Grade 3, unit 1

This unit aims is to help the students to talk about themselves through new vocabulary. They will be able to speak about their family, their ages, their pets, their preferences and the places to live as well as qualities.

The contents and the curriculum will vary according to the student levels, their needs and interests.  For example, for the beginners, the description of the vocabulary and easy sentences dealing with their food, pets or color preferences… will be taught. By this way, my objective is to encourage them to interact in simple and rehearsed exchanges, using verbal and non-verbal language. Also, they will use basic phrases to communicate ideas, feelings and information on a variety of aspects of everyday topics.

Whereas the intermediate level students will be more focused on grammar to be able to respond in detail and appropriately to simple short phrases and basic information in spoken, written and visual text. Then, they should interact confidently in basic structured exchanges and use phrases effectively to communicate ideas, feelings and information in a variety of familiar situations; ideas are relevant, detailed and include examples. Finally, they should communicate with an excellent sense of audience.

Resources:

- the greetings: http://www.languageguide.org/french/greetings/ 

- the alphabet: http://www.languageguide.org/french/alphabet/ 

- the numbers: http://www.languageguide.org/french/numbers/ 

- the pets: http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/pets/ 

http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/pets-continued/

- the family members: http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/family/ 

http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/family-continued/

http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/marriage/ 

- the age: http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/age/ 

- the continent: http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/continents/

- the Europe: http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/europe/

During the week of August 2 to August 5, Grade 3 students and me get to know each other.

 I have been very surprised to hear about their own motivation to learning French language. Some of them have already traveled to France and want to improve their French, some think that French is easy (as similar to English), some other want to have a chance to continue their learning in their home countries, some other want to please their parents... 

Then, they shared their own point of view and perception about French language. How interesting is it! 

  

The students contributed creating the common agreements (or class rules). Finally, they reviewed some French greetings, having fun while singing and dancing.

 

To conclude, many thanks to NORA for being the teacher assistant the all week long.

During the week of August 15 to August 19, the students worked collaboratively: they learned or reviewed some French greetings and used them as lyrics in songs of their choice. Following the rhythm, speaking faster than usually... a new challenge for them!


Here is their recordings:

Mia, Nora and Rosie
Matias and Tashi
Lily, Wadia and Rosie
Hana, Yewon and Kira
Gaga and Charlie

To conclude, many thanks to HUGO for being the teacher assistant the all week long. 

During the week of August 22 to August 26, the students reviewed how to speak about someone age by using the verb TO HAVE and learned the number from 1-20. Now they even can write them.  
  

Now, they can create all sentences by speaking about their own age, 
ex: "I am 8" = "J'ai 8 ans". They can also ask people age.

  

To conclude, many thanks to MIA for being the teacher assistant the all week long. 

During the week of August 29 to September 16, the students acquired some new learning, vocabulary, and key patterns, about the family members and the pets. As a consequence, they have been able to be focused on reading and understanding skills.


Here are some of their reading assessments based on the book online:
 "Moi et mes copains" (Me and my buddies) :
 http://storybird.com/books/moi-et-mes-copains/?token=fpcbvv

Tashi: click here.
Matias: click here.
Kira: click here.
Maia: click here.
Wadia: click here.
Rosie: click here.
Charlie and Gaga: click here.
Hana: click here.
Yewon: click here.
Lily:click here.
Nora:click here.

They also completed their 2 first formative and most of them have done a very good work.

Finally, they had a handsome idea: creating multilingual messages for one student called Matias who went to the hospital. They have been so caring and kind! For sure Matias will be very pleased! 

During the week of September 19 to September 23, the students gave to Matias all his beautiful cards:
 He was very happy!
The students reviewed all the main structures and vocabulary learned during this unit through games.
  
   
   

Finally, they completed their last summative assessment. They really did their very best and I am proud of them! 

  
    

Finally, they wrote a multilingual letter to great Mathias who went to the hospital. They have been so caring! 

  

    

During the week of October 3 to October 7, the students watched a short documentary about what to visit at Paris during the holidays.

Then, they reviewed the alphabet through playing a games about animals. 

      

After, the students reviewed how to speak about their preferences (about sports and French pastries) and they expressed their own point of view by writing posts on the blog. 

   

Finally, they learned a new rule in Grammar: the use of the articles: un/le, une/la, des/les by working on predictions by groups and presenting their understanding to others. 

      

      

During the week of October 10 to October 14, the students played a game to use in context the articles Le/Un, La/une, Des/Les.

After, we read a French book: Je veux pas aller à l'école  

written by Stephanie Blake. 

Finally, they drew what they have understood from the story.

 

During the first weeks, grade 3 children have expressed what does: Learning together, growing together, each one making a difference” ("apprendre ensemble, grandir ensemble, chacun faisant une difference") means for them and the main rules in the French class.

         Children play roles on how to solve 

problems with people and be

kind and gentle with one another.

After finishing this activity, we started our first unit. Here is some information about it:

How We Organize Ourselves– Who Makes the Decisions?

August 18th – October 9th 2015

Central Idea: The decisions we make together help us to cooperate and organize ourselves.
Key concepts: Form, Function, Responsibility
Lines of Inquiry: The roles and responsibilities in FL class (Form)
The ways we cooperate with each other (Function)
Our class essential agreements (Responsibility)
Vocabulary:

English sentences	French sentences	Example
Sentences patterns
Please	S’il vous plait	S’il vous plait madame.
Thank you	Merci	Merci monsieur.
Sorry	Pardon/ Je suis désolé(e)	Je suis désolé (e) pour mon erreur.
I have to…	Je dois…	Je dois parler français.
I do not have to…	Je ne dois pas…	Je ne dois pas parler anglais.
I can…	Je peux…	Je peux étudier.
I can not…	Je ne peux pas…	Je ne peux pas courir.
May I…	Est-ce que je…	Est-ce que je peux aller aux toilettes?
It’ s nice…	C’est bien…	C’est bien de dire pardon.
It’s bad…	C’est mal…	C’ est mal de tricher.
It’ s dangerous…	C’est dangereux…	C’est dangereux de courir.
It’ s a pity!	C’est dommage!	C’est dommage de perdre!

English	French	English	French
Vocabulary: Verbs
Speak	Parler	Run	Courir
Bit	Taper	Study	Étudier
Go	Aller	Listen	Écouter
Play	Jouer	Cheat	Tricher
Respect	Respecter	Do	Faire
Vocabulary: Places
Place	Les endroits	Infirmary	L’infirmerie
Toilets	Les toilettes	Field	Le terrain
School	L’ école	Home	La maison/chez moi
Classroom	La classe	Corridor	Le couloir
Vocabulary: Nouns
The teacher	Le professeur/ La professeure	My parents	Mes parents
The students	Les élèves	My mate	Mon camarade
Vocabulary: Articles & prepositions
In/inside	Dans	The	Le/la/les
A/an	Un/une

During this unit, we want to improve our social skills and take more responsibility. A challenge indeed. Getting in touch with people and making decisions is such a challenge for all of use. We begin to review the “ French magic words” to foster a positive atmosphere and create good relationships such as: Merci, pardon etc…

Children also played “Bonjour cousin, cousine” to use the basic greetings.

Then, we sang the song " Bonjour" to remember other greeting vocabulary and useful greeting questions…

 It was so nice to hear them in unison singing; “ Bonjour, comment ça va”…

During the week of August 24 to 28, the children participated to targeted activities as steps towards the reading and writing process, such as associating words and images, matching words to create sentences, word matching, identifying syllabus by clapping in them hands...these activities enhance their skills in phonology, word and sentence stress, rhythm and intonation. 

After playing the children could identify the syllabus and write some words by matching the syllabus. 

All the French learners can have a hard time knowing if a French word is masculine or feminine!

During the week of August 31 to September 4, the children discovered what does the gender of nouns mean in French. Instead of simply learning each word and its gender by heart, we associated each gender with pictures and an action. 

Then, the children learnt some key verbs and actions such as: "parler", "écouter", "courir", "aider", "jouer"... and we all played " Jacques a dit" (or Simons says) to practice this new vocabulary. 

 " Jacques a dit de lire". 

During the week of August 31 to September 4, the children review the colors in French by playing at " le beret". 
 "Le béret" is also a traditional hat and a French icon! 

During the week of September 7 to September 11, the students reviewed the alphabet, especially the letter A and worked on vocabulary exercises, such as searching some words in the dictionary, doing some collage and creating a poster. 

We read a funny story, Grrr! and some children performed some parts.

  Thanks Mathilde, Wajiha and the others: it was nice to hear you saying: " je suis la petite chèvre" or " je suis le petit cochon" and imitate the cry of the animals as well. 

During the week of September 14 to September 17, the students learned some key vocabulary to describe people and themselves with flashcards and plays, such as: slow, fast, small, tall...

During the week of September 21 to September 24, the students

During the week of September 28 to October 2, the student have done some revisions and a formative assessment: answering questions based on the testimony of 3 French spoken people dealing with their own background and their own physical and moral description. Then, we corrected it all together and I gave to each one of them a specific feedback. The kids have done such a good job! 

During the week of October 5 to October 9, the students reviewed some vocabulary about the family members to be used during the summative assessment. All the students did their best to succeed it. I have been very proud of their hard work and efforts to understand 2 videos of French spoken people speaking about themselves, their own description, their family and their preferences. 
Then, we read 2 funny books to re-use the vocabulary in context about the description and the feelings.

Finally, we song a French song which one the kids liked: " si tu as de la joie dans ton coeur, frappe tes mains.." A nice way to end our first unit, before going on holidays! 

Pranshu and Mathilde look so happy on the dance floor! Maybe future principal dancers?