Diwali, Halloween and Day of the Dead: Festivals of Light in Autumn!

The season of autumn is upon us and Madame Giraffe has many resources to share for this special time of year. Check out the Diwali slideshows with art lessons, as this celebration is a wonderful way to get students reading about different cultures, or even their own culture if the students are of Asian Heritage. Halloween is just around the corner, and there are several Halloween themed activities, games and slideshows for you. Finally, Day of the Dead is celebrated after Halloween and is a lively cultural event in South America. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-All-Saints-Day-and-The-Day-of-the-Dead-Traditions-ENGLISH-VERSION-7279649 

Check out the slideshows for the autumn season of celebration: celebrate light over darkness this fall and autumn season. Enjoy a pumpkin spice latte and cosy up with a warm sweater as we all settle into our colder weather routines in North America at this time. Cheers!

C'est février !

Winter has set in here in Canada with a big snow storm the past week. We are moving into our sixth month of virtual learning for some students in Ontario, for those who chose that option in September. Some students are starting to lose interest in online learning and are growing tired of all the screen time for school. 

I will encourage students this month by using themes of celebration to break up the cold winter blahs and get them excited about virtual learning again (some students will be learning online until June!).

For February I am going to focus on Black History Month biographies, celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Valentine's Day and celebrating the Lunar New Year. 

I've posted a free article about Terms of Endearment in French for the upper middle school and high school crowd. For younger grades and Core French classes, I've added a Cherche et trouve game: Valentine's edition. 

How will you beat the winter blues and spark interest in virtual learning for your students this February? 

Claude Monet

Sometimes there is a heavy emphasis on oral communication and writing skills in a French class. Don't forget about the reading part! I have come up with a new idea for a reading task in French. It is a Claude Monet reading comprehension activity. With this activity students are able to read instructions in French and make a drawing based on what they have read. Their understanding of what they are reading will come through in what they have drawn. The work of art being described just so happens to be a famous work of art by Claude Monet. Can you guess which one it is? Give this lesson a try! Students who have completed this assignment in my class in the past have really enjoyed it. We used it as part of our French artwork display in the gym. At the end of the lesson I showed the work of art by Claude Monet and the students were so happy that their works of art looked similar to his famous work of art. Have fun with this art project!

Here is a video lesson on Claude Monet: