Now that the prep is done for your students to present or participate in an oral French activity how is it going to play out in the class?
I always had a few favourite ways to promote and practice French speaking in my classes. As a language teacher I always had to remind myself and OTHERS that a noisy classroom does not mean an unruly one when it comes to a Second language class. Many times someone would wander into the class and find that my students were busy at work when they thought things were a little out of control from the buzz down the hallway. Luckily for the languages teachers, we had a cluster of rooms at the end of a hallway where the buzz was NORMAL. I will share 2 of them with you here.
Let’s start with the Marketplace activity. This one is great for a class that needs to be moving around. It’s particularly good for junior high school where the students are fidgety if they are required to sit for too long. Using themed topics like a grammar concept that you have been working on works really well. Using a one-sided worksheet, there are often 4-5 questions at the top half of the page. Then, a “final” question is one that the students make up on their own. It’s good to have them write this one on the worksheet before the activity begins. For a “limited” amount of time, say 15-20 minutes the students stand up and circulate around the room asking each other the questions. On the bottom half of the worksheet is an answer table where the students write the question down, the name of the person who gave them the answer and the answer itself. If sitting at tables, be sure to tell the students that they can only ask one of those students at the same table a question. They must circulate around the room and ask 5-6 different classmates. Upon completion, they submit the sheets and you can randomly ask questions to individuals in the class. It’s a quick check to see if they actually answered the questions!
Next, is the onion! Yes, I agree it’s a strange name but my students always knew what I was referring to when I said we were going to do an onion activity. Other teachers call it the “inside/outside circle” activity. This works best if you have an even number of students in the class BUT when there’s an odd number of students YOU get to play too! Open space will need to be made in the middle of the class. 2 circles of chairs are to be placed in a circle, one circle facing the outside of the classroom and the other circle faces towards the inside of the circle. Basically, there are pairs of chairs facing each other in a circle where the students can sit. The topic for this one really can be anything you are working on. Use a one-sided sheet of questions. 10 is a good number where there is also a line on which students can write their answers down OR they can write down a possible answer BEFORE the activity begins. The students each have their sheet of questions (and possible answers that they did for homework maybe) with them. The students who sit in the middle circle DO NOT MOVE. The students who sit in the outer circle will move to their right when you call ‘L’OIGNON ‘. Since the “answers written down” are only possible answers, no writing takes place during the activity and you can do this activity easily for 20-25 minutes with older students and there is little movement in the class. Each time the outer circle of students move, the inner circle of students asks a different question. The question does not have to be in the order that is on the sheet. It’s a random draw of questions but if all students have done their prep they should have some kind of answer in their heads or on their questions sheet in front of them. To add a greater complexity to the activity, have the students giving the answers, close their sheets in half so they can only see half of the sheet. (vertically adds variety as they can only see the first half of the questions AND answers). Half way through your planned “time” for the activity switch the roles of the students. Now the outer circle that is moving will be asking the questions. Practice of listening and speaking skills for everyone.
I always loved being able to participate because then I had greater opportunity to help correct errors, pronunciation or just give HELP in general. It’s also a great way for you to do some formative evaluation and have a better idea what you still need to work on with your students.
Have fun with these!
Lorraine
No comments:
Post a Comment