Monday, December 16, 2013

Fun with graham wafers!

Each month the languages department in our school holds a multi-cultural seminar where we bring in students who study both French or Spanish to participate in an activity.  This month we wanted to do something a little bit different and so we held a 'monuments making' activity class.  We began by showing some prominent French and Spanish monuments or buildings such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral in France.  The students created their own versions of the monuments out of milk carton bases, graham wafers, royal icing, jujubes, candies, mints, licorice, etc......  Here are just two of the creations that we are most proud of.  :)  The students are still talking about this activity and students from all over the school have heard about it and have come by our classroom to have a look! 
 
la Tour Eiffel
la Cathédrale de Notre Dame

Friday, December 6, 2013

Allons-nous à la plage?

Non!  We are not going to the beach but your students will have fun with this one!  This is a wonderful idea that I picked up at a conference just over a year ago now and have just had the opportunity to try it in my classroom this year.  For each unit that you teach, write a variety of questions about that unit on the beach ball.  When you're busy taking attendance and the students are waiting for you or when you have a few minutes at the end of class, toss the ball out into the audience.  Yes - to your students! :) When a student catches the ball he or she must answer the question wherever his thumbs are.  That means of course that your student has a choice of two questions but that's certainly ok! The student must first read the question aloud and then come up with an answer to the question in French, bien sûr! The students then take turns tossing the beach ball to each other.  If the same question comes up, that student must answer the question touching the other thumb!   :)