alice's posterous - http://twitter.com/aliceayel

November 15, 2008

Using Classtools.net to create the dustbin game.

I have used http://classtools.net/ twice so far and it has worked very well.

The first time I have used it was with a year 8 class (12-13 years old). The lesson was about the perfect tense in French and how to use past participles. I gave a list of verbs to the pupils who had to work out what their past participles were.
I then asked the pupils to put the past participles into 4 categories (-er, -ir, -re and irregular verbs).
I clicked on http://classtools.net/main_area/template_loader.php?dustbin to create a dustbin game. And together with the class, we put the different past participles into 4 bins. Then I clicked on "Create" and we were then able to play the game. The pupils were very keen to play as it was the game they had created.

I also used this game with year 10 (14-15 years old). This time they had to sort different opinions into the positive or negative bin.

And you? have you used Classtools.net in your lessons?

Comments [0]

November 15, 2008

How to make pupils read a text?

When it comes to reading a text in French, some of my pupils struggle and get easily distracted!
I have tried the "I am going to start reading the text, follow as I am reading it because you might be the next one to read..."
but it has failed to work from times to times.
So after reading some ideas from other teachers, I decided to change some of the words when reading the text, see if the pupils could notice it... And it worked!

I said to my class I was going to read the text but would make some mistakes and they had to spot them.
I started to read a paragraph about jobs and changed some words. The whole class was engaged as they were trying to spot my mistakes.

Next time, I will make this task more "formal": the pupils will have the text and they will underline the words I changed.

And you? which techniques do you use to make your pupils read?

Comments [1]

November 09, 2008

Les Diablogues de Roland Dubillard: à ne pas manquer!

« Pourtant, il se portait comme un toast. »

Si un individu vous affirme qu'il est une pendule, peut-être vaut-il mieux ne pas le contredire. Il doit avoir ses raisons. Après tout, on ne sait jamais. Dans Les Diablogues, Roland Dubillard réinvente à sa façon le dialogue de sourds. D'ailleurs c'est simple comme bonjour. Prenez deux protagonistes, appelez les Un et Deux, et pour corser la chose donnez leur l'apparence de comédiens pince-sans-rire, comme Jacques Gamblin et François Morel, par exemple. Il n'y a plus qu'à les laisser s'expliquer avec les mots de l'auteur. Bientôt le réel se met à tanguer, tremble sur ses fondements. Obéissant à une logique folle, le langage a largué les amarres. Vous voilà face à deux acharnés fermement décidés à ne pas se comprendre, emportés par des mots qui les égarent bien au-delà du raisonnable. En trois coups de cuillère à pot et à peine deux répliques, le quotidien bascule dans le fantastique, l'ordre cède la place au chaos le plus hilarant.

Consultez les dates et lieux du spectacle sur:
http://www.theatre-contemporain.net/spectacles/Les-Diablogues/lesdates/

Comments [2]

November 09, 2008

Using goanimate.com to teach the perfect tense in French. Part 1.

I am teaching the perfect tense to year 8 (12-13 years old) and decided to create an exciting animation on http://goanimate.com
First you have to register, which is very straightforward. Then you can start creating your own animation in minutes. It is really easy to use and so much fun :))
I added my dad's voice to the animation which took a bit of extra time as I had to use audacity to divide the whole recording into smaller chunks (I couldn't upload the whole thing as it was too big). The students liked the fact it was different from the usual PowerPoint Presentation.

Now next step is for the students to do their own animation. I have booked the ICT room for next lesson and students should come to the lesson with their stories ready in French. I will update you on how it goes but the students seemed quiet enthusiast about the idea of having a go at it.

Comments [1]

November 09, 2008

Microwave choc pudding baked in 3 minutes!

The other night I had chocolate left in my cupboard but not much time left to bake a cake in the oven. So I decided to try the microwave version and it wrked out very well. In just 3 minutes time, I had a chocolate pudding. That saved me time and electricity!
Here is the recipe:
Melt 50g plain chocolate (or more if you're a chocolic!) and a bit of a water in the microwave for 45 seconds or more. Leave it to cool.
Then whizz 100g soft butter and 100g sugar in a food processor until pale and fluffy. Mix in 2 eggs one by one. Add the melted chocolate and 100g self-raising flour and pulse until incorporated. Butter a microwavable mould and pour in the mixture. Microwave on high (750-800w) for 3 minutes. It's ready!

Comments [1]

November 03, 2008

Using BBC short clips as a plenary.

The BBC language website is full of useful resources, especially videos in the target language.
This week I have been using the BBC Talk French website with both year 7 and 8: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/talk/

With year 7, the objective of the lesson was to be able to say how many brothers and sisters pupils have. So at the end of the lesson, I showed them a short clip of different French people introducing their families and saying how many brothers and sisters they had. Exactly, the vocabulary pupils had learnt during the lesson. I showed them the whole clip first without the English subtitles. Then, I showed them the clip a second time but with missing words. So they had to remember the kew words. I didn't have to pause because the BBC does it all for you :). The pupils liked it because they could understand real French people talking at normal speed.

Freres et soeurs

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: brothers sisters )

I also tried it with a year 8 low ability group. The lesson was about hobbies and saying what you like to do at the weekend. Again, as a plenary, I showed them a short clip about French people saying what they like doing in the evening. They enjoyed watching it because it was a bit different from the usual "I like to watch TV and play football..."

What do you like doing? in French

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: like dislike )

And you, have you used any other useful videos with your pupils?

Comments [0]

October 20, 2008

Using web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

A new revolution called web 2.0 has arisen and I must say I am still learning from it and trying to change the way I teach in a complete different way using web 2.0 tools.
Why and how can we use Web 2.0 tools in support of teaching and learning? to engage learners, to make them become independent in their learning. And maybe we will see the end of teachers as we see them today and instead we will see tutors or coaches come up to guide learners and not teach them?
Lots of questions but something I am definite about is that using web 2.0 tools is the right thing to do and that we have to let learners use the web whenever, wherever and whatever.
This video is a good summary of what 21st century learners expect us teachers to do. It comes from school 2.0 in South Africa http://maggiev.edublogs.org/about/

Now, My new targets as a "teacher-guide" are:

to set up a blog with my year 11 (15 years old) where they can comment in French on the French lessons.
to use animoto, go animate and other creative tools with Key Stage 3 (11 to 14 years old) as a creative project.
to convince my head of department to use micro-blogging with the sixth form (16 to 18 years old).

Comments [4]

October 18, 2008

Introducing year 10 and 11 (14-15 years old) to French poetry.

For their last lesson before half-term break, I decided to introduce year 10 and 11 (14-15 years old) to French poetry with a short poem about autumn Chanson d'automne from Verlaine.

I used a Presentation on slideshare on http://www.slideshare.net/Raissa_ro/chanson-dautomne and changed it a bit.

First I talked about Verlaine and students had to put parts of his life into order from when he was born to his death.
Then I introduced the students to symbolism. Verlaine along with Rimbaud, Baudelaire and other poets were associated with the symbolist movement, a rupture from the romantics. I put some key words linked to symbolism and romanticism on http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/246256/symbolism_in_poetry and asked the students to highlight the words related to symbolism.
I wrote words from the poem Chanson d'automne on small post-it notes that I stuck on the wall in different places in the classroom. Students had to go around the class, find them, copy them correctly and then write what they meant in English. They loved this simple activity which gave a bit of a twist to the usual "look up in the dictionary"!
Finally I read the poem to them and we discussed it in English.
The last activity was to write a poem about autumn which included the words "Bonjour...., au revoir....". So for example some students wrote :
"Bonjour l'automne, au revoir l'été.
Bonjour le vent, au revoir le soleil.
Bonjour l'obscurité, au revoir la lumière....."
This is a good way of making students write a poem in another language without being too complicated for them.

Students really enjoyed the poem from Verlaine. I think it changed them from the usual ready-made texts and conversations they have been taught since year 7 (11 years old)!

You must have flash to see this embedded document.

(download)

Comments [3]

October 12, 2008

Sharing my slideshows.

| Get your Presentation Pack

Of course, you can download them on www.slideshare.net/aliceayel and you can then modify them for YOUR lessons. Hope it will be of any use!

Comments [1]

October 10, 2008

Using wordle to revise key words with year 7 (11 years old).

This week was revision week as students will be assessed next week about what they've learnt so far.

I had booked the ict room for year 7 (11 years old) so I decided to part the lesson into 2.

First they would revise on www.linguascope.com.
This website is great for year 7 and 8 (11 -12 years old) to revise the main vocabulary, just words not sentences, nor grammar. It's full of fun games such as the memory game, noughts and crosses... to remember the key words. You can also print out worksheets to recap in class. My only concern with it is that you have to pay to access it.

The second part of the lesson was to go to www.wordle.net and create a presentation of the words the students needed to remember for the test. That was the first time I was using this website with a class and it was great! The students enjoyed the end product and playing with the font, layout and editing. I had planned for them to print out their work so they could take it home and use it as a revision sheet. Unfortunately or fortunately enough, the printer was running out of cartdrige so I told the students they could save their work on to the gallery and then access it from home or the library (if they didn't have the Internet at home). So they saved it and were amazed to see their work could be seen online by anyone on the Internet. It was great to see their joy about sharing it with the online community!!!

So you can see some of my students work which I am very proud of and I have noticed going back on wordle.net that some of them have gone back to it since we had the lesson. That is the best proof the lesson was a success because the students were engaged:) (again, thanks to icpjones)