| |
|
|
S.I.P.
PROJECT SUBJECT-FRENCH CLASS---TRANSITION YEAR |
|
LEVEL OF FRENCH---INTERMEDIATE
The students can speak
and write about themselves, their families, their town, their
hobbies, their school and their ambitions in detail. Most
of the class would have taken honours French for Junior Cert.
and they achieved a fairly high grade.
HOW WE ARE INTEGRATING I.T. INTO FRENCH:
The students are
involved in a project called e-pals, which we accessed through
the Internet. Basically, they e-mail French students on a
regular basis and write to them in French. The French students,
who are the same age as them, reply in both French and English.
A variety of topics are discussed based on themselves and
their daily lives and interests. They also discuss topical
issues such as work experience and sporting events. The students
are communicating very effectively as they have their own
e-mail addresses and can check their mail anytime they are
in the computer room, which is on average 2 periods every
day. They also send over pictures as attachments using the
digital camera and Outlook express.( Click
here to view sample letter from an e-pal)
We use the Internet also to research aspects of French life
and culture. Recently we used search engines to gather information
on Itteville, a town near Paris, as we visited this town as
part of our cultural exchange. The students were able to look
up possible activities in the town that we could incorporate
into our stay.( Click
here to view a research questionnaire)
PowerPoint was used in
the classroom as a means of presentation. I used it to present
topics such as Christmas and dining in France, as a springboard
for a discussion in French on these issues.(Click
here to view sample presentation). The students will have
to complete a publication and a PowerPoint presentation at
the end of this term to present (Speaking French) a 5 min.
synopsis of any area of their choice, for example they could
present a postcard using Microsoft Publisher and the data
projector to the others in the class as a means of revising
suitable phrases, and it would also work to motivate the students
interest in the language, if topics are presented in a different
way.
Some classes were spent using the "Tell Me More" CD-ROM as
a stimulus for student learning. We found this software very
effective as it was aimed at intermediate level, which suited
our students. The students were able to work on their pronunciation
and they could not progress with the rest of the lesson until
they pronounced everything correctly. These exercises also
helped their accent and intonation. I found the software to
be very in tune with contemporary issues and real-life situations
-the students participated in controlled dialogues that reflect
everyday situations such as speaking about daily routines
etc. Above all, the students asked us to put on and use the
software and looked forward to communicating using the speakers,
probably because one is not embarrassed when talking to a
piece of hardware, unlike when talking to a fellow pupil.
HOW OFTEN COMPUTERS ARE USED IN THE CLASSROOM:
French is timetabled 3
times per week but it is only possible to use the computer
once a week, as there are three transition year French teachers.
THE CLASSROOM:
I'm pleased with
the general layout of the classroom as there are desks in
the centre and therefore it makes it much easier to capture
the student's attention as the data projector may be used
to make sure they are "au fait" with both the information
and the technology. Once they have had a mini-lesson they
can proceed to work away on the computers.
PREPARATION:
To prepare for class
I must firstly read through the e-pal replies and look at
some of the topics covered by the French students. Often they
ask my students questions, so I have to prepare some helpful
vocabulary to present at the beginning of each class. When
my students have written their letters I check each one for
any grammatical or spelling errors. I must also make sure
that both the Internet and the network of computers is up
and running before I bring a class in there. Often I have
to ask the I.T. coordinating teacher to assist,as it is impossible
to predict whether things will be functioning or not.
CLASS MANAGEMENT:
Class management has been
very tricky, as we could not organise an e-pal for every student,
so only 50% of the class is involved in that programme. That
means we must teach the other half of the class while the
participants are on the computers. To make life easier, I
ask the students who are not involved to type out short French
paragraphs as it is good practice for both their I.T. skills
and their French. It would be preferable to have a class whereby
everyone participates in the same programme, as one spends
a lot of time solving technical and grammatical errors on
a one to one basis.
Page
2
|
