easy to read!
After they read, they completed the interpersonal portion of the activity, in which they discussed with a partner the various contexts in which they themselves have been part of the rumor mill, and whether or not there was any truth to things they had said or heard. They were also provided with a series of scenarios that they had to rank using adjectives like "scandalous" or "revolting" and be prepared to orally defend why they felt the way they did. It was interesting to hear their perspectives on what would be the most shocking to them - many reported that the president having an affair would not rock their world, but their favorite athlete taking drugs would be an enormous scandal/shock. Interesting!
Ultimately, this whole thing acted as a lead-in to our discussion of François Hollande and his big cheating scandal, as well as marriage and relationship conventions in France.
In any case, I am providing the link to the work I developed. I departed a little bit from the traditional IPA format and CI conventions by including a very brief grammar section to review the construction of indirect discourse - this can be easily omitted if that is your personal preference! I also do not have a presentational part included for this particular assignment - the students in my classes had to write a blog entry on the theme of rumors and their impact on others, but you could add something in of your own choosing.
Carla Bruni et les rumeurs
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