On Wednesday evening, President Macron gave a speech that outlined some of the new measures France will be implementing to stop the spread of the virus. Beginning Friday, Macron is instituting a new lockdown, or "confinement" to help battle the second wave of pandemic. He began with a discussion of how this new lockdown would be the same as the one France experienced in the spring: "comme au printemps" means "like in the spring." Establishments open to the public will b closed: "Fermeture de établisssements recevant du public." Also, the French government will be providing unemployment payments to individuals and employers who are affected by the closures. "Chômage" is the French word for "unemployment." Macron then discussed what would be different during this second lockdown: "Ce qui change." Nurseries and school "restent ouverts:" they will remain open. If you click on the link to the video above, you will be able to see Macron's interpreter. Remember what I told you about French Sign Language? American Sign Language, or ASL, evolved directly from French Sign Language, so they are very similar.
If you are like me, you have been curious about how other countries in the world have been dealing with the coronavirus. Every time we practice vocabulary and dialogues about going out into the world ("On va au café?"), I think about how, no, I'm not going to any cafe any time soon. Because there's a world-wide pandemic. Now that we're in Unit 2, so much of our vocabulary centers around "Les Passe-Temps," activities that we enjoy doing that perhaps we are unable to do. Here is a quote from Franceinfo, one of my favorite websites for French news. 46 millions de Français vont devoir vivre sous couvre-feu à partir de vendredi 23 octobre à minuit. In this quote, I hope you recognize the word "vendredi" from Tuesday. If you've forgotten that it means "Friday," you still might have been able to figure it out because of "23 octobre:" today's date. Here's my translation of the line: 46 million French must live under curfew beginning Friday, October 23 at midnight. Our word "curfew" comes from the French word "couvre-feu." In French, "couvre" means "to cover," and "feu" means "fire." (There's a really great French soup called "pot-au-feu:" "fire pot.") In the old, olden days, the Medieval days, a couvre-feu was a ringing bell that reminded citizens of a city to cover their fires. In old European cities, wooden buildings were crowded together and inside every single home fires were lit to cook, warm the home, take baths, everything. If one of those fires caught ahold of a wooden structure, it could soon rage across the entire city. This happened in London in 1666, in what we know as the Great Fire of London. In modern day France, the word "couvre-feu" has adapted just like our word "curfew" to mean people must be in their homes by a certain hour, in this case, "minuit." The French government is imposing a curfew to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The rate of infection is rising in France, as well as Europe in general and the United States. France is trying to prevent the severity of a "deuxième vague," a second wave of Covid infections.
Hello students! Next Monday, we'll be transitioning both to our 2nd grading cycle and Unit 2. In Unit 2, we'll learn vocabulary about different past times, hobbies, and interests: les passe-temps. You'll also learn numbers 1-20, subject pronouns, how to conjugate -er verbs; it's going to be a great unit :) Today, Friday October 16, is the last day of Cycle 1. It's also the last day to submit late work to be graded. Content Hour Survey ResultsThank you to the students who filled out the survey for feedback about what you are most interested in covering for content hour. The majority of you asked for a mix of different types of French culture: music, food, poems, books, news. Let's do it! For our next content hour, we'll discuss the classic song "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf, a song mentioned in the video at the beginning of Unit 2. Here's a link to the lyrics. I'll also be introducing you to the famous French novella, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. We'll read just a little bit together in English and French.
Next week is the last week of Cycle of the 2020-2021 school year! We'll be wrapping up Unit 1 at the same time Cycle 1 ends: you're all French speakers now :) In this blog post I'll be discussing:
Unit 1 TestYour Unit 1 test will be a real discussion with me in French. We will cover all of the function we've learned in Unit 1, including:
Our agenda for next week will include a schedule for students to do their tests with me. Some students will be schedule during class time, some during content hour, and maybe even a few during tutorial/intervention time and office hours. I ask that during our test your camera is on. It'll just be us, and seeing your face will give me helpful feedback in evaluating you, especially when it comes to pronunciation. On va aux Champs-Élysées.In this week's content hour, we went beyond tutorials to discuss the classic French song "Les Champs-Élysées" by Joe Dassin. It's a nostalgic tribute to one of the most famous streets in Paris. The Champs-Élysées begins at the Arc de Triomphe and ends at the Louvre. Here's a link to the French lyrics with English translations. The science says that music can help us learn languages. Here's a link to a short article that briefly discusses all the benefits language learners can gain from studying (and singing!) songs. Extra Credit Opportunity!!!Now that we've kind of got the rhythm of the year down, kind of hit our language learning stride, I'd like to offer an extra credit opportunity for the 2nd cycle. I'm sure many of you know of the language-learning app Duolingo. It provides super-convenient vocabulary instruction and practice on your phone. There's another free language learning app/program that you may not have heard of: Busuu. Busuu provides the same functions as Duolingo, only it also has a social component. Native French speakers will correct your written or spoken activities, and you also have the opportunity to correct the activities of students from around the world who are studying English as a second language.
Periodically, over the next cycle, I'll give you benchmarks through Busuu for you to hit for extra credit. Here's a link to the page to set-up an account. It's a lot of fun :) La rentréeIn your asynchronous learning this week, you'll being shopping for a bookbags and reading a student agenda in French. You will also be asked to research "fournitures scolaires" and see what kind of stuff the French back-to school shoppers can find, which is pretty fun. I found these great pens. La SuisseYou will also be reading a train table for trains to Switzerland, a country nestled in the Alps mountain range with stunning natural landscapes. The book asks you to look up Eurorail passes, which you can find here. L'alphabet encoreAnd, by special student request, here is a video of one of my favorite French alphabet songs. Hello class! Today we'll be practicing pronunciation and discussing French accent marks. I wanted to share a screencast with you to show you the easiest way (as far as I know) to make the French accent marks on your computer. Here it is: L'alphabetYour book has audio of the pronunciation of the French alphabet, but I think that this video is very helpful to watch. In the following video, Alexa discusses in detail the strangest letters and the pronunciation hang-ups that English speakers commonly have. Une recette de coucousYour book mentioned a Moroccan dish, couscous. You know, I don't think there are any Moroccan restaurants in Houston (if I'm wrong, please educate me!). But if you were curious about the flavors of Moroccan food, here's a video of the recipe. What do you think? Would you eat this stew? Our second week of online classes is almost behind us. Please remember to check your agenda: you have some exercises to complete in the book before next Tuesday. If you are still having problems accessing the book, please reference last week's blog post and watch the short tutorial videos. This blog post I'll be covering:
Accessing Your GradesToday and tomorrow I will be entering your first grades. I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew how to access your grades. As if this year wasn't enough of an adventure, we are all getting used to the new Power something grading technology that has replaced Gradespeed. If you haven't accessed your gradebook yet, please go to the Belliare High School website and click the HISD Connect button located on the right side as circled in the picture below. If you have a zero entered in the gradebook for my class, please complete your assignment and send me an email or a Remind so that I can update your grade. Next Wednesday's Content HourNext Wednesday for the foreign language content hour, we will be continuing the computer tutorials that I held this afternoon. Originally, I had thought the second round of tutorials could be tomorrow afternoon at 3:10, but it turns out that there is a faculty meeting scheduled then. Just a heads-up: we've been having some tech issues with Teams, and I know that most of you have communicated with me through Teams up until now. Just to be sure I received your messages, I think it's a better idea to email or Remind me until everything gets ironed out. My French AdventuresMany students in the question part of the beginning of the year form have asked me questions about my experiences with French: how long it took me before I became fluent, if I've ever been to France, if I have French ancestry. Here's my story, the short and sweet version. I began studying French my freshman year of high school, and I continued taking French classes in college. I chose my university (the University of Southern Mississippi) in part because I knew they had a lot of study abroad opportunities. I spent a semester learning at L'Université d'Orléans. As far as I know, I don't have any French ancestry, but I was born in New Orleans, and I lived for a short period of time in Old Orléans. It wasn't until I lived in France and spoke French every day and studied and watched TV and read and listened to music all in French that I finally became fluent. The truth is, it takes a lot of work and time to learn another language, but I truly believe the investment is worth it. My life has been so much richer because I studied French. Song of the WeekWe've been greeting each other a lot in class, and so many times this song has gotten stuck in my head. I always hear the opening lines: "Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!" for some reason. Below is the French version of the song with subtitles. I have to say, the landscape and the architecture make me think that maybe the Beauty and the Beast artists went to Orléans to create the world of the movie. Just compare the photo above to some of the buildings in the clip below. Have a restful weekend. I'll see you all on Monday in Teams!
Hello class! I hope that you've had a exciting first week. We all hit some bumps in the road, but that's okay, because we've all adopted a flexibility mindset like we discussed last class. In this blog post I will discuss:
Hey, did you that French is the official language of Mali? And that Bamako is the capital? T'es branché?
You can access our online textbook through the HUB below is a short video that shows you where to find it.
Book Tips and Tricks
Below is a short video to help you navigate a few common snags when you use your online textbook.
Finishing Your Homework
The last step to successfully finishing your homework is marking the task in the HUB. The video below explains how to do that.
And that's it! Get some rest and some not-looking-at-your-computer-screen time this weekend. Relax, have some fun. And check out Amadou & Mariam's song "Les Dimanches à Bamako." ("Dimanches" means "Sundays.")
Welcome to your online French class! I'm so, so excited to be teaching you your first year of the French language. Studying other languages has enriched my life more than I ever could have imagined. Learning French opened up the world to me. Thinking back, back, back to my first day of French class, I never would have imagined I’d be here. My freshman year of high school I earned a scholarship to study at an all-girls Catholic high school in Memphis, Tennessee called Immaculate Conception. I don’t think it’s even there anymore. I don’t remember her name (Sister Agnes?), but my first French teacher was a nun. I was not happy to be there. I wanted to learn Spanish because I had recently discovered guacamole and sopa de pollo. Yeah, I know. My childhood world of north Mississippi was a very, very small place. But I landed in French class because the terms of my scholarship dictated that I take French and Latin. And sitting there in that classroom, the boundaries of my world grew wider. Your world will grow larger and richer, too. Around 300 million people around the world speak French. Only 40% of these French speakers live in Europe. The rest live around the globe, especially in Africa: 35% of French speakers live in Africa. Closer to home, we have some French speaking cousins just to our east: there are around 200,000 French speakers in Louisiana. In this, our first blog post and also our syllabus, I will be be outlining the following topics:
MindsetWe will not be afraid to make mistakes. As Sir Ken Robinson says in his TED talk on Creativity in the Classroom, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.” Right now, in our minds, let’s just decide we are all prepared to be wrong. It’s impossible to learn a new language without making mistakes. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn something new about the French language. We will be flexible with each other. This year it will be even more necessary than usual to bring open minds and willingness to adapt or change into our learning. The only thing we really know about this school year is that the first six weeks will be online. We will be curious. At least, as much as we can. In my experience, curiosity enriches language learning so much. The way we use it is by linking our own interests to our class. If you love pop music, get curious about French pop musicians. If you love cooking (this was always my biggest one), get curious about French cuisine. If you love fashion, get ready to learn about French fashion. GoalsWe’re going to get you listening, speaking, reading, and writing the French language. Always remembering our flexibility mindset, here is our content calendar for French 1: 1st Semester Unit 1 In what ways is learning another language beneficial?
Unit 2 What do activities and pastimes reveal about a culture?
Unit 3 How does education shape individuals and society?
Unit 4 What activities do friends in other countries do together?
2nd Semester Unit 5 What is the nature of relationships in other cultures?
Unit 6 How is shopping in other countries?
Unit 7 What makes a house a “home?”
Unit 8 How do major world cities tell their stories?
NormsOur new world calls for new norms. Let’s start with what you can expect from me:
And now, what I expect of you:
In an effort to create boundaries where none exist, that is, between home and school/work, here are a few norms for all of us:
List of Tools
Action ListYour First Day Action List
All of the class codes for Remind and Teams are in the HUB. See you in TEAMS! |
AuthorI'm a Houston high school teacher during the Covid19 pandemic. Welcome to my adapted, socially-distanced, quarantined French 1 classroom. Archives
May 2021
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