Wednesday 29 October 2008

email

Have discovered that sending me email via blackboard sends it to my old East Ayrshire email address, which I cannot access. You can email at uws.ac.uk
If you have sent any work to blackboard please resend.

Keep the wordles coming! You do need a recent version of java enabled. 
To make a word or words bigger type or paste them in more often.

Monday 27 October 2008

Assignments for week beg 3 Nov

Reading    You are all welcome to try other groups' tasks.
do this exercise
note any vocab you had to look up (on www.wordreference.com)
write in French what type you think you are and why.

Standard group
Simpson family. You may need to read beyond the answer space to find the answer.
note any new voc
http://www.quia.com/cz/8726.html 
You don't need a password just hit play game!
To show you did this, print the last screen

Beginners group
personal language
work out the answers to the questions and

questions to go with the answers
http://www.quia.com/pop/235942.html

To show you did this print the last screen

Wednesday 22 October 2008

Next week's presentations

The format for next week will be
1 presentations from Higher group
you will present the new language and activity to the beginners' group. No need to prepare activity material for the whole class - just enough for some or all of the beginners. 
The Standard group will be peer assessing. As will the rest of the class.
2 Then the Standard group will talk to their presentations. You can bring any ppt or word doc on a memory stick to load onto the laptop at the beginning of the lesson or can send in advance by email. Make sure you tell me which section you are. Rest of class will peer assess the presentations. 
Hope we will get through all of them in the time. 
Beginners group will be the guinea pigs for the higher group. The date for your submissions is the following week. You don't have to present in front of the class unless you want to!
I'm really looking forward to seeing you in action!

Tuesday 21 October 2008

ICT challenge number 2

Go to http://wordle.net 
have a look in the Gallery
Wordle requires a browser with java enabled

Task
Create a wordle to illustrate a phonic cloud such as you have been doing on the pink sheets and like the example I did for "oi" (see my post of the 17th October)
(If the beginners group find this too hard, type in a set of French numbers instead)

You don't need to log in
type your words (carefully!)
click go
play about with colour, fonts and layout (maybe best to avoid black background for printing)
when you are satisfied with the look, save to gallery (at bottom of window)
Give it a title eg French ui sounds and sign it with your first name, section and UWS
Save is undoable and undeletable
take a note of its URL and email it to me
print it out for your file, if you can!

A chance for those who failed with toondoo.com to redeem themselves!

Bon courage!

Friday 17 October 2008

Wordle

http://wordle.net is a tool for presenting words in an eyecatching way. It is free and quick to use.

Here is one I did for OI sound. 


Here is another from the Gallery for numbers above 20


Can you think of other uses?

Tuesday 14 October 2008

erratum and online ex

Oops sorry typo on nationalities sheet
Scottish masculine form is écossais
feminine form is écossaise

Have discovered quizlet and made up these vocab sets.
Play scatter is quite fun. the race game requires you to type.

colours
countries
nationlities

you can search for other sets

Jobs - les métiers, Marital status

Useful for celeb presentations
Qu'est-ce qu'il fait dans la vie? What does he do for a living?

NB no word for "a" in these expressions
il est acteur - elle est actrice
il est chanteur - elle est chanteuse (singer)
il est footballeur
il est millionnaire

il est marié avec X
elle est mariée avec X

Monday 13 October 2008

Assignments

I have spoken to the library staff about making more of the books available on 3 day loans. Paul had asked about where to find Standard Circular 1178 online. I have drawn a blank there too. It is quoted in the books though.

Language Assignments

This week I will be reseating you in ability groups and setting appropriate language homework.

Higher and above Group
Standard grade group
Beginners and near beginners

The tasks will be explained in class. For the sake of this morning's group here they are.

Higher Group

due date week beg 27 Oct

In pairs, following the general order in FC presentation handout, prepare a presentation of about 6 items of voc followed by a pupil activity in context.

You will be told which vocabulary to prepare. Start by thinking what would be a suitable activity to do with pupils, This will inform you which article to teach with the noun. Use visual aids eg fcs or objects.

eg if pupils are going to have to say I like cats I don’t like dogs
then teach the plural of the nouns along with “les” since they will be saying “j’aime les chats”

Write out the presentation in note form but including the French instructions

You will be asked to present it together with your partner in front of class or group. It should last 5 – 10 minutes.

Success criteria
show an understanding of the methodology
good visuals – flashcards or objects
correct grammar eg gender
good pronunciation
brisk delivery
suitable support for the activity
enjoyable for teacher and class
good collaborative work

Standard group
Due date week begin 27 October

In pairs, prepare in French a presentation on a celebrity to include personal information eg name, age, birthday, where born, nationality, languages spoken, where s/he lives, family, what s/he does for a living ca 150 words
You will be expected to deliver it in front of class. You don’t have to memorise it.

Format: any PPT, Word or poster with photo plus text maybe audio pre-recorded or just read.

Success criteria
attractive to look at
accurate writing: spelling grammar,
good pronunciation
confident delivery
shared presentation

Beginners group due date week beg 3 Nov
You should be concentrating on building up your core vocab.
I will discuss with each group a suitable task
You could try a similar presentation to the Standard group with 50 words
stick to what we have done in class

Sunday 12 October 2008

More files uploaded

I have uploaded to blackboard: assessment record,
Powerpoints on the verb to be and another on regular -er verbs for those who need it.
Also notes on countries and nationalities for this week, and on colours as some asked for it.

Friday 10 October 2008

The cartoon challenge


I am enjoying your cartoons.
Cartoons created in UWSclass appear in In menu Toons, MyToonsDoos. Other ones can be marked as favourites and appear in Galleries>My favourites. I am posting comments as I find them. Please remember to add your name. A few are unsigned!
Please go back and look.

Strangely not all the cartoons seem to showing up. It says there are 25 but I can only see 14. Maybe best to do your own log in, publish to the world and let me know the URL.

Here are some nice examples!

\Bon Anniversaire\


\French Introductions\

Thursday 9 October 2008

Reading Update

The key text book for this module is Jones and Coffey modern foreign languages 5-11- a guide for teachers. 
If you want to buy one this would be the most helpful. 
Chapter One gives a good background into thinking behind  an early start. Chapter 4 gives ideas on presenting language and ties in very nicely with what we are doing at present.

Toondoo.com seems to be particularly slow in the afternoon and evening. if you are having trouble, try logging on in the morning while the US is asleep!!

About 10 of you still have to fill in the form asking for information. Please do this before next week. You know who you are!


Tuesday 7 October 2008

Writing Challenge (updated)

For week beginning 13 October your challenge is to create a brief dialogue using only some of language we have done eg greetings, name, age, colours.

This is also an ICT challenge - create a comic strip in Toondoo.com or if you know of something similar that will do the job that is fine too.

Log in to http://www.toondoo.com
EITHER Register your own account for privacy
Remember to note your username and password!
OR use an account I created user name UWSclass PW craigie
Everyone can see everyone else's then!

Have a look around eg do a search for French

I will do a quick demo in tutorial this week but it is pretty intuitive. Drag shapes to the boxes. Add your name to the title bar. Put "tags" like French and name for easy searching.
If using your own account, once you have created your masterpiece "share" it with me by emailing it. You can print it for your files if you wish!

Have fun!

Here is my first attempt

\French intros \

Sunday 5 October 2008

Models of MLPS delivery

Models of delivering the teaching of MLPS in Scotland

1. Secondary specialist visits

2. Peripatetic teacher visits several schools

3. Trained primary teacher – class teacher

4. Trained primary teacher – drop in teacher

5. Native speaker eg Comenius assistant

6. Immersion eg Gaelic Medium schools

7. partial immersion eg Walker Road school in Aberdeen


1. Secondary specialist visits – has good knowledge of language and teaching methods, if from associated secondary school benefits for transition of knowing the pupils when they get to S1. May underestimate capabilities of primary pupils. Problems associated with drop in teaching – once a week, timetabling, cancelled classes etc Tried in pilot but not widely successful

2. Peripatetic teacher visits several schools – will usually be well qualified, often native speaker. Problems associated with drop in teaching – timetabling cancelled classes etc
Expensive, short term solution

3. Trained primary teacher – class teacher, can do some every day

4. Trained primary teacher – drop in teachers. In some schools used to cover McCrone time, or when trained teacher teaches in lower school.

5. Native speaker eg Comenius assistant. Great for culture. short term additional support

BILINGUAL models
6. Immersion eg Gaelic Medium schools – very successful, very expensive, difficulties recruiting staff. 80% of pupils have no Gaelic background

7. Partial Immersion eg Walker Road school in Aberdeen. also very successful has now been stopped due to financial situation

References:
SCILT
Walker Road Evaulation 2000 – 2008

Les couleurs

rouge bleu vert jaune
orange violet rose gris
marron noir blanc
bleu foncé bleu clair
or argent (gold and silver)
C'est quelle couleur? C'est bleu (what colour is it? It's blue)
Moi, j'aime le rose. I like pink
Quelle est ta couleur préférée? What is your favourite colour?
Ma couleur préférée est le violet. My favourite colour is purple
Je n'aime pas le vert.. I don't like green.

mais = but for "fat" sentences!
J'aime le rose et le bleu mais ma couleur préférée est le violet.

Preparation

You already have a lot of reading to do. No written work for this week.

I have now uploaded ppt of last week's lecture and the one on conjugations to Blackboard. There are links to online exercises on it and other exercises in these posts. Links are red in colour!

Work at numbers. This week we will add colours to our repertoire.
My links to colour activities

Saturday 4 October 2008

Quel âge as-tu? (updated post)

Quel âge as-tu? What age are you? How old are you?

J'ai neuf ans.

Note you are really saying I have 9 years so you can't miss out the ans as you can in English since it won't make sense!

Moi, j'ai neuf ans, et toi? I'm 9 what about you?
Moi aussi, j'ai neuf ans. I'm nine too. (Note the position of "aussi")

To give other ages, you need the present tense of the verb to have, avoir
j'ai - I have
tu as - you have
il a - he has
elle a - she has
nous avons - we have
vous avez - you have
ils ont- they have
elles ont - they have (all F)

Question forms with inversion
Quel âge as-tu?
Quel âge avez-vous?
Quel âge a Pierre?
Quel a-t-il?
Quel âge a-t-elle?

I am uploading ppt file with subject replacement and present tense avoir to blackboard