16 novembre 2016
Trimester 1 News from the French Room
Dear 5-8 Parents,
I teach French using Comprehensive Input, a method also called TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling). The student’s job is to absorb the language (receiving input) and to respond appropriately. Since they need hundreds of hours of input before they can be expected to provide output, they do not have to speak in complete sentences until they are ready. Additionally, since they are acquiring language through input, not learning it by memorizing, it is crucial for the student to strive to always pay attention and stay engaged in the class and, when appropriate, to respond verbally and nonverbally with one word answers or physical gestures. This is the student’s number one responsibility in this class. To maintain the lesson, calling out and making comments is not allowed.
Think of what it was like working with a baby in their first language – communication begins with the baby’s close attention to the caregiver’s face and the interaction of facial expressions between them. The mother’s talk supplements the facial expressions and actions. After a certain amount of this input, the mother talks to the baby and expects her words to be understood and expects more of a response from the baby: when asked “Where is the toy?” The baby will either look under the pillow, showing it understands, or continue to stare at the mother without looking showing he doesn’t understand.
Similarly, my primary form of assessment is student interaction. A student who responds consistently and promptly to simple questions with yes, no or signals that I am being unclear is interacting with me. When they are listening, their facial expression communicates to me that s/he understands or doesn’t. This is the best assessment I can ask for, and is the responsibility of the student to provide it to me. That is why I remind them to sit up, move their hands away from their faces and turn their bodies toward me, so they will be in the best position to successfully interact with me.
I give comprehension assessments in class, with true-false questions, story drawing, skits, sentence writing, and a variety of other methods. This format is used because students who are not ready to speak in sentences or paragraphs can show their understanding in many ways.
Additionally, we will read in French this year: primer novels, books for young children, recipes, maps, web sites… We incorporate music, art and video into our lessons. 7th and 8th grades will receive more intentional instruction in verb charts, parts of speech, etc… to dovetail with the area high school programs, should they want to attend French 2 freshman year.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. I am attending the ACTFL national conference in Boston Friday-Sunday, so I will regretfully not be at the conferences past 3pm on Thursday. Merci beaucoup! Helen Prakelt Bishop,
16 novembre 2016
Trimester 1 News from the French Room
Dear k-4 Parents,
I teach our weekly k-4 French classes using a variety of strategies:
- Comprehensive Input, a method also called TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling). The student’s job is to absorb the language (receiving input) and to respond appropriately. Since they need hundreds of hours of input before they can be expected to provide output, they do not have to speak in complete sentences until they are ready. Additionally, since they are acquiring language through input, not learning it by memorizing, it is crucial for the student to strive to always pay attention and stay engaged in the class and, when appropriate, to respond verbally and nonverbally with one word answers or physical gestures. This is the student’s number one responsibility in this class.
- Frequent movement breaks, which include dance, vocabulary, games, and music
- Short Videos, Books and Props to create context to speak French and introduce specific vocabulary.
Think of what it was like working with a baby in their first language – communication begins with the baby’s close attention to the caregiver’s face and the interaction of facial expressions between them. The mother’s talk supplements the facial expressions and actions. After a certain amount of this input, the mother talks to the baby and expects her words to be understood and expects more of a response from the baby: when asked “Where is the toy?” The baby will either look under the pillow, showing it understands, or continue to stare at the mother without looking showing he doesn’t understand.
My primary form of assessment is student interaction. A student who responds consistently and promptly to simple questions with yes or no or signals that I am being unclear is interacting with me, and when they are listening, their facial expression communicate to me that s/he understands or doesn’t. This is the best assessment I can ask for, and is the responsibility of the student to provide it to me. That is why I remind them to sit up, move their hands away from their faces and turn their bodies toward me, so they will be in the best position to successfully interact with me.
In Trimester 1, we used vocabulary from these themes (and others):
- Greetings and Responses
- Counting
- Colors as adjectives (after the noun)
- Active verbs / Giving Commands
- Body parts
- Emotions / Describing feelings
- Descriptive adjectives