Bonjour à tous !
Students have been discovering and successfully applying strategies for second language learning during our first two weeks at school. These strategies help us to break down the barriers that can make us feel overwhelmed when faced with various texts in French. For example, in order to comprehend a song in French (Drapeau blanc by Cœur de pirate), students worked hard to be attentive, to listen for familiar words, to notice the starting sounds of words, and to continue to persevere even if they miss a certain lyric or don’t grasp the exact meaning of 100% of the words. While beginning their reading of an Inuit legend (Le soleil caché by Amanda Hall and Louise Drolet), which relates to our social studies learning objectives, students discover they know more than they think they know when they first identify familiar words, then words that look like English words, and fill in gaps by using context and imagery cues, as well as by utilizing resources (ex. a dictionary). Students have also been engaging in interactive oral communication, having conversations with each other around a central question. They are learning to gather their ideas before beginning the exercise, listen for familiar words, use and pay attention to nonverbal cues such as intonation, and ask follow up questions to further the dialogue.
This coming week, we will be looking at how to construct sentences and paragraphs, using a “hamburger” analogy to explain the components of presenting an idea in writing: topic sentence, detail 1, detail 2, detail 3, concluding sentence. We will be writing texts that present our understanding of what we are learning about the human body (we have touched on the brain and the respiratory systems thus far) and First Nations peoples and cultures. To assist them with their writing, students are encouraged to do their best to commit the present tense conjugation of our four primary irregular verbs to memory (avoir, être, aller, faire) in order to facilitate the learning of more complex sentence structures in the future. So far, we have reviewed avoir and être, and will be reviewing the other two soon. Various visual aids will be put up in the classroom in order to help students communicate their ideas with grammatically accurate sentences. In the meantime, I have uploaded a document containing these verbs, as well as a few other high frequency irregular verbs.
We continue to enjoy our new space as we adjust to it. Students expressed interest last week in gathering pillows and/or yoga/exercise mats to help us make use of the large cubby spaces we have, as well as the vast amount of floor space. By no means is it expected that you contribute, but some students have indicated they would like to. So far, we have acquired a comfy red chair (courtesy of our librarian) and a yoga mat!
À bientôt!
Students have been discovering and successfully applying strategies for second language learning during our first two weeks at school. These strategies help us to break down the barriers that can make us feel overwhelmed when faced with various texts in French. For example, in order to comprehend a song in French (Drapeau blanc by Cœur de pirate), students worked hard to be attentive, to listen for familiar words, to notice the starting sounds of words, and to continue to persevere even if they miss a certain lyric or don’t grasp the exact meaning of 100% of the words. While beginning their reading of an Inuit legend (Le soleil caché by Amanda Hall and Louise Drolet), which relates to our social studies learning objectives, students discover they know more than they think they know when they first identify familiar words, then words that look like English words, and fill in gaps by using context and imagery cues, as well as by utilizing resources (ex. a dictionary). Students have also been engaging in interactive oral communication, having conversations with each other around a central question. They are learning to gather their ideas before beginning the exercise, listen for familiar words, use and pay attention to nonverbal cues such as intonation, and ask follow up questions to further the dialogue.
This coming week, we will be looking at how to construct sentences and paragraphs, using a “hamburger” analogy to explain the components of presenting an idea in writing: topic sentence, detail 1, detail 2, detail 3, concluding sentence. We will be writing texts that present our understanding of what we are learning about the human body (we have touched on the brain and the respiratory systems thus far) and First Nations peoples and cultures. To assist them with their writing, students are encouraged to do their best to commit the present tense conjugation of our four primary irregular verbs to memory (avoir, être, aller, faire) in order to facilitate the learning of more complex sentence structures in the future. So far, we have reviewed avoir and être, and will be reviewing the other two soon. Various visual aids will be put up in the classroom in order to help students communicate their ideas with grammatically accurate sentences. In the meantime, I have uploaded a document containing these verbs, as well as a few other high frequency irregular verbs.
We continue to enjoy our new space as we adjust to it. Students expressed interest last week in gathering pillows and/or yoga/exercise mats to help us make use of the large cubby spaces we have, as well as the vast amount of floor space. By no means is it expected that you contribute, but some students have indicated they would like to. So far, we have acquired a comfy red chair (courtesy of our librarian) and a yoga mat!
À bientôt!
- Madame