About teaching my language to my partner...

My partner has recently agreed to learn French and he is keen on acquiring skills in Mandarin. This is the result of a long battle, which many couples (I am sure) are experiencing today. I write the word "battle" here, because my partner was first reluctant to learn my language. He had a painful experience in his youth at school. I was feeling a little sad to be unable to share part of my identity with someone so close to me...

"Never, say never!"
When one day, he expressed an interest and so, I started to search for method for my partner to make up with languages. For whoever is in this situation, I recommand to have a look at exam and official certification. It gives a sense of purpose for learning, a clear deadline when to pass the exam, and a set of linguistical tools, which have be known for the exam.

DESTINATION... FRENCH: If you are in the same situation as mine, in other words, if your partner is in a full time position in business, I recommand the DFP: Diplôme de français professionnel (See the following link: http://www.fda.ccip.fr/examens). You can also download a "jeu témoin" here for each level. There are different levels corresponding to the CEFR (See the following grid from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages ). I also found the following website very interesting and full of good comments (See: http://www.appuifle.net/diplomes/dfp_a2.html)

... MANDARIN: I will put more information online. However, the HSK certification is inescapable (See the official website: http://www.hsk.org.cn/english/default.aspx).

PLAN:
My partner is not a fan of languages and one has to say that after a long day at work, I can understand that he does not wait for sitting again on a chair to learn a language. Therefore after some time off, we opened some nice juice and I arranged a "lesson" (in the house) about numbers in French using the following plan:

1- My partner wrote 3 motivating sentences about the reasons why he had decided to learn French. They are now somewhere easily visible to remember them.

2- We discussed the conditions of the exam and decided which level to go for and why. I showed him one exam paper (DFP A2).

3- I introduced the topic of the "lesson": the numbers in French.

4- My partner had to complete listen to the music and complete the following exercise.
http://platea.pntic.mec.es/cvera/hotpot/etmoi_etmoi.htm

5- We checked the answers together. I gave him a list of English words to find in French in the text.
For example: "Comment dit-on "Chinese" en français?"

6- We revised the numbers in French (from 1- 1 miliard) and I introduced the dates.

7- Then my partner read the following quizz and gave the answers in French.
http://www.quizz.biz/quizz-100120.html

8- I had planned to finish with a competition to see who is the best at Maths? However, this is not like teaching in a classroom... We had to stop there, but I will use this exercise for the next time as a starter.
http://www.gomaths.ch/cr_multi.php

9 - Summarize what has been seen and introduce what we will see next week.

It seemed to be enough to last about an hour and he seems to have enjoyed it...

Create a "real" context for learning.

It is not always easy to immerge pupils in the language. I had a nice Year 10. The pupils were preparing their GCSE and were struggling as soon as I was not following the text book. This is why I created the following resource using "real" materials (from Le Monde):

Context: Pupils are in Paris. They have to find the perfect accommodation for a young couple (invent what they are looking for).

Organisation: 4 pupils/group

Material:
- PowerPoint presentation

Lls y10 demenagement

View more presentations from Aurelie Sanner.

- 4 tables (at each corner of the classroom)
- 1 decription of 1 appartment by table (+1 copy)

Flat paris

View more documents from Aurelie Sanner.

- 1 to 2 dictionaries on each table
- 1 map of the underground to each group

Map underground paris

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- Paper and pens on each table
(- OPTIONAL: underground tickets, 4/person, each pupil has to leave a ticket on the table when they reach their destination)

Tickets de metro

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1- Each pupil is only allowed to "visit" or read the description of 2 accommodations.
2 - They have to take notes.
3 - They come back to their group and share information.
4 - The group writes down which accommodation they have chosen and justify why.
5 - Each group present their findings to the class.
6 - The class has to evaluate the other groups performance.
OPTIONAL but so tempting... 7 - The teacher awards a prize of his/her choice...

Great websites!

I do not pretend to have any magic recipe to save some precious time, but I remember my mentor's favourite phrase: "do not reinvente the wheel..."
 So, here is a list of very useful and free websites, which I found useful to use in my planning or in my classroom (the list is not complete):


PLATEA (for French only) - Learning French via songs and their corresponding exercises:
http://platea.pntic.mec.es/~cvera/hotpot/chansons/index.htm

ALL SAINTS SCHOOL (Mainly for secondary schools: for French, German and Spanish):
http://www.allsaintslanguagesblog.typepad.co.uk/

CNTN - COMMUNICATE IN CHINESE (Mainly for secondary schools: for Mandarin):
http://english.cntv.cn/program/learnchinese/communicateinchinese/index.shtml

THE LANGUAGE RESOURCES (Mainly for secondary schools: French, German, Spanish, Italian):
http://www.languagesresources.co.uk/index.html

THE CLASS TOOLS (Mainly for Secondary schools: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin):
http://classtools.net/

MYLO (Primary and secondary school: French, German, Spanish and Mandarin):
http://www.hellomylo.com/

And the inevitable TES:
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources/

About the balance between sportive activities and language learning.

 As I have already mentioned, I have worked in a summer camp in Germany this summer as a French/English teacher. This experience was fantastic! One particularity of some camps, was that balance between sportive activities and language learning.

Whoever has already worked in this kind context can tell that kids are more tired, but get also more out of their language learning. This is paradoxal! I am aware of it. However, could we find an explanation for it? The children were immerged in an English or French context depending on the camps. All the counsellors were native speakers and using their mother tongue whatever the context, even in case of a minor emergency. Language "lessons" and games were planned for the morning, as children were participating in some intensive sportive activities in the afternoon such as canoeing, high-ropes, low-ropes or building rafts.

According to a publication from Leslee J. Scheuer and Dr. Debby Mitchell (2003) (See the following link: http://www.sports-media.org/sportapolisnewsletter19.htm), this is absolutely normal and proven! I quote here the conclusion of their publication:

"Enhanced brain function, energy levels, body builds/perceptions, self-esteem, and behavior have been attributed to physical activity and to improved academic performance. One cannot make direct correlations from the information offered. However it is obvious that many positive relationships have been suggested".

What is even more interesting, is that high achievements in sports is more linked to mathematics, rather than literacy. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be any research about the relationship existing between sports attaintment and language learning...

If you want to know more see the following link: www.dsr.wa.gov.au/assets/files/Research/Brain%20boost_emailer.pdf.

Can language teachers learn something out of linguistic summer camps?

Schools are not the only place anymore where chidren can learn a language. I have just come back from a linguistic summer camp in Germany, which offers an immersion in English or French of one week for German chidren (7-16) (See the following link: http://www.leo-lingo.de/).

It was a fantastic experience not only because the chidren were exceptionally good at languages, but also because of the knowledge I have gained from it. In fact, we had to perform three activities with the children for a show each week: a song, a drama and a sport. I will speak about the song here.


How to make sing a dozen of children shy to speak a foreign language in front of their parents? First, tell them that the song will be for a show and that their family will be there.

"You have to proud children!"

Then, it comes to find an appropriate song. The most successful French song I have ever tried so far is "L'Arbre est dans ses feuilles" found on the following fantastic website : http://www.artemusik.com/gogounne/chansonsarepondre.htm#larbreestdanssesfeuilles.

Refrain: (ensemble) L’arbre est dans ses feuilles marilon, marilé L’arbre est dans ses feuilles marilon, dondé

Dans l’arbre y’a une p’tite branche (ensemble) La branche est dans l’arbre (Refrain)

Dans la branche y’a un p’tit noeud (ensemble) Le noeud est dans la branche (ensemble) La branche est dans l’arbre (refrain)

Dans le noeud y’a un p’tit trou (ensemble) Le trou est dans le noeud (ensemble) Le noeud est dans la branche (ensemble) La branche est dans l’arbre (refrain)

(Ajouter chacune des phases suivantes une à une à la manière des paragraphes précédents) Dans le trou y’a un p’tit nid Dans le nid y’a un p’tit oeuf Dans l’oeuf y’a un oiseau Dans l’oiseau y’a un p’tit coeur Dans le coeur y’a de l’amour

Children do not only repeat the same words all over again, but they also link the word with a movement (see the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLL5ydZTXo). This probably explains why the chidren quickly knew all the lyrics of the song. To finish, organise a competition with some other language groups. The loudest group will win a prize!

By the end of the week, all the kids were proud to sing their song around the fire camp! Mission accomplished!