Running Dictée: I love this activity because it forces students to memorize grammatical structures! Mwahaha!
"Musical Chairs": Have students write on their desk with a dry erase marker. They will write something (a word, a phrase, a conjugation, etc). Each student writes something different. Then play some music and the students must walk around the classroom. When the music stops they must find a desk and copy what is written. (Note: There is a desk for everyone and no on can repeat desks!)
Slap Game!: Make note cards and have students sit in a circle. Have them put all the cards down and one student acts as the caller. They will say the name of the card in English. The students will then race to grab the correct one. The student with the most at the end wins!
Notecard shuffle: Have student rearrange their notecards into different piles. Great if you want to incorporate higher level thinking.
QUIA: This website has all types of free games made for different books. Or pay and make your own games, quizzes, etc!
Charades
Pictionary
Vocabulary Ladder: Make two columns of words, one column is a set of vocab words the other is it's definition. Student will then need to "climb" the ladder by reading the word and giving the definition. When the make a mistake they switch places and their partner gets to climb the ladder. However, every time they make a mistake they must restart from the bottom!
I wanted to share this new writing activity with you! I call it "Vocabulaire en tête!" It's a writing strategy that I use to improve fluency and give individual attention! I also think the students like it and it is how we normally start our Monday class in Français 3!
I have a worksheet which I will gladly share but students could do this on their own sheet of paper! I start by showing them a picture with A LOT going on. Here are some that I have shown students in the past.
Any image with a lot going on will do! "Where's Waldo?" images work well because students find a lot to talk about. Another great idea is a one minute video! You could watch it or just listen to it.
When they've had a good long look, I then give them 5 minutes to brainstorm as many words as they can on their own. They write verbs and nouns in their respective category. I then give them another 5 minutes to look up words they want to use on their phones!
We then share all the words and definitions on the board. Students copy all the new words on their sheets. They then have 10 minutes to write as much as they can! I tell them not to worry about grammar! (I also encourage them to either A. describe the image/video as they are or B. make a story out of what's happening.) When the 10 minutes are up I give them another few to correct any mistakes and to make sure they didn't repeat the same mistakes as their last "vocabulaire en tête." We then read our stories aloud to the class.
By saving these and stapling them together student can see their own progress! It also makes it easier for students to set and achieve goals. It could also be fun to give a challenge! Like today try to use faire causatif, direct object pronouns, or multiple verb tenses!
Today I wanted to share some tips I have learned for making quizzes more secure when testing in my classroom! I have been incorporating more and more technology into my classroom this year. When things go wrong technology can become very frustrating. So in order to save you from pulling out your beautiful hair, I have decided to share some tips so that you can learn from my mistakes! (Not to mention save some time!)
1. Turn off automatic fill-in for forms!
Choose the three parallel bars in the top right corner of the Google Chrome browser and go to settings. You will need to scroll down to advanced settings. Then make sure the box marked “Enable Autofill to fill out web forms in a single click” is unchecked! I always make my students do this part before every quiz. I just sort of patrol and make sure they have done it. For the most part, this has not been a problem!
2. Password protect!
It is important to password protect your quizzes! I found out the hard way that this is a necessary step. If you are using Google Classroom or the like, students receive updates that new items are posted to their site. (One of my darling chouchous decided to preview my quiz and accidently hit the submit button,) Since then I have password protected all my quizzes and activities. It is quite simple and very customizable. I suggest creating an exam template. That way you can skip the steps of adding a new password block, name, hour, etc. and other miscellaneous information you ask students to give each time. Then we will create our password.
1.First create a short answer block.
2.After filling in your password directive, click the three vertical circles for additional options.
3.Choose data validation. Where is said number, change it to “regular expression”
4.Then instead of contains, change it to matches.
5.For the pattern, you will input whatever password you like with the character ^ above it.
6.The error text shows what will appear if they put in the wrong answer. Feel free to get creative!
The next two steps are the most important for making sure your password works!!
7.Make sure you click required! Otherwise, it is useless.
8.Make sure you include a page break after this section. There will be no point in using the password other than to submit the form. (Although that may be a good idea for assignments that need teacher approval before submission!)
9.All that’s left to do is preview your password to make sure it is functioning. Click what looks like the eye at the top of the form to preview it and test it out!
3. GET FLUBAROO!
Flubaroo is a dream come true when it comes to grading. After you have completed your exam you can choose to save your results in a Google Sheet. Under where it says “Add-ons” simply select Flubaroo and download. This little gem will grade all kinds of exact answers for you. Or you can always print student answers and grade manually. I have found this to help me a lot with the consistency of my grading!
4. Attach accents!
One important thing for language teachers to remember is that accent codes will need to be included for PC users. I normally attach an image on the top so students need only to refer to it. (I start each semester with a short and sweet activity for students to practice writing accents in French!) Mac users have it easy, kids adapt readily to holding down the key for the accents to appear. By posting it at the top, students need only to have one tab open at a time. It may also be a good idea to print them and hand them out.
****Word to the wise, some Chrome books cannot type accents!!!
5. Get in there and feel it out!
There are a lot of different things you can do with the forms. Such as receive emails with all new submissions, analyze student responses with data, and most importantly save everything you need on the cloud!
Bonne chance! -La Prof
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Bonjour à tous et à toutes!
New ressources here to share! These have been in my TpT store for a while but I haven't had the chance to so a write up yet.
So for the first time I have been creating my own content for my Advanced French Course (French 3 and 4 combined class). The class is conducted 100% in the target language. We have been having a great time and I wanted to share with you the Napoleon Trivia Game I created. It is all in French, but not too hard to understand. Here are some sample images.
I have also uploaded a TPRS story that I wrote for Halloween. It is for beginners but words and phrases could be swapped out for all ages of language learners! Here is the LINK FOR THE STORY.
I would appreciate it if you left me some reviews, good or bad! :)
I made this the other day and I thought others could use this new vocab activity! It is a great last minute lesson plan or substitute plan. I used it when I was ill and it took students the whole 70 minute period! It is free on my Teachers Pay Teachers account! Download it here!
This activity is crazy adaptable to any language and level! Hope this helps!
