Singing Games and Traditional Songs

Using singing games and traditional songs in the teaching and learning of a language is a very fun and effective way.  Here are the songs that we learned most recently:

Pomme de reinette et pomme d'api
Passe, passe, passera

Passe, passe, passera resembles the singing game London Bridge is Falling Down.  Students had a lot of fun singing and playing this game.

Celebrating Each Moment of Success Along the Way

During Parent-Teacher Conferences last week, many students dropped by to show their parents the Mon Monstre project that they have been working on.  Some students shared their artifacts from Iris.  It is truly exciting to see the growth in confidence in many students as they take risks in speaking French in front of others. 

Let's celebrate each moment of success along the way!

Take a risk!

Learning a new language requires taking risks.  Last week, I began documenting the learning journey of students. Grade 1 and 2 introduced themselves by telling me their name, their age, their favorite color, following all that by singing a traditional French song of their choice.  It was both exciting and encouraging to see their willingness to take risks.  Some of them created color patterns and talked about their patterns in French.  Grade 3 and 4 students finished their project called Mon Monstre.  They are currently working on speaking about the physical traits of their monstre.    

If you are interested in learning some of the traditional French songs that your child has learned, here are the titles:

Savez-vous planter les choux?

Pomme de reinette et pomme d'api

Enjoy!

Oral Development in Second Language Learning

One of the most effective ways to develop fluency and confidence in second language learning is to do it through "repetition."  But how is "repetition" an inspiring and interesting experience?  

During class, I aim at building in many opportunities for students to review what they have learned but at the same time increasing the level of complexity. For example, once the students are confident in saying "hello", they are asked to greet each other.  This means that they have the opportunity to practice both the "response" and the "question."  By doing role plays or taking a survey, students have many opportunities to practice the same sentence structures.  This is far from "dry repetition!" 

Grade 3 and 4 students begin to create more realistic "dialogues" which go back and forth between interlocutors.  This creates a learning context that is authentic. This is also meaningful and interesting as we learn languages in hope that we can carry on conversations with others.  These realistic dialogues serve exactly this purpose.  In addition to that, they are working on using vocabulary they have learned from the "colours" unit and the "body parts" unit to describe a monster they have created.  This allows them to practice the vocabulary yet again but at the same time, "combine" vocabulary in a new context.   

Quel temps fait-il aujourd'hui?

We talked about "oral development" being a distinguishing feature of the neurolinguistic approach.  Last week, students continued to build on their oral development by learning phrases and vocabulary about weather.  Grade 3 and 4 students applied what they know about body parts and colors to describe "monsters".  


If you are interested in learning some French traditional songs, I encourage you to look up the following comptines jeunesses:

• Sur le pont d'Avignon
• Violette à bicyclette

Towards "Oral Development"

Last week, I made reference to a neurolinguistic approach to teaching and learning French.  One distinguishing characteristic of this approach is that it begins with oral development, very much like the process in first language acquisition. It focuses on learning to use the language rather than learning about the language.  

In class, many opportunities have been given to students to practice their oral skills because it is through the development of "internal grammar" that one becomes spontaneous when conversing with others.  By now, Grade 1 and 2 students should feel comfortable telling you their name, their age and perhaps, the colour they like.  They can respond to the question "how are you?".   Grade 3 and 4 students can respond to AND ask these questions.  They have had the pleasure of conducting a survey as to how their peers feel.  

A Neurolinguistic Approach to Language Acquisition

This year, I have the privilege of teaching FSL (French as a Second Language) to Grades 1-4 students.  My approach is based on that of Intensive French, which is a neurolinguistic approach to language acquisition.  This approach makes a distinction between "internal grammar" (implicit competence) and "external" or "conscious" grammar (explicit knowledge).  In first language acquisition, internal grammar precedes the learning of external grammar.  

During class, I aim at creating an environment for students to develop an "internal grammar" which is acquired through the development of oral language by modeling after the teacher.  Last week, Grade 1 and 2 students learned four colour words:  bleu, vert, jaune and rouge (blue, green, yellow and red.)  It is important to note that the words were not taught as isolated words but were learned in the context of a sentence, in this case, J'aime... (i.e. I like...)  

Grade 3 and 4 students continued to consolidate their speaking skills on how to introduce their family by saying J'ai _____ frères.  J'ai ______ sœurs.  (I have ____ brothers.  I have ____ sisters.)  They also reinforced their knowledge of the different body parts by responding to the command:  Touchez la tête (Touch the head).  Again, the vocabulary is not introduced as isolated words but as part of a sentence.  Over time, not only will students build a list of vocabulary but they will also have access to a number of common sentence structures which enable them to converse with others.

As I said two weeks ago, "little by little, the bird makes his nest."  Be courageous and start speaking one or two French sentences a day!