Language Residents
an archive of lesson plans
Author: Marina Simonnet (page 1 of 2)
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, April 19
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: French Slangs
Goal of the class: Discover about French slangs and idiomatic expressions. This is supposed to be a light class about how to sound more French with vocabulary they can only use in an informal context.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: we watch a video about the “verlan” in French
- Slangs, and more specifically “verlan”: by pair, students have to match the slang with their definition (see below).
- French idiomatic expressions: We watch a video: students have to catch up the idiomatic expressions. I give a handout as a summary of a video: students have to match the idiomatic expression with the meaning (see below)
- Students by pair have to improvise dialogues using slangs and idiomatic expressions.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVXbYFoIg5E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjsG8sH_9Xs
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
This is an advanced class I decided to try with my Intermediate class. Actually, it works great and it only needs more time with the third activity.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
For the fourth activity, I asked every student to write on pieces of paper one character or celebrity, one place and one action. Then by pairs, students draw two characters, one action and one place. They had to improvise a dialogue and each of them had use at least two “verlan” and two idiomatic expressions. The students who were listening needed to count them (so they would be involved in the exercise as well).
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, March 29
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): French // Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Human body
Goal of the class: Learn/review the vocabulary and expressions of human body.
How did you structure the class?
- We watch a video about expressions used with testicles and the students have to find them in the right order and match their definition (see handout).
- Pairwork with idiomatic expressions using body parts. The students have to find the definition of the idiomatic expressions.
- Dominos’ game with “diseases, wounds, infections” (see handout in the other .docx file)
- Role-play (pairwork) with doctor and patient.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJbd0GbLiKE
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Everything worked fine: idiomatic expressions were a little bit difficult but it enhances the group work and the discussion between people so I wouldn’t change anything. It was good to give the students some autonomy and see how they solve the exercise.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
For the role-play, ask the students to add some idiomatic expressions they learnt too so the activity becomes even more efficient and coherent within the class.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
2018-03-29 INT Corps humain (dominos)
2018-03-29 INT Expressions sur le corps
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, April 26
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: VDM and storytelling
Goal of the class: Discover French websites such as VDM -viedemerde.com (to share life stories) and practice storytelling.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: what is VDM? Did a story that could be posted on VDM happen to you?
- VDM game, inspired by this website: http://lewebpedagogique.com/jeulangue/2011/09/12/vie-de-merde-un-jeu-de-mediation-orale/
- We play Alibi. The rules can be found here: http://lewebpedagogique.com/ressources-fle/production-orale-jeu-alibi/ Actually, I made groups of three or four and each group has to come up with a story as “one person” because it is easier for comparisons when they are asked questions.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
It works great, especially at the end of the year when the students know each other better and they are more comfortable interacting with each other without me interfering too much.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
It is way more fun to have all the other students asking questions to the other group so the instructor should set up the atmosphere (one chair for the person who is asked questions and everybody around, find a story that matches Oldenborg – “today, my laundry was stolen is the Oldenborg basement between 3 and 4, before the conversation class starts. People thinks it was a ghost, I actually think it was one of you… Let’s investigate”.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Wednesday, April 11
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Using French in the context of improvisation or argumentation.
Goal of the class: Practice argumentation, express one’s opinion on random topics for casual and daily conversation.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: if you had to survive in a desert island, which are the three objects that you would like to have with you?
- Role-play: a boat is about to go down. Each student is given a list of objects and has to convince each other that their list is better than the other ones.
- Role-play: by pair, students play a couple that has divergent opinions on different topics and has to agree on a decision.
- Role-play game with two teams and one “judge”: in a paradise, there are a judge and two “dead” people. Only one can enter the paradise. The judge picks one card and then the others have to find the best and worst action related to the topic of the card. The judge will choose who is the most convincing. We play this three times and then the winner becomes the judge.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Random topics for the fourth activity: wedding, politics, drugs, charities, the last chocolate, etc.
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The second activity was so intense that I actually had to stop in the middle and make anonymous votes to eliminate one group (they worked by pair to defend their list). People were very creative with the third activity too and I like asking the other students who they found more convincing to get them more involved.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Because I have ten students, I only asked one object for the warm-up (otherwise it’s too long)
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
2018-04-11 ADV.2 Argumentation
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Wednesday, November 29
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced Plus
Class theme/topics discussed: Vegetarianism and the question of meat and sustainability
Goal of the class: Listening comprehension, expression of personal opinions and argumentation about food, vegetarianism and sustainability.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: What do you eat? Are you a vegetarian? What do you think of organic food/GMO?
- First video with questions (student draw a question and answer it).
- Second video with new set of questions and a text to fill with the missing numbers (so we practice a little bit of listening comprehension with numbers)
- Role-play with one debate about vegetarianism: I’ll use the bingo of “the classic arguments for non-vegetarian diet” and the students play the vegetarian people who have to answer to those arguments. If we have time we can also have a role-play with pros and cons of organic food.
- Conversation Class evaluations.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6t7x
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcd4VIkCI3k
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The topic is a little bit delicate because we (instructors) have to stay neutral as much as possible but it worked great! We didn’t spent much time on the fourth activity but the previous one were very interesting: students can share a lot of personal experience, the topic is political, ethical, economical, philosophical, scientific, so they can talk about anything very easily! It’s also fun to compare both French and American diets.
N.B. The next class, one student did some research and we talked about this topic again so they really have a lot to say!!
How could this class be improved/ modified?
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Wednesday, November 1
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced Plus
Class theme/topics discussed: Music
Goal of the class: Learn about the vocabulary of music (music instruments, idiomatic expressions), practice of the listening comprehension part with songs, create a dialogue with specific vocabulary.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: Introduce the “Fête de la Musique” and ask the students about their habits related to music (playing an instrument, favorite band, etc.). They’ll have a handout about habits of French people so we can make comparisons.
- We watch a video about the famous singer Stromae without the sound. I give the students ten words (that appear on the video), and they have to imagine the dialogue using them (“Radin ; Bignou ; Danser ; S’amuser ; Malade ; Chien ; Soif ; Canard ; S’extasier ; Désinvolte”). Then, we watch the video.
- I give the students a handout with titles of French songs: I will play songs extracts and just by listening to the extracts, the students have to guess what the song is.
- Idiomatic expressions with music: Multiple-choice questions on a handout
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBf65mZVsCo
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The main activities were very fun: the students also learnt new vocabulary! The activity with the songs was a bit experimental but the students told me they loved it and wanted another one.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
With less advanced students, the songs have to be easier to guess!
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, September 28
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): French // Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Cinema
Goal of the class: Using description, storytelling with movie material. Learn about French cinema.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up/pairwork: students are given movie posters and have to imagine the story behind it.
- Pair work with two scenes from the movie The Artist: one student cannot see the screen so the other has to describe what he sees. In the end, the students who couldn’t see have to explain what they understood.
- Pair work: We watch a short film called “Petit Coeur” that I stop in the middle. Students have to invent the dialog between the two main characters (pairwork).
- Movie VS Life: students have to recreate a scene using the same model as the video.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Scenes from the Artist :
Petit Cœur : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11hv1h_petit-coeur-laureat-du-concours-jeunesse-en-seine_creation?start=1
Movie VS Life : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN38y5MILbs
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
This class was very dynamic: I had only four students but they were all very invested and we could work with different pairs. One student told me at the end that he thought that this class was very fun.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, September 21
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Conjugation
Goal of the class: Review of the subjunctive, argumentation on different topics
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: We watch a video and we stop it at 4’55’’ and work on the subjunctive. Students have the beginning of some sentences and have to imagine what the father says to his son and what the son says to his father. We will also review the video and imagine what could be the end.
- How do you use the subjunctive (review of the conjugation): l’envie, le souhait, le désir, l’émotion, l’obligation, le doute ou l’incertitude.
- Board game with the subjunctive and debate cards (see below)
- Subjunctive game: The students worked in the administration council of a company and they need to review every employee to improve their efficiency or fire them. They will have to give opinion using the subjunctive (they’ll have a handout with beginning of sentences that require the use of it).
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Alike (video) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQjtK32mGJQ with a handout (see pdf)
A board game for the subjunctive and debate cards.
A list of topics to draw for the role-play game.
(see .pdf and .docx attached !)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
We didn’t have to go through the conjugation because the students were already familiar enough with it. We were able to focus more on argumentation and there’s a good dynamic in this group because they can talk for a long time with common topic such as “pizza or hamburger”.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I stopped the board game before the end so the students could do the last activity. Even if it can be frustrating to stop in the middle, I think it made the class more dynamic and diverse.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, November 9
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): INT
Class theme/topics discussed: Numbers
Goal of the class: Be more comfortable with numbers and their use in different situations in everyday life.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: People have to count until 100, one by one. If a number has “6” in it (6, 16, 26, etc.), they have to say “Schtroumpf” instead.
- Bingo game with numbers using the blank table below. We will work on listening (I will dictate some numbers) and pronunciation, especially focusing on difficult numbers.
- Reading the hour: by pairs, students are given a schedule with the hours for a movie, but some hours are left blank. So they have to ask each other questions to find the missing hours and then have to choose which movie they want to watch.
- “Calcul Mental”: we can review the vocabulary of math’s symbols (+,-, /, x, =) and have a game with calculus and numbers.
- Role-play: by pair, there will be salesman and a student willing to do shopping at the grocery store. They will ask for price, and we will be focusing on the pronunciation of numbers as well as the daily expressions we use at the grocery store (“et avec ceci ?” “ce sera tout ?”). If we are not an even number, I will use the website https://www.monoprix.fr/courses-en-ligne to work with the student left alone.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Reviewing the numbers and how to read the clock was more than necessary. I cannot say that we “fixed” everything but at least, both the group of students and I are aware that we should focus on this aspect. There were a wide range of activity so it kept the students focused and interested.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Do not hesitate to ask the students to lead a little bit the activities by telling them to give a problem during the “calculus”, to give the numbers for the Bingo game and also to call them. Before each activity, do a review if necessary (it was necessary in my case!).
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, September 14
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): French // Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Art (Journées du Patrimoine 2017) //class at the FLRC
Goal of the class: Learn about art in France (Journées du patrimoine 2017) and create their own story using works of art from French museums (PowerPoint Karaoke)
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: We play a game called “Memory” (students have to match two identical images together). I think it could help build the vocabulary about art.
- Pairwork: Using the RMN website, the students have to create a powerpoint telling a story. The topic will be free because they’re intermediate and the exercise might be already a little difficult for them. I will focus on how they interact with each other.
- Powerpoint Karaoke: Once they’re done, they will have to give their powerpoint presentation to another group who will have to improvise and invent a story depending on what they see. Then, the initial group who created the Powerpoint will tell us the “real story” behind what they created. We might not have time to do both parts.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Réunion des Musées Nationaux :
http://www.photo.rmn.fr/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2CO5S9IZDCBN
A memory game (handout)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The memory was a good activity, but not so much a warm-up (we spent almost 25 minutes on it). The exercise was interesting because they really had to remember the words itself (and not only the image) to match the pairs. We didn’t have time to make the third activity but it’s okay: the second activity worked really fine and the participation was balanced between each member of each group. I’m planning on having a second class on this topic to do the third activity.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date : Monday, May 1
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: French Slangs
Goal of the class:
Discover about French interjections, slangs and cursed words. This is supposed to be a light class about how to sound more French with vocabulary they can only use in an informal context.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: We watch a short excerpt from Matrix and students have to recognize the French cursed words. We will brainstorm on French cursed words: Oh la vache, Zut, Flûte, Putain, Merde, Bordel, Dégage!, Sacrebleu, Bon sang, etc.
- How to sound more French? Use of interjections like Bref/Euh/Bah/Donc/Beurk/Miam/Pfff/Ohlala/Pitié/Chut/Tiens/Oups : I asked the students to draw one of the word and either to give an example with the word or to explain a situation in which we could use this word.
- The students are given handouts (see below) and have to match the slang with their academic translation.
- With all the vocabulary they’ve learnt, by pair, they have to invent dialogs using the more vocabulary they can. The other students who listen have to count the slangs.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaU3bE7M2UA
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
I made four groups of two students: two groups worked on the first list and two groups on the second list. Then I asked to one student in each group to pair with another student who worked with a list they didn’t work on: consequently, everybody had the chance to work on both list and to exchange their opinion! They had a lot of fun, it worked great because some students studied abroad and were very curious about some expressions they’ve heard! It was more dynamic for everyone…
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Be prepared to give clues to the students, explain the “verlan”, and some concepts (like how “abusé” is not used in its literal sense for example) that can be evident for a native-speaker but are not for foreigners, etc. This class is challenging for the instructor!
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Wednesday, February 1
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: “Le conseil municipal” in France (city council)
Goal of the class: The class is about debate and how students take decisions and try to convince the others. Inspired by this website: https://leszexpertsfle.com/ressources-fle/parler-de-la-ville-organiser-un-conseil-municipal-auteur-invite/
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: I show a drawing from a video (stop at 3’02”) about how the budget of a “commune” works and the students what are the different functions of the “mairie”. Then I show the video entirely to verify their suppositions. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18k83n_dessine-moi-l-eco-l-elaboration-du-budget-des-communes_news
- Role-play: a city has different projects but a limited budget and the students are given positions about the projects (pros and cons). We review each project and they have to defend their opinions and convince the others whether one project should be led or not, according to their position. In the end, we make a vote to choose which projects are going to be led by the city.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
https://leszexpertsfle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/voter-le-budget-dune-commune.pdf
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The video is a good warmup and very easy to understand. I let one minute to each student to defend their point of view. The activity is useful to hear each student and give them very precise feedback, but we shouldn’t do it too often because they can’t interact with each other. This class depends on the students: some of them will love this activity while the others will dislike it.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Review each project and give only one minute (with a chronometer) to each student to talk. This will be more dynamic and this adds a bit of challenge.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that)
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Wednesday, January 25
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: French cinema
Goal of the class: Use of description and creation of stories. Learn about French cinema.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: inspired by this class: http://languageresidents.pomona.edu/2014/sp14-fr-adv-cinema-cannes-festival-2-classes/ I show a powerpoint with images from famous French movies and the students have to guess the title (the titles will be given on a handout). We will focus on the description, to try to recollect the memories from the previous class.
- Pair work with two scenes from the movie The Artist: one student cannot see the screen so the other has to describe what he sees. In the end, the students who couldn’t see have to explain what they understood.
- Pair work: We watch a short film called “Petit Coeur” without the sound. Students have to invent the dialog.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Scenes from the Artist :
Petit Cœur : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11hv1h_petit-coeur-laureat-du-concours-jeunesse-en-seine_creation?start=1
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class went great! The warm-up wasn’t very relevant though. The activity with The Artist was a good way to make them talk and use the description.
The short film was fine for the students because the actresses speak very slowly and repeat a lot what’s happening in the movie. The students didn’t have any difficulties to understand and found creative ideas to imagine the dialogues. They loved the ending of the movie!
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Instead of the warm-up I’ve done, maybe a little Time’s Up with movie titles could work better! It would help the students start to think about how to describe movies, which would be more useful for the rest of the class…
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, April 20
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Topics in French politics
Goal of the class: Since the French presidential elections are this weekend, we will discuss some topics related to the French politics like the universal income or the legalization of the cannabis.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: “What is the “Revenu universel”? If you don’t know, can you guess what it could be?”
- We watch a video about the universal income and we review the vocabulary as well as some concepts like the SMIC (minimum salary) or RMI (income for unemployed people).
- I put sentences on the table (see below) and one student has to pick one and say whether she agrees with or not with this sentence. She also has to justify her point of view. Then, she picks another student to react to what she has just said.
- We watch another video about the legalization of the cannabis. We discuss the difference between the United States and France regarding this topic and whether we should legalize it or not in France.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3zme9z_dessine-moi-l-eco-le-revenu-universel_school
Sebastian Marx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q6pCGK3tsI
Topics for the third activity: https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://leszexpertsfle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/parler-du-revenu-universel.pdf&hl=fr
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
This class was a bit harder for some students since the proficiency level is very heterogeneous, however the topic interested everyone. The debate with the universal income was more interesting since they didn’t share the same opinion. The last video was a bit lighter and easier (because it had also French subtitles) so I think it was a good idea to show it to wrap-up with a simpler debate.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
This class should be done at the end of the semester with an intermediate level class because it is denser: we should make sure the students are comfortable enough to express more thoughtful opinions.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, April 13
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Art
Goal of the class: Work on description and argumentation using painting.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: “Who is who” game with Keith Haring’s pictures: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1-NjIMadEKFYUZxbWJyQXRaVUU/view First, all questions are possible, secondly, the students cannot name colors, and finally, they can only use position of the body. We will work on the vocabulary of the colors and of the body parts and positions.
- Description & role-play: each student picks a painting she likes and has to explain it to the other students what it means (1 min). Then each student has to ask a question.
- Argumentation & role-play: the student who picked a painting plays the painter and the other students now play the role of art critics (I assigned them to like or dislike the work of art) and each one has to ask a question to the artist who answer.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Google Images to find the pictures and show them on the screen.
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
I gave them some works of French art for the third activity, the students loved it because they were able to discover French art as well as practice… The role-play activities worked great, all the students were very involved in the roles they had to play.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Do not hesitate to use original piece of art like Anthropometrie by Yves Klein, or Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. The students are very curious about contemporary art and they usually have a lot to say about it!
I also did this class with my advanced students and it worked great too!
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Monday, November 14
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced Plus
Class theme/topics discussed: Start of the college year in France
Goal of the class:
Discuss about French political questions about education.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: What do you remember from your first day of class in France?
- We read an article from the Le Monde (French newspaper): I will focus on pronunciation. We review the vocabulary.
- We have a debate about the questions raised by the text: How would you feel if you wanted to apply to a formation and that you could only be chosen by having your name drawing out? Positive and negative consequences.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
An article from Le Monde (see below)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The debate worked great and the students were willing to share their experience in a French college. The discussion was very spontaneous.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I’m not sure it will work with big groups (we were only four).
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Marina Simonnet
Day and Date: Thursday, November 17
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Super Heroes
Goal of the class:
Invent stories with a super hero, review vocabulary about cinema.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm-up: I ask them what they think when they hear the word “superhero” and then, “French superhero”. I will show pictures of French superheroes such as Super Dupont and Fantomette.
- Write a script: they have to choose a scene that is typical of a superhero movie and write it in a piece of paper. Compared to the French11 class, I asked my students to give their script to the other group, to make it more difficult.
- Filming & editing the movies.
- We watch the movies and compare the versions
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Two video cameras (two groups)
I-movie for the editing.
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
It’s fun to be out of the classroom, but the class was very fast-paced. Even if it’s doable in one hour, two hours would be better and would generate less stress for both the instructors and the students. Overall, the students have good ideas and are really into the activities.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Bring accessories to the students so they can think and imagine more creative scenes. My students actually had the same superhero (same powers) and almost the same story: the activity could be more guided to avoid this (with more instructions, or restrictions).
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
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