Teaching Culture to Novice Language Learners

 Teaching culture to novice learners is hard. They just don't have the language background to go very deep at all into a topic in the target language. It is normal then to want to not use the target language. It happens to me too too. But just as often I teach culture in the target language.  Here are some ideas for how...    (Want to skip right to the freebie? Grab it here.)

1. Use video. All the visuals you can see in a video help students understand the language. Or maybe you don't even need the video sound. Turn the sound off and talk along with the video using language your students do understand. Use your own videos or videos filmed by family and colleagues. Or search for videos on sites like youtube or teacher tube. I usually use a site like safeshare to choose a small section of the video for viewing and to stop students from seeing ads.

2. Do a short and easy cooking project. You can demonstrate how to make something using language your students understand and holding up the ingredients to help make it comprehensible. Depending on the recipe, you can also have your students participate in making the food. You can make salsa, arepas, crêpes, European sipping hot chocolate (the kind served with churros in Spain, at Angelina's in France & at Artefact in Quebec) or ask families to bring in cheeses from France, Spain... for cheese tasting.

3. Have a mini holiday celebration. It doesn't even HAVE to be at the correct time of year. Decorate the classroom as if it were Bastille Day in May (or whenever). Bring in typical foods or photos. Show them to the class while talking about them in simple comprehensible language they can understand. Sure, you can dig deeper into talking more about the celebration and what it is all about in English - but you can do that another day. Today is all about actually celebrating and using the target language.

4. Use a lot of pictures, images, drawings, etc. of the target culture. The picture gives a context and makes language comprehensible. Use small chunks of language to talk about what you can see in this country (or city), what you can eat and what you can visit. I like to compile the pictures and small chunks of language into a comprehensible reader. Make them yourself, or grab a few I've made & have in my TpT store. I have them for many French-speaking countries and cities and all Spanish-speaking countries. 

I've also created a free printable for you to use as you teach culture in the target language in your French or Spanish class. Grab the freebie here!

Storytelling Lessons and Student Involvement using Questioning in the Target Language

 I read stories in my language classes as often as possible. It is a great way to provide comprehensible input for novice learners. Each page is a small chunk of language with an image or illustration to aid in comprehension.

But I never just read a story to my students. I am constantly involving them in the story using questioning in the target language.

Here is how…

In this example lesson, my focus is on the seasons vocabulary. I want to repeat the seasons vocabulary as much as I can to help students acquire these new words.

I am using Nearpod to present my story (if you want to learn how to use Nearpod, get my how to guide here), but you can also do this questioning verbally while holding a storybook in your hands in front of the class.

The first page of my story presents the season with an image to illustrate. I read the page and then I start brainstorming … how can I repeat the seasons vocabulary word in a question they will understand and know how to respond to?

My students know the weather vocabulary well. I decide to ask about the weather.

I have different types of questioning I can do.

Question type 1:  I can ask a yes / no question. This is a great way for students to demonstrate comprehension without having to say much in the target language. This works well if they don’t have the language ability to respond to a question where a full response is necessary.

(the microphone just let's them know they can shout out the answer)

Question Type 2:  I can ask an either / or question. Often my students know an answer to a question … it is on the tip of their tongues … but they can’t quite get it out. An either / or question leads them to success! Success gives them a happy, I can do it! feeling. They will feel more comfortable in my lessons and with responding to questioning in the future when they feel successful.

Question Type 3: I can have the students respond physically to questions. They can gesture or point or hold things up to provide a response. In Nearpod I have the students circle things using a Draw it slide. They are demonstrating comprehension of the question and have more exposure to the season vocabulary word.

     Question Type 4: I can ask a question which requires a full answer in the target language. I do this when I am confident the students know this vocabulary well enough to be able to provide a full response. BUT … if I see them struggle a bit and can tell it is on the tip of their tongues but they can’t quite get it out, I will switch to an either / or or yes / no question to help them out.

Ready to try out a storytelling lesson? Check these out...

Writing Simple Stories for Novice Language Learners

 

It is next to impossible to find stories in the target language that don't have odd vocabulary or advanced grammar structures my novice language learners will not understand.

So I write my own stories for my students!

First, start with your current focus. In my example story, my students were learning emotion vocabulary words like surprised, afraid, happy...

Next I put lists of what my students have already learned on my desk and I begin to design a story. I decided to use family vocabulary and to have different family members feeling a certain emotion. 

Then I wanted to bring in previously learned vocabulary to explain why this family member felt this way.

I spent time on this part and brought in a lot of previously learned vocabulary - in part to add to the storytelling. And in part because language learners need to recycle back to previously learned vocabulary so they don't forget it!

I love to get a little silly...

Because someone in my story needed to feel surprised. My students know some farm animals and some bedroom vocabulary. Finding a cow on your bed is certainly a reason to feel surprised! And my students love the silliness!!

Do you love writing stories as much as I do?

If you are not sure and would like to take a look at one of mine, I have one to share!

You can get my Stone Soup Reader in French, Spanish & Bilingual Versions by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Janice

Let's travel to a French-speaking city! ~ Paper bag suitcase craftivity

Today we are making a suitcase craftivity and planning a trip to a French-speaking city! We are sneaking some writing practice and cultural information into this fun craft.

First, take a paper bag and fold it into thirds. Now tape or glue an index card into each section of the folded bag. You can have the index cards pre-printed with the start of each sentence (like mine below), or you can have the students copy the text onto the cards themselves. Next, have the students complete the sentences.

Now it is time to decorate!
I used a paper fastener to close my example suitcase. You can also use velcro circles. Students can create a handle to the suitcase by trimming the edge of the paper bag or using construction paper. Finally, they will decorate the suitcase using markers and stickers.

Enjoy!

I was inspired by Inner Child Fun's blog post.

French Class Back to School Freebie Treasures

The new school year is just around the corner and I'm starting to think about lesson planning. I've spent some time treasure hunting for the start of the school year freebie resources and I want to share the treasures I've found!

Today I will be sharing the goodies I've found for my French classes. Stay tuned for some Spanish class treasures! Coming soon!!

Let's start with one of my freebies. It is an All About Me Build-A-Book! Novice learners can cut and paste. Students ready to write on their own can just write on the pages of the book. The students will end up with a story book all about them that they can present to the class or read with a partner/in small groups. Find it here.

I love playing Find Someone Who at the start of a school year. It is another great way to learn about our classmates. I like this freebie from Dans la classe de Mme Sandra.
Mme Sandra also has another Find Someone Who for older learners & I spied an "I have/who has" game with a back to school theme too. Check out her store!

I just adore these get-to-know-you dice by for French Immersion. The students write questions on the dice and then they work in pairs, rolling the dice and answering questions. For novice learners, the teacher can write the questions and just have the students roll & ask/answer questions.

Students love to share what they did over the summer. And it is yet another way to get to know one another a little better. Check out this back to school writing activity from Mme McIntosh. I know my students will love sharing about their summer adventures!

Moving away from learning about each other and on to working with the French language and school related vocabulary, this Back to School Puzzle by Les petits singes de Mlle W looks like so much fun! Grab it here.

And I have one more of my freebies to share. My days of the week reader will get your students reading and talking all about what they do each day of the week. Find it here!

I hope these treasure help you get off to a great new school year!

Fighting the Second Language Summer Slide

Summer is almost here and our students will be stepping out of the language learning classrooms ... will they spend two months forgetting about their second language? Let's fight the second language Summer Slide!

We can give our students and their families suggested tasks to complete during the summer months.

1. Give a BINGO summer homework sheet like this and when they bring it back the first day of school give them a prize! List things the children have learned to do during the year like name 3 colors or name 3 school objects, etc on the BINGO sheet.

2. Give the families a few apps you recommend the students use. I usually suggest Duolingo or Rosetta Stone. What are your favorites?

3. Suggest to the families that they use italki.com to find a language partner or a low cost native speaker teacher/tutor. On this site you can find someone wanting to learn English and set up a time to talk on Skype (or using another way to connect if you prefer). Then speak one language for half of your exchange, and the target language for the other half. You can also find many low cost teachers or tutors to speak with or give you a lesson.

4. Suggest that the family uses lingoo.com and organize a language exchange! My family has used the site and we've welcomed a German girl to our home (she came twice!) and two French girls. We did a paid stay a couple of times and then an exchange. My daughter spent three weeks last summer speaking French at her language partner's home!

5. Encourage the families of your students to travel! And better yet, take language classes when they travel! My whole family has gone twice to Coeur de France in Sancerre, France, and we love it there! A friend of mine works at Prestige Idiomas in Rosas, Gerona, Spain, and it would be a great destination for Spanish learners!

6. Send home readers your students can read and re-read during the summer. Use audiopal.com or vocaroo.com to record yourself reading the stories and then send home links to the recordings along with the readers. Or post the links to your audio recordings on your class/school website.

What do you ask your students to do during the summer to not forget all they've learned? Comment below with your suggestions!

Quick and Easy Make Your Own Chocolate Poisson d'avril

Today we are making easy chocolate fish to celebrate le poisson d'avril!

If you do a google search for moldable chocolate or modeling chocolate, you'll find many recipes. The first one I tried was a messy disaster. 10 seconds into trying to form a fish, my hands were covered in chocolate and I just wanted the goop out of my hands. Next I tried a recipe from allrecipes.com called Plastic Chocolate. I figured if it had the name plastic in it, that would mean I'd have a more sturdy dough, and I was right! I had trace amounts of chocolate on my hands after making a fish with this dough.

#ICan'tHandleChocolateEverywhere

The dough is made up of two ingredients; corn syrup and chocolate.

You melt the chocolate and then mix in the corn syrup. You'll end up with a thick lump of chocolate deliciousness.

#Yum

Then you'll put the candy on plastic wrap to cool. The recipe tells you to wait 5 hours for it to cool and suggests that overnight is best. I waited 1 and a half hours and found mine sturdy enough to begin making my fish.

Give each student a piece of dough. I wanted mine to be large enough for the students to decorate, so I made a generous sized ball - maybe slightly smaller than a golf ball. If you make them this size, the recipe will be enough to make 12 fish.

Demonstrate with your own fish before having the students start.

First roll the candy in between your hands to form a ball.

Now start forming your fish by pinching to form a tail.

Keep pinching and molding the candy until you have a fish shape.

You can hand out toothpicks and let the students make scales and a mouth if they'd like.

You can also give them sprinkles or other small candies to decorate their fish.

And now comes the best part. Time to eat! I read that this recipe gives you a tootsie roll-like candy. I'm not a huge fan of tootsie rolls, but yuuuuuuum! These fish are so good!
#I'tsNotReallyLikeATootsieRoll

I'd love to see photos of your students' best creations. Please share!

Spring Activities for Spanish & French Classes

With spring coming up just around the corner, I've compiled some fun spring related activities for French and Spanish class!

1. Take a nature walk! Have your students collect objects in nature ~ things like blades of grass, wildflowers, pieces of bark...

After the walk, return to class with the collected objects. Give each student a photocopy page with the numbers 1-5 on it (you can make the activity harder by using the number words spelled out without the numerals). Students will place the correct number of objects into each numbered area of the page. Have them glue the objects to their pages.

If you are not able to take the class outside for a nature walk, have available objects typical of spring for students to sort and count. They can use seeds, photographs of birds, paper or silk flowers ...

2. For Spanish class, learn a spring poem. For French class, make a Mardi Gras mask.

3. Spring is the perfect time to talk about gardens, plants, vegetables ...  As a part of a garden/vegetable unit, I love to do the celery science experiment. But this Walking Water experiment looks super cool too! It would be a great way to review colors.

4. Eat the parts of a plant! It would be quick and easy to create your own version of this activity in Spanish or French.

5. Play a game outside! In Spanish class you can play Rayuela and in French class, play la Pétanaque.

What are your favorite Spring lesson plan activities? Comment below!