Novice-Mid Unit - The Geography of France
Day 1:
A new addition to my unit this year was to begin with a Card Talk a la Tina Hargarden. I ask students what they know about France and have them draw a picture of that thing on a card with their name. This is an opening to our unit and brings in personal connections. I nearly always have at least 1 student who has visited France and so we begin a CI style class discussion that I lead. Weaving connections between students, and beginning to give some vocabulary and information that will reappear during the unit.
Day 2:
The next thing I will do is project an outline of France onto my white board-- Then I will tell a story about France and draw and label as I go. I make sure to start with a compass and teach North, South, East, and West - I then begin with the oceans and sea, the mountains, the river Seine and Paris, the bordering countries and Corsica. (Tina likes to do this on a big piece of paper so that she can keep in on display for the whole unit). I prefer to project onto the white board, so that we are forced to recreate our map and review on multiple days).
We will then do a simple reading that reinforces some of the words they just heard. I usually stay sitting in our circle for this. My students are anxious to read aloud so usually I will read a line and they (as a group or individually) will repeat it after me. This has made a great deal of difference on their reading pronunciation, fluidity, and confidence.
Day 3:
The next day-I will project the map again and have the students help me fill in the info, and I will add on some new info-- they LOVE- to learn about Andorra and Monaco. This time I will also have a bunch of pictures of the different places on my computer to have them make connections between the map and what these places look like.
I have students draw a picture of their own imaginary country. They write a quick description using our key words on an index card and record themselves describing it on seesaw. From Seesaw I can print off a QR code and glue it to their picture so that anyone can listen to their recording. This is a fun activity to do in class- my students love being able to have their phones in class to do this (a very rare occasion!)
Need a homework assignment or quick fill- here's a simple listening activity.
Day 4
We will then do a second reading -which is a lot more detailed- you may choose to chunk this into different days. We read as a group and I will ask questions as we go and then the students partner off to figure out how to label the maps in the reading.
We will then, one more time project our map outline and fill in all the new and old information.
Day 5:
Our next class, I begin to talk about France outside of the European Continent. Its a quick intro to these locations - that will learn more about the following year in my class. I will show a map, and photos of the locations. We will look at a more detailed map of Martinique - we will chat more deeply about its geography. This will turn into a quiz. Student will write a short paragraph about Martinique based on the map that is still projected and our discussion which I will take up for a grade.
Other quizzes/comprehension checks I use during this unit are:
-listen and draw (give students a blank map to fill in based on your description)
-read and draw (same as above)
- True/False questions based on a completed map of France or other country
Day 6
Class country. As a class will invent a country- I will draw on the board based on what the class tells me or you can elect an artist from the class.
We will then write a description of the country together.. I will help them develop their sentences and organize their ideas into a paragraph. I usually do this on a projected google doc. I can then print this off/ or share with the class and follow up with a partner read and discuss.
Day 7-8 : The PROJECT!
The super fun and little bit crazy part! The students are put into groups of 3 and are asked to make a 3D imaginary country-- they can use whatever materials they like. My students have used cardboard, candy, lego, salt dough, anything you can imagine. The big trick is that they can only communicate in FRENCH for the whole project. They must negotiate their ideas, their needs between themselves and me in French. Now remember these guys are NOVICE MID. So their language skills are still pretty minimal, but its amazing what they do with their French, gestures, and a little franglais. Its all about the set up, it has to be a game and they have to buy into it and when they do it is AMAZING! Its also fascinating how quickly they make progress in this setting, there is always a group of students who lead the way and "show" how this is possible with the language they have. Note: they are always able to ask me for words by asking "qu'est-ce que c'est ____ en francais?"
Day 9: Project Presentations
Students as a team write up a description of their project and then present their country to the class orally (no reading from their description- but this does help them prep and get their ideas together)