I think one of the best tools in my classroom is illustration. When we do a story (movie talk, ask a story, novels, character creation, etc.), I often have my students illustrating as I like it better than translating (kids are thinking more in the L2), and I think the kids enjoy it more as well.
After a story, I have students do a flow map or story board which summarizes the plot. I can increase input by having them reread a written version and choosing sentences for each frame. When I am shorter on time, students just draw their favorite scene, and then I have all of the students line up together with their drawings. They have to put themselves in order (summarizing the story), and we fill in the missing scenes together (more input!). Even just listening as we read a good paragraph and having the kids illustrate on white boards what is going on has been effective and fun. One of my favorite activities is what I call partner illustration. This activity works really well for those teachers who wish to target or review certain vocabulary (I usually target verbs in my beginner classes). I write up 10 sentences with similar subjects (the crazier the better--make them hard to draw)--they are not related to class stories except in vocabulary. Then each group gets a copy of the ten sentences. The partners take turns choosing one sentence and illustrating it for their partner who then has to guess which sentence it was. They continue until they have done all 10 sentences. I have had stoic football players reduced to giggle fits over this activity. My students LOVE it. Furthermore, it only requires the teacher to write 10 sentences, so it's a low-prep activity that gives the students about 20 minutes of solid input on their own. Below is an example of one set of sentences we used recently in French 1. 1) L’éléphant donne un biscuit au bonhomme de neige. 2) Le bonhomme de neige met un tee-shirt et l’éléphant met un jean. 3) Quand le bonhomme de neige voit le ver, il a peur et s’en va. 4) L’éléphant a faim et cherche un biscuit. 5) Le bonhomme de neige prend le jean de l’éléphant. 6) L’éléphant met un ver sur le nez du bonhomme de neige. 7) Le bonhomme de neige donne un ver à l’éléphant. 8) Le bonhomme de neige a volé le nez de l’éléphant ! 9) Le bonhomme de neige cherche son ami l’éléphant. 10) L’éléphant prend le portable de sa maman. In these, we had just done a couple stories with snowmen as well as one with worms (oddly...), and elephant is a nice cognate (and also hilarious for students to try to draw). Verbs we were working on were donner, chercher, mettre (prendre, s'en aller, and voler are review from Brandon Brown dit la vérité which we had just finished). I am always looking to add more illustration in my classroom; I am intrigued by smashdoodles, but I have not yet implemented them. I would love to hear what you are doing in your classes.
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AuthorI am a secondary French teacher committed to Comprehensible Input. ArchivesCategories
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