Week 2-Wednesday

Today was my second day teaching Mikaela's French 1 A block class. I got to Proctor around 9am, and began class almost right away. I started class by giving them a quiz. While some whizzed through, others seemed to struggle a bit. However, they seemed pretty enthusiastic and were not angry with me for giving them a quiz, so I would call that a success. Next, we moved on to Human Sentences, an activity that I had created for Tuesday but forgot at home. It seemed pretty easy for them-almost two easy. I think I mixed up the levels of the middle schoolers  and high schoolers! After that, they performed their skits. It was really nice to see them having so much fun with each other. Some groups had the whole class laughing at one point. The best part is that I know that they were learning. They were enjoying themselves by actually carrying on a semi-complex French conversation. I'm not sure if they realize it, but it's a great accomplishment. I had the class vote on their favorite (to see who would win the chocolate bunny prize), and there was a three way tie! So I asked them to put their heads together, do some quick thinking, and improvise the sequel to their telephone conversation skit. Some did very well, others seemed nervous and could not verbalize exactly what they wanted to say on the spot. Either way, they all did very well and the winners ended up being Hallie and Abby. I think that activity was pretty successful. We unfortunately ran out of class time (classes are shorter on Wednesdays for sports games) so I didn't get to everything I had planned. But we got through most of it! I had so much fun with them-they are a riot. After class was over, I spent a couple of hours planning some activities for the middle schoolers before they start their project on Monday. I made up a "Where's Waldo" type of game called "Où Est Pierre" to help them learn how to give directions, and I also made up a jeopardy game of all the things they've learned this year. I hope they like it, and that they can see how much fun learning a new language can be. What I found when I was learning French (and even now still recognize) is that I learn the most when I'm actually applying what I've learned, and that it's the most fun to be able to use what you learned in a classroom to help you out in real life. Foreign language is the perfect example of that.