Have you ever had a class mascot in class? A stuffed animal, puppet or doll of any kind? If you haven’t, consider giving it a try. With my middle and high school students, I had a monkey named Gaston. I used Gaston when I needed someone to “talk to” in class to demonstrate a conversation or activity I was expecting the students to do. Gaston was also there when I needed someone to “respond” to me for those same purposes: demonstrating, modeling, speaking, etc. Can I also just mention Gaston was super willing to demonstrate how faire la bise works with my beginners! Gaston was always my first volunteer to have sentences written about him. He was a good sport when my intermediate learners were learning the passé composé, for example. I shared a whole story about Gaston’s escapade with his banana on the bus. Quel désastre! I knew my boundaries when it came to secondary language learners and a stuffed animal, and I stayed within those limits. I think they just thought I was crazy for always “talking” to a stuffed animal. But did they understand my expectation of the coming partner conversation? Yes. Why? Because they had seen it demonstrated ahead of time between myself and Gaston. And now I have the experience of teaching preschoolers. And not just any preschooler. TWO YEAR OLDS. No, that was not a typo. Two-year-old preschoolers. Say what?! God asked me to do something I have never asked or imagined I would do (proof of Ephesians 3:20): He asked me to teach preschool this school year. I couldn’t deny nor ignore the opportunity and nudging. I obeyed. Side note: Boy, have I learned a lot (humility, patience, empathy, and perspective, to name a few)! I also have new gratitude for preschool teachers…wow! They are amazing. Special, one-of-a-kind. I wanted to share how I incorporate some fun French into our mornings that the children LOVE. Can you guess what I’m going to share? Yep…Introducing…drum roll… Hibou, our French-speaking owl puppet. He’s a gem, super patient and full of grace. The children listen to Hibou and look at him in wonder and curiosity. I have incorporated songs into our time with Hibou and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the children catch on and sing the words. Even for the children who aren’t forming words yet, they sure yell “ÇA VA!” during the “Bonjour!” song. Their “ça va!” sounds like “ba ba!” but they are singing (aka yelling) and doing the motions with Hibou. They LOVE him. I’ll share three of the songs we do with Hibou:
Bonjour les enfants! Bonjour les enfants, comment ça va ? (teacher sings & waves Hibou left to right) ÇA VA ! (children throw their arms in air and sing) Bonjour les enfants, comment ça va ? ÇA VA ! (children throw their arms in air and sing) Ça va bien, ça va mal, ça va comme ci comme ça (thumbs up, thumbs down, hand slant side to side) Bonjour les enfants, comment ça va ? ÇA VA ! (children throw their arms in air and sing) Tourne, Tourne, Petit Moulin (Mes Comptines pour Danser © E&D, Night & Day Library) Tourne, tourne, petit moulin (move hands round and round) Frappent, frappent, petites mains (clap hands) Vole, vole, petit oiseau (flying motion) Nage, nage, poisson dans l’eau (swimming fish motion) Beau front (Un Deux Trois, First French Rhymes, ©Frances Lincoln Limited 1995) Beau front (point to forehead) Beaux yeux (point to eyes) Nez de cancan (point to nose) Bouche d’argent (point to mouth) Menton fleuri (point to chin) Guili-guili-guili. (tickle Hibou) This song might be their favorite simply because they get to tickle Hibou’s tummy avec un petit doigt. Gaston is loved by his middle and high school French friends. Likewise, Hibou is loved by his preschool friends. They have both brought a lot of joy and learning into our classrooms. Do you incorporate puppets into your teaching? Tell me how!
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There are so many ways you could incorporate sound into your digital task cards at Boom Learning. In order to use the sound feature, you will need an Ultimate Membership. Boom is offering that free for through June 2020. 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). There is also an option to watch a video clip in Boom cards. That could be another idea.
*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 |
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. Archives
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