Final Class!

We have now officially finished the Ooh La La French for Fun! program at Blue Ash Elementary School. Throughout the program, I have been extremely impressed with the level of enthusiasm, creativity and hard work to make each class a success. I have appreciated your willingness to try new things, to reflect on your experiences and to work together as a team.

For me personally, this was a very rewarding experience. Professors generally see their students on the "other side of the desk" in a classroom. In this program, I had the opportunity to see my students as teachers, teaching a subject matter they are in the process of learning themselves. I have never taught a class of young children before and as an observer in these classes, I gained a great appreciation for the challenges and skills needed. You all rose to the occasion and created a rapport with the kids in your classes. Bravo!

Thank you all for your participation, your comments, ideas and suggestions throughout the full 10 weeks of the quarter. You have all contributed to making the first offering of this course a great success.

Congratulations! I am proud of all of your accomplishments and glad to hear that it was a worthwhile and enjoyable experience for all of you.

Je vous remercie très chaleureusement. Au plaisir de travailler ensemble encore à l'avenir!

Week 6/7

Monday's class wrapped up this week with a great food celebration. The kids all sat nicely around the table and sampled some French food. This was also a good class to review some of the vocabulary and skills that were taught over the previous five weeks. It was nice to hear some of the kids saying they like the class and thank you on the way out.

Tuesday's class finished next week with a food celebration. The girls have said they will be sorry to see the class end and certainly we can all see progress in their language skills.

Stay tuned for the last set of blogs to be finished by next week!

Week 5/6

Well, we are on the home stretch for the classes at the elementary school. Monday's class has one more week and Tuesday's class will finish on March 23. This week, I saw a lot of progress in the kids' speaking ability and retention in French. In both classes, I heard the kids talking about how they were using French outside of class and how they remembered things like the alphabet, numbers and talking about "I'm a girl", etc. Monday's students remembered the song and eagerly sang along. This shows that even if we don't think the kids are paying attention or participating the way we want or expect them to they are learning and engaging with the material. Bon travail!

Week 5

This week there were some great innovations in both classes. In Monday's class, we had creative use of music and a great weather dance! Tuesday's class this week had only three students so this time the teachers outnumbered the kids! The students learned about weather and each teacher presented a season. This was a great way to get everyone involved as well as to show different perspectives on the same theme. Bon travail cette semaine!

Week 4 (snowed out from weeks 2 and 3!)

Well we made it back this week to both classes inspite of the snowflakes falling this afternoon. Behaviour issues in the Monday classes provided some challenges this week. We also lost a student in the Tuesday group who moved away and changed schools, so we are down to four girls who are very well behaved. It was nice to see how much French both groups remembered. During the debriefing sessions this week, I would like to see if students can come up with ways to deal with the particular challenges they are facing - whether it is behaviour problems, time management or deciding how to rearrange lessons. I would also like to see if we can use more "incidental" French in the classes. Instead of saying: "Good, great, What does this mean?...etc." in English. Let's try to add these expressions in French.

Week 2

This week we had some competition with the weather and the Tuesday class did not go. Therefore, Tuesday group members should plan to teach on Tuesday, March 16 as the last day of classes with all students.

Next week, a reminder that there will be no Monday class because of Presidents' Day. Don't forget you are still required to post your comments.

This week, the children were happy to be back in French class and remembered some things from the previous class. I heard some positive things from them like "this was fun" "I remember this" and "I'm going to tell this to my brother". Good job!

Congratulations on a very successful first week of classes!

Félicitations! to both groups on your first classes! The process went very smoothly and both classes went by very quickly with a multitude of activities. As I am reading your first blog entries, I appreciate your specific comments about your experiences. Don't forget to answer the questions/directions on your Blog Assignment sheet. In addition to describing the class, I want you to think critically about your role and how things could be changed/improved for next time. Remember the due dates for your blogs and commentaries. These are regular assignments with a specific due date and you won't receive any credit for late submissions.

I look forward to talking about the classes and your thoughts in person this week at the debriefing sessions. A reminder here, too, these sessions are compulsory and are part of your grade. As I mentioned, you are invited to the other group's debriefing session if you would like to take part, but you must attend your own weekly session.