Final Post - 3 Unit Ideas!

The unit I have decided to present is "Musique Mania".  This is an FSL unit that would be typically delivered to a Grade 9 or 10 class.  The unit focuses on a set vocabulary list that involves musical instruments, styles and artists.  The unit also teaches several grammar concepts including 'les superlatifs', 'le passé composé' and 'l'accord des adjectifs'. The final project for this unit that we would be working towards would be a storytelling presentation of a scenario that could take place in a clothing store.

Strategy #1 - Prezi Introduction 

I created a Prezi presentation using slides originally from Powerpoint.  This is a presentation that I could show any class at the beginning of the year and at the start of the first unit.  It introduces me to the students and shows them, visually, a bit about myself.  I envision using this Prezi at the start of each school year, always updating the original.

Vancouver! on Prezi

Strategy #2 - Audioboo Podcast

I really liked the Podcast approach to introducing vocabulary.  A large problem in FSL is pronunciation.  When the FSL students are surrounded by other non-Francophones, often pronunciation errors catch on like a virus!  When the closest-to-perfect pronunciation is available through only the teacher, it would be very helpful to have a model constantly available online for students to refer to.  

In this sample, I play instrument audio clips where students hear the instrument, they must determine what the instrument is and say the name aloud. There is enough time on the recording that the teacher will then reappear and give the answer.  Afterwards, space is left again on the recording for students to practice their pronunciation again.  

After practicing a few times with Garageband it seems like posting Podcasts online becomes easier and easier.  I envision using this within my FSL classes mainly for pronunciation practice but also getting students to record themselves speaking.

listen to ‘Nous pratiquons: Les instruments musicales’ on Audioboo

Strategy #3 - Xtranormal Project

This storytelling program allows users to insert any text (in many languages) and have the text come alive through avatars.  The basic program is free and allows you to change the setting, characters, actions, camera angles and facial expressions.  You are able to choose from over 30 different languages or accents and then put everything together, like a storyboard, to produce your final movie result.  

I would like to use this program in the future as a 'final project' option in lieu of the traditional 'perform a skit in front of the class'.  Within this unit I would ask students to come up with a dialogue between 2 or more people that includes unit-specific vocabular and grammar concepts.  

Honey Boo Boo Child - Musique Mania
by: mmeworkun

Reading #9 - BYOD Teachers...(Bearden, 2012)

One of the examples that Bearden mentioned in her text was a teacher who was surprised when a student asked to take a picture of something on the board instead of taking notes.  I encountered a very similar situation during my practicum when I asked my students to take out their agendas to write down the homework for the evening.  A couple students approached the board and pulled out their phones to take pictures of the 'homework list'.  I was confused at first and then understood!  What a change in the way students learn and keep organized!

I agree, as well, that when devices are permitted in the classroom students are less likely to use them inappropriately.  When students feel as though they are 'trusted' by the teacher I think, in order to maintain the trust and benefits, the majority will abide by the rules.

My first Prezi!

Vancouver! on Prezi

Reading #8 - Powerpointlessness (Brown, 2011)

I consistently used Powerpoints during my practicum.  They formed the basis upon which I taught new grammar concepts and delivered outlines of minor and major projects.  What I really like about Powerpoint is the fact that you can create it beforehand and it provides a chronological path that you can follow to make sure that you hit on all your key points that you wish to address.  I also like Powerpoints because you can use written and visual supports to assist in student comprehension of your lectures.

Some ways that I hoped would improve the effectiveness of my Powerpoints included...

• minimizing the text on my slides
• using similar fonts and presentation patterns for all grammar concepts 
• 'theming' my Powerpoints (i.e. presenting 'les adjectifs possessifs' through pictures and sentence examples related to Harry Potter).  I found that this engaged my students.

I also realize how Powerpoint can be incredibly time consuming and I do not think it would be possible to continue the quantity/quality of powerpoint examples I used in practicum during my future full-time teaching career.  I will have to be more selective of what I choose to present using Powerpoint.

I have been a student in classes, however, where Powerpoint was not used effectively.  As the author of the blog pointed out, these Powerpoints included too much text and were poorly organized.  I also had the chance to be a student in a course where an instructor repeated verbatim what was listed on her slides.  This created a terribly boring atmosphere where the 'boring' content was not being improved AT ALL by seeing the content twice (both verbally and in written format).

Google Powerpoint - Les superlatifs

Below I have uploaded a Google Powerpoint presentation on the subject of 'les superlatifs'.  This is a Powerpoint I would use in a FSL 9 or 10 class.

Google Form

Below is a Google Form I created that could be used at the beginning of the school year with a new FSL class.

Google Document

I have uploaded a sample Google Document. This Google Doc is a assignment outline that would be handed out before students begin their work on a final project for a 'clothing unit'.

Curating Content with Scoop.it

Check out my Scoop.it profile by clicking on the widget on my sidebar --->

If/when I have a blog or website for my class I will use this as a widget.  I would post supplemental information, for both of my subject areas, that my students might find interesting.  I like how Scoop.it allows users to have multiple 'topic' boards, a bit like Pinterest.  This means that if I specialize in 2 subject areas (and undoubtedly more as I start my teaching career) for each area I will be able to have a board all still under the same account. This is crucial because as keeping up with sites can be so daunting, this website compacts everything into one!  Great!

Reading #7 - Collaborative Projects (Skillen, 2011)

Group work has always been a major stressor in my life.  As a type-A individual, I often have a hard time 'letting go' of areas of projects because I feel like I need to be involved in everything that happens! I believe that group work throughout my academic career has taught me more about trust than about anything else.  If anything, group work has taught me to 'trust no one' and to be careful about engaging with certain kinds of people.  Isn't that awful?  I thought group work was all about meeting new people and sharing ideas.

As a new teacher I will undoubtedly assign my projects with this in mind.  During my practicum I was careful to design group projects how I, as a student, would have appreciated them being designed.  I allowed students some choice of who they were grouped with, I provided them the opportunity to self-evaluate and to evaluate their peers and had these evaluations play into their final assigned mark.  Regardless of these efforts, my students still ran into obstacles and group work wasn't a 'highlight' of their experience in my classroom.  

A large part of the reason why group work exists is to encourage leadership, we want our students to be 'extroverted' and engaged with everyone around them.  This article made me go back through my bookmarked 'Ted' talks to find an interesting presentation given by Susan Cain on why introverts are so important.  Her talk also highlights the way the current school system is neglecting the 'introvert'.  Click here to watch!

I am especially interested in the author's idea for groups to create blogs to promote higher-level thinking.  Groups can start up a webpage or a blog where they each share, individually and as a group, their experiences as they move forward in a project.  I think this is a fantastic idea for a classroom.  If I assigned a month-long project I could require that each week, one different member of each group would post a 'reflection' on a major question involving the project's subject.  Afterwards, each other member of the group would have to post a comment.  If universities are trending towards this style of discussion, I think it is something that high school teachers would be wise to introduce earlier on.

Reading #6 - Understanding Content Curation (White, 2012)

This article was one of the more difficult articles to understand so far in this course.  I think I have understood the concept between collecting and curating.  Collecting being more random and superficial and curating being selective and linked and intertwined to promote higher-level thinking.  As a new teacher, this year I have collected, collected and collected tons of resources everywhere I have gone.  I have catalogued my course work, filed binders donated to me by my sponsor teachers and even alphabetized PE drills.  After reading this article, I am aware now that I have collected but not curated these items.  Are all of these items and articles useful moving forward as a teacher?  Will they be relevant to my students or to the curriculum itself?

Now that I am moving back in with my parents, temporarily, I will be forced to minimize my belongings.  I will need to go through each box carefully and thoughtfully.  Having read this article I will be careful to look at each document and binder and question its relevancy when decided its eventual fate.

My First Podcast...

Here you can find my very first Podcast!  I chose to adjust my voice to a 'helium voice' because it is a bit more fun to listen to and I think kids would find it amusing!

Enjoy!

listen to ‘Vocabulaire - Mon style, ma mode!’ on Audioboo

Reading #6 - Podcasts (Smart, 2008)

What Mr. Coley has accomplished in his class is very incredible!  What an interesting way to engage students in class content and to bring their opinions and knowledge to life.

I am not very familiar, at all, with the Podcasting world.  I think I have downloaded a couple here and there but have never really become 'hooked' on them like some of my friends have.  I do not think that incorporating the Podcast summary idea as heavily as Mr. Coley has done would be possible for me, at least during my first few years of teaching.  I do believe, however, that the Podcast idea would lend itself well to final projects where typically a video, play or poster presentation have been my go-to project formats.  If students are able to write a script for a visual or physical display, why not let them create a purely audio project in the form of a podcast?  Enhancing their script with sound effects and music (using a program such as Garageband) would help students to create real masterpieces.

Another aspect of the article that I found very interesting was the point that creating Podcasts allows students to be content producers and content consumers.  At an early age Mr. Coley has helped show his students the power of knowledge networking.  He has empowered his students by sharing their opinions and work with the world.  What they have to say 'matters'.

Using Wordle...

This Wordle was fast and easy to make.  I have created a Wordle using vocabulary from a Grade 9 FSL unit on clothing and style.  Some of the ways in which I could use Worlde in the future might include...

• reviewing unit vocabulary by compiling all relevant words 
• creating title pages for new units
• have students present themselves to the class (in target language) by creating a Wordle and preparing 1-2 sentences to describe how each word is relevant to them

Reading #5 - Online Translators (Polio, 2008)

As an L2 French learner myself, I often use online translators to help myself with writing here and there. I most commonly use Word Reference and Bon Patron to help me with my writing.  I have an adequate language level in the target language to determine which online translators I use regularly, however, my students do not have the language level necessary to make informed choices.

During my practicum, I only sent home one writing assignment.  It was a group project where students had to write a script of a regular interaction between a customer and a clothing sales clerk.  Most of the students were used to writing the script in English and then translating it into French.  My personal philosophy is that L2 learning cannot occur as quickly or effectively if the L2 learner's learning process is primarily word ford word translation.  At the start of language acquisition it is important that students are translating, however, as a student progresses they should try to rely less and less on translation.   In authentic situations, speakers of a foreign language will seldom have the time to consult a dictionary or online source word ford word.  In class I encouraged the students to write the script FIRST in French. I noticed that as we progressed through the assignment, many groups would have elaborate French sentences including various grammatical errors very typical of online translation tools.  I chose to address this issue with the entire class where we discussed the kinds of errors that can be made using solely online translators.  We also discussed when it is appropriate to use them (i.e. editing work).

Another issue that I found particularly interesting was the fact that students in Grade 9 and 10 in my classrooms were almost completely unfamiliar with how to use an actual print dictionary!  As I grew up this was the only tool I used so it was a completely foreign concept to me that dictionaries would go untouched in a language classroom.  I frequently distributed dictionaries during group exercises and in-class writing assignments.  If students use a print dictionary as a primary source the lengthy time it takes to look up words will grow tiresome over time.  I believe that using a print dictionary emphasizes the need to pay close attention to spelling and vocabulary during class exercises so that students don't have to spend a copious amount of time looking up every single word.  Technology is so quick and gives feedback so immediately that students depend on it too much.  I think accountability towards knowledge of class content (by students) would completely change if online translators did not exist.

Integrating E-books into the classroom...

I chose to embed a journal that focused on an South African athlete named Oscar Pistorius, the first athletics Paralympian to qualify for the Olympic Games.  His journey highlights many controversial issues surrounding inclusivity, disability and the Olympic Games.  I would use this article in my PE classroom as an authentic document for students to construct a 'debate' regarding his participation in the Olympic Games.  I would find various primary sources and group students into 'pro' and 'con' groups.  As a PE teacher, I hope to bring higher level thinking to my classes so that they aren't just drills and games.

Open publication - Free publishing - More olympics

Reading #4 - "Reading Matters..." (Tennant, 2012)

Encouraging reading in an L2 is very important for increasing fluency level.  As an Anglophone teaching French, it is very important for me to engage in professional development activities to increase my own fluency level.  I agree with the author’s point that decoding text becomes near to impossible when an L2 learner has so many words and meanings that they cannot make sense of.  As a professional I should engage more in reading in my L2, however, there are points when I too will ‘hit a wall’ and reading will not be as enjoyable as it is in my native language. 

In my practicum classroom reading was limited to French text book passages that were generally outdated and irrelevant to the students.  I envision trying to use more authentic pieces of French material (i.e. French daily newspapers, magazines, ads) in the classroom to spark interest in the reading the text so that my students will be more motivated to ‘decode’ and ‘find meanings’.  

Music in the Classroom - French Artist 'TAL'

The above video is from an artist name 'TAL'.  She is a young French artist who recently has had many Top 10 hits in France.  This song would be great in any level of FSL because the vocabulary is relatively simple, the pace is very slow, the lyrics are clear and it would appeal to current teenagers.  

Some activities that I might be able to do with my students using this song include...

• A sheet of the lyrics will 'fill in the blank' items for main words.
• Students could write a reflection on the style of music and what (does not) appeal to them
• Primarily for FRIM - Ask students to write a short paragraph on what they interpreted was the 'sens de la vie' for the artist.  Then the students would write a short paragraph on their 'sens de la vie'

'Le sens de la vie' - TAL (2012)

J'ai voulu dormir, et j'ai fermé les yeux,
Sans même voir que le ciel était bleu.
Je me suis réveillée sous un nouveau soleil
Et depuis ce jour là rien n'est pareil.
Lumières des projecteurs qui réchauffent mon coeur,
Tout au fond de moi je n'ai plus jamais peur.

J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime.

C'est une évidence, j'ai trouvé ma voie,
Je prends mon envol mais je n'oublie pas
Les paroles d'une chanson d'enfance,
Qui me rappelle d'où je viens, d'où je tiens ma chance.
Lumieres artificielles qui fait briller mes yeux
Et je sors de l'ombre, je sais ce que je veux.

J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime.

De sens en contre-sens, on se perd toujours,
Quand on ne fait pas les choses avec un peu d'amour.
C'est peut-être lui qui rend notre ambition fascinante,
Il est dans ma voix, c'est pour ça que je chante.

J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime.

Même dans le ciel qui se voile,
Il y a toujours une étoile, qui scintille
Et nous guide sur le chemin de nos rêves
Et quand on y croit, un nouveau jour se lève

J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la raison qui m'entraîne,
A chaque pas sur le devant de la scène.
J'ai trouvé le sens de la vie que je mène
Et je l'aime

Using Screencast-O-Matic..."Conjugaison des verbes -ER"

Click on the video below to watch my first Screencast-O-Matic creation!  The topic of the video is how to conjugate regular French verbs that end in -ER.

Reading #3 - Making culture happen... (Tomalin)

Culture is so important to teach alongside additional-language classes.  As a language teacher one of my main goals is to prepare my students to interact effectively with different people, who speak a different language and, typically, come from a different culture.  Omitting the 'culture' aspect of language education essentially takes away the relevance of learning an additional language.  To be interested in learning language is to be interested in learning culture.

In my French classes I often incorporate cultural references that I hope my students find relevant. For example, I would research the France's 'Top 10' list of current pop songs and we would compare our list in North America to the list in France.  We would find France's equivalent to Justin Bieber.  This was a very engaging activity for my Grade 9 and 10 FSL students.  The fact that they were able to make cultural ties from their culture to the culture of a francophone region enhanced the curriculum.

An interesting aspect of additional-language education and 'culture' education brought up in the article was the paragraph in which the author presents the fact that in ESL classroom we often learn about US and UK culture and ignore others.  I too experienced the same conflict in my own practicum classroom.  I have spent much more time in a European francophone region (Switzerland) in comparison to the time I have spent in Québec.  When trying to tie in francophone culture into the classroom I often find myself making more connections to the Europe as opposed to North America, even though Québec is in our own country!  Is this acceptable in a Canadian French classroom?

One of my favorite videos of all time...

Ideas for Audioboo Clips in the Classroom

I have already embedded an audio-clip below (German conversation).  Last evening I visited the doctor and it seems as though I have a throat infection (note available if needed).  I will not be recording another audio-clip as the quality of my voice would not create a satisfactory clip for use in the future.  Instead of a clip I have decided to brainstorm a list of possible uses in my classroom...

1. Dictées - I could record a simple text and for homework students would have to transcribe the text.
2. Conversation interpretation - I could record a conversation with another French speaker and then the students would have to write a brief summary (in French) about the topic we covered.
3. Debate interpretation - I could record an argument/debate with another French speaker and the students would have to summarize one side of the argument OR would have to explain why they support one side of the argument with their own points.
4. Student recordings - After students write an in-class essay, I would hand it back, students would then correct their writing and read their essay aloud while capturing it in Audioboo.  Teacher could conduct brief conferences with each student to discuss their recording (à continuer/à considérer)..

Reading #2 - Practical Aspects of Learning Video....(Canning)

I agree that videos are valuable tools in a second language classroom.  They provide audio clues for students to interpret and visual.   Much of human communication is body language and gestures, it is useful for additional-language learners to be able to match this body language with oral language.  Through this matching, students will comprehend more of what they are hearing and make inferences about the conversation/situation.  I do agree with Canning's statement regarding the fact that videos may not increase 'understanding'.  As previously stated, students will be able to make inferences and 'connect the dots' regarding conversations, but I do not think that students will be able to learn more words (effectively) or fully understand all components of speech.

One problem I have encountered in my own teaching is that it is very difficult to find videos for secondary junior level FSL.  Using YouTube as my primary video library, oftentimes the pace or vocabulary used (in even simple videos) can be overwhelming and ineffective.

Reading #1 - Listening Strategies... (Apponte-de-Hanna)

This article brought to my attention the fact that during my studies at UBC in my BEd cohort (Secondary FSL/FRIM) we have received little instruction regarding how to teach and evaluate 'listening' in the language classroom.  I believe that listening is the hardest language skill to teach because it is the only skill where the student is not in complete control of the speed of processing.  When writing, reading and speak, the student is able to slow down and reflect if needed.  They are able to pause and reorganize their thoughts and communication strategies in order to cope with the information at hand.  They are ultimately in control of the speed of input.  This is not the case, however,  with regards to 'listening'.  Here the student is often unable to adjust the speed of information and strategies are incredibly vital to ensure a student's success.

Apponte-de-Hanna compares the traditional process of learning to 'listen' as a form of 'osmosis'.  As an individual who learned French as a second language in Late French Immersion, I never recall specifically being taught how to listen.  I guess I too was a learner by osmosis in this regard.  Now, as an educator, it is difficult for me to even comprehend how a new language learner would be able to overcome the steep learning curve that would present itself if he or she was required to not only listen to foreign speech but ALSO to implement additional strategies.

I am looking forward to potentially discovering online technology that already exists to support teachers teaching 'listening' in the language classroom.

Das ist Deutsch! Ich bin eine Leherin!

listen to ‘Ich bin ein Fraulein!’ on Audioboo

Language and Literacy - 480D

Click here to access the main course link for UBC LLED 480D!