This summer, I had the privilege of teaching a beginner French lab at The Agen Workshop. In response to requests from several participants, I’m excited to share my plans and materials in this post. I hope these resources will be valuable as you prepare for the upcoming school year.
Note: This class included 10 consenting adults, allowing for a faster pace and deeper exploration than I would use with middle school students. For example, 20 minutes of Personalized Questions & Answers (PQA) would be challenging with 12-year-olds. Nevertheless, the goals, flow, strategies, and materials used remain highly relevant to any beginner classroom.
PS: If you are reading this in your email, I recommend reading it on my blog instead as some of the previous pictures have not been going through email.
DAY 5 GOALS
- Reading a book together: let’s find success and community in reading a book together
- Manie Musicale: let’s continue to talk about deeper topics using simple language
DAY 5 LESSON PLAN
- How do we feel in French (5 min)
- Focus on 7 feelings: “happy” “anxious” “tired”+ “grateful” “confident” “proud” + “sad”
- I had to use “sad” on the last day because I was genuinely sad for this class to end.
- Read more about SEL check-ins here.
- La Planete grise in French (45 min)
- I did not use any slides. I told my students I wanted to do more picture talking of the book and also reading the text out-loud. I also shared I had struggled the day before and asked them what I could do to let them know when I was not reading from the book . To my surprise, they responded they did not need a signal, that they could tell when I was reading and when I was describing the illustrations. [I do think if I choose to picture talk this book with my younger students this year, I will use a signal such as “Tout le monde regarde” to indicate they ned to look up and look at the image I am picture talking. I need to chew some more on this idea.]
- At this point in the book, there are a lot of sound effects, so I told them they were welcome to read the sound effects out-loud. That made the whole reading even more fun and also allowed me to see that they were following along!
- The second half of the book is a little harder but we pressed on slowly and deliberately, with comprehension checks, supporting one another as we went.
- When we finished reading, I asked them to browse the list of reflexion questions on page 22. I have written these questions so anyone could find a question at their proficiency level. I asked them to think about how they would answer the question of their choice.
- After giving them enough think time, I asked if there were any volunteers. A few students provided an answer at their level, some with one word, some with a full sentence, some with strings of sentences. It was amazing to see differentiation at play and each of them finding success!
- Debrief in English (10 min)
- The debrief was led by my thoughtful colleague Anna Gilcher.
- She asked students “how did Cécile make herself Comprehensible, make you feel Comfortable, and make the content Compelling?”
- FORMAL BREAK (20 min)
- Manie Musicale fourth match: Julien vs Julien 🙂 (60 min)
- We had a big reveal of the winner from the third match.
- I used this slideshow and if you have read the previous days, you know the sequence by now!
- The reflection questions were once again deep while written in simple language.
- You must check out this video of my students reading a biography in teams and how I address two “mistakes” they made during the reading (by biting my tongue an waiting for the right moment). Reading chorally has proven benefits, it lowers the affective filter, boosts student’s confidence, and increases fluency. I am so, so proud of them!
- At the end of the reading, one student finally asked the question I had been waiting for all week!! I had been using inclusive language all week (feelings slide and any reading). He asked why I was writing certain words with a DOT. It was time to give them a quick explanation. Students are more likely to remember an explanation if they actually ASKED for it. In the meantime, I just keep normalizing inclusive language.
This lab was such a joyful, rewarding, and exhausting week. Seeing most of my students grow exponentially during the week while thoroughly enjoying themselves was exhilarating. Hearing feedback from observers about the strategies I used and the choices I made throughout the week was also really helpful and I would be remiss if I did not thank Karen Heinzmann for her uplifting daily feedback. And finally, I am very grateful to Anna Gilcher, my extraordinary lab facilitator, and to Judith Dubois, the inspiring conference organizer, for trusting me again with a lab. I hope this series of posts will support a few teachers as they look to providing more input in a natural and inclusive way to their students.
Feel free to leave questions and comments. Merci!