Language Residents

an archive of lesson plans

Author: Sandie (Page 4 of 5)

FR F09 ADV – Video game

November 19, 2009 /

Video game in the FLRC

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I was supposed to go with the students to the tea that the French department had organized in Mason, but it was postponed. I only heard of it the very morning so I didn’t have time to prepare a lesson for the afternoon. I also thought it would be good for them to do something else and still practice their French.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Video game

How did students react?

They reacted very well and enjoyed the game, they even stayed longer than needed before they wanted to finish it (they played twice)

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes, they were reacting in French and talking about their good or bad performances, and also about the questions.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Playstation 3
Video game – Buzz

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?

Yes definitely!

FR F09 INT/ADV – song “Le tourbillon”

October 22, 2009 /

Song “Le Tourbillon”

How did you pick this theme or topic?

This song was going to be sung by French professors Monique and Virginie for the last performance of the Special Dinner (as a music video), and I thought that having students on stage would be more interactive, so I had them learn the lyrics to be ready to go on stage on Sunday. The song is also famous in France, even though it is very old, it is a classic, so it’s always good to make the students discover classic songs and practice their comprehension skills.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Handout with the lyrics – fill in the blanks

How did students react?

They reacted well, they liked the tune and the lyrics were rather easy to catch.

Did they engage with each other and you?

They asked me questions about the vocabulary, the meaning of certain expressions…

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Youtube video
Handout

Please attach a copy.

Lyrics

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?

Yes, they always like to fill in the blanks and discover songs.

FR F09 ADV – Halloween

October 19, 2009 /

Halloween
Cooking project

How did you pick this theme or topic?

Halloween was coming so I thought it would be a nice topic to talk about. Students always have fun things to tell about their plans, their costumes, etc… And we also had to get started on the project, so after having found the recipes on the internet, we had to translate them into French.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion about their plans for Halloween
Group work for the translation – one group of two students and one of three.

How did students react?

They reacted well, they enjoyed talking about Halloween and what they were going to do.
They didn’t particularly like the translation exercise but since it was linked with the cooking project, they were interested in it.

Did they engage with each other and you?

They engaged with other about Halloween and asked questions to each other – and also to me.
As for the translation, they engaged with each other to find the best translation possible and asked me questions about the vocabulary when they were not sure about what they found in the dictionaries

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Handout
Dictionaries
Cooking magazines as models

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?

Yes, they had to work with each other in French and to get involved in the translation.

FR F09 INT – Clothing

October 15, 2009 /

Clothing

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I realized that many students were not enrolled in any other French course so I thought that it would be good to study the basics, such as the names of clothes, which can be very useful.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Work in pairs

How did students react?

They reacted well, they like exercises when they need to match pictures and words. They also liked the drawing activity very much. They were very enthusiastic

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes they engaged with each other.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Handouts
Magazines (for the pictures)

Please attach a copy.

Below is the plan I had with me in class

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, it is a good way to make them talk.

Intermediate 10/15

1. Warm-up

2. Vocabulary exercises – in pairs

– three pages where they need to match the words with the corresponding pictures
– Correction and explanation

3. Drawing

– they work in pairs
– one has a picture of someone and needs to describe the way the person is dressed to the other
– the other needs to draw according to the description

FR F09 ADV – Translation of a poem

October 15, 2009 /

Translation of Victor Hugo’s poem “Demain, Dès l’Aube”

How did you pick this theme or topic?

One student from this group is going to recite a poem for the French Dinner, so I thought it would be nice to have the other students translate it so that everyone could understand it during the Dinner. And it would also be a way to make them take part in it.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Work in two groups and then group discussion

How did students react?

They reacted well, but they spoke mainly English since it was a translation from French to English. However, I think they liked it because it was a bit different from what we had been doing.

Did they engage with each other and you?

They engaged with each other and discussed the best ways to translate the lines.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Youtube,
Handouts

Please attach a copy.

Below is the plan I had with me in class

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Not for a regular conversation class because it didn’t involve French.

Advanced 10/15

1. Warm-up

2. Workshop: Victor Hugo’s poem “Demain, Dès l’Aube”

– Jenna introduces it
– They read the text in French
– They listen to the way it should be recited (youtube video)
– Explanation of some terms

3. Translation

– they work in two groups: each group translate a part of the poem
– then they switch what they translated and correct the other part they didn’t translate
– then they all talk about the problematical translations

FR F09 INT – Cooking show project

October 8, 2009 /

Project in the FLRC

How did you pick this theme or topic?

The students wanted to do a project on cooking, so before cooking and doing a comic strip about it with ComicLife, we had to find recipes first in English so we could translate them later.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

They all worked on computers

How did students react?

They reacted well, I think that they enjoyed working on computers and being able to come up with the recipes they had chosen.

Did they engage with each other and you?

They engaged with the others and me when they had to explain why they wanted to do this recipe and had to convince the others to vote for their recipes.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Internet
FLRC (very) Smart board

Please attach a copy.

Below is the lesson plan

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes.

Intermediate 10/08

1. Personal selection

– Each student needs to select 3 french dishes (1 entrée, 1 plat principal, 1 dessert)
– They need to find a photo of the dish
– They have to create a page with the recipes and photos with Pages

2. Discussion
– They need to write the names of the dishes they chose on the board
– They need to say why they want to do them

3. Vote

– They need to agree on three dishes fulfilling those conditions:
– Not too hard, not too long, not too expensive (we will cook the entrée and dessert but with a budget of 25$ max)

FR F09 ADV – Cookbook project

October 8, 2009 /

Cookbook project in the FLRC

How did you pick this theme or topic?

The students wanted to do a project on cooking, so before cooking and doing a cookbook, we had to find recipes first in English so we could translate them later.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

They all worked on computers

How did students react?

They reacted well, I think that they enjoyed working on computers and being able to come up with the recipes they had chosen. We didn’t have time to choose which recipes we would do in class, but we managed to agree on the cookbook so we have now two recipes for each course.

Did they engage with each other and you?

They engaged with the others and me when they had to explain why they wanted to do this recipe and had to convince the others to vote for their recipes.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Internet
FLRC (very) Smart board

Please attach a copy.

Below is the lesson plan

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes.

Why or why not?

Advanced 10/08

1. Personal selection

– Each student needs to select 3 french dishes (1 entrée, 1 plat principal, 1 dessert)
– They need to find a photo of the dish
– They have to create a page with the recipes and photos with Pages

2. Discussion

– They need to write the names of the dishes they chose on the board
– They need to say why they want to do them

3. Vote

– They need to agree on two dishes dishes in each category (entrée, plat principal, dessert)
– If we have time, they need to agree on the two recipes (one entrée, one dessert) that we’ll do in class, fulfilling those conditions:
– Not too hard, not too long, not too expensive (25$ max for the two dishes)

FR F09 INT/ADV – Food (cooking utensils)

October 6, 2009 /

Cooking utensils – introducing the project

How did you pick this theme or topic?

Doing a project on cooking actually requires a lot of background vocabulary, and I realized that we had not seen the cooking utensils which are very important when one wants to understand a recipe in order to do it.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Handout
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted very well, they were still interested in the cooking topic.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes they worked in pairs or small groups so they had to engage with each other.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Handouts

Please attach a copy.
Below is the lesson plan

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes.

10/06

1. Warm-up

2. Cooking utensils

– They work in pairs on vocabulary sheets such as

– They need to match the words with the pictures: use this website
– Correction
– What can we cook with those utensils?

3. Imaginary dish

– Work in groups of two or three
– Need to choose a dish they can all cook
– Need to explain to the other group how they do it

For Advanced:

4. Taboo type of Game

– They each have to write words related to cooking on slips of paper
– We mix up the papers
– Then, each of them takes one and has to make the others guess what this word is
– Repeat it till there is no more papers

FR F09 INT/ADV – song “Plaire” about getting slimmer for someone else

October 1, 2009 /

Song about wanting to get slim for one’s boyfriend – fill in the blanks

How did you pick this theme or topic?

After having talked about food for several lessons, and before the beginning of the project I thought it would be good to stay “in” the topic but from a different perspective. I chose to use a song that Clem had already used in the past so that we could talk more about eating disorders next lesson. The song was good because it used idioms that students did not know, and they were thus able to improve their vocabulary. I used the same song with the intermediate and advanced classes but I left more blanks in the lyrics for the advanced level. The written words were not hard to understand and the singer was singing slowly so I thought it was really appropriate for intermediate students. And indeed, they got almost all the missing words.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Handout
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted very well, they were interested in the song and the lyrics. They had fun watching the video too, because it is really funny. They had to fill in the blanks at first, and then we saw the video so they could not rely on the images to understand the song but had to really practice their comprehension skills. They were also interested in the idiomatic expressions. I had planned on spending more time on the video but they asked a lot of questions about expressions, tried to guess, etc… and we listened to the song several times so the activity actually took the whole hour.

Did they engage with each other and you?

They mainly engaged with me because there was no pair or group work today. I called on them to read sentences with the missing words aloud. And the rest of the discussion was based on their own participation, but since they were 6, it was easy for them to speak and they all had several chances to do so.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Handouts
youtube song and video on the tv screen

Please attach a copy.
Below is the lesson plan

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes. I think music always works.

10/01

1. Warm-up

2. Song: Plaire

– They listen to it for the first time, without the handout.
→ Then, discussion to see what they understood, if they could pick up some words, the general ideas, who is singing…

– I give them the sheet with the lyrics and blanks

– They listen to the song again
→ need to fill in the blanks
– They can listen to it a third time if they feel like it
→ fill in the remaining blanks
– correction

→ we listen to each paragraph and then see what they could understand or couldn’t
→ explanation of the idiomatic expressions and words they don’t understand

3. Vidéo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_KR6mjXbr8

– Discussion about the video

FR F09 INT/ADV – Food and receiving someone for dinner

September 29, 2009 /

Vocabulary related to cooking, receiving people for dinner

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I wanted to prepare the project which is going to be about food, and since they are really interested in French food, and that they are going to spend time on recipes for the project, I thought it would be good to improve their cooking vocabulary.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Group discussion
Game

How did students react?

They reacted well, they were interested in learning new vocabulary.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes they did, the first activity was good to make them speak to each other since they had to guess what the name of the food on the pictures was. The closed-task discussion was not very successful because they did not really “argue” and agreed with each other very quickly. I think this is due to their level of French and lack of vocabulary related to this topic. Making long sentences to defend their ideas was maybe too hard for them. But the last game was real fun, because they had to work in pairs and since they did not know the words, they came up with funny ideas for dishes.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Pictures of food from the last lesson
slips of paper
handouts

Please attach a copy.
Below is the lesson plan

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes. Food is always a good topic.

09/29

Vocabulary related to cooking

1. Warm-Up

2. Check that they remember the vocabulary of food – taboo type of game

– provide them with the pictures saved from last lesson, work in pairs, each one has pictures and they need to make the other guess the name of the food
– see if they remember the pictures of the French dishes
– use the PowerPoint presentation from the previous class

4. Closed-task discussion

– they must discuss in groups of 3 what the top three important things are when someone invites someone else over for dinner

– a nice table set-up
– a nice atmosphere
– original dishes
– copious dishes
– varied dishes (for vegetarian for example)
– classic dishes that everyone usually likes
– to be well dressed
– to have the right drink to serve with the dishes

5. cooking vocabulary game

– in pairs

I say a word related to cooking (it can be the name of a special ingredient, or a verb used in cookbooks, etc…) and each pair of students has to try to guess the definition and then write it down on a piece of paper. I also do it but I write the right definition, then we mix up the papers and someone reads them all aloud. Then they have to decide which one is the most probable.

FR F09 INT/ADV – Food and regional dishes

September 24, 2009 /

Food and French dishes with an emphasis on regional dishes.

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I thought that after having talked about French regions, it would be good to do a follow-up lesson and also introduce the materials of the project since both groups want to do something related to food. And learning more about the typical French dishes is good for their general knowledge about French culture since gastronomy is very important in France.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Group work
Work in pairs
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted very well, they were very interested and they liked talking about food and French dishes. Some of them knew some typical dishes but only a few, most of them only knew the basic French food like cheese or bread, so I think that’s why they were eager to know more about French food.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes they all participated, talked to each other since they had to work in pairs, and asked questions to me to know more about some dishes. One student was also very interested in the cooking vocabulary so we spent some time on that topic.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Handouts
Powerpoint presentation on the tv screen

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, totally. I think it was a real success. And they left the class hungry after that!

9/24

1. Warm-up

2. introduction to basic vocabulary to describe dishes

– in pairs, they need to fill out a sheet with food pictures
– and then to sort out the words in the chart

3. Interview questions – in pairs

– What is their favorite dish ?
– Have they ever tried French dishes ?
– What French dish would they like to try ?

4. PowerPoint presentation

– need to guess the dish, the region and what seems to be in (ingredients)

FR F09 INT/ADV – French regions

September 22, 2009 /

French regions with an emphasis on Bretagne and Provence.

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I wanted to see what they knew about the French regions and cities because I think it is important to know more about the geography of a country when you study its language. I also thought it could be nice to focus on other regions than Paris, for a change, so they could discover something else than the capital.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Group work
Work in pairs
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted well, but didn’t know much about the regions. So I think it was useful for them to get to know Bretagne and Provence.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes but they were not very talkative. Maybe because the activities I had planned were not based on communication enough.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Handouts

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, but I would modify the activities to make them talk more.

Regions francaises

1. Warm-up – 5mn

2. Can you name 5 french regions? 5 cities?

3. Map of France : they must locate the regions or cities they know
–> use a map like this one

4. Provence et Bretagne – work in pairs
⇒ Assumptions on either Provence or Bretagne, they must find out which region each sentence refers to
⇒ Fill in the blanks with the right words
⇒ Reading of the text

For Intermediate:

5. Role play “travel agency” – two groups
→ each group represents a region, they must talk with the other students in their group about the assets of the region and write them down
→ then they need to try to convince a potential tourist to go visit their region, using the region’s assets, as if they were working in a travel agency

For Advanced:

5. Closed-task discussion – three groups
→ They need to agree with their classmates on the top 3 priorities of a tourist on vacation in a foreign region or country
⇒ General discussion

FR F09 INT/ADV – French and American stereotypes

September 17, 2009 /

French and American stereotypes

How did you pick this theme or topic?

Stereotypes are interesting because they make you think about the way nations see one another, and it’s rather easy to find activities around it and to make the students talk because they find it interesting.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Work in pairs
Handouts

How did students react?

They reacted well, they all had something to say and were very interested in the way French saw Americans. We talked about the positive and negative stereotypes, and they had a lot to say so it was easy to keep the discussion going.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. They had to ask questions to each other, and then to talk about the video. And they also had to perform a short skit in groups of two or three so they had to engage with each other.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Handouts
youtube

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?

Yes, definitely.

Why or why not?

It was a very good way of making them speak.

Advanced 09/17

French and American stereotypes

1. Warm-up 5 min

2. Interviews in pairs
– What are the French stereotypes for them?
– What are the American stereotypes for them?
– Do you know other country stereotypes?

→ group discussion

3. Youtube video

→ French stereotypes in movies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4A8C5nRWTg

→ they need to write down all the stereotypes mentioned in the video

4. Brainstorming
– What do they think?
– Writing them all (video + brainstorming) on the white board in the right column: POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE

For Advanced:

5. Skit: French stereotypes – 10 min

Divisez la classe en paires et dites aux élèves que le défi est maintenant de préparer un sketch mettant en scène les stéréotypes Français courants, ils doivent choisir un des stéréotypes déjà discutés.

FR F09 INT – stereotypes (5Cs and tv)

September 15, 2009 /

General stereotypes about the 5Cs and tv

How did you pick this theme or topic?

Stereotypes are interesting because they make you think about the way people sometimes categorize other people, basically those who are different. And I thought it was a nice way of introducing French and American stereotypes.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Work in pairs
Handouts

How did students react?

They reacted well, they seemed to enjoy talking about different stereotypes and finding ways of challenging them. They had quite a lot to say so it was easy to keep the discussion going.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. They had to ask questions to each other, and then to talk to me and the others about what their partner said.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Handouts
white board

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes

Why or why not?

It was a very good way of introducing the topic about French stereotypes, and of making them speak. And I could compare their thoughts to those of the Advanced students, which was interesting.

Intermediate 09/15

Stereotypes

1. Warm-up: 5 min

1. Write the first thing that comes to your mind when someone says:
a) Garçon
b) Fille
c) Quelqu’un qui porte des lunettes
d) étudiant de Pomona / Pitzer / Scripps / CMC
2. Group discussion about the results

2. Interviews

→ in pairs
→ then, each one talks about the other

3. Television stereotypes

→ in 2 groups, they need to find as many stereotypes as possible 5 min
→ we all share what they found
Two columns on the board: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE
→ writing on the board

FR F09 ADV – famous French people

September 10, 2009 /

Famous French people

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I didn’t know who they knew or considered as famous in France so I thought it might be interesting to “test” their knowledge about famous people in France, and to make them discover famous French names (artists, sportsmen, etc…).

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Group work
Game
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted well, they knew many famous French people (some of them really knew a lot) but all did not know all the French people I introduced so they could learn more about them.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. They tried to guess when they knew, and asked questions about the people they didn’t know. When each group had to confront the other for the final “contest”, they spoke a lot, found good arguments and replied to each other.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Computer (youtube), handout.

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, I think they liked it and they were all able to participate in the discussion.

Advanced 09/10

Famous people in France

1) Warm-up: 5 min

2) 1st activity: 15 min

– I show some videos of famous people
– They need to find who they are

• Nicolas Sarkozy
• Edith Piaf
• George Brassens
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Johnny Hallyday
• Charles Aznavour
• Luc Besson
• Zinédine Zidane
• …

3) Jeu « Who Am I » 15 min

– Use some of the famous people discussed
– paper stuck on everyone’s forehead

Procedure: Have all the students stand up. Pin a paper to each forehead without the student seeing what is on it. Then tell the students that they must show their sign to other students in the class without trying to see it themselves.
– They should then ask the other students questions to determine who they are/what the word on their back is.
– Students may only ask yes/no questions.
– When someone answers “no” to their question, they need to ask someone else.
– The winner is the first one to finish, but the game may continue until everyone has figured out who they are.
– Finally, have the students tell the rest of the class who they are.

4) 3rd activity: 10 min

– they are in groups of 2 or 3

→ distribution of a longer paragraph on two famous French people
→ explanation of the words
→ need to fill in the blanks (they have different blanks so they need to read the paragraph aloud so that the others can fill in their blanks and vice versa)

– Georges Brassens: Brassens1 et Brassens2
– Serge Gainsbourg: Gainsbourg1 and Gainsbourg2

5) Award : 15 min

– they need to give a speech to be given the award for the best artist
– 5 min preparation

FR F09 INT – famous French people

September 10, 2009 /

Famous French people

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I didn’t know who they knew or considered as famous in France so I thought it might be interesting to “test” their knowledge about famous people in France, and to make them discover famous French names (artists, sportsmen, etc…).

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Group work
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted well, but I was a bit surprised to see that they knew so few French people, but at the same time I think that it was a good thing because they were interested and discovered French people.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. They tried to guess when they knew, and asked questions about the people they didn’t know. When each group had to compete against the other for the final “contest”, they spoke quite a lot and replied to each other.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Computer (youtube), handout.

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, I think they liked it and they were all able to participate in the discussion.

Intermediate 09/10

Famous people in France

1) Warm-up 5 min

2) 1st activity: 20 min

– I show some videos of famous people
– They need to find who they are
– We talk about it

• Nicolas Sarkozy
• Edith Piaf
• George Brassens
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Johnny Hallyday
• Charles Aznavour
• Zinédine Zidane
• etc…

3) 2nd activity: 15 min

– they are in groups of 2 or 3

→ distribution of a longer paragraph on two famous French people
→ explanation of the words
→ need to fill in the blanks (they have different blanks so they need to read the paragraph aloud so that the others can fill in their blanks and vice versa)

– Tony Parker: Tony Parker1 and Tony Parker2
– Zinédine Zidane: Zinedine Zidane1 and Zinedine Zidane2

4) award : 15 min

– they need to give a speech to be given the award for the best player
– 5 min preparation

FR F09 ADV – Introductions #2

September 8, 2009 /

Getting to know each other better + game to make them think in French and improve their vocabulary

How did you pick this theme or topic?

Some students had joined the group after the first class, or left the advanced group for the intermediate group (or vice versa) so I thought it could be nice to get to know them and to have the students get to know each other better. I also wanted to test their vocabulary.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Game
Handouts

How did students react?

They reacted well, they were rather numerous so they had to walk through the lounge to ask questions to each other.
For the vocabulary game, at first they did not find a lot of words but then they were more productive. And they tried to find uncommon words. They seemed to enjoy it.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. They had to ask questions to each other to fill out the chart.
And they had to share the words they had found with everyone to know if they scored a point or not.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
handouts

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, it was a good way of getting to know them better and of making them speak.

Advanced 09/08

1. Pass around the agreement sheets for the students who weren’t there before to fill them out

2. Warm-up in the meantime

3. Explain the game: the students need to fill out the chart with as many names as they can in the allotted time

4. Discussion about the results: who got the most names? Who has been to France, where, when? …

5. 2nd game: 2 truths and a lie
• explain the rules: they need to tell two truths and a lie and the other students need to find which sentence is the lie.

6. 3rd game: “petit bac”
• Explain the rules: I’m going to give you a letter, you need to find a word for each category, and to fill out the sheet as quickly as possible because the first one to finish says STOP and the others need to stop writing. Then we are going to share these words; those of you who have the same ones don’t score a point for this word, those who have words which are not repeated score one point for each word.
• Give them the sheets
• And do as many rows as needed

FR F09 ADV – Music and song “Cendrillon” (Telephone)

September 3, 2009 /

Music :
– general discussion about music
– “Fill the blanks”
– Imagine the video of the song

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I think music is a fun way of tackling a foreign language because it is something universal, so even if they had never heard of the song, chances were that they liked music and thus found this class interesting. Music is also a nice way of learning about a country’s culture. And since I wasn’t really sure about their level, I chose a rather easy song to test it.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

General discussion
Group discussions (in groups of 3)
Handouts – lyrics of the song with blanks to be filled by the students

How did students react?

Really well, they all talked to each other for 10 minutes about music, French songs, etc…
As for the song, nobody knew it. They understood most of the lyrics, though.
And they had good ideas about what kind of video they would have made to go with the song.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes. All of them talked to each other and then tried to guess the lyrics, and suggested a possible video.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Computer (youtube), handout

Below are the lyrics of the song, and the plan I had with me in class.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, I think they liked it and they were all able to participate in the discussion.

09/03 Advanced

1) warm up : 5-10mn
– qu’avez-vous fait depuis mardi ? etc…

2) Introduction of the topic:
– Do you know French music?
– French singers, bands?
→ they had to ask each other 4 questions about their favorite bands, singers, songs, etc…

3) Introduction of the song and the band
– Téléphone bio

4) Song without the lyrics and without the video:

– I give them the lyrics with the blanks, they read it and ask for what they don’t understand.
– Song again, they have to fill in the blanks
– Correction and explanation (expressions)

questions to ask:
– Qu’est-ce qui est arrivé à Cendrillon ?
– Pourquoi ?
– Que se passe-t-il à la fin de la chanson ?

5) Try to imagine how you would create the video for this song

–> Discussion in groups and then comparison with each other’s ideas

FR F09 ADV – Introductions

September 1, 2009 /

Introductions

How did you pick this theme or topic?

First class, so I wanted to get to know the students and I also wanted them to get to know each other.
I also wanted to hear them speak to see whether they were in the right class. It could also work for an Intermediate class.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

I introduced myself, then I gave them the sheet of rules that we read together.
They were 12 so I decided to do an ice-breaking activity at first so that they could learn the names of the other students; each student had to find an adjective in French which started with the same letter as their first name, and then had to introduce him/herself using this adjective (ex: Bonjour, je suis Sociale Sandie). The difficulty was that as each student introduced him/herself, he/she had to repeat the names of the previous students (ex: Bonjour Sociale Sandie, Timide Tess, Jolie Jess, je suis Sympa Sarah… etc).
Then, I made them work in pairs; each one had to interview the other for a few minutes and then introduce his/her partner to the other students.
We then had a quick group discussion about what they would like to do as cultural events, what interested them.

How did students react?

They could speak really good French so they seemed to enjoy asking questions to each other. It was actually hard to make them stop interviewing their partner, they talked to each other a little bit too long I think (almost 20 minutes). Some were very comfortable with talking to me or in front of the others, some others were really shy or anxious but since they were introducing their partner, I think it was a bit easier for them to speak.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes, they had to interview each other so they talked for 20 minutes in French to each other and then made a summary of the information they managed to gather about their partner.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

policies

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?

Yes, it was a nice way of getting to know them and evaluating their level in French. It was also nice to have them repeat the name of their fellow students (it allowed me to learn their names too).

Why or why not?

Because they could talk about what they wanted and could get to know each other. And it is also good for them to review the basic introduction sentences. It also allowed me to see who was really an advanced speaker and who was not so advanced. Some of them asked at the end of the class if they could go to Intermediate French because they thought they were not advanced enough to stay in Advanced French.

FR F09 ADV – Stereotypes

April 23, 2009 /

steretoypes

How did you pick this theme or topic?
We had already done the French American stereotypes, this time we did men/women and the 5Cs…

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I had a picture of the “cerveau feminin” then I asked them what we could fin on the picture of “le cerveau masculin”.
Then I asked them what categories of people could be submitted to stereotypes. They said, “nationalities, “ the gays”, “religions”… and finally the 5Cs students.
In groups of 3, I asked them to make a list of stereotypes for one college. 2 students were not from Pomona so they were in charge of the Pomona stereotypes.
We discussed tem afterwards, and finally I showed them 2 maps of “ le monde vu par les USA”

How did students react?
It was a lot of fun, even if sometimes they were a little embarrassed.

Did they engage with each other and you?
yes

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes!

FR F09 INT/ADV – Caricatures

April 21, 2009 /

caricatures

How did you pick this theme or topic?
I wanted to talk about freedom of speech and compare what is doable here and in France.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I had brought some “Charlie Hebdo” newspapers as well as a bunch of caricatures of Bush, Obama, Sarkozy, the pope. First I asked them what the use of caricatures was, and who could be criticized.
Then I divided them into groups and asked and gave them either “sarko” or the Pope… and also asked them to look at some of the caricatures in Charlie hebdo. Then Altogether, each group had to describe some of their caricatures.
Then I showed a caricature of “Mahomet” on the Charlie hebdo cover and explain the controversy and we talked about the caricatures of Mahomet published in the Danish newspaper.
I asked them if religion could be criticized that much in the US…

How did students react?
They liked most the caricatures, and they were interested in knowing some of the underlying stories behind them (about Segolene royal…)

Did they engage with each other and you?
yes

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Slideshow, newspaper fill in the blank

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes

FR S09 INT – Restaurant menu

April 14, 2009 /

Restaurant menu.

How did you pick this theme or topic?

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I gave them the menu of a French restaurant, but before talking about it I asked them about the different steps in a French meal (entrée…)
Then I asked them to look at the menu and ask for the words they didn’t know.
I asked them if they would feel like eating there after seeing the menu. I asked them about some weird expressions used like “trilogie de…”
Then I asked them to create their own menu with typical French dishes.

How did students react?
It was fun, as usual, to talk about food. They were very creative when they created their own menus. I mentioned the fact that usually, the articles disappear in front of the name of the dishes. It’s not written “ les escargots” but “escargots”…

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
menu

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
yes

FR S09 INT/ADV – short video and game

April 9, 2009 /

Video « les toupoutous »
Game « celebrity »

How did you pick this theme or topic?

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I showed them the video “avez vous déjà vu un nouveau venu au pays des toupoutous” It’s an absurd and cruel video, that at first, seems to be for children, but is not. It was just to make them react.
Then I gave them pieces of paper ( very small) on which they had to write the name of either a celebrity or a thing or a brand, that everyone should know. I put all the papers in a hat and divided them into 2 teams. One player takes the hat, he will have to have his teammates guess as many pieces of paper as he can, in one minute. You go round the circle, and after all the papers have been guessed, we go again but this time the players are only allowed to say one word to have their teammates guess.

How did students react?
They loved both the video and the game. I showed more video and we played the game until the end of the class.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
text

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
yes

FR S09 INT/ADV – Comics and tongue-twisters

February 26, 2009 /

Hard tongue twisters.
Strip cartoons

How did you pick this theme or topic?

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I had a documents with tongue twisters and I had them read them. They did a good job. They had a lot of questions
I asked them if they knew French “BD” They did not. I showed them pictures of Asterix, Les Schtroumpfs, Titeuf…
Then I gave them a page of a BD and they had to imagine the dialogues. It was funny. They tried to adapt to the language and the style.

How did students react?
We had fun with both activities

Did they engage with each other and you?

yes

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Computer handout

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes,

FR S09 INT – numbers and computers

February 24, 2009 /

Numbers. I write numbers on the board and they have to say them. Then I send a student to the board, I say a number and they have to write it.
Computers

How did you pick this theme or topic?

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
Handout with general questions about computers: when did you buy one? How long do you spend on it each day? What can you do with a computer…class discussion then group discussion. Then back in class discussion, we share ideas. I also prepared a fill in the blank text with words like “link, mail box, website…”

How did students react?
The discussion was good

Did they engage with each other and you?

yes

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Computer handout

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes,

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