1. Teaching Grade 9 Applied French
OMLTA Spring Conference
March 31, 2012
session G3
Rosemary McEniry & Beverly Kukhta-Jackson
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
Materials to bring: Chart paper, markers, plain paper, one piece of ledger paper folded into a booklet, sticky notes, masking tape, samples of student work, resource books (i.e. Sue Fenton). Need 24 each red and green cards.

2. Rose & Bev Profile of students in our board "Where we're coming from"
largely urban/suburban with a smaller rural population
18 secondary schools with populations ranging from approximately 500 to 1700 students
Composite schools, academic, applied, locally developed, French Immersion, International Baccalaureate, Specialist High Skills Majors, etc.
Interactive session – we will add your ideas before posting on OMLTA website
Chart paper – « parking lot » for questions/concerns that come to mind during the session – we will try to answer them during or at the end of the session, or in an extra slide before posting on OMLTA website (or us)

3. Rose and Bev 's Specifics
each over 20 years experience teaching Core and Immersion French - applied and general and academic, mostly secondary, some elementary
Waterdown and Westdale are semestered schools - 75 minute periods
applied classes between 19 and 23 students
programs used: Quoi de neuf? (Pearson), Communi-Quete, Express 9e, Autour de Nous...
our introduction: use game with green and red cards to introduce selves with 2 choices (i.e. where live, languages speak, how many children, experience teaching, likes coffee or tea in morning, etc. Follow-up - short discussion in groups or just own notes: “how would you use this in your classroom?” Do orally - rouge is A, vert is B - 12 volunteers

4. Audience profile Quoi de Neuf Communi-Quête Autour de Nous Passages
Tous Ensemble
Entre Amis
Voyages
D'Accord
Vive le Français
Passeport Français
Cours moyen de français
No textbook!
3 minutes

5. Who are the grade 9 applied students? (interactive audience task)
What is positive?
What is less positive?
What is interesting?
5 minutes
Sticky notes, pens, chart paper – we will read these while the other person is presenting and try to address some of the concerns

6. Who are the grade 9 applied students?
What is positive? (interactive audience task)
their energy
open to new things
real
learn more about sex than I’ll ever know!!
hands-on – they get involved
Be kind, be gentle.
Very enthusiastic – if you can hook them.
know where you stand – tell you the truth
Teach other skills while teaching French.
creative
innocence
honesty
outgoing & accepting of others
forces teacher to be creative
Loyal – once they trust you.
participate a lot
less inhibited
funny
willing to seek help
not to impress
smaller classes
You can help them see that they can do it.
Needy. They need you.
Energetic!

7. Who are the grade 9 applied students?
What is less positive? (interactive audience task)
behavioural problems 
too wide a range of ability
IEPs
easily distracted
no writing utensils
very needy
Don’t value French.
lack of persistence
many have family/ personal issues
harder to control/ stay quiet
lose motivation quickly
You need to get & keep their attention span which equals that of an ant.
May take academic everything else & become distracting.
Brag about making elementary teachers miserable.
They “suck” the energy out of you.
sometimes chronic attendance problems
Difficult to motivate some.
varied language levels
work habits
weak learning skills
jaded language outlook
classroom management
weak language skills
Short attention span (can be impatient)
Breaking the barrier of negative past experiences.
sometimes poor interpersonal skills
on toes all the time
Have to be sensitive.
attitude about French

8. Who are the grade 9 applied students?
What is interesting? (interactive audience task)
Family struggles ?
Curriculum Tâche Finale – Board game
no EAs to help
learning disabilities
great imaginations and more hands-on
teaching “life” facts (for example, what is a leap year) = greater interest
Enjoy the French activities.
Most do really well when you remove the focus on grammar & re-focus on drama (skits) and songs.
Their varied interests.
Their sense of humour.
Teacher rarely gets bored.

9. Strategies for engagement & enjoyment
Structure of our classes
seating, space, procedures and routines, rules
Ambiance of the classroom
Motivational tricks
Break the lesson up to do different activities/phases (with a common focus to accomplish learning goal of the day)
Be flexible and not entirely predictable
Structure: signal to start class (i.e. “Bonjour la classe” and they respond). May have to say “bonjour David” for a student not paying attention right away and David needs to respond
rule - Be respectful.
learning goal, date, agenda, or success criteria on board
Ambiance: like a home theatre, change lighting for different actvities
Motivation – stickers, food, tickets for prizes, movies
talk with person next to you about some of your tricks (chart paper)
Flexible – use the element of surprise. (i.e. card game)
- show one specific activity?

10. Classroom routines and organizational tips
homework practices - reinforcement of class work, easy enough to complete on own, puzzles, handouts, find information (i.e. favourite food labels, what were you like as a small child)
assignments - rough work and editing in class, polished work completed at home (helps avoid use of web translators). If use web translators, must do again. Will not mark translations.
Finish project prior to test.
Reference sheets “cheat sheets” created by students can be used for grammar quizzes and tests
Build in time/excuse to get out of seats sometime during class every day.

11. Setting up the classroom
stickers
markers
scissors
chart paper
coloured paper, cover stock, ledger size
index cards
wooden sticks (tongue depressors)
lost and found pencils and pens
And?...

12. Strategies used to engage students and to enjoy spending time with them
Sense of humour - Say it with a smile or a twinkle in your eye.
Differentiated instruction - limit choice to two or three options.
Show that you care.
Be consistent, insistent and persistent.

13. Differentiated Instruction
10 different ways of making choices
Choice of evaluation

14. 10 different ways of making choices
1. Choice of topic/theme.
6. Choice to work independently or with a partner.
2. Choice of environment.
7. Choice of members of group.
3. Choice of text.
8. Choice of materials.
4. Choice of questions.
9. Choice of seating.
5. Choice of activities.
10. Choice of time.
Just a quick glance as a reminder of things that you can do to help students with achievement and motivation.

15. Integrating Technology
Audacity
SmartBoard
XpressLab
Senteo
Smartphones and tablets
Chart paper

16. Integrating Technology
Web resources:
Bon Patron
Le Grand dictionnaire.com
Twitter
Blogspot
Internet game sites
Wordreference.com (on their smartphone)
BBC French (Ma France video program and activities)
Digital Dialects
Voki
comic strip creators i.e. BitStrips
PollEverywhere
Does anyone have a web site?

17. Games and communication activities
(Rose) Vilain Lapin
1. Create a set of flash cards for the grammar point or vocabulary under review. Make sure the flash cards are of the same size and either of a single colour or a variety of colours as long as there are at least 4 or 5 cards of each colour. In addition, create at least one or two “villain lapin” cards per 4 or 5 cards. Just draw a picture of a Bugs Bunny face to represent the “vilain lapin”. These should be of the same colour as the other cards. Shuffle into the deck randomly.
2. Split the students into two teams and line them up in a definite order. Show the top card to the first team member. If they answer correctly, they score a point. At this point, they can choose to “continue” or “arrête”. If they choose “arrête” the opposing team takes over.
3. If a team is shown a “vilain lapin” card, they lose all their points and the control goes immediately to the opposing team. This happens as well, if they answer incorrectly.
4. Option: you can add “super lapin” bonus point cards to motivate if students get discouraged losing all their points.

18. Games and communication activities
(Rose) Telephone
This is an excellent way to review a defined list of vocabulary words at the end of a unit.
Give each student a printout of a traditional telephone keypad.
“0” represents a space.
The teacher spells out the vocabulary word in code using the numbers on the key pad and the students write down the word they think it is. (i.e = pomme)
Options: You can use double or triple numbers if the students are having a difficult time coming up with the correct corresponding letter (i.e. 1=a,11=b, 111=c)
You can have students create the codes and they must read aloud the numbers in French.

19. Games and communication activities
(Rose)
Order of Direct and Indirect Object Pronoun Substitutions and Sentence Word (pg.1 of 2)
Materials:
Write sentences which contain direct objects and/or indirect object nouns and the different verb tenses which have been taught.
Cut up sentences into flash cards with one word per card.
Make identical sets for each team which you create.
Create a separate set of flashcards which contain only the direct object pronouns and/or indirect object pronouns. Again make duplicates to match the number of teams which have been created.

20. Games and communication activities
Order of Direct and Indirect Object Pronoun Substitutions and Sentence Word (pg. 2 of 2)
Game
Divide class into teams…or call upon team leaders to create the teams. A team should consist of 6 to 8 persons. Each team must select a leader. Can have more than 2 teams.
Have each team select one of its members to leave the room with a flash card set of direct and/or indirect object pronouns. Hence each team has selected one of its own members to leave the room.
At the same time, distribute to the team leader of each team an identical set of sentence flashcards which have been shuffled and have them distribute the cards to their team members.
The first team to place themselves in the correct sentence order (holding up their flashcards for you to see) scores a point.
You can have each group read their sentence out loud if you want.
Next, call in the pronoun objects that have left the room.
They must find the direct or indirect object in the sentence, remove that person or persons, and then position themselves correctly before the verb in the sentence.
The first team to do this correctly, scores again.
You can have teams facing each other and do not go to the next sentence until you see all teams standing in the correct order.

21. Games and communication activities
(Rose) Qui est l’intrus?
Find a suitable photo of a group of 5 or 6 people and make a copy for each group. Make an envelope for each group with the following texts:
(on outside of envelope)
Michel a invité 5 amis à sa fête d’anniversaire mais il y a 6 personnes dans la photo. Qui est l’intrus?
A tour du rôle, chaque membre du groupe va lire la description d’une des personnes dans la photo. Les autres membres du groupe doit identifier cette personne dans la photo. Le but est de découvrir l’intrus.
(in envelope cut into separate pieces – one per description)
Je m’appelle Raymond. J’ai les cheveux très courts parce que j’ai souvent chaud. J’aime porter les vêtements confortables même en hiver. Je suis de taille moyenne mais très forte. Ma peau est un peu sombre. J’aime la couleur verte.
Je m’appelle Julien. Je suis grand et même un peu gros. J’ai les cheveux qui deviennent chauves. J’ai besoin de lunettes pour lire. Je travaille dans un bureau avec beaucoup de jeunes personnes.
Je m’appelle Céline. Je suis toujours souriante. Mes parents viennent du Japon mais je suis née ici en Amérique du nord. J’ai les cheveux noirs que j’aime porter en queue de cheval.
Mon nom est Naomi. Je suis de taille moyenne et j’ai les cheveux noirs. J’ai la peau sombre. Parfois je suis un peu trop sérieuse.
Je m’appelle Raoul. Je suis un peu plus grand que ma petite amie à ma gauche. J’ai les cheveux bruns et j’ai une petite barbe au visage. Je ne vois pas très bien donc je dois porter des lunettes.

22. Games and communication activities
Le Jeu des Horoscopes (pg. 1 of 4)
Place in the centre of each table 5 labelled envelopes:
ville, résidence, colocataire, nombre d’enfants, voiture. (see pg. 2 of 4 of this section of PowerPoint for ideas)
Each envelope should contain at least the same number of items as members of the group. (see pg. 3 of 4 of this section of PowerPoint for ideas)
In a clockwise manner, take turns drawing one item from each category to create the horoscope for the person on your right.
Use the handout “Ton horoscope” to prepare the horoscope you will say to the person to your right. (see pg. 4 of 4 of this section of PowerPoint for a template)
All verbs must be in the futur simple. The subject pronoun is “tu”.
Orally take turns reading/saying out loud the horoscopes to one another.
Now each person writes down their own horoscope under the heading Mon Horoscope taking notes from the person to their left as they say it. This time the subject pronoun is “je”. (see pg. 4 of 4 of this section of PowerPoint for template)

23. Games and communication activities
Le Jeu des Horoscopes (pg. 2 of 4) Labels for envelopes
Ville 
Résidence 
Colocataire
Voiture
 Nombre d’enfants

24. Games and communication activities
Le Jeu des Horoscopes (pg. 3 of 4) Samples of cards to put in each envelope
Ville
Résidence
Colocataire
Nombre d'enfants
Véhicule
Toronto
Une maison de ville
Brad Pitt 1
Dodge Caravan
Vancouver
Un voilier
Angelina Jolie 2
Mazda Protégé
Halifax
Un condominium
Paris Hilton 3
Nissan Maxima
Calgary
Un appartement
Jennifer Aniston 4
Honda Accord
Edmonton
Une maison détachée
Tom Cruise 5
Ford Focus

25. Games and communication activities
Le Jeu des Horoscopes (pg. 4 of 4) Handout for each student
Ton Horoscope
Tu vivras à __________________ (ville).
Tu vivras dans ________________ (résidence).
Tu habiteras avec __________________ (colocataire).
Tu auras __________________ enfant(s).
Tu conduiras une __________________.
Mon Horoscope
Je vivrai à _______________.
Je __________________________________
Je _________________________________

26. Games and communication activities
Les livrets (folding books - Bev)
Theme: Ma journée d’hier
Create sentences together on board or overhead or computer or chart paper.
Fold paper in half 3 times and cut middle section, then re-fold in booklet form.
Students write title and name on front page, then choose 6 or 7 sentences that describe their day (one per page). They draw simple images or use photos or clip art to illustrate each sentence.
Show samples. Demonstrate how to fold. Form small groups to discuss other ways to use these booklets. Make notes in own booklet titled: Les livrets

27. Games and communication activities
(Bev) Making a restaurant
Students create menus or signs.
Bring in tablecloths, flowers, candles, table settings.
Use real menus and other props (i.e. order pad).
Use LCD projector or overhead transparency to create a backdrop.
Give the students a reference sheet with useful phrases and vocabulary to create their dialogue (i.e. Chat Boosters by Sue Fenton).
Encourage the students to wear appropriate clothing.
Decide role – maybe at last minute by drawing a card.

28. Games and communication activities
(Bev)Presentations
Allow time to practice in class with partners and in small groups.
Assign practicing at home - ask them to keep track of how many times they rehearse and encourage use of live audience and recording self .
Allow final rehearsal in class then have them present to you at your desk or a "presentation corner" instead of for the whole class. Give all students a puzzle or worksheet.
Consider using technology i.e. iPod to record and submit.

29. Games and communication activities
(Bev) Other fun stuff
FOOD!!!
Crêpes
Vin faux, Vrai fromage
Dégustation du chocolat
Le comparatif/ le superlatif
Les pommes rouges, vertes, jaunes
Autre fruits
Les bonbons
Les croissants, le pain au chocolat, une baguette…

30. Success vs. Survival Sometimes success is survival.
Student success versus teacher success.
Take care of yourself.

31. Success = Positive attitude
I can’t believe class is over already!
I just realized that I actually look forward to this class.
Can we have more of that cheese?
I still don’t like French, but I like you.
This is the first time in 3 years that I have passed French.
Look! I did my homework!

32. la fin!! rosemary.mceniry@hwdsb.on.ca
also: Twitter (Bev) search by address
and: Bev’s blog: (this is aimed at students and parents)