Every week in my first semester French class, we played games to review and reinforce what we did in the previous class. For other French teachers out there who are looking for more activities, these are what I actually used in my class this year. A lot of these I found on Pinterest, where I [...]
Full Story »Beliefs of American University Students Towards Foreign Language Requirements and Textbooks
I’ve been reading articles and dissertations on students’ beliefs and perceptions of foreign language study recently, and came across two with some incredibly painful quotes that I had to share. Foreign Language Requirement Price and Gascoigne (2006) reported on 155 incoming (directly out of high school) college students who responded to this essay prompt: One goal [...]
Full Story »Authentic French with Commercials and Films
Friday was my 30th birthday and as my birthday gift to all of you, I give you even more authentic French listening resources and exercises! Luckily we have a great language lab at my university so I have been able to create some listening exercises for my students to try out, and of course I [...]
Full Story »Examples of Authentic French: The Case of Ils
As a follow up to my post on Subject Pronouns in Textbooks: Written vs. Spoken French and how French textbooks do not include the spoken meanings of the pronouns, I came across a few examples of the use of ils in the indefinite sense while preparing transcripts to use in class. Textbooks still teach that on [...]
Full Story »Links from the Australian Teachers of French Conference
The conference I attended in Perth at the beginning of April was The Federation of Australian Teachers of French Associations Biennial Conference and the Teachers of French Association of Western Australia Annual Stage. I presented my research on the gap between what applied linguists recommend for inclusion in textbooks and what is actually in the [...]
Full Story »More Beginning French Songs
More French songs for beginners! I like quirky (ok, weird) repetitive songs that make the vocabulary stick. L’alphabet Comment tu t’appelles ? Les prénoms Ça va (there is no actual video for this song but I love the Muppets!)
Full Story »Beginning French Songs and Videos
I am teaching beginning French this semester and since all of the classrooms are equipped with computers and projectors, I have been delighting my students with weird songs and videos to reinforce the vocabulary they are learning. So for beginning learners of French or other French teachers who want to use videos in class, here [...]
Full Story »
