My First ACTFL Experience!

Last week, my colleague Robin and I headed down to New Orleans for our very first ACTFL experience!  We got to experience all that this culturally rich city has to offer, attend a variety of sessions, and I got to meet some of the teachers and bloggers I follow on social media!  In this post I will share some of the photos I took, but if you'd like to see more, head on over to my photography blog.

The program guide was a bit overwhelming!  I've never been to a conference with so many workshop choices!  The mobile app was really useful in helping me sort through them all and pick out my top choices.

The exhibit hall was huge!

Some of the highlights:

-At Deborah Lindsay's IPA Pre-Conference Workshop, I learned a lot about the different ACTFL proficiency levels and examples of tasks that can be incorporated into an IPA

-At the Teaching New Orleans session, presented by Chiara Azzaretti, Dr. Annie Doucet, Jacqueline Sarro, and Parjest Thevenard, I learned about some of the ways you can draw on the language and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana in the French classroom.  One presenter showed a clip from a documentary called "Le bijou sur le bayou têche, (click the link to watch it on YouTube), which highlights the difference between cajun French and creole.

-I got to see Valérie Greer, who, along with her colleague Wendy Mercado, authors the Liven Up Your Language Class site.  If you haven't already, check out all their fun activities!  I first met Valérie and Wendy at NYSAFLT Summer Institute 2013, and we've been sharing ideas ever since.



-I got to meet Catherine Ousselin, whom I've been following on social media for years!  Her presentation was done in French.  It was nice to get some immersion in while I was there!



-At the Comprehensible Input in 30 Minutes a Week, I got to see some of the bloggers I follow present on CI, including French teacher Cécile Lainé (pictured above).



It was a huge turnout for the opening session on Friday morning!



Keynote speaker Dan Buettner captivated the audience with his stories about life about areas in the world he has designated as "blue zones," where people have been documented to live the longest.



When I wasn't at the conference, I was out in New Orleans soaking up the culture.  I took this photo at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3.



I love that the street signs are also in French!



Fleur de lys hanging off the tree is a nice touch.

Beignets at Café du Monde are a must-eat!

This statue of Joan of Arc was a gift from the French.  There is an identical statue in Paris near the Louvre.

I had the escargots at Galatoire's!





I found a bit of French on my way out of Mulate's restaurant!

I loved sharing my photos and stories with students when I got back.  Having visited New Orleans for ACTFL I not only picked up some new ideas, I also gained some cultural experiences that will enhance my teaching.

10 Things I'm Thankful For

This is just a quick post.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share ten things I am thankful for as a teacher:

1. My students, who come to class eager to learn every day (and I'm not making that up!).
2. My colleagues, whom I can turn to with questions and can collaborate with.
3. All the bloggers whose blogs I read; I get so many ideas from other teachers!
4. Being able to teach at the same middle school I attended as a kid.  It gives me a stronger sense of community and connects me better to my students.
5. Being 1:1 this year; it has facilitated the use of technology in the classroom.
6. When students say "Merci !" as they walk out the door.
7. When a student gives me a thoughtfully written card (especially if it's written in French!)
8. The opportunity to be able to share my ideas on this blog.  It's exciting to connect with other educators/
0. Having had the opportunity to attend the ACTFL Convention in New Orleans this year!  Stay tuned for a forthcoming blog post on the topic.
10. Having a job I enjoy going to every day!

What are you thankful for as a teacher?

Qui suis-je ? An Activity to Practice Saying Where You're From

This is one of those activities that I honestly can't remember at this point if I adapted it from someone else or if I made it up myself.  At the beginning of the year, when students are learning to say where they're from, it gets pretty boring after they ask each other once where they are from and then magically they are all from the same town.  This activity allows students to use that same vocabulary but in a way that keeps things interesting.  Each student will assume the identity of one of the people in the image above.  I used to use celebrities, but I kept having trouble finding celebrities they would know for each nationality.  Then they will, with their partners, have a dialogue that goes something like this:

Student A:  Tu es américain ? (Are you American?)
Student B:  Non, je suis canadien.  (No, I'm Canadian.)
A:  Tu es de Sudbury ? (Are you from Sudbury?)
B:  Non, je suis de Toronto.  (No, I'm from Toronto.)
A:  Tu es Bobo ?  (Are you Bobo?)
B:  Oui, je suis Bobo.  (Yes, I am Bobo)

This is kind of hard to explain to students in French, so I just have a student come up to the front and model the dialogue.  Before they begin, I reinforce the meaning of "de" (of) and when you can and can't use it.  This is one of the concepts I am looking for them to practice in this activity.  The great thing about it is if some students finish early, they can just repeat and choose different people.

How might you use this activity in your classroom?  What might you change about it to suit your students' needs?

What I'm Loving So Far This Year

I hope everyone has had a nice start to their school year.  I am having a great year this year, not only because I have a real dynamic group of students, but also because I have been trying lots of new things.  Here is what I am loving so far this year:

Gimkit
My colleague Sarah introduced me to Gimkit.  It's been described as Kahoot on steroids.  Basically how I would describe it as a self-paced series of multiple choice questions, but with a twist - students are earning "money" and they can cash in that money for upgrades that help them earn more.  The upgrades get you such things as more money per question, insurance against losing money, and streak bonuses.  I had fun playing it at our last department meeting.  To make your own, you can start from scratch or import from Quizlet, which is what I did.  I used it in class a couple times to practice numbers, and the students loved it.  They are still asking me when we are going to play it again.  Have you ever played Gimkit with your students?

Connect 4
I found this resource on Stephanie Bass' blog.  You can visit her blog to download the template.  The idea is that students take turns rolling two dice, and add the numbers out loud.  The student fills in a number on the sheet that matches the total they rolled.  Students use different colored pencils or markers to fill in.  The first to get four in a row wins.

Online Quizzes
Since going 1:1 this year, it has been really easy to give assessments online.  I've been using Canvas, our school's new learning management system, to create and administer them.  I love how it gives you an overview of how students did, an item analysis, and a place to give feedback or comments to the student.  Now instead of passing back papers, I just have them login and see how they did.  I also love the immediate feedback on multiple choice questions.  Now when I want a student to correct their work, I direct them back to the assessment online instead of a piece of paper they might have lost.  Do you give assessments online?  What platform did you use?

Vieux McDonald
My colleague Robin introduced me to this great idea.  One day last year, I heard lots of fun singing coming from her classroom, so I asked her what she was doing.  She explained that she had her kids sing "Old McDonald" in Spanish to practice pronouncing the vowels (they say A-E-I-O-U instead of E-I-E-I-O).  She also uses it to teach the animal sounds.  She gave signs to students to hold up when their animal came up, and then only that student made the sound of the animal.  She even gave me her signs because she was retiring, so all I had to do was pull the Spanish labels off and replace them with French ones.  It was a fun and goofy activity enjoyed by all!

1:1
This year, not only do we have a full class set of iPads to share among our department, but each student also has their own Dell Cloudbook.  This makes games like Quizlet Live (above) a lot easier to play.  Students can also access programs like Microsoft Word on their devices and easily create work to turn in digitally.  I can on the fly have them access a variety of programs on their devices if I want to do a quick wrap-up activity.  It's fun uncovering all the benefits of 1:1 as the year unfolds.  If your school is 1:1, what is your favorite thing about it?

Back to School 2018 Post

Well I don't know about you, but my summer sure flew by.  I have a lot to look forward to this year at school.  Here's what's got me excited for the year to come:

ACTFL in New Orleans
My colleague Robin and I will be attending ACTFL in New Orleans for the first time in November.  I am excited to learn new things, meet other language teachers, and see New Orleans for the first time.  Are you going to ACTFL?  If so, please let me know in the comments!

Revamped Curriculum
Robin and I revised our middle school French curriculum this summer, moving away from a grammar-heavy approach and more towards a comprehensible input model.  I know the students are going to benefit from the changes we have made, and I will enjoy teaching it more!

1:1
This year, for the first time, all my students will have Cloudbooks.  We also have a set of 30 iPads in our department, 10 of which are new this year thanks to a grant.  I am looking forward to being a 1:1 classroom for the first time, and using some of my favorite apps and programs in different ways, as well as some new ones.  What are your favorite 1:1 programs?

What are you looking forward to this year?

Les adjectifs positifs: A Self-Esteem Boosting Community Building Activity

I came up with the idea for this activity at the New York State Middle School Association Annual Conference in October.  At one of the sessions I attended, two of my colleagues presented on community building activities.  One of the activities they shared involved a student sitting in a chair and classmates coming up and writing positive things about them behind them on the board.  I adapted the idea a little bit for the French classroom.  I gave each student a list of positive adjectives (below), many of which they had already just learned and were practicing.  On the back of the list, I told them to each write their name.  Then they passed the sheet to the person next to them.  On the new person's sheet, they wrote one positive adjective in French, paying attention to masculine and feminine.  They continued this until everyone had a chance to write on everyone's sheet, or until we ran out of time.  At the end, each student had a nice keepsake.

Have you ever done an activity like this?

Beg Borrow or Steal III: 7 More Great Ideas from Other Teachers

Back in 2014, I wrote a post called "Beg Borrow, and Steal: 7 Great Ideas from Other Blogs."  In 2016, I followed that up with "Beg Borrow or Steal Part II:  7 More Great Ideas from Other Teachers."  Since then, I have gathered some more resources from other teachers that I'd like to share with you here.

Color by Numbers
I first found this idea on Anne Karakash's blog Confesiones y Realidades.  Basically, you give the students a chart with numbers 1-100 (or fewer, as I did below), then the teacher calls out numbers, and the students color them in.  At the end it makes an image.  The one I did below is an Ê.  The students have a blast trying to figure out what it is as they're coloring!




ESP
I found this idea on Wendy Brownell's blog, who in turn got the idea from Helena Curtain.  Basically you give students a list of questions, and they answer for themselves and then predict how their partner will answer.  The partners then share answers and see who's a better guesser!




4 Corners
I got this idea from the Creative Language Class, but you've probably heard about this game before.  It's a great way to reinforce vocabulary.  The teacher projects on the board a question or a sentence starter, and then a response for each corner of the room.  Students move to the corner of the room that represents them.  To add a little twist, you can make it into a game.  After each question, spin a spinner (1-4) to indicate which corner of the room is eliminated.  Continue this until only one student remains.



Dix
I first blogged about this game in my post 10 Great Ways to Practice Numbers.  Students take turns counting to ten. Each student can say one, two, or three numbers. The person who lands on ten is out. You can keep going after ten, and have anyone who lands on a multiple of ten being out. This activity comes from Valérie Greer and Wendy Mercado, two middle school language teachers who presented some fantastic hands-on activities at the NYSAFLT Summer Institute. Visit their website to learn about more of their activities.

Abstract Art
I first blogged about this activity in my post Les Parties du Corps. A colleague of mine gave me the idea for this hilarious activity. A student comes up to the board, puts one hand over his eyes, and proceeds to draw various body parts that the class calls out in French, one by one. The result is this extremely abstract version of a person that's sure to elicit a few laughs, especially from the person who drew it.





Picture Description
I first read about this on Maris Hawkins' blog.  It's a great warm up activity.  You show the students a bunch of pictures, and they have to look at them and memorize what's going on in them, in silence, for 30-60 seconds.  Afterwards they write what's going on in each photo without being able to look at them.


Speed Friending
Speed dating, or speed friending as I like to call it, is an activity that many teachers use to promote speaking.  Two teachers I've learned about it from are Meghan Chance and the anonymous blogger Learning to Teach Also Teaching to Learn.  Basically, students interview each other to find out who their ideal friend would be.  What I have students do is fill in an interest inventory saying things they do and don't do (this is sort of like a cheat sheet to help them speak during the interviews), then fill in the questions at the bottom with the same information from the top to ask their classmates.   They put their classmates' initials in the boxes and then check off if they answer the questions positively.  I have students sit in twos, and after a few minutes of interviewing, they switch partners.  We repeat this for as many rounds as we have time for.  At the end of class students announce who their ideal friends are based on which classmate answered more of their questions positively.



Have you tried any of these activities in your class?  What did you do differently?