How to differentiate for a variety of skill levels and keep everyone happy, engaged or, at least, in the same parking lot.

Traditionally French …  is a read and write grammar subject  teachers do most of the talking and teaching  many of the Applied students feel out of the loop  they don't do well in their own language  a second language is unimaginable for most of them  let alone irrelevant.

How do Applieds and Academics learn French in the same room? How do you keep the able (not necessarily always the Academic) students challenged?

How do you keep the weaker (not always the Applied) students encouraged?

Make it…….  Manageable  A well-supported challenge  Relevant  Authentic  Fun  A team effort

Success is more likely if:  The activity seems manageable or within reach because of scaffolding and aids.  The focus is on what they CAN do and not on what they CAN'T do.

Scaffolding possibilities include:  vocabulary lists  word banks  resource sheets  anchor charts  reduced expectations

The reason for the activity seems relevant  Play to adolescent interests or travel possibilities, or cross-cultural pollination, or linguistic connections.

What if you meet a hot French boy or girl?  Learn how to talk about yourself so that if you meet someone you are interested in you can have a conversation and send les textos (mais pas en classe!)

What if you meet a hot French boy or girl who needs directions?  You can ask and give directions.

 You can talk about what you like or don't like… What if you want to take a hot French boy or girl to a restaurant?

What if you need to talk about what you did yesterday?  You’ll need vocabulary (jeux vidéo)  And grammar (J’ai joué aux jeux vidéo - pronouns, past tense, agreement of adjectives and exceptions)

30% of English words have a French derivation Parcours (Une activité très cool qui a commencé en France!!)

fondue Fondre - to melt Fondue chocolat - miam miam

Déjà vu

Much of the work emerges from authentic French sources.  Newspaper articles  Weather forecasts  Maps  French songs  French culture: Tintin, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hugo Cabret

Pressure is removed by partner and group activities such as:  placemats Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait? Décrivez votre famille. Qu'est-ce que tu aimes? Qu'est-ce que tu n'aimes pas?

Student Teaching

Interviews

 Translating exercises  Sharing vocabulary tasks  Introducing and completing new online interactive activities as a class, or as partners  Skits

An element of fun or a compelling story helps  Génies en Herbe (Reach for the Top)  Movies  Online Activities (Quia, Interactive Exercises)  Competitive activities  Use of manipulatives (flashcards, broken up sentences and charts)  Student constructed grammar/vocab aids

Same focus for Applied and Academic students, but different….. Activities oSame tasks for mixed ability group work oSimilar but parallel tasks by level oDifferent tasks by level oQuantity differences oOpen-ended tasks for self-selection Evaluation expectations oQuantity differences oSimilar expectations in ‘reception’ (Knowledge & Understanding) oDifferent expectations in ‘expression’, particularly written - spelling and grammar (Application and Communication)

Differentiating by activity The whole class: - watches the film of The Count of Monte Cristo -Accesses French vocab necessary to discuss the story -Helps teacher create sentences about the story

Differentiated expectations Academics: -Translate from English to French the previously created sentences -Read a comic book version of the story -High expectations of vocab acquisition -Increased focus on vocab acquisition and precision and eloquence of expression. Applieds: -Fill in blanks of previously created sentences from word banks -Illustrate the previously created version of the story. -Lower vocab acquisition expectations in terms of # and precision -Focus on comprehension and basic expression.

Academics & Applieds  Some are going to want to lead  Some are going to want to follow  Some will want to fight in the back and bite each other  Some will go further down the track - the destination is the same though  Widen the track so that there is room for lots of ability levels  Be willing to push the sled some days