À la rentrée !

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La rentrée  : The most wonderful time of the year! After a long, adventurous and enjoyable summer, aren't we all looking forward to that first day of school, the crisp autumn air and seeing all of our students, friends and colleagues again? The excitement that fills the air on that first day back is unbeatable, even for teachers. As a new teacher I spent a lot of time planning those first few lessons and making sure that I was setting the tone for an amazing school year ahead.

On the first day back I find it especially important to get to know your students to promote a respectful and friendly classroom environment. After going over the classroom rules and important basic vocabulary for a Core French or French Immersion classroom, I will then have several icebreaker games or name games planned to get to know my students. One of these activities is Human Bingo or Bingo Humain, where students are each given a Bingo card with squares filled with personal facts or information. For example, some of the squares might say "J'aime faire de la natation" or "J'ai lu les livres de Harry Potter par J.K. Rowling" and the students have to find one person in the class to sign each square. The first student to get all their squares signed wins the game (and often a small prize!). The game allows the students to use some basic vocabulary to ask questions and get to know the other students.

What activities do you do in the classroom to get to know your students and set the tone on the first day back?

Les poèmes biographiques

Bio poems are a fun way to learn more about the new students in your classroom and introduce the topic of poetry at the same time. They are 11-line poems that highlight important qualities about an individual, such as beliefs, hopes and accomplishments. At the Madame Giraffe TPT Store you can find a bio poem template that will make your bio poem lesson a breeze. It includes the formula for creating an 11-line bio poem, and example and a creative space for students to write their own bio poem in French. Students will enjoy reflecting on who they really are and teachers will enjoy reading all about their students. You can make them into shape poems for a bright and colourful bulletin board idea. Here is a shining star example:

La Pizza

Have you heard Charlotte Diamond's song "Je suis une pizza"? If you haven't I'm sure you will have this catchy song stuck in your head until the end of the school day. Here is a fun video featuring her song:

A fun lesson that I like to do with students in kindergarten through to grade two is centred around the theme of making pizza. The students learn the song in French, and then I put up a poster with all the pizza ingredients and we look at the vocabulary and which words are masculine and feminine. Then they are ready to draw and create their very own pizza! Here is a link to the Madame Giraffe store where you can find a free la pizza drawing activity.

I had the students draw what their pizza would look like and then write out the ingredients on their pizza.

Then everyone made their own pizza out of play doh! So much fun!

This student's pizza really illustrates the song "Je suis une pizza"! Magnifique!

Les Crêpes françaises

One of my very favourite lessons of the year is a lesson on les crêpes françaises, where the students learn about the language rules around reading and writing recipes in French, play charades to learn the steps to make crêpes and finally have tons of fun in the classroom or kitchen making their very own crêpes. First I would introduce the class to a recipe for crêpes, like this one provided by Recettes du Québec. The students would learn the vocabulary words for cooking measurements, such as tasse and cuire a thé or cuire a soupe as well as the names of the ingredients. Next, I will have prepared index cards with each the instructions and a picture illustrating the action. The students would play charades to act out the steps to consolidate their learning. This would be a good time to introduce a project where students write out their own recipe for their favourite food. Finally, the students are ready to make their own crêpes! In the past, I have assigned ingredients as well as toppings (ice cream, jam, nutella, fruits etc.) and plates, napkins and cutlery to each student in the class. I brought a few extras of the main ingredients in case anyone forgot. The cooking lesson worked the best when I had the students work in the staffroom's kitchen, but if a stove is not available for you to use in the school you could take a hot plate to the classroom and make your crêpes there. It would be a good idea to prepare colouring sheets or a writing activity for students to compete as not everyone can make their own crêpe at the same time and there is some waiting time. Here are some links to activities you could have going on at the table or students' desks while making crêpes:

Crêpe Suzette colouring sheet provided by Frenchteacher.com

Crêpe Suzette cd to listen to some fun French music while cooking

A video on making crêpes provided by Crêpes de France

Quizzes on French culture found at Livebinders.com

Hope you get a chance to try making les crêpes françaises in your classroom this school year!

Bon appétit!

Joyeuse St-Valentin!

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I thought I would add a few activities in French for that special day on February 14th. Here is a lovely video for a song called "Joyeux St. Valentin" by Toto Cutugno:

 

For older students, here is a list of the top 20 French love songs and you can download the whole collection from iTunes.

1. La vie en rose - Edith Piaf

2. C'est si bon - Yves Montaud 

3. Quand on a que l'amour - Jacques Brel

4. J'en déduis que je t'aime - Charles Aznavour

5. Parlez-moi d'amour - Lucienne Boyer

6. Les amoureux des bancs - Georges Brassens

7. T'aimer follement - Johnny Hallyday

8. Hymne à l'amour - Edith Piaf
9. Plus bleu que tes yeux- Charles Aznavour
10. Fleur bleue - Charles Trenet
11. C'est si facîle de vous aimer - Joséphine Baker
12. J'me suis fait tout petit - Georges Brassans
13. Je t'aime bien - André Bourvil & Bourvil

14. Comme un p'tit coquelicot - Marcel Mouloudji

15. J'aime les femmes c'est ma folie - Tino Rossi

16. Maladie d'amour - Henri Salvador

17. Le parapluie - Georges Brassens

18. Mon manège à moi - Edith Piaf

19. Oui j'ai - Johnny Hallyday

20. Ma main a besoin de ta main - Charles Aznavour

Another fun activity for your students would be to take a virtual tour of St-Valentin, Quebec. It is a small village in Quebec which has its sites set on becoming the capital of love. They would of course have Paris and St-Valentin, France to compete with!. The Globe and Mail provides pictures as well as an article about this unique, lovely village and its Valentine's traditions. Enjoy and Joyeuse St-Valentin!

Finding "The Element"

Recently, I have been looking into ways of incorporating personal development into my lessons. Personal development refers to the task of improving your attitude towards learning or working by diversifying your skill set or gaining a new perspective on life as a whole. It may involve reflecting on your past experiences, answering questions that you have of yourself, examining your life's path or seeking the advice of others to put you back on the path to enlightenment. Famous personal development authors could include Og Mandino, Norman Vincent Peale, Tony Robbins, or Sir Ken Robinson. What does this have to do with FSL or learning a subsequent language? Well, learning a new language involves learning about or experiencing a new culture. This can be an overwhelming experience for young learners as they are forced to think outside their schemas and incorporate new ways of thinking into their lives in order to truly be in the most ideal frame of mind for language learning, which is the immersion experience. This may cause students to start to examine their own culture and heritage with a more critical eye, especially if they encounter challenges in their learning. Personal development will help students to get over some roadblocks to learning so that learning a new language involves less culture shock and more enjoyment and cultural exploration. Examining ones own cultural bias will aid in the process of interacting with a new culture in a way in which you can learn from it and learn to enjoy it. Of particular interest to educators and parents alike is the book "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson. It is all about discovering your passions and talents in life and working towards getting into a mindset where your talents are used to their full potential to achieve great works. These great works might be a brilliant math formula, a science experiment that leads to a discovery, a beautifully choreographed artistic dance, a musical score, winning a game of basketball or designing a thrilling new video game, just to name a few examples. When students find their element, they are also finding out the way they learn best. To sum it up, when students find the way in which they can produce great works and live up to their fullest potential, the sky is the limit as to what they can achieve. Allowing students the time and energy to go through the process of finding their element and learning to work within its perameters is what education should be all about. The following is a link to a discussion Sir Ken Robinson had at Penn State University. He is world renowned for his thoughts on creativity in education, and his book "The Element" can help you get to the place in your life where you can truly be great. Don't be afraid to take risks in your language learning and teaching, and take that first step in the process of finding your element today (if you haven't already)!

Ratatouille

Recently I showed the Disney film Ratatouille in class in French. I found that the movie was a good springboard for talking about French culture because it takes place in Paris and features some French cuisine. I created a Ratatouille package that has worksheets to preview the new vocabulary in the movie and make a web that connects all the characters. It also has comprehension questions for specific sections of the movie if you want to break it down into 15 minute chunks for viewing. The students enjoyed the movie, and next they will make a menu and media project to show what they know about French food and culture. At the Madame Giraffe Store you can find a Ratatouille worksheet featuring the Eiffel Tower to give to students during or after watching the film.You can also find an outline for the menu project as well as rubrics for assessment. Bon travail!