Do you know how the idea of le Carnaval de Québec first originated? In 1893, there was a group of businessmen who wanted to organize a carnival to attract tourists during “une saison morte!” A dead season?! Oui, c’est vrai. These men wanted to invite the community to emerge from their homes and celebrate what winter had to offer. Despite the cold weather, this was an opportunity to come together with entertainment, food, and magic for people of all ages. Et voilà, le Carnaval de Québec was born. And today? It is one of the largest and most well-known winter festivals in the world! Plus, there are many other winter celebrations around the world for people to celebrate the gift of winter – its beauty, food, entertainment, and activities unique to the season – while providing wonderful memories for all. How does this translate into French class? |
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Not sure what digital task cards even mean? Never heard of Boom Learning? Seeking new ideas on how to implement these paperless cards in the world language classroom? Don't believe there are really TEN ways to incorporate them into a language setting? Then, you have come to the right place!
We already shared 6 ways that these paperless task cards from Boom Learning can be EFFECTIVE and now we are going to share 10 ways you can actually use them in your lesson plans. Allons-y!
1. Use as introductory material before instruction
What can students figure out by themselves? Let students have an opportunity to recall previous knowledge, deduce what they see in front of them and problem solve material that is new to them. They just might surprise themselves!
2. Independent work and practice
Students can work individually, at their own pace, on each deck of these digital task cards. Students receive instant feedback after each card so you know students are receiving the correct answers instantly. Teachers don't need to wonder if students missed the question AND never discovered the correct answer. Everything is already set up for you and them!
3. Whole class interactive discussion and practice
Go through the deck of cards together. For example, we have some reading and listening comprehension decks that would be perfect for this. Project the reading to the whole class and go through the learning process together. Underline and circle where necessary to help guide students. Or, listen to the conversation together and pause the recording to help point out key words. Ask students to pause the recording and explain how certain key words helped in their understanding.
4. Distance and remote learning
The world has changed and "virtual" has entered our vocabulary like never before. In one capacity or another, you saw how teaching and learning adapted. These Boom Learning digital task cards are extremely compatible with learning at a distance because you share a link with students and they can practice on their devices. You can hold them accountable because you have the option to track their progress. Just like stated in #3, you can share your screen and do the cards together, too.
5. Work stations in the classroom
There are just some lessons where stations work best. One of those lessons for me was with clothing and fabric vocabulary. If you like to incorporate stations, make a deck of the digital cards as a station for students to complete.
6. Homework and at-home practice
Share the link with students and ask them to complete the deck at home for the first time and/or for review from the class period. Begin the next class going over the cards together.
7. Skill review and individual practice
One class includes students with such a range of learning capabilities and levels of understanding. Modify and meet student needs with these paperless task cards. Assign different decks to different students. Check for understanding as students interact with the cards. Use this time as students complete the task to walk around and watch them engage. Stop and ask them questions. Help with incorrect answers. Monitor cards you need to address as a class.
8. Assessments
Use a deck of Boom cards as a summative assessment. Track student performance on a deck that is new to them. They receive the instant feedback and you don't have to grade!
9. Fast Finishers
What can those quick students do while they wait for the other students to complete the given task? Assign some task cards as review! Keep them engaged with previous material or challenge them with concepts they haven't learned yet!
10. Sub Plans
Share the link with the sub or even just share the link with the students and send them practicing while you are away. Rest assured they are interacting with that vocabulary and grammar even while you aren't there!
**Which option will you choose today to make your lesson planning less stressful and your students’ learning more engaging?
(Check out our Webinar: Tools for Teaching World Languages at a Distance for further discussion).
Ok, but now that the cards are ready to implement with students, how can they be EFFECTIVE in implementation and execution?
Here are some ways you can make Boom Learning Digital Task Cards effective for in-class and distance learning students.
1. Practice with the cards BEFORE teaching
Before presenting the material, assign the deck link to students. Let them discover what they can figure out and the strength of their background knowledge. Discuss with the students what they already knew, what they could figure out and what questions they still might have after competing the cards. Begin instructing the students on the given material. Then, ask students to go back to that same deck and see how much they have improved.
2. Practice with the cards AFTER teaching
After presenting the given material, assign the link to students. For the first time going through the cards, maybe it would be best for some students to be in pairs. Other students might thrive better individually. This is where the advantage of personal pacing really comes into play! Students can go at their own pace without feeling rushed or even defeated by their classmates.
3. Go through the cards TOGETHER
Go through the cards as a whole class (either on a interactive board in the classroom or share your screen via distant learning). Ask students to explain WHY the answer is what it is for the cards. Hearing peers explain the concept can be beneficial.
4. Break-out rooms
For distance learners, students could be assigned to break-out rooms where they go through the cards together via screen sharing. Students could take turns completing the cards or do them together. This provides the opportunity for discussion and explanations.
5. Students share the challenging cards
As students go through the cards, ask them to note which cards are more challenging or cards they don't understand (note on paper, take screen shots, etc). Share with the class; there is a good chance s/he isn't the only one who stumbled on that particular card!
6. Students share cards where they feel confident
On the flip side, ask students to note on which cards they felt really confident. Again, they can note on paper or perhaps as a screen shot. Share with the class. This can be a great opportunity for peer-to-peer instruction and opportunity for deeper understanding and clarification.
What are other ways you have found Boom Cards to be effective with in-class and/or distant learning students? Do you have another idea to share? Comment below or email us!
What does Kath's Math Lessons have to do with French with the Hobbs? Bonne question!
We have teamed up to broaden her math resources to French speakers! Now, French speaking teachers in Québec, for example, will be able to use her decks of task cards with their math students. We, French with the Hobbs, have the honor to translate decks for her and her audience! C'est vraiment fantastique pour tous!
Below you will find two of her math decks in French that we translated. Check them out!
Know any math students or teachers who could benefit from Kate's Math Lessons' fantastic website or store? Share with them, they won't be disappointed.
We have come up with the following ideas to get students listening to French. We have explained how to create each of the 10 audio Boom cards below in our webinar titled, "Tools for Teaching World Languages at a Distance." You can watch the complete webinar HERE.
There are so many other ways besides what is on this list, but this can get you started. We are always cognizant of lower order and higher order thinking. Lower and higher order thinking doesn’t just pertain to age and grade level. Lower elementary students are capable of doing higher order thinking and it is good for their brains! Vice versa for older students. Therefore, our ideas below incorporate lower to higher order thinking (identifying to evaluating).
*If you need directions on how to create any of these cards with sound, please email us at [email protected] and we will be glad to teach you!
Below you will find a few other examples of audio cards in our current decks.
Object Pronouns: me te nous vous
Compare adjectives using farm vocabulary
Colors
First up: Writing.
Language learning = accents, right? How do students type in accents in their answers?
- First, you will need to open Boom and go to your blank cards. You can ask students to write in any different of ways (just respond with one word, an expression or a complete sentence).
- Create the question you want.
- Double click to edit. Type in your answer. Click submit. You will need to submit ALL possible answers here. From a student perspective, typing accents in the actual deck is great, but typing the accents in edit mode as a teacher is trickier. I usually type the word in a separate document and copy it here.
Now, your cards are ready to go!
******
Teaching world languages via distance learning... exciting or overwhelming? Stressful or innovative? Tiring or energizing? A time to coast or a time to prosper? Teaching and learning? Depending on the day and the class, the circumstances might change your answers to those questions.
As fellow French teachers with you, we’d like to share some of our favorite (and easy) resources we have found to use with students during our time of distance learning. As language teachers, we are always focusing on the core skills of language (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and how to incorporate those so that students are met with lower order thinking up to higher order thinking.
Meeting Reading and Writing Core Skills
Incorporating reading and writing is a bit more conducive to distance learning than listening and speaking. There is a plethora of ways you can ask students to read and write. We like Kami and Boom Learning digital task cards. Check out the detailed and more in-depth explanation of how those work in these blog posts: Digital Pen and Paper with Kami and Boom with Writing.
Meeting Listening and Speaking Core Skills
Getting students to listen and speak the target language is a bit trickier with distance learning. We have found these two resources to be effective: Boom Learning task cards and FlipGrid. We offer 10 different ways to create listening activities in your Boom cards in our blog post HERE. Boom lacks the speaking capability, so that’s why we have incorporated FlipGrid for speaking purposes and explained it HERE.
With FlipGrid, it works simply like this: Teacher posts a video with a prompt/discussion/question. Students respond with a recorded video. Classmates respond to each other with additional videos or emojis. It is very easy to see who is replying to whom. It is fun... and the best part? Students are SPEAKING in the target language. Check out the blog post for more detailed ways to get started and use it in the distance learning classroom.
There are so many other resources available for world language learners and distance learning. We wrote out this list of other resources you might want to try.
Which mentioned resources have you tried? Which one(s) do your students especially like? Do you have any suggestions for us? Let us know! [email protected]
What are Boom Cards? Boom Cards are digital and work on just about any device. You do not need to print anything out! They are self-checking and can be used individually, in groups or as a whole class on an interactive board. You can hide any cards you don't want your students to practice. Students receive immediate feedback; you can track their progress if desired.
These cards are GREAT for students because
-they are self-pacing
-they give instant feedback
-they are engaging and interactive
-they can be completed both in the classroom and at a distance
These cards are GREAT for teachers because
-they require no printing, cutting or laminating
-they are ready to go, just share the link with students
-they don't require time spent grading or waiting at the copy machine
-they provide unique practice for students
Students are shown one question at a time and get instant feedback on each card. Check out this preview to see how they work. Or, we also have a FREE deck to practice "Les Nombres: 0 à 10" if you'd like to see how a complete deck works. Make sure to click on the full-size preview to try the first few.
Please note that this is a digital product only.
~You'll need to create a free account to login and download.
~Once you're logged in, click on the "Library" tab.
~Click on the deck of cards you'd like to use and click on the "Add to Library" green button.
~You can always preview the first four cards of any deck.
~Next, click on "Classes." You can add your name and picture (optional).
~You may notice here that the membership information says you only have 5 students. Don't worry! You can always use the FastPlay option for free!
~The free plan includes unlimited FastPlay for as many students as you need, but it doesn't record their scores.
Students can go at their own pace, with or without notes. You can hide any cards you feel aren't relevant to your students.
Some of our other decks include:
Profession Vocabulary
Christmas
Winter
Les jours de la semaine
L'imparfait
Le conditionnel
Les couleurs
Relative Pronouns: qui, que dont OR ce qui, ce que, ce dont
Who are the Hobbs?
Originally, we are from the Midwest and the East; however, our paths took us to Angers, France where we met and fell in love.
We enjoy the French language and all that comes with it: culture, food, landscape, people, memories. We have a passion for French, teaching and helping others. Hence, this website!
Our mission is simple:
We strive to provide high-quality, unique and effective resources to secondary French teachers.
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