Throughout the past two years, many of us have been teaching language courses remotely, either synchronously or asynchronously. Even as many institutions move back to hybrid and in-person courses, there are many useful tools we can incorporate from online learning! One quarantine class activity that I particularly enjoy is creating […]
Languages
14 posts
I had the chance of meeting Professor Valera Gramigna at the North East Modern Language Association 2021 annual meeting while we participated at the panel “Écrire la ville”. During the debate that took place after the presentations, Professor Gramigna evoked a course in which her students deconstructed the image of […]
While I’ve always loved introducing a few choice poems to my 101 and 102 students, I’ve been relying more and more heavily on video content. Sara Kippur’s recent article in the PMLA journal provided an excellent reminder to incorporate French literature in language classes, even at the beginner level. Kippur’s […]
Which activities should I do on the first day of class? After several years of teaching, I still ask myself this question. As the first day sets the structure and tone for the whole semester, I am always on the lookout for new ideas. This year I created a YouTube video […]
The French writer Marcel Proust (1871-1922), best known for his novel In Searh of Lost Time, discovered an English game called “Confessions” as a teenager. His answers written as “Marcel Proust by himself” where discovered after his death. The set of questions and answers Proust wrote gave birth to what […]
Some song lyrics like those of Oui ou non by the Belgian singer Angèle can be used with intermediate or early advanced students to address the three French registers of language (soutenu or formal, courant (or usual) and familier). As they progress to become fluent, students often like to […]
For many of us, our kitchen tables have become our offices. A variation on the typical “classroom objects” lesson, this activity takes advantage of the work-from-home situation to encourage students to identify objects found around them. The task combines article practice, object vocabulary and the phrase “il y a” with […]
This is a PowerPoint that I designed for my 1030 class from the comic writer Fiamma Luzzati published in Le Monde. You can use it for your class as reading, vocabulary, or essay activity! Link to Powerpoint Slides: Petits soucis psychologiques en temps de Coronavirus
To keep the spirits up and maintain engagement during this week, I created this non-graded activity just to work at home on pronunciation. I designed it for beginner students, but it could easily be adapted to more advanced levels. This activity allowed me to combine two of my favorite tools: […]
This activity is specifically designed for a Novice Low to Novice Mid French class. Imagine students’ hands shooting up to be chosen to present on Nelson Mandela. That’s just what happened when I did this activity in my French 1 class. I screened the music video for Rachid Taha’s song […]
This activity is ready to implement in any language and best for novice mid to novice high. In this activity, students view photographer Peter Menzel’s photo series “Hungry Planet,” which documents what families around the world eat in a week. Students then describe what they see in the photos, namely […]
In this activity students break into groups to diagram a famous, fictional family tree. Students then present the family to the class. This activity is ready to implement in any language and best for novice mid or whenever the family unit is covered. Implementation: Students choose which group they’d like […]
Pénélope Bagieu is a French illustrator whose graphic novels have received widespread recognition. Her blog BD Les Culottées, which was compiled into a book in 2016 and 2017, features a series of women with an unusual or inspiring story. The comics are short, interesting, and biographically accurate These comics offer […]
In this activity, students are introduced to image poems called calligrams. They are then asked to create a self-portrait calligram with a short description of themselves. This activity is perfect for beginners who have just learned how to talk about themselves. Descriptions may include: Name; Age; Origin; Languages […]
