FFT Linguistic Pedestrians - Walking the Walk to Talk the Talk

06/09/2019

We've been back to school for a little over a month! It's hard to believe that our first progress reports have been sent home and we're halfway through first quarter, but time has flown!

I can genuinely say that this year is the most fun I've ever had teaching Spanish. Instead of tediously following vocabulary lists and grammar charts, I've gotten to dive in and let language flow naturally in my classroom. The results have been amazing!
Attached are some photos of stories my students wrote on Day 10 of class - that's 15 hours of instruction.
Being able to travel to and learn at the Agen conference has truly changed my teaching style for the better. I can't wait to continue to try new things with my students and watch them grow more!
-Sara

09/08/2019

❤️

Quote for the day!

06/08/2019

I’ve read a lot of research about language acquisition but thanks to Fund for Teachers I was able to experience learning French using CI methods.

I started out with zero French and after 9 lessons, I am able to read an easy reader in French!!!! I can follow a lot of conversations but I’m not comfortable speaking yet but that’s to be expected.

This experience has really helped me reflect on my teaching methods and empathize with my students as they begin acquiring German.

03/08/2019

After 20 hours of traveling, we are home in Cleveland! Time to rest up and get ready for Phase 2: Implementing what we've learned in our classrooms next week!

02/08/2019

The last two days of French classes and immersion flew by!
Day 3: A combined class with the advanced students, featuring lots of jokes about eating escargot (avec le coquille), an art auction, a really catchy song about wearing out the soles of one's shoes (that pops in my head every time I walk somewhere now), and a birthday celebration for Teri! Excursion: A beekeeper's house! We even got to dress up in uniforms and get close to the hives!
Day 4: We were supposed to go to a park that inspired Monet, but even the weather was sad that it was the last day. The rain drove us inside for a lesson targeting "il fait..." as an average chef (Chef La Barbe!) tries to become the best escargot chef in the world. We also had lunch, and plentiful conversation abounded! It was incredibly hard to say goodbye. I'd like to think it's not "adieu," simply "a bien tôt." Thank you to Sabrina and Daniel for being excellent teachers and arranging scintillating excursions to stretch us in both language and knowledge!
Now for the long march back to Tennessee!

30/07/2019

Day 2 of intensive French classes: lots of input from Daniel (especially using past tense) and a visit to the gallery of two local artists. Sculptor Jean Louis Tartas and painter Sophie Cohen Scali talked with us about their art and their methods, then Sophie conducted an art demonstration about drawing lines with emotion! We then enjoyed tea and more conversation in their garden. Hearing that much French that fast was exhausting! It's incredibly hard to follow along in a real-life setting with only a beginner's small vocabulary. We've both experienced what it feels like to be overwhelmed, to be embarrassed or shy about asking for help, to be able to understand but not able to reply, and even to be called out as the beginners in the group. It has definitely created empathy for our students as well as called to our attention the need to evaluate what kinds of things we expect students to do. So many new experiences, so little time!

29/07/2019

Our intensive French classes started today! Three hours of class in the morning (photo from before class), French immersion activity in the afternoon. Today's immersion activity was a trip to the Buzet winemakers, including a tour of the facility completely in French. Our teachers and some of the more advanced students had to help some, but I was amazed at how well I understood her! (The diagrams did help a lot, but there weren't always pictures!) We also got to participate in a wine tasting!
Tomorrow is a new day and a new adventure! -Sara
@ Buzet-Sur-Baïse, Aquitaine, France

27/07/2019

In our grant proposal, we wrote about our desire to use reading in our classroom. Once we found out that the CI Bookshop would have a stand at the Agen Conference, we knew we wanted to take advantage of the knowledge and expertise to help us pick out books for our classrooms. After talking to many different teachers and even some students at the conference, we purchased 15 books to add to our libraries! Sadly, there aren't as many German books as there are Spanish books. One of the topics at the conference was the need for more authors to write comprehensible books that aren't simply about a cultural experience and that can be translated into multiple languages more readily. Perhaps a seed has been planted and we will see more and more books that reach audiences of all ages and languages! (We definitely feel inspired to help however we can!)

25/07/2019

Here is a detailed explanation of what our French language lab is like each morning.

23/07/2019

Day 2 of French class, and we listened to/helped create an entire story in French! Afternoon sessions included information on Readers Theater, planning a CI curriculum around standards, and a meet-up of teachers who teach the same language. We also enjoyed a keynote presentation about creating and implementing a classroom library and a free reading program, something that we both want to better include in our classes. Reading is so important to language acquisition, and we are so excited to introduce more ways to read in our classes!! -Sara

23/07/2019

Today was the first full day of the Agen Workshop. We started the morning participating in a French class. I definitely gained some empathy for my students! I am extremely uncomfortable trying to speak French and feel miles behind the other participants but the teacher did a great job not making me feel worse and I’m excited to try again tomorrow morning. We also and a new and greet with the mayor and then Sara and I went to different sessions in the afternoon.
- Kayla