Category Archives: French 3 Units

In a Nutshell: 5 Steps to Designing a Thematic Unit

As a result of several recent questions by members of my PLN who are beginning their journey to a more proficiency-based methodology, I have created this outline of the steps I take when creating a thematic unit. While I am planning a series of posts with more detailed information about each step, I’ve included basic information about the process I use, as well as an agenda (updated 8/4/18) with resources for an Intermediate Low unit on vacations, in this post.

Step 1: Determine what I want the students to be able to do at the end of the unit and write a Can-Do statement for each mode of communication. Because ACTFL has not yet released their new version of the Can-Do Statements, I based these Can-Do’s on the current benchmarks. These statements are based on the Intermediate Low descriptors, which is my targeted performance level for these students.

Interpersonal Communication: I can participate in conversations about vacations using simple sentences.
Presentational Speaking: I can present information on a vacation using a series of simple sentences.
Presentational Writing: I can write briefly about a vacation using a series of simple sentences.
Interpretive Listening: I can understand the main idea in short, simple messages and presentations about vacations.
Interpretive Reading: I can understand the main idea of short and simple texts about vacations.

Step 2: Create the Integrated Performance Assessment. For an in-depth explanation of how I design IPA’s, please refer to this previous post. In short, I 1) Select an authentic written and/or recorded resource, 2) Create a comprehension guide based on the ACTFL IPA template, 3) Create an interpersonal task based on the authentic text and 4) Create a presentational writing and/or speaking task based on the authentic resource and interpersonal task.

Step 3: Identify the structures, vocabulary and skills the students need in order to demonstrate the targeted proficiency level on the IPA. In this unit, I determined that the students would need to learn/acquire the following language, structures and content.

Vocabulary related to the topic of vacations. This would include terms for vacation activities, lodging, transportation, etc. While these students will be familiar with some leisure activities that are part of a typical vacation, a greater variety of vocabulary will allow for more detailed performances.
The ability to use past tenses to describe vacations they have taken. While these students used some past tenses in French 2, they will need lots of exposure and practice to be able to use these structures, albeit with expected errors, on these performances. Because the descriptor, “I can usually talk about events and experiences in various time frames” is part of the Intermediate High benchmark, it will be some time before I will expect these students to easily use these structures. However, by providing opportunities for students to use past tenses in a variety of contexts in this unit I am preparing them to eventually reach this level of proficiency.
Cultural background on French products, practices and perspectives. Because I assess my students’ cultural competence as part of each mode of communication, it is important that they have adequate preparation in determining these aspects of culture throughout the unit.

Step 4. Create a series of lessons that will allow the students to demonstrate the targeted proficiency level on the IPA. Having determined the students’ needs in terms of vocabulary, structures and content, I create individual lessons designed to fill these gaps. These lessons will provide the students with multiple exposures to the targeted vocabulary and structures as well as learning activities that will allow the students to practice/receive feedback on their use of these structures. Here is a simple explanation of the steps that I usually take in designing each individual lesson for a thematic unit.

A. Determine an organizational structure for the lessons. Based on the theme of a given unit, there are many ways to break the topic into smaller subtopics to provide an integrated structure for individual lessons. In general, I find it works best to begin with lessons that will provide general information on the topic before focusing on more specific details. So in this case, I began with lessons focusing on general vacation practices and then added tasks related to specifics such as beach destinations, vacation activities, traveling with friends, camping vacations and packing for vacation. Because I curate authentic resources on Pinterest boards for each unit that I teach, I often begin the process of creating subtopics by looking at the resources I already have, and grouping them according to subtopic. This saves a considerable amount of time compared to choosing subtopics and then finding appropriate resources. (Of course, I end up searching for additional resources after I have a skeleton of the unit design.)

B. Create a hook for the lesson. I choose an authentic written or recorded text to present at the beginning of each lesson. Presenting simple texts such as infographics or short videos allows me to provide comprehensible input as I talk about the information in the text and ask personalized questions incorporating the vocabulary, structure and content of the text. Click here for a transcript of a sample discussion during the hook portion of the first lesson in this unit based on this infographic.

C. Design an interpretive activity for the lesson. I choose an authentic resource that the students will read or listen to and create a corresponding learning activity/formative assessment that will allow the students to interact with this text. While I will go into greater detail about this aspect of lesson design in a future post, you will find several different examples in this and other units in this blog. In my opinion, this is the most important part of each lesson, as it provides the basis of the interpersonal and presentational activities that follow. In addition, because I don’t use a textbook in my classroom, the authentic resources used in the hook and interpretive activities provide the vocabulary and some structures that the students will use in their performance assessments. Note: You will notice that most of the authentic resources used for the interpretive activities in this unit are written texts. In order to ensure that my students have adequate opportunities to interpret recorded texts, I’ve included several video-based formative assessments (using Edpuzzle) that the students will complete in class or at home throughout the unit.

D. Construct an interpersonal activity based on the content, vocabulary and/or structures in the authentic resource. The interpersonal activity provides students with an opportunity to use the vocabulary and structures that were introduced in the authentic resource to create their own meaning. In addition, as they negotiate meaning on these tasks they are practicing the skills they will use on the IPA with additional scaffolding. Based on the authentic resource and the targeted proficiency level, I incorporate a variety of different types of interpersonal activities. At the novice level, I often focus on vocabulary-building activities such as those described in this post or even this one. As students reach the Intermediate level and are able to create more with the language, I often integrate interpersonal and interpretive activities by having the students co-create graphic organizers (such as in the 1st and 2nd lesson in this unit) or discuss responses on target language interpretive assessments.

E. Devise a presentational writing and/or speaking formative assessment. These activities provide the students with scaffolded opportunities to synthesize the vocabulary and structures introduced in the lesson to create a written or oral product. The scaffolding provided in these formative assessments, as well as the individualized feedback I will give on many of these tasks, will provide the support the students need to demonstrate growth in proficiency on the IPA. Note: While I have included an idea for a written or spoken presentational task for each lesson, it is unlikely that time will permit me to actually assign all of these tasks. Instead, I will choose from among those tasks as time allows.

Step 5: Administer and assess the IPA. Because the format of the IPA mimics the organizational structure of the lessons in the unit, the students should feel confident in their ability to be successful on this assessment.

Stay tuned for additional posts on each step of the lesson design and let me know if you have any questions!

Image Credit: http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Peanut-Shell-Nutshell-Peanut-Shell-Nuts-Nut-390081

A Votre Sante: A Unit for Intermediate Low French Students

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As we begin creating our own thematic units, rather than relying on those presented in our textbooks, we are faced with the challenge of selecting themes that are relevant to our students while at the same time preparing them for authentic situations in the target culture as well as high-stakes testing such as IB or AP. In creating this unit, my goal was to help my students learn the vocabulary they would need to express the symptoms of common illnesses as well as study health concerns that are relevant to them at this point of their lives (such as stress and lack of sleep). I also wanted to lay the foundation for other health-related topics that will be included in next year’s IB curriculum. Here’s a quick summary of this unit and a full agenda, to which the materials are linked, can be accessed here. (New link added 5/25/18)

Day 1: I started the unit with the topic of stress because I thought this would hook the students. I began by projecting an infographic showing symptoms, sources, and remedies for stress. (Note: As I selected sections of the infographic to project, I was intentional about which effects of stress I projected in order to avoid those that were less appropriate for class.) Discussing this infographic provided an opportunity to provide lots of input to the students and introduce them to the vocabulary they would be using throughout the unit. After this input phase, I projected images from an infographic and had the students discuss what they saw in each picture, as well as what stress reduction strategy was being depicted. (The students discussed with a partner, and then I randomly chose students to share their ideas with the class.) I then projected the original infographic so that the students could compare their ideas to those of the original author.

Day 2: As a lesson hook, I showed a short video about stress and exams. I then had the students discuss pre-reading questions related to their own stress, followed by a short comprehension guide for a 1jour1actu article about kids and stress. Using French comprehension questions, rather than English IPA-style questions, allowed us to discuss this formative assessment as a class. The students then discussed what they had learned from the article, as well as their own stress, in order to create a Venn diagram comparing student stress in France and the U.S. Lastly the students wrote a paragraph comparing and contrasting stress in the two cultures.

Day 3: I began this lesson, which focused on the role of exercise, by projecting an infographic with data about French health habits, especially those related to exercise. Asking questions about the infographic, as well as personalized questions about the students’ habits, provided input for this lesson. The students then completed an interpersonal activity in which they formulated French questions (based on an English cue) which their partner answered based on information in his/her infographic. Lastly, the students completed a comprehension guide on a short video about exercise.

Day 4: Because I had a 90-minute block on this day, I assigned a series of learning stations to enable the students to use all modes to communicate about the role of sleep in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. At the interpersonal station, each student was given an infographic about the effects of a lack of sleep. The students discussed the information in their infographics and filled in a graphic organizer with facts that were found only on Infographic A, only on Infographic B, or on both infographics. I encouraged the students to share simple facts, using their own words, rather than reading directly from the infographic in order to ensure their partner’s comprehension and encourage negotiation of meaning. At the reading station, the students read a 1jour1actu article about sleep and filled in a graphic organizer with main ideas and supporting details. At the listening station, the students first watched a video and filled in a graphic organizer with main ideas and supporting details, and then completed an Edpuzzle for a second video.

Day 5: As a hook to this lesson I played the Stromae song, le Sommeil. I then had the students interview a partner about his/her sleeping habits, based on the ideas from the first video from the previous day’s lesson. In order to ensure an adequate negotiation of meaning, I created an A and B form, so that each member of the dyad had different topics to discuss. The students then wrote a message to their partner in which they gave advice, based on the video, about how their partner could improve his/her sleeping habits. In order to introduce an interpersonal component to this writing, I may have the students write a response to the message they receive, indicating whether or not they will follow the advice and why/why not.

Day 6: I provided input to this lesson on common illness by projecting an interactive quiz about colds and flu. After submitting the class’s responses to the questions and projecting the results, I projected a comic that the students discussed with a partner before discussing as a class. The students then watched a short video about the flu and completed a comprehension guide. Lastly, the students completed an interpersonal activity in which they compared the symptoms of a cold and the flu based on infographics they read.

Day 7: Because I had a sub on the day of this lesson, the students worked individually on an IPA-format reading comprehension guide to accompany an infographic on the flu. (Most students did not have time to also completed the comprehension guide for the cartoon video I included with this lesson.)

Day 8: Students continued their study of common illnesses by watching a cartoon video and then writing a message in which they explain their symptoms and treatment to a principal in order to excuse their absence. (I didn’t use the speaking activities in this packet this year, but have left them in the document for anyone who might be able to use them.)

Day 9: While preparing this unit, I curated several health-related infographics that I did not feel warranted an entire lesson. I used these “orphan” infographics as a basis for a short presentational speaking activity. In this one 90-minute period the students selected the topic that most interested them, read the corresponding infographic and then prepared a Google Presentation with images that would help them remember the key facts of the infographic, as well as ensure that their listeners understood the information they would present. During the last 20 minutes of the period, I conducted a health fair. The class was divided into two equal groups and one half of the students presented while the other half chose a presentation to listen to. The listeners took notes on what they learned from each presentation. After several rotations, the two groups traded places so that the listeners became the presenters and vice versa. The advantage of this style of presentational activity was that presenting to one classmate at a time reduces anxiety for the speakers, while still allowing me to assess each student as I circulate during the presentations.

Days 10-12: Next week the students will read a Petit Nicolas story called “Je suis malade.” On each day, I will play the recorded version of about a third of the story as the students read along. (I have a hard copy of the story from the book in which it is found, but the text can easily be found on line.) They will then complete the true/false (with justification) items that correspond to that day’s reading in small groups. This question format encourages interpersonal communication as the questions are written in French and many require deeper interpretation of the text. Depending on time, I may also assign the grammar-based exercises that I’ve included in the packet.

Day 13: In order to review the story and practice circumlocution the students will complete a pair crossword puzzle. For this activity, each member of the dyad is given a crossword puzzle in which half of the clues have been filled in. The students must give his/her partner French clues so that s/he can fill in the answers on his/her own puzzle. My students love these puzzles and the last time I used one, two students asked if they could take it home and finish on the bus!

Day 14: The students will write Maman’s diary entry for the day that the majority of this story took place. This prompt will encourage the students to reread the story for details about Maman’s point of view as well as prepare them for tomorrow’s interpersonal assessment.

Day 15: The students will complete an interpersonal assessment by performing a role play based on the Petit Nicolas story. I will have the students practice the role play with several different partners, switching roles each time. I will then assign a partner and have all of the dyads simultaneously record their role plays. In this way I can assess all of the students in one day.

Day 16: The students will complete an Edpuzzle for a cartoon video based on this story. Due to the differences between the story and the cartoon, I prefer to leave this assessment for the end, so that the students don’t mix up what they read with what they watched on the interpersonal and presentational assessments.

As always, I welcome feedback on this unit!

Le Gaspillage Alimentaire: A Mini-Unit for Intermediate Low French Students

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One of the first units that I shared on this blog was a series of lessons on food waste. When I found myself with a couple of available weeks with my French 3 students right before Thanksgiving this year, this topic seemed like a great fit. Not only would we all be enjoying copious dinners, but the subject of food waste seems has begun to be addressed on American media. Click here (update 6/30/18) for the unit agenda, to which all materials have been linked. Here’s a short explanation of each lesson.

#1: As an introduction to the topic, we watched and discussed a video about food waste as a class. The students were then given one of two infographics about food waste and a graphic organizer. The students read their infographic and filled in as much information as possible in the graphic organizer. They then discussed their information with their partner (who had read the opposite graphic organizer) and wrote the additional information they gleaned from the conversation in the graphic organizer.

#2: As a hook to the second lesson we discussed a document with suggestions for avoiding food waste. The students then interviewed a partner about his/her own habits. Following this interview, the students wrote a message to their partners with suggestions for reducing the amount of food that they waste. Finally they completed an Edpuzzle for a video about food waste.

#3: I began this lesson by showing an anti-food waste announcement that we discussed as a class. The students then completed an Edpuzzle for a video in which a character gives recipes using leftovers. After completing the Edpuzzle, the students rewatched the video and wrote out the directions for each recipe.

#4: During this 90-minute class period, the students completed 3 different stations related to recipe preparation. At the listening station, they completed four different Edpuzzles for videos about food waste. At the reading station, they completed an activity in which they matched pictures from a recipe to the written description of the step shown in the picture. (Due to the nature of this activity, I am not able to share the materials here.) At the third station, the students chose one of the three videos from the previous day’s lesson, and practiced presenting it orally, using only the pictures they were given. After about 20 minutes of practice, they recorded themselves giving the recipe.

#5: This lesson began with a pre-reading discussion of doggy bags, which was following by an interpretive activity based on an infographic about this topic.

#6: In order to prepare for the interpersonal task on the IPA, the students participated in a Speed-friending activity by interviewing several classmates about their food waste habits and giving suggestions based on their partner’s responses.

#7: On our next block day the students completed the IPA for this mini-unit.

I was pleasantly surprised at the engagement level of many of my formerly reluctant learners during this mini-unit on a topic with important environmental implications.

Not just “man’s” best friend

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As many of you know, I relocated during the summer and am teaching in a new district after 15 years at my previous position. While I would like to say that my transition has been seamless, that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. I am discovering that it takes a long time to build the types of relationships that I took for granted in my previous role. While I know that with time I will develop the type of rapport with these students that I’ve enjoyed in the past, I wanted to speed up the process by spending time on a theme that might be more engaging to them. As I was thumbing through that month’s Okapi magazine looking for inspiration, I saw a series of articles that suggested a topic that I thought just might work. After all, what’s more fun to talk, read, listen and write about than…………..puppies and kittens?!?!?

So here it is, my first unit entirely devoted to kids and their pets.

As the agenda (Updated link: 7/3/18)demonstrates, I started by showing an infographic about the popularity of various pets in France. We discussed it as a class, compared which pets were most popular in our class and why different pets were more or less popular in France. The students then completed a graphic organizer with the advantages and disadvantages of each type of pet in their small groups. I have to admit, I had to do a bit of research by reading things like this guide before the lesson. I thought I knew everything there was to know about pets like rats and gerbils but it turns out I don’t know much at all! The lesson ended with an Edpuzzle based on a video in which an expert discusses the differences between cats and dogs.

I began the second day by projecting some Tweets in which people discussed their pets. We learned a lot about cultural perspectives regarding pets from these authentic texts and many of my students could identify with the sentiments expressed in the messages. Next I showed a video which introduced the vocabulary for items that new dog owners need. This included essential pet products like a dog basket or cage, a collar and lead, and even aspirin for dogs for any sick pets. This provided the students with the vocabulary they needed for the following activity in which the students “bought” items for their hypothetical puppy at French pet stores. The students were really engaged by choosing these items and enjoyed showing them off to their partners in the follow up activity. And they were able to recycle and reinforce old vocabulary too when talking about things like dog kennel prices. In order not to leave out the cat lovers, the lesson ended with a video/Edpuzzle about welcoming a new cat.

The third day began with a commercial featuring cute puppies which we discussed à la Movie Talk. Then the students read an article about dogs from an Astrapi magazine. After completing a comprehension guide, the students reviewed direct and indirect object pronouns with an activity based on the same article. This resource packet provided the students with a quick review.

The hook for the fourth lesson was a public service announcement that we discussed. As the lesson’s interpersonal activity, I had them look at an infographic for three minutes, and then discuss what they remembered with a partner. The students then read another infographic and completed a comprehension guide.

The fourth day’s hook was a quiz about dogs that I had the students take on their devices. We then discussed the questions and answers as a class and I gave a prize to the student with the highest score. The students then reviewed object pronouns with an additional Astrapi article before a “speed-friending” activity in which they interviewed classmates in order to select the best petsitter. (I encouraged the students to give outlandish answers if they didn’t think they’d enjoy petsitting). The students then wrote a message to the petsitter of their choice.

The fifth day started with a video in which a young man describes his relationship with his pet. There are a couple of “gros mots” in the video but since my students presumably don’t know these words, I felt comfortable showing it. The students were able to understand some of the video and we had a good discussion about pets being part of our family. Next the students watched a video (with an Edpuzzle) to prepare them for a role-play in which they would take turns playing the role of either a teen who wanted a pet or a parent who didn’t want one. Before turning the kids loose to have their conversations, I had them suggest reasons that a parent might give and I wrote these in French on the board. Students in each class shared with me that they had had this exact conversation with their parents, so they were experts on what parents would say! I then gave the students 3 minutes to have an unscripted conversation with their partner, and then another 3 minutes with the same partner, but with the opposite role. We then changed partners, and repeated the conversation (once for each role). After a third pairing, I assigned a fourth partner and had the students record their conversation on their devices so that I could provide feedback and a formative assessment score.

On the 6th day (Monday) we’ll watch and discuss a cat video. Then I’ll have the students watch a cartoon individually and answer questions using object pronouns. The final activity for the day is an article about a boy and his cat from the Okapi magazine that sparked the idea for this unit. I’ll probably allow the students to work in pairs on these activities to build in some interaction since there is no actual interpersonal activity in this lesson.

On Tuesday we’ll begin with a short video about adopting a cat and then the students will look at ads for adoptable cats and discuss whether they are interested in each one and why. I’ll write some phrases on the board as they come up to support their discussions. I’ll call on a few students to respond in order to provide some accountability for the activity. If time permits I might have the students write a short message explaining which can they would choose and why. Lastly, they’ll complete an Edpuzzle for a video about adopting a cat.

Our next lesson (which won’t be for a few days because of conferences and testing), will begin by discussing a video in which a young man discusses his dog. Next the students will discuss ads for adoptable dogs, just as they had done for the cats. I might extend this activity to have them try to convince their “sibling” that their choice is the best one for their family. Lastly, the students will watch a cartoon and complete an Edpuzzle.

The following day will be spent preparing for the IPA . I’ll have the students suggest some questions that a shelter employee might ask someone who wanted to adopt a dog or cat, as well as write a draft for the presentational writing.

The final day or two of this unit will be spent on the IPA . Although it’s a short unit (so that I will be left with enough time to cover the curriculum), I think it’s a worthwhile one. I have noted a much higher level of engagement during this unit than I had during the first few weeks of school, and I’m optimistic that the students’ enthusiasm will continue to grow as we all get to know each other better!

Starting off on the right foot: Using the language and getting to know each other

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As many of you know, I relocated over the summer and will be teaching in a new school this year. After spending the last 15 years in a building where August meant mostly reconnecting with my former students (only the Freshmen were new to me each year), in a couple of weeks I will welcome about 150 brand-new faces to my classroom. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared to death! As a relatively introverted, somewhat anxious person, the challenge of learning a whole new school culture, finding my way around a humongous new school, and connecting with all of those new students is nearly overwhelming.

While I have pledged to be patient with myself when it comes to finding my way around my school and its policies, getting to know my students simply can’t wait. Therefore, I’ll spend the first few days of school on learning activities that will help me learn more about my students, as well as introduce them to the types of communicative activities I’ll be assigning to help them increase their proficiency. Here’s what I have in mind for each of the classes I’ll be teaching:

French 2 In this class the students will be introducing themselves to the class by presenting a self-portrait.

Day 1 I’ll show the students these self-portraits from TV5Monde. As I project each one, I’ll facilitate class discussion by asking the students questions about what they see, as well as personalized questions using the same vocabulary. I’ve prepared this handout as a reference as I’m not sure whether they will have been introduced to the vocabulary required for these tasks. Next, the students will listen to these descriptions (Darius, Cheryl, Deivan Anastasia and complete this comprehension guide. (I’ve chosen to provide the students with direct links to the mp3 files rather than the TV5Monde website so that they do not have access to the transcripts.) For homework the students will prepare (and submit electronically) a self-portrait (drawing, painting, phone selfie).

Day 2 First the students to write out a script for presenting their self-portraits. As they are writing I will circulate and provide feedback. Next, the students will present their self-portrait to classmates using inside/outside circles. Finally the students will compare self-portraits with a partner and complete a Venn diagram with details they discuss.

French 3 In this class the students will be introducing themselves to the class by presenting 10 things about themselves.

Day 1 The students will work in small groups to read this blog (Edit 7/27/2019: While this blog is no longer available, a Google search of “Tag: Ma vie en 20 questions will yield many similar blogs that could be used for this activity.) and complete this comprehension guide. Then they will answer the same questions in the space provided. Finally, they will circulate among their classmates, asking questions in order to find a classmate who has the same answer for each question.

Day 2 The students will listen to this video and fill in this comprehension guide. I’ll then play the video and facilitate a class discussion by discussing what Benji says and asking personalized questions based on his information. Lastly, the students will write a script for their own “10 Things” presentation which will be submitted for feedback before being recorded.

French 4/5 In this class the students will be introducing themselves by preparing a presentation on 12 things they have done.

Day 1 The students will listen to this video and fill in this comprehension guide. I’ll then play the video and discuss it so that students have feedback on their comprehension. (7/28/19: This document has a hastily typed up partial key for the activity.)

Day 2 The students will read this blog and fill in this comprehension guide, which they will then discuss in small groups.

Day 3 The students will write a script for their own presentation of 12 things they have done. They will then trade papers with a classmate who will fill out this feedback form. The students will then revise their scripts, which will be graded according to this rubric. For homework the students will record a video of their own presentation and submit it via Schoology. For the next day’s homework, the students will listen to three of their classmates’ videos and respond to each one with a comment and follow up question.

It is my hope that these activities will help me get to know my new students as create a focus for using the language from Day 1. If you have other suggestions about how you achieve these goals with your students, please share!

Resources for Planning and a Food Unit for Intermediate Low French Students

Developing Context: An example from an IPA about the environment for Intermediate French students

Jour de la Terre: A unit for Intermediate French Students

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Tomorrow my French 3 students will start their unit on the environment. Although I developed a unit on this topic last year (click here for post), I’ve made some significant changes in order to provide more opportunities for interpersonal communication. Here’s a short explanation of what I’ve planned for this year: (Click here for the student packet.)

Lesson 1: Global Warming (2-3 days). In this lesson the students will watch a video about climate change and fill in details. After watching, I’ll allow them a few minutes to discuss their responses in small groups to provide increased interpersonal communication. This video replaces a Brainpop video that, unbeknownst to me required a subscription. I’m not sure why I was able to access these videos at the time, but since I’ve lost the ability to do so I’ve substituted other videos for each lesson. After the video and discussion, the students will read a short document (included at the end of the lesson) with things one can do to save the planet. I chose a shorter, simpler text than I had used last year, in order to shorten the amount of time spent reading as well as provide more language chunks that could be used for the interpersonal activities that follow. After the reading, the students will play a game in which they match behaviors and suggestions from the text that they read (Note: there’s an error in the directions, the yellow cards should be in the pile and the orange cards should be arranged face down). The purpose of this game is to introduce the phrases that they will be using to make suggestions throughout the unit. Each suggestion includes an impersonal expression requiring the subjunctive, which is a structure I’ve targeted for the unit. After this game, the students will interview a partner about the behaviors suggested in the text. I discovered last year that the students needed some more guided tasks before performing the open-ended role-plays that I had planned. After the interviews, the students will write a note to their partner with suggestions for how they can be more environmentally-friendly. I’ve included some sentence starters to further scaffold this task. Lastly, I’ve added the interpretive reading task from last year’s unit (Article: p. 1, p. 2)and two additional videos related to climate change. I’m not sure whether time will permit me to use this resources, but I’ve included them just in case.

Lesson 2: Pollution (2-3 days). As with the first lesson, I’ve begun with a short video that the students will use to provide details and then discuss. After the video, the students will be assigned either the A role or the B role, and will read the corresponding article. (Edit 5/8/20: Click here for a link to the B article.) After this interpretive task, each A will be paired with a B and will complete this interview activity. Again, I’ve developed a highly scaffolded task to enable the students to begin acquiring the targeted structure. This interpersonal activity will again be followed by a presentational writing in which the students make suggestions to their partner based on his/her responses. (They will speak with a different partner than they had spoken to in the previous lesson.) I’ve included last year’s interpretive reading (Article: p. 1, p. 2) and three interpretive listening tasks to be included in the lesson as time permits.

Lesson 3: Deforestation (2-3 days). I’ve begun this lesson with an interpersonal task in which the students discuss two images related to deforestation. Next they’ll watch a video about deforestation and discuss the details they were able to identify. After the video, we’ll do a “speed-friending” type of interpersonal activity in which the students write 5 questions and then interview a series of classmates. For this activity my students will be seated in pairs of rows that are facing each other. They will have 3 minutes to interview the person in front of them and when the three minutes are up, the students in one row will get up and move one seat to the right. This will continue until each student has interviewed 10 classmates. The students will then write a note to one of their classmates, giving suggestions for becoming more environmentally friendly. Once again, I’ve included the reading from last year’s unit (Article: p. 1, p. 2) as well as additional videos on the topic.
Since it’s still a work in progress, I’ll include the IPA for this unit in my next post.

Integrating Culture Across the Modes: A Noël Unit for Intermediate Low French Students

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I’m taking just a few minutes for a quick share tonight. In an earlier post, I shared some activities that I developed to integrate culture in all of the communicative modes with my Novice Mid students. In this evening;s post I’m including a few lessons I created to do the same with my Intermediate Low/French 3 students. Click here for a packet of activities and keep reading for a short explanation of each lesson.

Lesson 1: In this lesson I played a short video to introduce the tradition of the yule log cake. I then assigned partners and gave each member of the dyad a different article. The students read their articles and filled in the information they could find in the packet. Then they discussed their information with their partner, who had read the opposite article. Although I intended for the pairs to fill out a Venn diagram as described in the packet, due to time constraints the students just discussed their information and filled in the missing information for the questions in the packet. This worked out well, as they did a Venn diagram in the next lesson. Although I didn’t end up assigning the Presentational Activity, I had originally considered adding it, based on timing.

Lesson 2: In this lesson, one partner watched a video about Christmas tree traditions and the other listened to a video on the same topic. They then discussed the information they found and completed a Venn diagram comparing the information in each source. As in Lesson 1, time didn’t permit me to assign the Presentational activities.

Lesson 3: As in Lesson 2, half of the students read an article while the other half listened to a video. I was consistent in assigning A/B roles, so that the students who listened in Lesson 2 did the reading in Lesson 3 and vice versa. After the interpretation phase of the lesson, the students discussed their information and took a pair “quiz.”

Although these activities were challenging, the students remained engaged throughout the three class periods I dedicated to these cultural lessons. Following the third lesson, I introduced the same story project that I described in this post from last year. I did, however, add an interpersonal communication task to the IPA/Learning Stations in which the students used circumlocution to complete these pair crossword puzzles (Partner A, Partner B). My students love these pair crossword puzzles and they were a very effective way to review aspects of French holiday traditions that the students had learned in past years.

Using Cartoons to Assess Interpretive Listening with Novice Learners

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This week’s #langchat discussion about interpretive listening revealed that we language teachers are very diverse in the way we approach this skill, especially with novice learners. Although I reflected at length on the topic of assessing listening in an earlier post, I’d like to specifically address a few of the questions that came up during Thursday night’s discussion.

Question #1: What resources are appropriate for novice learners? While some teachers are hesitant to use authentic resources with early novices, I have found that first semester French 1 students can successfully interpret carefully selected authentic materials when given level-appropriate tasks. My go-to resource for these students are cartoon videos for the following reasons:

These videos were made for novice language learners—young children in the target culture! As a result, the vocabulary and sentence structures are relatively simple and the linguistic input is supported by strong visual cues. This is exactly what our novice learners need.
The wide selection of these videos ensures that there are several choices available for any theme we’ve included in our novice curriculum. My favorites for my Level 1 and 2 students are Trotro, Petit Ours Brun and T’choupi et Doudou, because of the broad range of topics covered and the comprehensibility. I also occasionally use Peppa Pig with my level 2 students. Although originally recorded in (British) English, the French translation was clearly intended for French-speaking children, so I do consider these to be authentic resources. However, the target culture would not, of course, be represented in these videos.
Cartoons are very engaging to my students. They look forward to their turn at the computer and a few students have even mentioned that they have watched additional episodes of the series at home, “just for fun.”
As authentic resources, these cartoon videos often integrate cultural products, practices and perspectives of the target culture. When Petit Ours Brun puts his shoes under the Christmas tree, his grandfather comments on the delicious turkey, and he wakes up to presents on Christmas morning, my students learn relevant cultural practices regarding Christmas celebrations in France.

Question #2: What types of tasks are appropriate for novice learners? I realized as I participated in Thursday night’s #langchat that I have interpreted ACTFL’s descriptors regarding interpretive listening differently than many of my colleagues. The Novice Mid (my goal for level 1) NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Benchmark for interpretive listening reads, “I can recognize some familiar words and phrases when I hear them spoken.” If I understood my colleagues’ responses correctly, many of us may be assessing listening by having students list the words and phrases that they hear. Because it isn’t clear to me how this type of task would demonstrate interpretation/comprehension, I ask students to answer questions to show comprehension of the video, but phrase these questions in a way that the students can use previously-learned words/phrases (along with visual context clues) to respond. This year I am using a multiple choice format for my formative listening assessments using our district’s recently-adopted Canvas learning management system. Although I don’t feel that multiple choice is appropriate for many language tasks, this platform has the advantage of providing immediate feedback to my students. In addition, since creating and assessing them requires a minimal time commitment on my part, I am able to provide more opportunities for listening than I was using other task types. Lastly, this format provides students with additional context clues. Their listening is more purposeful as they are listening for a specific response, as well as to eliminate distractors. While I typically use open-ended question types on my IPA’s, these multiple choice quizzes, which the students complete individually at a computer, provide the majority of my formative listening assessments.

In order to save time, I create these quizzes directly in Canvas, which unfortunately makes them very difficult to share. For the purposes of this discussion, I’ve uploaded a Word document of screenshots from a quiz I made this morning for the video, Trotro et les cadeaux de Noel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRcv1pVaitY ). As this document shows, the questions that I’ve created enable these Novice Low-Mid students to demonstrate their ability to interpret this text using only previously-learned words and phrases and visual clues. While most of the items assess literal comprehension, I’ve included a few questions that require the students to make inferences and guess the meanings of new words using context clues. Here’s a quick explanation of my thought process for each question.

#1: While each of these questions would be appropriate to the context, my students will probably understand “pour moi” when they hear it. They will also be able to eliminate the 2^nd choice, because they know the word for Santa. Although I’ve used the other question words in class, the students are not using them yet. I included them in the distractors to encourage the students to start thinking about how questions are asked.

#2: This question is a “gimme.” The students know the word for book and have visual clues as further support. I created the question to improve the students’ confidence, enable all students to have some “correct” answers, and to provide more context for further questions. As you can see, I write LOTS of questions, because I find the questions themselves provide important context and help the students follow along with the video.

#3: “Chouette” is a new word for these students, but it appears in a lot of children’s literature/videos and I think they’ll enjoy using it. The context should make the meaning of this word clear.

#4/#5: The students have learned the word “jeux-video” so I think they’ll get “jeu.” Also because Trotro also uses “jouer” I think they’ll understand it’s something to play with rather than listen to.

#6/#7 Students can answer by recognizing the previously-learned words “gros” and “belle.”

#8: Although this question does not assess listening comprehension (the word appears in written form), it does provide a contextualized way to introduce a new vocabulary word.

#9: The students can listen for the word “content” as well as eliminate the distractors based on previously-learned words.

#10: The students have heard “maintenant” repeatedly, but it hasn’t been formally introduced. If they don’t recognize it, they should still be able to eliminate the other choices.

#11: Although the students will not understand the entire sentence in which it appears, they should be able to answer this question by identifying the word “cadeaux.”

#12: I’m curious what my students will do with this inference-based question. They should recognize the phrase, “Moi, aussi” which should enable them to infer that Boubou got the same gift.

#13: The students should recognize the word “jouer” as well as be able to eliminate the distractors based on previously-learned vocabulary.

#14: The students should be able to use the visual context to guess the meaning of this new vocabulary.

#15: The phrase “c’est moi” should enable the students to choose the correct response for this one. As with several other items, I’ve included the transcription of the entire sentence to introduce new vocabulary—the verb “gagner.”

#16: Although my students won’t be able to use the linguistic content to answer this question, I’ve included it to encourage inference based on visual context clues.

#17: I’ll be curious how they do with this one. “Bateau” is an unknown word and although they’ve seen “mer,” I’m not sure they’ll pick up on it. Some might pick out “pirate” but I’ll be curious how many are able to answer this one correctly.

#18: The students have heard “rigolo” and this word even appears in Trotro’s theme song. In addition, they should be able to eliminate the distractors based on previously-learned vocabulary.

While there’s nothing especially innovative about this assessment format, after completing many similar tasks during their first semester of language study most of my level 1 students are pretty accurate when completing this type of formative assessment.

Question #3: How should interpretive listening be assessed? I did want to make a point about grading these formative assessments. Although I do my best to create questions that are mostly at the students’ current proficiency level, with a few items thrown in to encourage “stretch,” I rely heavily on my students’ results to determine how close I came to hitting this target. Therefore, I do not decide how to grade these assessments until I have data on how the class scored as a whole. In other words, this particular formative assessment will not necessarily by worth 18 points. If, for example, the highest score is 16, I might make this the maximum score. For teachers that do not record a score on formative assessments, this isn’t an issue of course. I only suggest that we expect and allow for student errors when assessing interpretive listening (even using objective evaluations) just as we do when assessing the other modes.

I’d love to hear from any of you who are willing to share your experiences and ideas about assessing listening with novice learners!

Image credit: www.gallimard-jeunesse.fr

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