To all #barrieCEFR colleagues and second languages teachers beyond, I wish you a restful and enjoyable summer!
If you're shopping around for some PD to balance out your summer, I recommend that, rather than seeking out another AQ, you pick a language that peaks your curiosity and dedicate an hour per day to learning it.
Find yourself a good YouTube series that covers the basics; learn alphabets, common phrases, and cultural notes to get yourself started on a fresh set of flashcards, and then move on to one to one chats on a language exchange site like italki (I own no stock in the site).
Consider that summer is a time to pursue your passion for languages, and to reflect on the wild ride that is language learning. Don't ignore the bumps in the road; the dips in motivation, like the realization that you're not as good as your language heroes, embrace them and file them away under "useful" because these will make you a better language leader in your classrooms.
If you want to go really crazy, log your successes and your struggles for others to see in a vlog or blog. Thought leaders like Benny Lewis and Steve Kaufmann inspire both in their successes and failures and you can too!
You're sure to discover why the CEFR was a thing before the curriculum shifted and you're sure to appreciate the elegant utility of the tool like never before!
Have a great summer!Let me know in the comments what language you are going to tackle.
Which one should I learn? (I am leaning toward Russian)
Friday, June 22, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Learning to Love "J'ai Allé la Store"
I recently had a language learning epiphany. It was when my francophone 2 year-old reported "j'ai allé dehors" when telling me about her day in daycare. It grates less when your progeny commits this grammatical faux pas, but it nonetheless caused a reflexive cringe when I heard it leave her mouth.
The minor cringe was short lived, however. It quickly occurred to me why this was a clear marker that my girl is developing well in one of her family's two languages.
Here are three reasons why hearing j'ai allé in your classroom is awesome.
If you hear something like the franglais phrase in the title of this blog post, it means your student wants to speak in as much French as they know. Despite the risk of sounding silly and failing in front of others, your student has chosen to use French!
The worst thing you could do after this behaviour is respond with a nitpick about mis-conjugation. Celebrate your student's communicative success, courage and grit!
It makes sense to use the verb avoir to form the passé composé of the verb aller in the 1st person. In saying it, your student is proving they have a grasp of the pattern of speaking in the tense. Grammatical rules are at their core illogical and arbitrarily set parameters developed by flawed humans. Rules surrounding gender and tense in many European languages come from a time when we thought the earth was flat.
J'ai allé is the one with the problem. Your student is thinking and #winning.
As you learn about the CEFR and the DELF, you will come to realize that proficiency in your new language is entirely about "respecter la consigne". The core question of the DELF is: "can you do this in French?". If your goal is to be able to handle a simple purchase in French, for example, the true test of your proficiency is, start to finish, in French, buying something (it's not about conjugating acheter).
My adorable toddler's communicative task was to report to me what she did at la garderie. She succeeded 100% in that task using j'ai allé on top of a few other effective French words.
Grammar is not inconsequential; but, in the big picture, understanding how grammar works is a small component of being proficient in using the language. Exploring my feelings about j'ai allé helped me rediscover this essential truth in our trade as teachers and ambassadors of the French language.
Want to share your own j'ai allé story? Comment below! I'd love to hear more from my FSL colleagues, and maybe learn something new!
The minor cringe was short lived, however. It quickly occurred to me why this was a clear marker that my girl is developing well in one of her family's two languages.
Here are three reasons why hearing j'ai allé in your classroom is awesome.
1. Your students are choosing to speak French
The worst thing you could do after this behaviour is respond with a nitpick about mis-conjugation. Celebrate your student's communicative success, courage and grit!
2. Your students understand grammar
J'ai allé is the one with the problem. Your student is thinking and #winning.
3. Your students are #winning
My adorable toddler's communicative task was to report to me what she did at la garderie. She succeeded 100% in that task using j'ai allé on top of a few other effective French words.
Grammar is not inconsequential; but, in the big picture, understanding how grammar works is a small component of being proficient in using the language. Exploring my feelings about j'ai allé helped me rediscover this essential truth in our trade as teachers and ambassadors of the French language.
Want to share your own j'ai allé story? Comment below! I'd love to hear more from my FSL colleagues, and maybe learn something new!
Friday, January 26, 2018
Top 3 New Year's Resolutions for Second Language Teachers
Our job can seem quixotic at
times. That’s because we’re all about trial and error in second language
pedagogy. Only through many trials and many errors do we ever strike
pedagogical gold. Our CEFR Barrie meetings last year and the
hard-working professionals there reminded me of this.
So, aside from recommending you
keep your nose to the grindstone, here are 3 more New Year’s resolutions for
second language teachers.
1. Learn a new language
You’re a teacher and you speak
the target language (e.g. French, Spanish...etc). Good. This alone makes
you qualified; but, it doesn’t necessarily make you proficient. By
rediscovering the joy of language learning you’ll boost your effectiveness and
make essential connections to share with your students at the same time.
Spend an hour every day in 2018
learning your target language and discover through new eyes how to guide your
fellow learners through the confidence-shaking enterprise of learning a new
language.
Spoiler alert: You’ll
meet fellow language learners who speak the target language better than you
can, but who report having spent only half the time you put in. Don’t let
yourself forget how that feels as you get back to work.
In
your journey, seek out thought-leaders like Benny Lewis or Steve Kaufmann on YouTube
to inspire you. You’ll quickly learn how every language learner and their
dog uses the CEFR as a common sense reference point.
2. Have (or adopt) kids
I would bet that every
professional with kids at home has, at some point, seen a colleague take on a
major discretionary project and thought, “they probably don’t have kids”.
This is not a slight, it merely reflects the commonly held idea that
professionals with kids are often more preoccupied with raising a family than
with taking on extra duties at work.
I would say that is an
oversimplification. It’s beyond question that having young children will take
up time that would otherwise be spent running school programs like sports teams
or clubs. But I contend that where some losses occur, other areas benefit; especially
for second language teachers.
If you raise bilingual children, you’ll come to a realization regarding the far too common belief that learning another language “just isn’t” for some kids; It’s fake news.
If you raise bilingual children, you’ll come to a realization regarding the far too common belief that learning another language “just isn’t” for some kids; It’s fake news.
No matter who your kids turn out
to be, they will be it in two languages and inspire you every day.
Personal note: My
Élianne has ASD and she is also bilingual. Now I know more than ever how our
mindsets (in French Immersion, for example) need to change.
Beyond inspiration and deflating
old myths, I think if you ask any parent they’ll tell you children also give
you the gift of perspective.
3. Leveridge your grit
As a second language teacher,
you’re an intrepid and determined professional; that means you’re willing to
take risks and learn according to the principal of trial and error (as outlined
in the introduction to this blog post). Use that in 2018!
As you take your integration of CEFR
philosophy and practice even further; keep in mind that, if your colleagues are
anything like you, they will not judge harshly your failed attempts to inspire
your students. Your courage will be respected. Your reputation will grow and
your students will see the very best character modelled in a very real
circumstance.
Simply by virtue of the
excruciating experiential learning process in L2 pedagogy you will succeed
beyond expectation in 2018 and still have time for coffee.
I started this over the break,
and then I had a snow day. My name is Philippe Croteau and I teach in Simcoe
County. If you ever want to chat CEFR and L2 pedagogy, you can catch me
on Twitter @pcroteauirt or on this very blog! Consider sharing your own
thoughts here, or telling me what you think of mine. The CEFR Barrie
blog is a place for talking about big ideas and sharing our successes.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Top 3 New Year's Resolutions for Second Language Teachers by Philippe Croteau
Our job can seem quixotic at times. That’s because we’re all about trial and error in second language pedagogy. Only through many trials and many errors do we ever strike pedagogical gold. Our CEFR Barrie meetings last year and the hard-working professionals there reminded me of this.
So, aside from recommending you keep your nose to the grindstone, here are 3 more New Year’s resolutions for second language teachers.
1. Learn a new language
You’re a teacher and you speak the target language (e.g. French, Spanish...etc). Good. This alone makes you qualified; but, it doesn’t necessarily make you proficient. By rediscovering the joy of language learning you’ll boost your effectiveness and make essential connections to share with your students at the same time.
Spend an hour every day in 2018 learning your target language and discover through new eyes how to guide your fellow learners through the confidence-shaking enterprise of learning a new language.
Spoiler alert: You’ll meet fellow language learners who speak the target language better than you can, but who report having spent only half the time you put in. Don’t let yourself forget how that feels as you get back to work.
In your journey, seek out thought-leaders like Benny Lewis or Steve Kaufmann on YouTube to inspire you. You’ll quickly learn how every language learner and their dog uses the CEFR as a common sense reference point.2. Have (or adopt) kids
I would bet that every professional with kids at home has, at some point, seen a colleague take on a major discretionary project and thought, “they probably don’t have kids”. This is not a slight, it merely reflects the commonly held idea that professionals with kids are often more preoccupied with raising a family than with taking on extra duties at work.
I would say that is an oversimplification. It’s beyond question that having young children will take up time that would otherwise be spent running school programs like sports teams or clubs. But I contend that where some losses occur, other areas benefit; especially for second language teachers.
If you raise bilingual children, you’ll come to a realization regarding the far too common belief that learning another language “just isn’t” for some kids; It’s fake news.
If you raise bilingual children, you’ll come to a realization regarding the far too common belief that learning another language “just isn’t” for some kids; It’s fake news.
No matter who your kids turn out to be, they will be it in two languages and inspire you every day.
Personal note: My Élianne has ASD and she is also bilingual. Now I know more than ever how our mindsets (in French Immersion, for example) need to change.
Beyond inspiration and deflating old myths, I think if you ask any parent they’ll tell you children also give you the gift ofperspective.
3. Leveridge your grit
As a second language teacher, you’re an intrepid and determined professional; that means you’re willing to take risks and learn according to the principal of trial and error (as outlined in the introduction to this blog post). Use that in 2018!
As you take your integration of CEFR philosophy and practice even further; keep in mind that, if your colleagues are anything like you, they will not judge harshly your failed attempts to inspire your students. Your courage will be respected. Your reputation will grow and your students will see the very best character modelled in a very real circumstance.
Simply by virtue of the excruciating experiential learning process in L2 pedagogy you will succeed beyond expectation in 2018 and still have time for coffee.
I started this over the break, and then I had a snow day. My name is Philippe Croteau and I teach in Simcoe County. If you ever want to chat CEFR and L2 pedagogy, you can catch me on Twitter @pcroteauirt or on this very blog! Consider sharing your own thoughts here, or telling me what you think of mine. The CEFR Barrie blog is a place for talking about big ideas and sharing our successes.
Friday, June 16, 2017
Thursday, May 4, 2017
RESSOURCE GRATUIT!
Colleagues,
I spent my morning using the audio-lingua and QRstuff.com sites to create this sheet of QR codes linked to self-introductions in French. I thought I would share before heading out to class. CLICK HERE to access the document.
It is a sheet of ten QR codes. When scanned with a QR reader (a free app that all your students know about) each one links to a short voice recording of a non-professional French person talking about themselves and their lives.
The doc is rough and "not ready to be shared yet" but it is functional and you can make a copy and dress it up as you see fit.
I am asking my students today to listen and note what they know about each person. But, I wonder what other things an FSL colleague would do with this in their hands. Let me know in the comments!
Thanks to team who shared audio-lingua with us!
Also, here's a video of me showing my colleague how to make QR codes
Philippe
I spent my morning using the audio-lingua and QRstuff.com sites to create this sheet of QR codes linked to self-introductions in French. I thought I would share before heading out to class. CLICK HERE to access the document.
It is a sheet of ten QR codes. When scanned with a QR reader (a free app that all your students know about) each one links to a short voice recording of a non-professional French person talking about themselves and their lives.
The doc is rough and "not ready to be shared yet" but it is functional and you can make a copy and dress it up as you see fit.
I am asking my students today to listen and note what they know about each person. But, I wonder what other things an FSL colleague would do with this in their hands. Let me know in the comments!
Thanks to team who shared audio-lingua with us!
Also, here's a video of me showing my colleague how to make QR codes
Philippe
Thursday, April 20, 2017
April session review
Our Barrie CEFR region is a group of dedicated FSL educators that are passionate about creating the best educational experience for students. This year we focused on the 4 components of the CEFR and reflected on where our instruction was at that moment. Many ideas and resources were shared with educators from across the region. The following is a growing list of resources discussed in our groups.
Provides over 600 french audio clips that can be organized based on CEFR level, gender and age of the speakers. You can even copy the link and share it with your students. Here’s an example
Cut and paste any text and have it read back to you. The speed can even be adjusted to change the pace.
This blog has numerous recordings of interviews with students ranging from levels A1-B2. It includes questions, quizzes and transcripts of the interviews as well.
This blog from Belgium has a variety of Graphic texts in French.
A fun tool for adding audio to images. Just upload an image and add a mouth to make it appear like someone is speaking.
If you have any other great FSL resources that reflect the CEFR, please share in the comment box.
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