Elise+Galliers

=My Profile:= Bonjour! Je suis prof de français à Mentone Girls’ Secondary College!

=Action Research Project Planner:= __**Which area/s of your practice would you like to improve?**__ At the moment we are focused on practcal issues; Tamsin is very resource-deprived, currently teaching in a construction site! (perhaps we could consider how we might improve by changing to a more student-driven focus rather than a teacher-centred approach.) __**What will be your focus for this project in 2011?**__ HOW DO I CREATE AN ENGAGING, QUALITY FRENCH PROGRAM? HOW DO I CREATE AN ENGAGING, QUALITY FRENCH PROGRAM __FOR BEGINNERS__? (..... but how do we measure "quality?") || __**Timeline for 2011**__ We hope to be able to meet this term or early next term. __**Budget for Resource Grant**__ We would like to produce some concrete resources that can be used to help engage students' interest and can be used flexibily with students of varied ability.... possibly. Some of these may be designed to use ICT in the classroom, while others might be more hands-on. || Tamsin successfully created an engaging project using the French film "le ballon rouge" which incorporated the use of ICT and which focused on an engagement with authentic resources to introduce new content (about place, directions etc). The project allowed for students of varied abilities and prior French learning (mixed stream classes) to work together in groups to make sense of new vocabulary and apply these in the production of their own orginal texts.
 * =Stage 1 ANALYSE –=
 * =Stage 2 - PLAN=
 * =Stage 2 - PLAN=
 * ==Stage 3 – ACT==
 * ==Stage 3 – ACT==

Elise~ I trialled the online program "Language Perfect" as a pilot program with 1 of my 2 year 7 classes. The enthusiastic student reviews (including from one very isolated, disengaged student who is profoundly deaf in one ear - a challenge in life and language learning!) has resulted in Mentone Girls S.C. paying for a years' subscription for all students in the college to have access to Language Perfect. Not only did the students find the program engaging and "fun" but compared with my other year 7 class, their vocabulary was almost doubled!

We have both aimed to incorporate a range of activities in each class and to use a variety of resources.

Elise ~ I have been focusing on doing small group work (a college wide initiative) and to do this I have created a number of concrete resources (flashcards etc) as well as using the iPad - either for apps or listening tasks - and set up the kids on rotational tasks. This has allowed me to do intensive small group work with a focus on speaking (a goal for this year!). It's great to get to interact with the kids almost one-on-one. Another goal for me this year is to allow the students to make mistakes in their writing - I have explicitly stated that I will allow students to use English words in their writing (and speaking) if they can't think of how to express something in French. The idea is that: 1) they will have increased confidence to "have a go" and will end up using a greater range of vocabulary in French rather than giving up or opting for an easier sentence. 2) they will be able to see at a glance what they need to revise, because there it will be, in English. (Rather than allowing the use of dictionaries which can make it hard to see what a students can and can't do on their own.)

Tamsin ~ is setting a goal this year to do small group work more often as it allows for differentiation or personalised learning, and keeps the students engaged with a variety of tasks to complete within a period. || What did you notice? || What would you do the same/differently in the future? ||
 * ==Stage 4 - OBSERVE==
 * ==Stage 4 - OBSERVE==
 * ==Stage 5 - REFLECT==
 * ==Stage 5 - REFLECT==