This is further to the last post - Learning about learning in a French language class. I cannot help note down a few more amazing design elements among all others, before I talk about how the French teacher facilitated. The class really revolutionize the conventional ones where all just listen and repeat ‘Je mange, Tu manges, Il mange…….’
WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) – We were asked to write a short paragraph in French on why we want to learn French. And there was another homework where we wrote our understanding on quotes about the benefit on learning new languages. For example, the one I worked is ‘Apprendre une langue c’est comme le commencement d’une autre vie’ (Translation: To learn a language is like starting another life’)
Circle – In most language classes, you sit in your tables all facing the teachers and the black / white-board. But in the UNIL class, we always sit in circles. Everyone sees everyone. We also did particular things by utilizing the circle. For example, each took turn to make a statement using ‘Passé Composé’ but each had to repeat what all the previous statements. This created people interaction and repetition.
Board game – We worked in pairs to create board games (like Monopoly) in French and about the French or Swiss culture. This included coming up with questions on the ‘Chance Card’. We then presented to all how the game can be played….. again in French. And, we really spent time playing games created by other pairs. It was difficult but engaging. Again, it subtly achieved repetition.
Poem – We worked in pairs to come up with a poem about learning French. For example, here is the one by my group:
Écoutez une personne parler
Apprenez les sons du français
Répétez les sons tout le temps
Assistez au Cours de Vacances
Pratiquez sur le pointdufle.net
Lisez les règles de la grammaire
Si vous suivez notre poème
Vous parlerz mieux que nous bientôt
Skit – We worked in small teams. We received a few pages of notes explaining different topics (e.g. sports, food) in French. We then created simple dialogues using those information. At the end, we acted out the dialogues in front of the whole class (of around 18 people).
Inter-group dynamics – We were also asked to video-record the above-mentioned skits. At the end of the 3 weeks, the videos were shown to whole UNIL classes. (The whole UNIL class composed 60-70 participants in total, and were separated into different classes by level of command in French) The inter-group dynamics motivated us to produce, record and listen to the works…. in French.
Video clip + Recollection & Imagination – We were shown a funny short video clip – a French speaking lady walking on the street with her goldfish. The teacher then asked each to make a statement to describe what happened…. of course in Passé Composé’. She wrote down each statement on the blackboard clearly. Further, she asked us to imagine what would happen in the scene….. in Futur Simple.
