The Outsiders

Dodge Community Walk

The TPACK Alliance

Strategies for Language Arts

In the L.A. classroom I cannot live without:

-Writers' Workshop
-Think-Pair-Share
-Reading Circles

Parlez-vous Français? UBD Stage One

Gaining Verbal Confidence in your French Language Skills

UBD Stage 1

Summary of Curricular Context: 

This lesson is for a level two French classroom.  In this lesson, students will be asked to create a French dialogue with a partner. Through this activity,  students will learn to answer open ended questions, first by writing the dialogue, then filming it as an interview with a partner to practice fluency and gain confidence.  Students will need to have learned how to answer basic questions pertaining to themselves as well as how to ask relevant questions to a peer in a “getting to know you” format. 

Standard / Objectives for Unit or Lesson: 

28.B.2a Pose questions spontaneously in structured situations.

28.B.2b Produce language using proper pronunciation, intonation and inflection.

28.D.2a Write on familiar topics using appropriate grammar, punctuation and capitalization.

28.D.2c Present an original production (e.g., TV commercials, ads, skits, songs) using known vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Lesson Goal: 

Students will answer six open ended questions in both written and verbal forms.  Students will gain fluency and verbal confidence in the language.

Stage 1

Enduring Understandings 

 

1. Many aspects of communication are common to all languages.
2. Speaking a second language is a valuable asset. 
3. There are many ways to define who we are. 

Essential Questions 

1. Why do people communicate?
2. What makes a good question?
3. How does culture affect identity?

Knowledge

The six question words (Qui, Que ce que, Quand, Ou, Comment, Pourqoi)

“About Me” vocabulary

French question/sentence structure

Interview format 

Verb endings depend on the subject and the tense

French nouns have  genders

Skills

Conjugating the verbs Etre, Avoir, Aimer, Aller in present and past tenses

Working in pairs effectively 

Using a French-English dictionary 

Using a Bescherelle (verb book)

Creating and editing an iMovie

Pronounce written French

Xtra(not so)Normal

O Captain My Captain: An Excellent Teacher

In Dead Poet's Society, Robin Williams plays an unconventional teacher who is determined to teach his students to "suck the marrow out of life."  He acknowledges the way students have been taught before and then provides them with a new lens to view the same dry old material.  While keeping the class lighthearted with jokes and accents, Williams delivers a serious message that every once and while, you need to look at the world from a new perspective.  It is clear that this is not a teacher intent on wasting students' time.  More than that, his students know their time is not being wasted! With a teacher that keeps them guessing,  the students are always on their toes.  This creates a learning environment of excitement and possibility.   It is in this type of environment that standing on a desk seems a perfectly acceptable end to a lesson.  This is the sort of classroom I want to have; a class where the unimaginable seems to fit just perfectly.