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!