gr 5. 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 5 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 and in MYP... 

Then, they shared their own point of view and perception about French language. How interesting was it! We discussed together some effective strategies to learn a Foreign language.

The students created the common agreements (or class rules). After, they reviewed some French greetings, having fun while using drama technics. Then, imagine themselves being famous people such as Barack Obama, Marylin Monroe, and French stars and they presented themselves by giving key information, such as their nationality, their age, their job... They discovered famous French people, such as singer called Charles Aznavour. 

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

During the week of August 8 to August 12, the students reviewed some grammar: the personal pronouns. They learned how to conjugate the verb TO HAVE thanks to a song and some games. They used it in context and They reviewed the number (as we use the verb to have in French to speak about one's age!)

  

As you can see in this video, learning French grammar can be cool!

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

During the week of August 22 to August 26, the student learned the number until 100 through a collaborative task. They practiced the verb the HAVE in context while presenting people background. They also worked on their reading and understanding skills thanks to a dialogue.
Finally, they reviewed the family members. 

To conclude, many thanks to FATIMA 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: 
"Julie et les animaux": https://storybird.com/books/julie-et-les-animaux/?token=wn5jgx 
Batuhan: click here.
Oona: click here
Kutzai and Tanya: click here
Aadya and Fatima: click here
Teppi: click here

They also the verb " ETRE" and it uses in French languages. So, they learned almost the main information and patterns to present themselves: the 2 last ones will be taugh next week.

During the week of September 19 to September 23, the students reviewed all the main unit structures and vocabulary. On Wednesday, we worked on their reading comprehension. Finally, they completed their last formative assessment based on their reading understanding.
They really did their very best and I am proud of them!  

  

    

  

Finally, we played vocabulary games.

        

During the week of October 3 to October 7, the students went to the Knowledge center and choose a French book. 

      

By group, they read an authentic French book and prepared some posters to present their predictions and understanding.

    

During the week of October 10 to October 14, the students created posters in French to present the chosen book and the things they liked the most. They also worked on the vocabulary and discovered some similarities between French and English languages as well as differences between French and their mother tongues (such as Hindi, Vietnamese, Cambodian...)

  

  

   

Finally, they reviewed all their learning during this unit and they completed their last summative assessment. 

During the first week, grade 5 children have expressed what does the school vision, “learning together, growing together, each making a difference” ("Apprendre ensemble, grandir ensemble, chacun faisant une différence") means for them. They also review the main rules in the French class.

Children playing roles about the common rules in class. A funny way to understand what are the expected student behaviors expected during the year!

After finishing this activity, we started our first unit or we started our first ‘voyage’, discussing migration. A huge issue!

Here is some information about our first unit:

Where we are in place and time – Migration

August 18th – October 9th, 2015

Central Idea: Human migration has a diverse range of effects.

Key Concepts: Form, Causation, Change

Lines of Inquiry:

- Migration in the life of an individual (Form) - The reasons why people migrate (Causation) -The effects of migration (Change)

Vocabulary:

English sentences	French sentences	Example
Sentences patterns
I come from country name…	Je viens de/d’…	Je viens d’Europe.
Country name is in continent name…	….. est en…	La France est en Europe.
The capital city of country name is  …	La capital de ….est ….	La capitale de la France est Paris.
The country name people speak languages names …	Les ….. parlent ….	Les français parlent français.
I am country name nationality…	Je suis…	Je suis français/française.
My dad/mum works in Cambodia.	Mon papa/Ma maman travaille au Cambodge.	Ma maman travaille au Cambodge.
My relatives/parents live in Cambodia.	Les membres de la familles/Mes parents habitent au Cambodge.	Mes parents habitent au Cambodge.
Because of the war, political problems in....	A cause de la guerre, des problèmes politiques au/aux/en…	A cause de la guerre, des problèmes politiques au Cambodge, j'émigre en Europe.
My parents want to migrate to…	Mes parents veulent  émigrer au/en/aux…	Mes parents veulent émigrer aux États-unis.
Where are you from? / What country are you from?	D’où tu viens? De quel pays tu viens?	D’où tu viens? De quel pays tu viens?
What is your country like?	Comment est ton pays?	Comment est ton pays?
Why do you migrate to…..?	Pourquoi tu émigres au/en/aux…?	Pourquoi tu émigres aux États-unis?
I speak (a little bit of)...	Je parle un peu…	Je parle un peu français.
I love to eat…	J’ aime manger…	J’ aime manger le gratin.
I love .... music	J’ aime la musique…	J’aime la musique moderne.
I have friends there.	J’ ai des amis là-bas.	J’ ai des amis là-bas.

English	French	English	French
Vocabulary: Directions
Directions	Les directions	South	Le sud
North	Le nord	West	L’ouest
East	L’ est	Right	La droite
Straight	En face	Left	La gauche
Vocabulary: Verbs
Turn	Tourner	Go	Aller
Take	Prendre	Get on	Monter
Travel	Voyager	Walk	Marcher
Vocabulary: Nouns
Intersection	L’ intersection	Bus	Le bus
Train	Le train	Subway	Le métro
Airplane	L’ avion	Car	La voiture
School	L’école	Pharmacy	La pharmacie
Hospital	L’hôpital	Shopping mall	Le centre commercial
Museum	Le musée	Supermarket	Le supermarché
Cinema	Le cinéma	Park	Le parc
Zoo	Le zoo	Restaurant	Le restaurant
Riverside	Les berges	Hotel	L’ hôtel
Mountain	La montagne	Beach	La plage
Vocabulary: Prepositions
Next to	Près de	At	À
Between	Entre	In	En/au/aux
Far from	Loin de	Near to	Près de
Vocabulary: Articles
A/an	Un/une/des	The	Le/la/les

The students explain what migration means for them and their family with the help of a map. Then, we played “ le jeu des continents” to memorize some new vocabulary and grammar structures (" je viens de...", " j' habite en...", " je veux aller en..."). 

Who will be the fastest?

" Le jeu des continents"

During the week of August 24 to 28, the children participated to a survey about their origins and their future migrations. All of them could participate and share their own experiences. Alternately they could ask and answer questions. Then, they reviewed the French personal pronouns " je", " tu", " il" and " elle" (analogous to English, I, you, he and she) and their impact on verbs. This interview help them to review the patterns in the sounds, intonation, rhythm, grammar and meaning.  

During the week of August 31 to September 4, the class has been split into two groups. Each group of level have been offered to participate to a targeted project:

Group A: creating a migration and travel scrapbook over the unit.
It will be a creative activity for all of them and an interesting way of dealing with the unit subject.  

Group B: studying the book: Le loup qui voulait faire le tour du monde,  Orianne Lallemand, Coll, Mes p'tits album, 2013. Then, they will realise specific activities based on it during the unit.

The children also review the countries names and their gender (masculine/feminine+ singular/plural). The children learned some specific structures to describe the location of a country by using the French preposition " en", " au", "aux".

" Countries Race", a funny game to help children to remember the countries categories (feminine, masculine, singular and plural). 

Children using some French preposition ("en", "au", " aux") to be used to speak about countries and directions in general.

During the week of September 7 to September 11, the children created posters and an oral presentation to explain some complexes structures such as " j'habite à Paris en France", " je vais à Phnom Penh Penh au Cambodge ou encore " la Californie est aux Etats-Unis". 

During the week of September 14 to September 17,  the students performed their presentations and we made revisions altogether. 

During the week of September 21 to September 24, the students worked on world maps to identificate different countries and spot places. Then, they worked on listening document to understand about people travelling... as a preparation for the formative assessment. 

On Monday, the students created some presentations for the International day of peace. Click here to see them. 

  Also, Danica and Louis presented to us the book they red, Le loup qui voulait faire le tour du monde,  Orianne Lallemand, Coll, Mes p'tits album, 2013 and created an activity for the all class. Well done guys!

     During the week of September 28 to October 2, the students learned how to describe the location of a town, a country or a continent by using the cardinal points and some instructions to assemble puzzles as quickly as possible. Other, discovered an African song in the target language about migration and had to answer questions. 

Then, they did a formative assessment: answering questions based on the testimony of 3 French spoken people dealing with their own background and travelings. On Friday, we corrected the formative assessment. The students have done such a great work!
And, we all said " bon voyage Ida" as Ida is leaving Cambodia very soon. So some of us sang a French song and other danced to it. This rhythm is so catchy!

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 family and their own trip. 

Then, we learned some cultural aspects of France: inheritance, the etiquette and food through watching short documentaries and discussing about pictures. And we were all very happy to be on holidays: vive les vacances!!!