Teaching French in Kiwiland

Pointless exam

2011-11-21T19:48:00.003+13:00

A few days ago Year 11 sat the French NCEA which is the end of year exam here in New Zealand. As you might be aware the exam was of a poor quality. Some questions were of a level 3 instead of level 1. French teachers have complained and you can listen to a podcast of teachers expressing their feelings.

Of course like all the other teachers I am shocked and disappointed that my students were assessed to a higher level than they are expected to work at. But I am more asking myself about the idea of exams itself.

I actually do not know why students have to sit an exam at the end of the year. What is the point ?

So you work all year around, you learn everyday more French and at the end of the year you sit an exam and then what ?? 2 possibilities here : first you carry on with French or it was your last test ever in French. Either way you haven’t learnt anything at all from this exam.

In 2011, we have seen in NZ students using more and more ePortfolios in order to not only gather evidences but also to reflect on their own progress. To me, it seems it is pointless then to ask our students to sit an exam at the end of the year. I think it would be a much better idea to ask our pupils to sit an exam during the year, give them a feedback and ask them to sit the same exam (or another one of same difficulty) and see what the progress have been.

It is common practice in other subjects to pre-test student and then retest them later on using the same test (when the learning has taken place). By doing so students can see their progress and are given the opportunity to actually reflect on their learning.

What do the students do with their NCEA results ??

Yes I am outraged that the exam was of a very poor quality, full of errors and of a higher level, but for me the biggest complain is that there is no point at all to assess the students the way it is done now.

Back to the old times

2011-11-19T08:35:00.003+13:00

In my previous post I spoke about how a cartoon can change your teaching life. However in this post I am going to mown a bit and look at how things unfortunately never change -If you do not want to read a moaner, don’t read this post.

As I was saying in my previous post I have been attending a conference in Auckland about Task Based Language Teaching. Although the food was great something got stuck in my throat.

As I arrived at the venue I had to register, so far very normal. While I was registering, the lady behind the counter gave me a bag which I thought was full of chocolates. Unfortunately it wasn’t !!

I was very disappointed to see that in the bag with a bottle of water I was given a block notes and a pen. And my disappointment did not stop there. I was very sad during a good session to be given paper handouts.

Why was I disappointed ?

First because if we take notes or if we are given paper handouts we cannot share them with the rest of the world. Why should knowledge be restricted by distances? I am sure that a language teacher in Europe would have loved looking at the presenter’s research. By sharing paper with an audience you do not promote collaboration.

It is now 2011, it is time that teachers collaborate and share. How can we expect our students to do so if we cannot even show them that we are doing it?

Another thing was quite disappointing. On the program the word elearning did not appear once. I saw the word internet but I did not see the words elearning or ePortfolios.

I went to this conference to become an effective teacher and for my students to learn better, I did not go to become a better teacher in 1985, I want my students to learn better in 2011 in order to succeed in the world in 2020.

From those points of views, it was a bit sad to be stuck in the 20th century -which has seen Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli, let’s not forget it- instead of being shown how we can use a great language method in the 21st century.

Crossing Boundaries

2011-11-19T07:46:00.005+13:00

I have been lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship by the NZAFT to go to a conference on Task Based Language Teaching in Auckland.

First I would like to thank the NZAFT for this great opportunity.

When I arrived at Auckland University I was very pleased to see that there were language teachers from around the world. It is encouraging to see that teachers from each corner of the globe is dedicated enough to come so far for a conference and also it is encouraging for our students to see that their teachers are thinking about teaching and learning.

Sometimes you go to a conference and among great stuff there is something exceptional which is going to change the way you teach. On the first day of the conference there was a moment like that. While I was listening to a teacher from Japan, he showed us a cartoon. This cartoon changed my life (as a teacher).

This teacher has asked his class at the beginning of the year to draw their German class. I could not believe what I saw.

The students are drawn in what I believed to be a typical 1960’s class. The teacher was at the front of the class with a giant frown sitting at her desk. The rest of the class was sitting behind their desks facing the teacher. Some students were even drawn sleeping.

Then at the end of the year -using TBL as a learning method- he asked the same students to draw their language class. This was a different story- or should I stay cartoon.

The teacher on the second cartoon was nowhere to be found. Students were sitting facing each other and were actually drawn having conversations. The desks were put every where in the room instead of being aligned like on an army camp.

Like Bridget Jones when she realises that she has to change, that point of the conference is when I realised I HAD to change learning in our French class.

I do not want to be the frowny teacher at the front of the class, I want instead the students to have conversations in French and enjoy the ride.

Now the big question is how to manage this shift ?

Reforme en français

2011-11-19T07:08:00.001+13:00

This year in my French class, I have been asking myself some questions. These questions were ranging from “Why am I the one working the most in the class while I already know French?”, “How come my students cannot speak any French?” to “Why do I teach what I teach?”

I had to find a solution in order to make my lessons more students centered. As I have also been teaching Social Studies, I could see that students could be more independent in their learning and that they could be in charge of their learning. As much as I am egocentric and that I love that “ it is all about me”, school is not for teachers but it is for students. So it was time that I find solutions to put the kids at the front instead of ME the teacher.

As I was looking at a solution or solutionS, I have been reading a bit about Task Based Learning and asked advice to our wonderful National Advisor Ruth. Of what I read TBL seems to be quite structured which could be restrictive for me as I like going in every directions.

So instead I came to my class and I showed my students a simple Powerpoint that I had made in the morning about my school. I told them in French that they had to produce a Powerpoint as well about their school in pairs and that they could not speak any English at all, if not they will be punished. After a few moans they started to work. I hadn’t given them any vocabulary at all or any structures. They didn’t even know how to speak about school subjects. I wanted that the learning comes from them instead of me telling them what to learn.

Using phrases like “ Comment dit-on biology room en français?” they managed to produce great writing (this was obviously a writing assignment) but the best for me as a teacher was that they chose what they wanted to learn, and actually if we compare what I was going to teach them initially and what they learned there was not a huge difference.

I had to be a bit vigilant though when the students were talking among each other though. They were discussing in English so I had to punish them. Their name appeared on the board and after 3 ticks they will be dramatically punished. Nobody got punished as they started to speak French among them and using sentences like “mon portable à la maison, demain photos du collège”. I think because I did not give them the choice that they had to speak in French at all times, they felt in danger and they had then to speak French. I think that in conventional lessons they were not using the French they already knew because they were in their comfort zone that English was acceptable and possible. If one goes to France one will learn French not because French is spoken there, but because one HAS to in order to get understood.

I was indeed very pleased with this try, and I will do it again.

A contructivist cocktail please !!!

2011-10-03T13:49:00.003+13:00

My Year 9 Social Studies have embraced not only the use of myPortfolio but also our new constructivist approach.

We are currently studying Maori culture. First I need to point out that I did not pick this topic at all. When I asked the kids what they wanted to learn now, they said they wanted to learn about Maori culture. I was selfishly very pleased with this choice as I know very little about the

topic and I am eager to learn.

The kids were then put into groups and had to chose into their group an aspect about the culture they wanted to study. Once again they all came up with great ideas. For instance, a group is looking at weaving, another one Tattoo and another one at war between Pakehas and Maoris. The only requirement is to use your brain. They have to think and use the SOLO Taxonomy in order to increase their thinking skills.

I was very happy to see that each group discussed their topic (they all had to agree and make compromises) and they delegated the work to each member. What surprised me the most is their maturity as they can be very silly at times =) But what pleased me the most was to see that a boy who is usually very timid and does not participate at all in class, was actually very active within his group.

Thanks to myPortfolio this shy boy will be able to show his classwork to his parents, will be able to reflect on his work and progress and especially see for himself the progress he has made.

As for the SOLO Taxonomy, I am still happy that we are using it to scaffold our thinking skills. The kids always make reference to our poster of the Taxonomy in class. The use of the SOLO has not only increased their thinking ability but it has also pushed them upwards. What I mean is that now they are no longer happy with the bare minimum, they push themselves to always think of a better way, a better question and are capable of seeing if they are underworking and how to get better. The SOLO taxonomy supports reflecting as much as myPortfolio.

One thing is very funny now in class, is that my role has dramatically (and for the best)changed =) the students are SO engaged and so independent that I feel very obsolete.

I think that I as a teacher am now obsolete but my role as a facilitator is primordial and very active. Because the students are now in charge of their own learning, I am no longer at the front of the class. Instead I am sitting among them and I can go around and help them. I actually now have more time to spend with the kids to enhance their learning.

It is now the end of Term 3 and all is well in our Social Studies class.

My visit to Albany Senior High School

2011-09-06T10:39:00.005+12:00

On Friday I went to visit Albany Senior High School (ASHS) with my friend Tara. Mark Osborne, DP at the school had generously offered to show us his school around.

I was very excited by this visit as I wanted to see if such school could exist or if it was like

communism, it only looks good on paper but it actually does not work at all. Thus, I went

there with my critical eye switched on. French are very talented at critiquing so I knew it will easy for me to find faults in this school- arrogance is a French gift =)

Well, how wrong was I !!!! It was very hard for me to find anything wrong with the school. I was especially impressed with the politeness and behaviour from the kids.

What have I found the best ?

I liked the fact that each teaching space has a mini staffroom made up from one teacher from each department (e.g. one teacher from science, one from maths, one from English). Indeed, in other schools every department are very insular and nobody has any idea of what is going on in other departments. It is a dream for me to be able to work collaboratively with others. It is essential that teachers work together if we want each student to have their own personalised learning. I

know that nothing prevents me now to work with other teachers, but to be honest the teaching spaces are not helping us to work together - French are also very good at making excuses =)

I liked the 100 minutes period. It is my dream to have my senior classes for 100 minutes. Who would not want to have short period with the juniors and longer ones with the seniors. When I teach Years 9 and 10, the first 40 minutes are idyllic, but then everything goes down hill. The kids start to misbehave and I become this horrible police officer who asks them to have their shoulders parallel to the board and stop swinging on their chairs. Why not letting them go. I

would rather to have the pupils more often for shorter period than a long period during which 20 minutes are a waste !!! Can you also imagine what you could do with your senior classes if you had them for 100 minutes ???!!

I loved the fact that students have 6 hours on Wednesdays to work on a project of their choice. This is amazing !!! This is what the NZ Curriculum and the Key Competencies are all about. Students work collaboratively and independently with a teacher’s supervision. They have to keep logs and tracks of what they are doing. During our visit, we met 2 students who have been on a project with tropical fish. They were enthusiastic and happy to talk to us about their project. I can see how easy and authentic literacy strategies could be in such a school.

I liked the fact that nothing online is blocked. I am trusted in my class with 30 kids but I am not trusted online !!! Why ?

I liked the QR Code to enable visitors, staff and students to log on the internet easily. Instead of having passwords and usernames given, Mark has put QR Codes in the corridors. Easy, effective and cheap...what more do you want ??!!!

What have I found ok?

As I love putting colourful displays and photos of France everywhere in my classroom, it is a pity that teachers don’t have their own classroom in order to make them look pretty =) But I say that because I am a girl and I like creating new displays every year =)

Overall?

If the school was in the Waikato I would apply, this should tell you how much I liked it

It does not have to be about Commerce

2011-08-18T09:00:00.003+12:00

As I was drinking my coffee in the staffroom I came to my page. It is by pure chance I found this page as I was following one link, which lead to another wich lead to another one.

The page has for title "Five C for Commerce teaching" but it actually applies to any class I reckon. It is not a life changing discovery but sometimes you need to read again something you know about in order to keep it fresh in your mind.

My favorite word of this page is "Connectedness" as I think it is pivotal in our learning.

Have a wonderful day =)

image source :http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Together.png

Those who can teach Jiu Jitsu...

2011-08-15T16:49:00.001+12:00

Sometimes you go to conferences or PD and although you have learned something new it has not changed your life (as a teacher), and sometimes you do that has got nothing to do with school and you realise that what you are doing should be part of your weekly PD.

I explain what I mean.

As you know it is always easy to tell people what to do and how to do it well, but it is another story to actually tell people and do it yourself. I keep hearing messages from people who tell me how to teach but I don’t see anything in action. And then I learn Jiu Jitsu and I learn not only the movements which could give me another coloured belt but also I learn how to be a better teacher.

As you know last week was my second lesson of Jiu Jitsu. The fact that I went back after my first lesson already shows that I am enjoying myself as it is a very late class. Because I was complaining (surprise !!!!) that I could not do a particular movement- maybe because I am vertically challenged- the teacher told me that he would love to have a video camera and film me, so in 2 months time I will be able to see how much progress I have made. While I was struggling to get out of a strangle, I was thinking that this guy (call me how you want; a facilitator, a teacher, an instructor, a master!!!) had understood the power of a portfolio (with an E or no E). Because I go to a community class, the teacher has a paying job during the day (he is actually a farmer). Although teaching is not his job, he has more understanding of learning than a lot of teachers !!

My learning did not stop there !! For the next activities, the teacher paired us up and asked us to work on our moves by ourselves. First we were put with someone more experienced and then when we were put into groups of same ability. It was very interesting to see that while we were struggling (the other guy I was working with is a beginner as well) the teacher kept an eye on us and could stop us every now and then and show us how to improve.

OMG !!!! This is constructivism in action !!!! I do not need to go to another PD, I only need to go to my Jiu Jitsu class on Monday nights.

Image source: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/5078518795_3e4ddfe587.jpg

Constructivism: I am jumping of joy !!!!!

2011-08-12T09:21:00.004+12:00

Yesterday was our first lesson during which the social studies students have been presented with Myportfolio. It went quite well for most of the students. Our main objective of the lesson was to familiarise ourselves with Myportfolio and create a new page.

Of course there were some students (boys !!! ) who were more interested to see who was online and who they could become friend with (typical!!!!) but 90% of the class was quite engaged and asked relevant questions. I wanted them to try to figure out by themselves how to use Myportfolio’s features which they did well and independently. I mean independently of me, as they were actually asking each other for help. YES !!!! they were working collaboratively

I gave out simple rules of online

behaviour, like “do not change your name and/or username, do not bully people and do not put inappropriate picture for your profile”. The boys thought it was quite cool they could put a picture of a motocross for their profile =) and some girls put pictures of koalas and squirrels (typical !!!!)

I was quite impressed when a boy who is not the most academic boy in the class, asked me if he could start doing his homework on Myportfolio as he said he would rather do it online than writing on a piece of paper. He even added that it was quite exciting for him and that he could not wait to start. I am not sure if he said that just to make me happy or if he really speaks the truth, only time will tell. Anyhow, even if he just wanted to please me it is still very sweet of him =)

What was even more surprising was this little lovely girl who is also in my French class (2 periods after the social studies class). As she was writing her French project about her family, she asked me the permission instead of doing it on a poster if she could do it on Myportfolio. I was so happy that she could not only see the potential of Myportfolio but also that she took responsibility of her own learning.

My next move with the Social Studies class is to ask them to start on their project itself and reflect at then of each period using the “journal” feature of Myportfolio.

Constructivism: I am jumping in......SCARY !!!!!!

2011-08-09T13:54:00.003+12:00

Thanks to all the comments and feedbacks I received in my last post , I have decided to jump in and face my social studies class with another learning approach.

After asking them what they would be interested in to learn, I have picked a subject. As it is my first jump and I am extremely scared of height, I made the decision of giving the class only one topic. I told them today why and they were quite understanding. Although my reasons might not be the good ones, they are very simple. I want to model to the class how to find resources, how to ask questions and how to reflect on their learning.

I have looked at a topic on Music as several kids in the class had said that they were very interested in Music. As we looked at human rights in Term 2, this is the question I am going to ask the students "Evaluate the influence of protest songs on the American society in the 1960s". I have watched the video about "planning backward" that Hazel Owen suggested me in the last post (brilliant video BTW!!!!) and this is what I think the kids should aim for. As I am keen on SOLO Taxonomy, I have used the taxonomy's questions to model the inquiry.

My objective would be that the kids would pick their next topic, so that the whole class will work on different topics. I am hoping we will be able to take on the Minimally Invasive Education approach that my friend Tara Taylor-Jorgensen has been sharing with me. My wildest dreams would be to see that at the end of the topics chosen by the students, they teach the rest of the class what they have learned and create their own resources to make others' s learning a success. What I mean is that I usually created resources (e.g. dominos, card games) but this time I want the kids to be fully in charge, do everything from the planning, the delivery and the activities.

For them to be able to reflect I am hoping to see them use Mypotyfolio, an eportfolio supported by the MOE. Because I have never been taught how to reflect I had a look a bit online and I have found some questions I should ask students to answer. Your comments on these questions would be extremely appreciated as I feel walking in the dark

What did you learn?
How do you know you learned it?
What got in the way of your learning?
What helped your learning?
How did you feel?
So voilà

Your help and comments are appreciated (again!!!)

Merci de me lire

Froggieflo

Constructivism in a secondary school

2011-08-02T14:02:00.001+12:00

During the holidays I have been reading a bit about constructivisme.

At the same time in the complexe word of education, a giant dilemma appeared about Khan's academy videos. The controversy stood in the fact that by watching videos, students do not get to experience what constructivisme is really all about.

Although I agree partially with that, in the sense that even if I keep watching hours of videos of someone teaching me how to sail, I will only know how to sail the day I go on a boat, on a sea and that I can make the boat moves (and not die !!). So of course while watching a video the learning is not happening.

or is it ?

We learn mainly my mimicking and in a social environment. So I need someone to show me how to do something first. Last night I had my first session of Jiu Jitsu (Youpiiii!!!), the instructor showed me first how to break my fall, and then asked me to do it myself. Without his showing I would not have any idea how to break my fall. My instructor was in front of me, but that would have been the same if he had been in Congo, I could have watched a video of an instructor showing some movements.

I have actually learned how to break my fall when I did try myself.....actually no. I have embraced my learning (I owned my learning) when I was able to fall without crying, as I think I started to learn while I was watching the instructor. I could thus look at perfect moves and analyze where I should put my arms before hitting the mat.

If we think that watching a Khan video (or any other media e.g. books, blogs, TV, phone, networks) it is admitting that lurkers do not learn. I am often a lurker as I think I don't have a lot to offer to others, and every single time (or almost every single time) that I participate to a conference or an online vent, I learn heaps.

Another question I have about contructivism is that during my readings I have seen a lot of examples of implementation of constructivism in small schools (primary and intermediate) but I have not managed to find anything about secondary school. Is it then possible to implement constructivism theory in a secondary class knowing that at the end we have an exam?

I can see it would be possible to implement such a theory in my class, especially using an eportfolio to gather evidence of work/ progress but with external assessment which are set nationally, I dont see how it would work.

As much as I don't want to sound like a whinging teacher (too late !!!) I also wonder how it would be possible to implement it in a class of 30.

I explain.

Everything that I have read points out that it is necessary to present the students with work/ ideas that is relevant to them, that they are interested in. This morning I have asked my social studies class what they would like to study in my class if they had the choice. The kids came up with topics ranging from evolution, agriculture change throughout history, Music history to NZ sports. Knowing that, it would be easy to interest them into learning. As a few want to learn about NZ sports they should work in a group, while the kids who are interested in music history can work in a different group. So far so good. But how as a teacher who works full time (plus duty, plus Group Class, plus meeting etc..) can I cater for so many groups ?

As I am very keen in implementing this in my class, I would be grateful for any help and comments

Facilitating Online- Last assessment

2011-07-25T08:44:00.001+12:00

It is the end of the online facilitating course I have been doing for teh last two terms. It is the end of a journey I have very much enjoyed. Last week I hosted a mini event online. Here are my reflections about it following the question/ criteria asked from my course.

What went well, and what did not go so well
I thought it actually went quite well overall. I was quite relaxed and I was very happy that my mentor Rachel was here to support me if needed. I actually needed to have Rachel stepping in at one point when I asked the participants to click on a link in order to watch a Common Craft video about RSS Feed. I didn’t know that the audience could not see exactly what I could see as a host. Rachel dragged the Weblinks Box where everybody could see it. I was also quite happy that I was able to switch between boxes quite fast and that I could use the full screen option in such a way that it did not slow down the event.
How the event was organised and promoted
The event for promoted within our small community of Virtual Professional and Leadership Development. This was done by Rachel Roberts during our last online meeting, our last F2F meeting and in a virtual newsletter. So a lot of people knew this session was on. Participants had to RSVP their participation to the event in the Ning used by this community.
All the information needed to access the event was done perfectly. Each participant knew the phone number to dial in order to get the audio for the event.
support (technical and access)
One of the first participant entering the room was not sure which number to dial in order to get the audio. Using the chat box I pointed out to this person where to find all the information needed. After my explanation s/he managed to have the audio and was able to participate to the event.
relevant for the audience
I actually think that the session was relevant for the participants because each one of them asked question during the event which shows that they were involved and engaged.
Whether the event was managed and conducted smoothly - particularly noting how you handled any disruptions.
As I said earlier, I am happy with my speed going from one box to the other and using efficiently the full screen option. Unfortunately I needed help to show the audience the Weblinks box.
What efforts you made to ensure that all participants knew where they were supposed to be and when, and arrange technical support for people?
I used the chat box constantly to see if each participant knew what we were doing and I also asked them on the phone (audio) if what we were doing made sense. I had also prepared the room during the day to have everything set up in order to run the event smoothly.
How you set the stage, made introductions, explained the aims, and whether you managed to remain neutral and facilitatory
Rachel and I have set up the room during the day to have all the boxes we needed at hand and we also have spent some time to check that the video we wanted the participants to see was working well. We decided to send the audience directly on the internet and ask them to mute their phone as the internet connection was way too slow. In all this little trick worked perfectly and everybody enjoyed the video. This is something I could do next time.
As I was very prepared and that I had notes next to me it seems to me that I gave clear instructions.
How you did a round up, drew closure and indicated where recordings and other follow up materials would be made available.
As I was co hosting, Rachel took it over for the round up. She asked the participants to think about who could take next session. She also made the recording of the session and said that the next day it will be in our community ning.
Feedback from audience?
The participants seemed happy as they thanked us and asked a lot of question.
How you would do things in the future?
I think that next time, I will take time preparing the room as we did this time. It was quite good to have already everything handy. I also feel more confident as I have learned a lot of tips. I would be quite happy next time to do the recording myself as another challenge.
General comments and additions
I was very lucky to have Rachel with me as it was like being an acrobat with a safety net. I felt very secure as Rachel was here to catch me in case I needed help. For my first time as an online facilitator it was a very good idea.

Have you seen Learning? I am looking for it

2011-07-17T16:29:00.002+12:00

I have just typed in Goole search “what is learning?” and a post from G Siemens came up on the first page. Although the post is quite old, 2005, I quite like the definition given of “learning”.

But my reflection today is where is the learning happening.

I am a teacher and I love my job but when I ask students why they come to school and that they answer “to learn” I disagree strongly. Students do not need to be at school to learn at all.
I think that technology can bring the learning anywhere, for example right now in my lounge with my laptop looking at my husband in the kitchen preparing dinner -Yummy tonight it is lamb from the garden=)

Yes technology can play an important role in bringing learning where I want but it is not the technology which is important, it is the networking of people. I am learning right now not thanks to technology but thanks to people who have used technology to put their thoughts and their own learning online. If they had not, my computer in itself would be useless. People are making my learning possible, even if it is by distance or virtually as I have not met the people I am learning from. This is formidable for me as I live far away from anything and I can learn anything from the comfort of my little house in the prairie.

So in other words, Learning has no border. So I do not need to be in a particular place to do great learning, but what I need is to know how and where to get my learning and most of all I need to have the will of learning. If I do not want to learn, wherever I am or what ever great technology I have I will not be learning.

I am the seeker of my own learning. I decide what ever I want to learn. For example, my husband and I have learned how to look after a small farm (animals, plants, gardens etc..) without prior knowledge. The only thing we knew and had was the will of learning (making it work) and the knowledge on where and how to find knowledge. As I have a degree one could think that I got those skills from school but as my husband has not had a good school experience it is definitely not behind the walls of a classroom that he has acquired those skills.

The question I have now , as a teacher is how to pass the love of learning to my students. I think teaching how/where finding knowledge is quite easy (tutorials in class on how to do a good web search is easily achievable) but how can I give my love of learning to my students ?

I need now to reflect a bit longer, I need to digest my own thoughts and in one of my next post I will think about “what is the point of school then?”

Planning my mini event

2011-07-12T10:19:00.001+12:00

I already have written a post about planning my mini event but I needed to write a bit more. Here are my other thoughts about facilitating an event online

how online communication tools can be used to facilitate online;

During one of the illuminate session we had during this course, I have learned that the word facilitate come from the French word “facile” which means easy. I know I should be ashamed of myself not realising it earlier, but better late than ever. So Facilitating means making things easy. When you speak about online facilitating you obviously want to use online tools to make things easy. In order to help the majority of participants I will need to use different tools as varied as possible in order to cater for the different learning types.

You can use Youtube for example as it is a great source of fantastic videos which can support the message you want to pass. For my mini event I intend to show a video from Common Craft which explains without jargon what is a RSS Feed as I will host a hot session about RSS Feed and Diigo.

You can use online surveys before, during ad after a mini event to see what are the needs of your audience and check their feedback. You can use the chat backchannel of Twitter or the one which comes within your virtual room ( as I will be using Adobe Connect Pro I intend to use the chat box to check on the participants at all times). Thus, the host can answer any questions raised or can include/ make feel valued any participants.

Other tools could range from nings, social networks, youtube, emails, social bookmarks.

the process of facilitating an online event.

For my mini event I had two roles. The one of a host and the one of a presenter. Rachel Roberts, my mentor was kind enough to give me a lot of help before the mini event. She spent one hour on the day prior the event, to go through all tips and tricks about Adobe and the virtual room and reminded me to check constantly the chat box. She also looked at my presentation and we checked the video I wanted to show was working well.

We decided to not only use Adobe Connect Pro but also use phones for audio as a lot of schools have a very slow internet connection. This is something that it is vital to keep in mind as in NZ and around the world there are still a lot of people with low internet connection.

I need to point out here that as the mini event was taking place in the closed community I did not need to advertise it in the wide world.

Online facilitating :mini event

2011-06-27T19:02:00.002+12:00

As I had to facilitate a mini online event for my Online Facilitating Course, I had to think about what I could present to an audience.

I have noticed that some people find it hard to keep stay in touch with what is new due to their lack of method in gathering infos. The Internet is a huge space full of good information (or not so good) and how can you know what is new? You obviously cannot look for info everywhere as it will waste a lot of time. Reading blogs is a good way to be kept in the loop but it is time consuming if you have to check them all online in order to see what has been written recently. I have even seen people keeping blog address in their browser’s bookmark and then go through them all one by one in a weekly basis.

I use RSS feed to stay in touch with the rest of the world, therefore I thought I could speak about it with the online community I am belonging to, which is the VPLD Community. (Virtual Professional and Leadership Development).

I spoke about it with my mentor, Rachel Roberts and asked her if it would be possible for me to facilitate a hot seat session during our next meeting which take place once a term. She kindly accepted and the date of 13th of July came up.

So now I have to plan my session per se.

Rachel has sent me a wonderful Common Craft video which would be a great start to the event. It is a very quick video in plain English (no jargon in it , therefore everybody can understand it ) which explains clearly what is a RSS feed. I think this video should be the start point of my presentation.

As I use Google Reader, I would like to show how I use it. I would like to point out how to subscribe to a blog and how to use the shortcut in Google Reader. As my main objective is for people to see how easy and practical a RSS Feed is, I want to keep everything short and sweet. I do not want people to feel intimidated.

I also would like to show the idea of a social bookmarking system. I use Diigo and I LOVE IT !!!! I will thus show to the group how powerful such a tool can be.

As I have to present from school and that the internet is not very reliable I would need to think of a plan B. I will make videos of everything I am planning to do just in case the internet is slow.

Because I am presenting a session to an inclose community I don;t need to advertise the event. If I were trying to attract more people I would need to think about how to advertise. It is actually quite useful that for my first time the event will happen in a define community and that Rachel has announced and advertised the presentation.

My next post will be after the mini event......until then, I will keep my fingers crossed :-)

Facilitating Online Reflections...

2011-05-28T19:12:00.003+12:00

Another week, another reflection about online facilitating. This week, the questions I have to answer are the following:

How will you get feedback from participants?

When I teach I always ask my students to grade me, to evaluate my lessons. I always do orally as we are always running after time in secondary school. I know that for some people it does not seem very professional not to keep in paper track about what the kids think.
Asking them helps me planning ahead. For example, if the students tell me that an activity is rubbish I will not do it again. At the end of the day they are the clients in my shop, and if I want the clients to come back I should do what they want. I obviously cannot change the content but I can change the context or the delivery of what I teach.
In our online course this year, I have asked the students to give me feedback using a googleform. I ask them to fill it in Week 6 -we are now only Week four in our course, so I do not have the results yet. Most of them tell me while we are teaching if something is not right and at the end of each online session I ask all the participants to tell how it was, to grade the lesson and to tell me what they didn’t like.

How will you deal with criticism?

I have never had bad criticism from my students. I do not mean that they say that what I do is good, what I mean is that whatever they want to say they say it very nicely. So they might give me a 4/10 but they do it with a smile and give me a lot of encouragement.
I suppose if the participants give you constructive criticism it is always good to know how/where to progress. I like people criticising what I do because it helps me to get better.

How will you make sure people feel safe when they give you their feedback?

Using anonymous form is a good way for people to feel they can tell you what they really want.

How will you ensure you continue to improve your online facilitation skills?

By using the feedbacks received, carrying on reading (blogs, divers communities, twitter feeds etc...) and by attending other people’s online event, I will be sure improving my own skills.

Online Facilitating

2011-05-14T19:49:00.001+12:00

It is time again for me to answer a few questions from Sarah Stewart for the Online Facilitating Course. This week the questions are:

How do I make my event as inclusive as possible?

I think I will prioritise the same things if I was facilitating a course for students than if I was for anybody else. I think that one of the most important thing is not to assume that everybody knows about technology. I would need to take time prior the first event to go through the technology with the participants, or even provide them with videos on how to use the technology. I should keep in mind at nobody knows all aspects of technology and I should never use sarcasm while interacting with participants. I myself have already experienced when participants within a community were very condescending when I asked questions, and it made me feel very bad. When I am in front of my class I try not to make my students feel awkward and I try to create a relaxed environment in which kids can ask any questions. I should create the same environment online.

There is also the idea that some participants do not come from the same background; same economical, geographical and cultural background. I will need to think at what time the event should take place in order to allow more people to participate. It seems to me it would be wiser to use sound only and no video as a lot of people still have dial up.

How will I market my event?

As I said in a previous post I would advertise in every community I am already a member of. e.g. twitter, blogs, facebook, nings

How will I engage "lurkers"?

The question is why some people are lurking?

Some people do not feel confident enough to participate either because of the technology itself or because of the content.
I should then provide a lot of technical support and I should direct the participants towards great readings.

How do I serve people with minimal Internet coverage or lack of hardware?

support and use of voice only as discussed above.

How do I manage financial costs?

I have never thought about that. It would depend who I work for I suppose...

First Adobe Connect Session

2011-05-14T16:32:00.002+12:00

On Wednesday I have been given a grade by my Year 11 French for our first synchronous lesson using Adobe Connect. My grade was not very good but the kids were very encouraging. So here we are!!! they gave me a 4 out of 10.

To be honest I thought that 4 was very good as I would not have given myself a 4, I would have given me a 0 or a 1. So 4 is quite good, and as I see it next week I only can be better :-) In 6 weeks I will be a 10/10 !!!!

So what happened?

I set up my class in groups of 2 or 3. I know it would have been better teaching practice if I had asked the students to put themselves into groups instead of me being bossy and group them. Why have I been bossy? I was afraid that kids would go with their mates, I thought it was better to pair them up with someone who knew how to use a computer. Thus they could collaborate and help each other. None of the kids complained about me creating those groups anyway.

Then I left the kids with notebooks (with webcam and microphone) and the URL they needed to access the meeting. I went into a conference room while the students stayed into our French room. When I saw them entering the meeting room, I started to feel relieved. At least they could use the URL.

So we started the lesson. The students complained about the delay between my voice and what I was showing on my screen. I think (I am only assuming here!) that the speed of the school connection could have been responsible for the delay. They also complained about the echo with the microphones.
I was very proud that they took the initiative of splitting the class. Some stayed in the room, some went in the classroom next door, some in an empty office while others went outside sitting in front of the Wharenui. As soon as they all went their ways, the problem of the echoing was resolved :-)

Twice I have been disconnected and so wasted time reconnecting. Although I had planned a full hour lesson, we only managed to do ⅓ of it.

At the end of the lesson I felt quite embarrassed but the kids were smiling and they said that for our first lesson it was fine. One student even offered me to meet again during the week-end in order for me to practice more using Adobe connect. This was very touching :-)

RECAP: I was bad, but next time I will be better !!!

Wiki study

2011-05-09T19:51:00.006+12:00

As I was writing earlier this week, collaboration goes a long way.

In my last post I had to answer a few questions about online facilitating for a course I am doing this year. As I was unable to find any ideas about one particular question, I asked on Twitter if someone could help him. Among several leads, Marielle Lange, @widged sent me a very interesting link to a Wiki study she did a few years ago.

Although it is a few years old, this study is well worth a read - as we know in technology age, each year equals 7 human years!!! Marielle pointed out to me that some of the hyperlinks could be broken.

Happy read !!!!

Facilitating online- New Week

2011-05-07T20:07:00.002+12:00

The Easter holidays are well over and it is time for me now to go back thinking about communities for the Facilitating Online Course. This week I have some questions to answer

How do you collaborate online currently? What works well, and what does not work so well?

I think here it is not the point for me to repeat myself as earlier this week I have written a post about collaboration. Follow this link.

How will you facilitate online collaboration with people and organisations who are not used to this form of working?

I think if you want people to see a new way of working/thinking you need to take a soft approach. If you come on people a bit too strong they do not seem to respond well. I say this by thinking about teachers in the back of my head. I have noticed that although some teachers are willing to try new ways of teaching/learning some unfortunately are way too comfortable in their old ways and do not want to try new things. For those people I think a very very soft approach is necessary. You want to show them collaborating with others can be very easy and beneficial. They need to be shown that it is not extra work and that they will gain from this. It can be hard for people to change especially if they cannot see it could actually help them.
In a more practical way I think I would show people tools that are easy to use, free and flexible. Tutorials/videos are a good way to start as you can watch them when it suits you. I would start by little steps, taking them from email to Twitter for example, and wait that they are comfy until adding a new tool.

What are the issues you may face with online collaboration, especially in an open environment such as a blog and wiki?

As I have never faced any issues with blogs and wikis, I do not know what to answer to tis question !!!!

I will need help here to think about any issues :-(

Photo source:

http://mrg.bz/rrHiaN

Collaboation in education

2011-05-03T19:57:00.002+12:00

Collaboration is key.

In any sector it is vital to collaborate in order to create work of a better quality. Who would not want to produce better work?

It is thus essential as educators that we show the right example, that we model good practice for our students to ameliorate their achievement and help them enter a world where collaboration is now common practice.

One of the tool I use for collaboration, among others, is Twitter, like a lot of teachers nowadays. I will not explain here how Twitter works as others have done it before me and have done it perfectly. I would like to point out here what was the process of collaboration I followed.

Let’s go back maybe 2 years ago. On Twitter I started to follow Marielle Lange, aka @widged, a francophone (someone who speaks French like me) Flex Developer who is extremely interested in education in general. We met once in true life :-) in Auckland during the Educamp2010 organised by Fiona grant. (wonderful event which will be held again this year again in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga). During our non-virtual meeting, we shared our views on education and what we are capable of doing.

Here is I think an important step. Around a cup of coffee, or tea if you prefer, it is pivotal to discuss what each person is bringing to the collaboration. I am a teacher of French, so I know the students (or at least I think I know- another post needs to follow this one I reckon), what they want, how they learn and of course what they should learn (as in content- e.g. to prepare them for NCEA). As for Marielle, she brings in her knowledge of encoding (e.g. CSS, HTML etc…) which is a foreign language for me and she also brings an extensive understanding of how one learns and of education in general.

During numerous times, Marielle has helped me during the last two years, so many times that there is not enough space on the web to cite them all !!! But she has particularly helped me this year. Let me explain why and especially how.

I have always wanted to create an online course for a Year 11 French class. In this course I wanted the students to be able to find resources which could help them to gain good grades at NCEA independently and activities monitored, or not, by a teacher. This year I have decided to take the big step and put my fear aside and start the course.

Once again Marielle has been of a wonderful help. She has helped by creating activities well suited to the needs of my students. Marielle has kindly shared the codes in her wiki that teachers (or any educators) can reuse and use on their platform of choice. However, you need to keep in mind that her Wiki is only at a early stage and more activities will be added regularly. I have also chosen a Wikispace for platform and you can see Marielle’s activities in action within a language environment. The course I have created is far away to be finished and once again you need a bit of patience as I work full time, so I create the course at night :-) What is funny anyway is that our job as a teacher is never finished. Since the beginning of my career I have never known a moment where I could think “ah I have finished, my product is as good as it could be”. When one is a teacher there is always room for improvement.

So here you have it true collaboration in true context !

Year 11 French survey

2011-04-13T20:05:00.005+12:00

Before teaching my Year 11 French class online I asked them a few questions. I have used Google Forms and I made the survey anonymous in order for the kids to answer as honestly as possible.

In the past few years I have seen plenty of similar surveys but I have always wondered if my students were comparable. Now I know :-) or at least I know for some of them as I only asked one class with 13 students.

Below are the results of this survey. What is the most surprising for me is the students’s use of their mobile phone, what they do most is still texting. This is very interesting as we hear a lot that teenagers use their phone for the internet. Of course as I only asked 13 students in a small rural school in NZ, it does not represent all teenagers in NZ but it is at least a small start.

Facilitating Online Assignment

2011-04-12T10:42:00.000+12:00

This is my first assignment for the course on Online Facilitating. I have some feelings in my tummy that I have not had in a long time: the exam feelings.

When I was a student I always wanted to succeed and the fear of failing my exams was extreme for me. And funny enough I am having those feelings again. I thought they were dead, buried inside me, but no !!! These feelings are well alive and I am scared of failing this course.

In this assignment I need to answer 2 questions:

1- the features of online communities and networks

When does a community start? Can I start a community ? How many participants do we need in order to call a group a community ? Can 2 participants make up a community?

If you want to create a group (which could become later a community) you need to think about an action plan. What is the purpose of your group? If you want to create a knitting group you need to think through why would people want to join your group.

When the action plan has been put in place, you need to find participants for your community, you need to advertise your group and show how valuable becoming a member could be for people. The question is how and where to advertise. Twitter would be for me the first place to start, but in order to advertise on Twitter you already need to be a member of a network/community. It is when you need maybe someone who already knows people and can “show you” around and ask their “friends” to look into your group.

One other way to start advertising would be to start blogging about your ideas. But in order to have people reading your blog you need to advertise your blog :-) (come back maybe to Twitter here!!!). You can also start emailing people that you think could share the same values and interests than you and let them know you want to create a group. This used to work (prior digital age) using words to mouth. Funny enough it still works the same way but this time using a keyboard. As a digital involved person you can recommend a blog, a person, an article to somebody you know by simply click on a button.

But to do that you already need to know people. It is why it is very important I think to be engaged online prior the creation of your won community and/or be engaged within your field. As a teacher it is important for me to meet other teachers. It is why I go to regional and national conferences to see what others are doing and I am involved in online networking.

Let’s speed up a bit our process. Let’s imagine that we have successfully managed to advertise our group and now we became a community as we have 10 members. The hardest bit now is to keep this community alive. How many times have you seen a community dying? within your own school? within your own subject ?
A lot of great projects die prematurely due to the lack of participation. The key would be then to ensure that people are constantly engaged and active. Here is the role of a facilitator. If nobody is doing anything within the community it is the role of the facilitator to create engaging activities, meetings, reminders, postings etc. For a community to work of course you need to have involved participants but sometimes people need to supported in some ways. Thus, an email, a private message or an inspiring video can sometimes revive a dying community. You do not need to look further than examples of dying villages which are thriving communities due to giant efforts from their inhabitants and a leader.

A community or a network is indeed active and reflective in which people feel safe and secure to express their opinions. Members also need to be respectful of a chart of conduct (here netiquette). If you want the members to feel safe of expressing themselves, you need to be sure that people respect each other. Communication is essential and cannot be interrupted. It is why it is pivotal for the facilitator to be “present” and available within the community.

2- the elements of skillful online facilitation.

As I said earlier it is essential for a facilitator to be present within the community. What does that mean? It means s/he needs to answer questions,emails and posts comments to the members’s blogs in order to make them valued.

A facilitator needs to be patient, knows what the community is about (you cannot be the facilitator of a knitting community of you do hate knitting and/or do not know how to knit a jumper) and makes things easy for each participant. I also think that humour and showing that you are human is indispensable.

A facilitator needs to plan regularly engaging activities which meet the members’s needs.

A good online facilitator also needs to know how to deal with the technology, the technical side of it. In saying that, it is always reassuring to realise that someone does not know everything. As a member it is good to see that the facilitator is not a God who has understood everything (c.f. showing you are human)

Does technology make me better ?

2011-04-06T19:30:00.001+12:00

Does technology help educators to be great teachers?

I do not think so as I think that if a teacher is a good one s/he could teach in the middle of the Sahara under a tree and still engage students. I do not believe that technology can help students' engagement per se.

So why do I use technology in my class?

For me technology is a great mean of bringing people together. If I were teaching French in NZ in the 1950s it would be harder to do what we do now in our French classes, and engagement has nothing to do with that. Indeed it would be harder to bring people together, it would be harder to work collaboratively (teachers-teachers/ students-students/ teachers-students) within greater distances, it would harder to participate in activities with the rest of the world etc.

This is what technology represents for me as a teacher and as a learner.

I got reminded that tonight when I checked my tweeter feeds. @ICTmagic put on a great website which I find wonderful. I only had a quick look at the site but I like the idea behind. Kids put videos of themselves speaking their mother tongue and presenting festivals in their country. Unfortunately there isn't anything yet in French. But it is not important as I think it is a wonderful evidence of what technology can achieve. It does not matter where you are in the world and it helps collaboration.

Maybe because I am a French teacher, I also love the title of the site :-) "celebrating language"

Froggieflo

What students want

2011-04-04T19:47:00.001+12:00

My students are unique. I do not say that because I like them or that because WE are all unique. I am saying that because they do not want what the other students want.

Last week I was speaking with a French teacher from another school. She said that she has to do only fun stuff, if not her kids wag her class. In opposite my Year 11 told me that they have not taken French to have fun, that they are here to learn. They added that it is not the point to pretend having fun in class as it will never ben fun anyway. They would rather go on with the work and do something really fun like going to a restaurant after school with me.

What is even funnier is that the other teacher could not believe how my class had set up our classroom. The classroom has been refurbished during the summer. Nothing very flash as the school does not have any money, but everything smells like chemical which is lovely.

When the room was finally completed I asked my students to set up the room as they wanted. I was blown away when the kids put all the chairs into rows and admitted that they do not like when teachers put the tables into groups, that they like when the tables are in rows. The kids also want me to put posters in the class with conjugated verbs on it. I do not think that this is what we thought as teachers.

My year 11 would like to participate to an online event during which they could tell what they really want from teachers and from school. This could be very interesting. Stay tuned

Which platform for online course

2011-04-02T17:48:00.002+13:00

This year I am creating an online course for my Year 11 French class and I am hoping to see the course happen in the whole New Zealand.

The course itself is on its way, so I am very happy :-)

But I have a huge concern and I need your help to solve it.

I would love to see the students taking part in this course to use a platform to discuss and/or solve their problems/questions. I know there are zillion of great platforms and I have a giant choice, but my concern is about accessibility.

Let’s say that I create a Facebook group for the course. The platform is free and user friendly and most of the kids in NZ have access to Facebook. The issue is that most of the school block the access to Facebook to their students. So if I chose Facebook, the students will not be able to access it when they are at school. They will be able to access it only when they are at home if their parents let them access Facebook (some of my students are not allowed by their parents to have a Facebook account). One other good point about Facebook is that if the students have a NZ Telecom Mobile phone they can access it for free, but most of the schools do not let their pupils use their mobile phone during school hours.

So I would like to use a platform that it is free, most likely not blocked by schools and user friendly !!!!

I need your help !!!!! Can you give me any suggestions ??? What do you use and why??

Thanks heaps

source photo:http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/14/25/1142515_f2701c10.jpg

Planning an online course....

2011-04-02T17:22:00.002+13:00

This week for the facilitating online course, I need to answer a few questions

1-How does a facilitator build an online community or network?

I would say that first you need to think who the online course would be for. You need to know your audience in order to create something that would meet their needs. Indeed a course for adults would not be the same than one for teenagers, a course followed for pleasure would not be the same than one with a mark at the end.

After having thought about who the course is for, a facilitator needs to think about the course itself. Questions about which technology to use should now raise. Which platform would suit best the course?

I think that it is also important to think about the course’s nuts and bolts. How often people would meet? How many activities should students each week? etc

At last the facilitator needs to advertise the course to find some students.

2-What are the key things to remember when facilitating an event, meeting or education course, especially when working with people who are new to online technology?

A facilitator should know what are the abilities of the participants. Hence s/he should start the course using a survey. If the facilitator knows what each participant already knows s/he could create some videos (tutorials) to show how to use each piece of new technology. He should also provide good readings/videos for the course.

The facilitator should also make himself available for the participants e.g. by email to answer any questions they could have.

Time should be thought about. At what time the participants should meet is quite important. If the participants are in the same time zone or not is pivotal when planning an event.

3-What is the difference between teaching and facilitation?

Facilitation is more a guidance than teaching per se. A facilitator should help students finding knowledge and be there just in case. Whereas a teacher is more at the center of the students’ learning.

4- What is netiquette?

Netiquette is the way that a responsible person should behave online. There are some rules that one should follow. Some of those rules are learned a long the way online and some of those rules are the same than in the “not-online” community.

Source photo: http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/06/30/2063065_4e78976c.jpg

Myportfolio

2011-03-27T18:17:00.002+13:00

This year the languages department of Matamata College has decided to start using Myportfolio for an eportfolio. So far we love our experience with Myportfolio.

Why did we chose Myportfolio ?

We decided to go with Myportfolio because it is supported by the Ministry, it is going to be free until at least the year 2013, it is packed with great features and it has secondary school's needs in mind. Above all what was important for me and my students was the fact that it is very user friendly.

Why chosing an eportfolio?

We think it is very important for students to reflect on their work while the work is getting created, especially for second language learners who need to see and be reminded how much they have actually learned so far instead of concentrating on the things they do not know. Thus they will gain confidence in their own capabilities.
Also using an eportfolio allows them to redraft their work in order to progress. This is something we, as language teachers, want our students to learn. In real life, when we create a piece of writing we take time, we redraft it or we even ask experts to have a look at it before publishing it. It is exactly what we want our students to do. From this year, language students are allowed to redraft their written work until they are satisfied with it. Thus using an eportfolio makes perfect sense.
Another reason for us to use an eportfolio is that it helps collaboration among our students. They can comment on their peer's work, they can create work together and publish it on a Group's page. They can as well subscribe to Topics and discuss with other students who are studying the same project.
We like as well the idea of continuity. It is crucial that students start to use an eportfolio in primary school and take their eportfolio with them when they go to College or even Tertiary Education. It is a reflection of all their work, their progress, almost like a CV.

Myportfolio and my class

I'd rather do one thing but do it well. So this year being our first year using Myportfolio, we decided to implement it to only one class. So only my Year 11 French and my colleague's Year 11 Japanese class are using Myportfolio. I was very happy to see that it took only one hour for my students to understand how Myportfolio works. They have embraced the idea of using an eportfolio very quickly and it is now part of our course. One of my student has even asked me that we start using our group's forum to communicate.
The only thing that went wrong is that some of my students have changed their username or last name, and then could not remember their "new" name :-) Now I know (thanks to Ronja Skandera) that there is a feature which does not allow students to change their name. So I will definitely use it next year with my next class :-)

image source:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/3011501835_c95b7955a4.jpg

Women and their shoes

2011-03-27T18:09:00.002+13:00

Another week, another reflection in the Facilitating Online course. This week I have to think about:

What is an online community and an online network? What is the difference between the two?

An online community has a sense of belongings. You belong to an online community when you share values and interests with other members. It is why I have already seen members in a community being asked to leave the community as their views had shifted from the rest of the group.

An online network however, does not have such strong boundaries. You can use an online network because you have the same interests without sharing the same values.

In saying that, I think you learn from both online community and online network equally depending your commitment.

What online communities and networks have you been a member of? How did they work? Was there a facilitator? What was his/her role?

I use Twitter a lot, especially to learn from language teachers and teachers who use eLearning in their classroom. Is it an online community? Not really as different members have different rules and boundaries. Let’s say that if I upset some members I won’t be asked to leave Twitter as my behaviour might be acceptable for other members. As you know there is no facilitator on twitter.

I use Facebook but only to communicate with my friends and family, so it is not a learning network per se. (for me, but it can be for other teachers).

I use Google reader to learn from what people have written in their blog. This is not a community at all as I am the only one collecting what I want to read.

How would you utilise the Salmon model of facilitation in your own context?
What I need to do is to put myself in my students shoes first. They have never participated to online learning so I have to be careful by not assuming they know stuff they actually do not know. I need to scaffold each step in order to make them grow and embrace the technology. I would them to see realise that they do not need all the time to learn French. The internet is packed with good and bad resources and they need to learn how to make decisions to realise what is valuable and what is a waste of time.
I would like to see them collaborating online within their class but also with other French students

I think that the main role of an online facilitator would be then to work on Stage 2 - Socialisation. It is the “scaffolding” stage where a facilitator builds the bridges for each students as each students’ needs are different.
For me the Stage 3-Information Exchange represents the students’s collaboration during which each student brings their own knowledge and their own skills and share them with the rest of the group.
And at last the last Stage-Development symbolises when students are confident in their own skills they have acquire during the course and are now capable and willing to explore other horizons and why not create an online network or an online community of their own.

What facilitation "shoes" do you wear now? What shoes would you like to wear in the future? What do you need to do to have the skills that Hootstein talks about?

Right now I am barefoot !!!

I hope I am wearing the second pair of shoes as I have always tried as a teacher to create a collaborative environment in my class, but as my class has not started their online course yet, I am not wearing those shoes :-(
I also hope that I am usually wearing the fourth pair of shoes as I can help my students with technical issues. But once again as the course has not started yet I still can feel the grass between my toes :-)

I would like to wear the first, second and third pair of shoes:

-Instructor: consultant, guide, and resource provider
-Social director: creator of collaborative environments
-Technical assistant: model of proficiency

I actually think I have the skills required, however what I know is that I do not have the skills to wear the third pair of shoes which are “Program manager: director of the agenda” as I am very bad at admin stuff. I suppose it is where I will need to make a giant effort and start getting organised. But when I read a bit below in the paragraph, I think this is what a teacher does in her class especially when Hootsein writes “...can provide introductory information, describe learning activities and resource materials, and provide additional information about course components or procedures.” This what I do all the time in my class as my students need to know where they are going, they need to know what they are going to learn and what is needed in order to achieve.

Image source :http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/4vlcmdk21v1b9-zD-R1eK0OvU-hd.jpg

VLN French Year 11

2011-03-25T20:59:00.004+13:00

Last week I took a decision, a very important one. I have decided to set up a French course for year 11 students who are learning French. I have never done that before and I have to admit that I feel a bit nervous.

My head is spinning with ideas going in every directions. Thus, it is going to be hard for me to write down my reflections as my head is going very fast.

First I need to explain why I have this picture as symbol of my course. This painting was actually in colour, not black and white, but I have played around a little bit with the colours.

The children dancing on the painting represent for me the collaboration between the students, and the collaboration between the teacher and the students. It is very important for me that during the course the students work together in a collaborative manner. I need also to always keep in mind as the teacher that I am part of the scene as an active member of the class. I need to be present for my students if they need any help and I need to keep in mind the needs and wants of my students when I plan each unit .

I kept the children coloured on the painting because for me people are the important part of a course, not the background, not the technology. Although the choice of technology is pivotal to create the right course, it is here to serve the only purpose to enable students to be successful in their learning, to engage them in their learning and to help them blossom their learning. As you have understood what is important is the learning not the technology.

I also liked very much this painting as there is no sign at all of technology, none...just the people.

week Three in FO2011

2011-03-22T21:14:00.002+13:00

Jeez !!!! it is already Week three in our Facilitating Online course (FO2011). I cannot believe how fast it is going and how much I have already learned.

This week has been quite busy. I have already wrote a post about a video from Salam Khan, from the Khan Academy. (see previous post).

This week we have been asked to answer the following questions:

What is online facilitation?

After watching the video from Jan Delmas, Seven key skills of workshop facilitation , I would say that an online facilitator is a support person who should guide the students enrolled in the course. This person should keep in mind at all times their audience, the purpose of the course and the needs of the audience.
How do these skills differ from face-to-face facilitation?

Well…..before watching the Jan Delmas’ video I would have been able to find a lot of differences between teaching F2F and teaching online, but looking at the 7 skills that Jan Delmas points out (listen/supports/summarizes/challenges/leads the process/create a safe environment/ trusts the group) I actually think that there is no difference at all then between the two types of teaching. I should actually add that I hope students in my class right now can find the all 7 skills in my F2F teaching :-)

What experiences do you have of online facilitation both as a facilitator, and as a participants in a community, network or event?

I have never been an online facilitator but I have participated to a few online meetings on different platforms like Twitter, Flashmeeting and Skype. I have also participated to Community activities like Ning, Facebook and Google Groups.

What have you seen work well, and what has worked less well?

I do not want to sound too PC but I think they all work very well. Each platform has its advantages and its purpose. They complement each other.

Videos in education

2011-03-21T19:20:00.003+13:00

Last week someone has suggested to watch the TED video of Salam Khan, but I am sorry I cannot remember at all who suggested it and where. I have just been watching the video explaining how the whole adventure started and how does the Khan Academy works.

I am blown away.

I had heard about the Khan Academy but I had not understood a thing. Now it is very clear and I have to say it is very inspiring.

As I am doing this course on Facilitating Online with Wikieducator and that I am going to teach French via VLN, I need as many perspectives as I can in order to create a good course.

During Salam Khan’s talk, I was thinking how simple the concept of putting videos online actually is and I could not stop thinking about all the benefits it could have in our classes. I was especially thinking of the high achievers students in my class who could work faster and mentor other students. I was also thinking about the students who struggle more. If they had access to videos for all their subjects, they could watch them again and again and/or come back to previous videos and not be ashamed anymore by putting their hand up in class and ask the teacher for help. The videos could also benefit a lot the teachers. As Salam Khan said it would indeed free up a lot of teaching time to do some projects which could be more interesting. It could also help the teachers by giving them more time to spend with kids who need help.

I try to think about any negative aspects of those videos, but I actually cannot find any. The only one I could say is that putting those videos online could disadvantage the students who live in rural areas who cannot get broadband. As 2011 unfolds, I hope that we will count less and less places in New Zealand where people cannot get broadband.

As for my teaching via VLN, this presentation made me realise that I need to make a priority for my French course to include videos. I recommend that you watch the video if you haven’t done so already.

Facilitating Online

2011-03-15T20:41:00.002+13:00

This is my first post regarding the Facilitating Online course I am attending this term on Wikieducator. This course is free unless you want to attend as a facilitated student. I have been very lucky (again!!) as I have been given a Mark Williams Award by the NZAFT (New Zealand Association of French Teachers). This award has allowed me to take on this course as a facilitated student.

So far we are in our second week, and I have to admit I very much enjoy it. Last Thursday night, I participated to an Elluminate session facilitated by Sarah Stewart. I had heard about Elluminate but I had never participated to any session. I am more familiar with Flashmeeting.

In this week’s activity we were asked to watch the video of Clive Shepherd called "Welcome to the virtual classroom" . This is a very well done video, easy to understand with a clear message backed up with nice and bright pictures. Among other things, it explains effectively the differences between Synchronous and Asynchronous communication. I knew those two terms, but if I had not known them the explanation given was so clear that I would know by now.

In this week’s activity I have also been asked to answer the following questions :

What do I want to learn to facilitate?

As this year I am going to teach for the first time Year 11 French (3 years into French/ the year of the first national exam) via Video Conferencing, I need to learn how to facilitate effectively a course. I can teach but I have always taught in a classroom with the students in the same room as me. The biggest problem for me I reckon is going to cater well for those students. I need to rethink the whole program and my whole teaching pedagogy. I cannot just do the same thing I do in class but online. I cannot rely anymore on my sense of humour and my funny faces to make the message go through.
Watching Clive Shepherd’s video and also taking this course online and looking at how the course has been set up, made me realise that the little ideas that I had so far on how I am going to set up my own course were not very good. So I need to read a bit more about how others are setting up their course, especially for teenagers.

What am I doing now in terms of online facilitation?

Nothing at all. Last Thursday during our first Elluminate event, Sarah told us that we will have to facilitate an event during our course. This is actually a brilliant news for me as it will give me some experience before starting with teenagers. I hope that adults would be more forgiven that 16 year olds.

What would I like to achieve ?

I would want that by the end of this course I am not only capable of facilitating an event successfully but that I will also have a clearer idea and maybe a proper plan on how to set up my Own French course.

What do I need to do to achieve this goal?

I need to follow the course consciously and I will need to read online articles and look at what other teachers have done before in order to learn from their successes and mistakes.

Photo source : http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1302/1137999449_d5ab04b27d_o.jpg

Grammar in Year 11 French class

2011-03-14T20:36:00.002+13:00

My Year 11 French surprised me last week. No, they did not buy an Ipad although I made it clear to them that I would be very happy getting one :-)

Instead of an Ipad (or an Iphone!!) I got some revelations which I was not expecting at all.

My lovely class told me that they would like to spend 20 minutes in each lesson doing some grammar exercises and conjugate verbs.

I have to admit that I was very much gob smacked !

As I have been their teacher for the last 3 years, they have not been used to do grammar exercises. So they are not looking for some comfort in my class. The reason why they want to do grammar is not clear at all for me. When I asked them they said that if they take French is to do some serious work. “Doing fun stuff is not proper learning” were their own words. “If we take French it is because we don’t want to mack around”.

I have to add that they were not complaining about my teaching at all. The class likes me, and I know that because they told me during the same week that I was as cute as Dora the Explorer ( No, I do not have a backpack on !!!). So their request was not about revolting.

I took notes of what they were asking, and at the end of their suggestion I told them that the way they want me to teach is the opposite that we as language teachers are asked to do. I added that it is advised to teachers not to use the word “grammar” as “students find it scary and boring”. I also pointed out to them that the way they want me to teach is very much how languages were taught 40 years ago.

But the best comment came from Eden. When I told them that in all the conferences I go to we teachers are told not to teach like that, Eden said “ Maybe we should be invited to your conferences and teachers should listen and ask us the way we want to be taught”

I am very much gob smacked !!!!

Image resource: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QiUw8NmmJVs/S0-gs72_2-I/AAAAAAAAHwY/mX1yQvRQPok/s400/humor+7.jpg

It is people, it is people, it is people!

2011-02-27T13:36:00.004+13:00

Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao, Māku e kī atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!
"Ask me what is the greatest thing in the world, I will reply: It is people, it is people, it is people!

People and learning are unconditionally linked. There is no doubt about it at all. Here at Learning at School Conference in Rotorua all teachers and educators of all sorts are the living proof of that.

Although this is a wonderful annual conference which I was very lucky to attend, I have learned most from people and networking. The breakouts and keynotes I participated in were of a high quality and well prepared - some next posts will come soon highlighting the presentations I went to- but I have to admit what I have more appreciated was meeting people as conversations lead to learning, and sometimes you can learn so much more with someone in half an hour than in a class environment for 2 hours.

I want to thank Core Education for organising such a huge conference despite the terrible earthquake in Christchurch that happened the day before. I also want to thank Vince Ham and Michael Winter from Core Education for helping the 2010 eFellows to attend this conference.

Read the next posts about what I have learned

à suivre….

photo source : http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1266/542362245_5a183a0507.jpg

French is a Child's highlight of the year

2010-12-07T21:07:00.001+13:00

Today I was the princess of the assembly at the local Intermediate School.

This year I have been teaching French to two Year 8 classes and mentoring their 2 teachers at the local Intermediate School and today was our last lesson.

I have to admit the year has gone very fast and I cannot believe how much the students have achieved! I taught each class alternatively (one class one week, the other class the other week) and the teacher was reinforcing what we did during the week I was not here. Each lesson lasted around 30 minutes. I taught during my free periods. In other words, I get 5 free periods during which I am supposed to plan my lessons, do the massive amount of admin that a teacher has to do etc...during one of those free period I went during the whole year teaching across the field at an Intermediate School. (for free of course!)

During the year we went through what my Year 9 do but faster (much faster!).

Last week, the Year 8 had to write their graduation papers where they write down what was the highlight of their year. In one of the class (Room 1), out of 28 kids, 20 students said the highlight for them was to learn French !!!!

It is at that moment that I felt the happiest !!!! All the hard work that the 2 teachers and myself have put in has paid off !!! It was all worth it.

So to celebrate the end of the year, the students have invited me for a special assembly. I watched them singing a song in French and playing games (about numbers). We then had a special morning tea. A little girl baked some muffins and wrote in dark blue icing “MERCI” on them (it means thank you). They gave me a giant bouquet of flowers, which I can smell right now while I am writing this post and offered me some chocolates. It was fantastic to have kids hugging me, thanking me and asking to have a picture taken with me. I felt like a princess, I think it was the moment a teacher dreams about during her whole teaching life.

Merci beaucoup Room 1 and Room 7

Edtalks saved my Flight

2010-12-01T14:44:00.002+13:00

I hate flying so much !!!! In the morning of the day of my flight I start to have butterflies in my stomach until the plane arrives at destination and that I know I have not burned alive i the air or crushed in the middle of the ocean. Of course I know the risk of me dying while driving to my way to work is way higher than dying in a plane, but fear has no reason.

So to calm me down I download videos and watch them during the flight with full volume on.

Yesterday I came back from Christchurch and I had downloaded a video on my Itouch in order to forget I was sitting on a chair in the middle of the sky. I took the video from the Edtalks website.

For the teachers in New Zealand, Edtalks is a very famous website where videos of educators are hosted. It is a site created and looked after by Core Education.

There are heaps of videos to choose, from Toni Twiss’s video “Living and learning in the cloud” to “Effectiveness of e-learning PD” from Vince Ham.

Yesterday, I picked the video from Lee Crockett, “Understanding the digital generation”. I was lucky enough this year to go to Ulearn where I have seen Lee Crockett presenting “live”. I was blown away during his keynote as he made me think about what I was doing in my class.

The second time it is even better !!!! As I am planning courses for next year, watching the video again was the best move for me as it has reminded me what to include or not in my teaching.

What ever the subject you are teaching, this video plays a pivotal role in a healthy vision of teaching nowadays.

Why NCEA ?

2010-11-30T14:21:00.002+13:00

When you are a secondary teacher it is now NCEA time. It means that your students are setting their final exams of the year .

While I was quite happy with the exam of my Year 12- for once no French words have been invented and the texts actually made sense- I was thinking “what am I doing??” as I was reading the text for the listening activity.

What is the point of the exam???

The texts in the exam are made to trap the students, not actually to see how much they actually know. It seems that the person who writes the exam looks at a vocabulary list and thinks “ well now what are the most difficult words?”, then, try to make a plausible story using those words.

why? what is the aim of a such activity?

Certainly not to encourage kids carry on with a language ! I could understand if it was a test to reward their learning, to show them how much they have learned this year and/or for the last 5 years , but why trying to make them fail ????

Rosa rosa rosam ......

2010-11-18T16:40:00.003+13:00

When I say to people I am a French teacher I hear a lot of different comments, including the one “ I didn’t like French when I was at school, I was very bad at it! And it was very boring, we had to conjugate verbs”.

I usually try to tell people that the teaching has changed since the time they went to school and that I do not ask my students to conjugate verbs.

How surprise was I during my last lesson with my Year 12 when I asked them what I could do to be a better teacher, what I could have done better this year !! Unanimously they answered that they would like to do more conjugation in class and for homework.

I could not believe what I heard. I thought they were going to tell me that they should do some more fun stuff, or watch some more movies or do some more ICT activities. But No !!!! They want to take a verb and conjugate it in different tenses.

I have been teaching those students since Year 9 and I have never done conjugation with them. So they do not want to do conjugation because their previous teacher used to do this type of activity with them. I have to admit I am not sure why they would want to do some conjugation !!!! It is not even a requirement for NCEA, so the excuse of getting a better grade at exam is not even a valid argument.

No heat pump + cold= angry teacher

2010-09-14T19:45:00.002+12:00

The block I teach in is going to be refurbished next year. This is a very good news as there is only one electrical socket in my room, which is not ideal when I need to plug my computer, the data projector, the speakers and when my students need to recharge their laptop. A fire ready to happen

As you can imagine I was very happy to hear that the whole block will be refurbished.

Until tonight when I read on a board of trustees report that no heat pump will be installed in the lower block, it means that there will not be a heat pump in my classroom.

As the room is facing south, the sun does not reach at all the windows. The only source of heating comes from 3 radiators dating from the last ice age and they get switched off at the end of period 2, 11 am. Because I am so cold I have to teach wearing thermals and some students are so cold they have to wear a hat !!!

I know that we are in NZ and we have to “be tough” as being cold and admitting it is seen as a sign of weakness, but I think this is a bit too much.

Is it acceptable to work being cold?? I do not think so. Is it acceptable for our students to be cold while learning?? I do not think so.

Being cold is not the best learning environment for the students. I am very angry…..

Year 10 teaching French

2010-08-24T19:31:00.002+12:00

At the beginning of this year, Pascale Hyboud-Peron and myself supported my Year 12 teaching French to a Year 8 at the local intermediate - the whole project can be seen here.
The experience was fantastic and obviously teachers at the Intermediate heard about it and its success and a few weeks ago I have been asked by a teacher if my Year 10 could teach his class.

When I spoke about it with my students they were over the moon!! they will teach in total 4 lessons (once a week). Our first task was to plan what we were going to teach and then how to teach it. I let the kids decide everything, only giving them advice when asked.

After our first lesson, we came back to our class and we reflected on our performances. The students were brilliant at that, they could actually be very critical of what they had done and they came up alone with alternatives for next time. One group of students was concerned with a Year 8 child they taught. They had 3 kids in their group, 2 were very fast and one was a bit slower and did not manage as well in remembering the lesson. My Year 10 are talented students who are, for most of them, in the accelerated class. Thus, they know the feeling of being a faster learner who is pulled back most of the time by other students. It was very good for them I think to experience for once what it feels like not to understand something very fast.
Hence as a class we discussed means of differentiation and I pointed out to them that I think that this is the hardest part of my job.

Today we had our second lesson and the Year 10 had a much better time as they had learned from their mistakes.

Christmas in August

2010-08-16T19:37:00.002+12:00

This week is International Languages Week in NZ. So the Japanese teacher and her classes made some sushi and my classes made crepes today. A business study teacher made some South African goodies. We sold them at lunch time for the rest of the school.

I feel for Food teachers !!! I am SO tired tonight !!!!

Lunch was a success even though I am falling asleep at 7 pm :-)

After making Crêpes with all my classes today, in 2 days we are going to celebrate Christmas. I am aware that we are only in August, but it is winter, cold and wet and also because we always finish school early in December we can never study properly Christmas. So I like celebrating it in winter.

The kids responded very well to my Xmas invitation. I actually can't wait Thursday !!!!!

Mme Lyons in a frame

2010-08-11T19:42:00.001+12:00

This post has nothing to do with teaching French in NZ, but I have to share my happiness!!!

The year 10 Art had to paint teachers a few weeks back. Last week, the exhibition took place.

I was very pleased to see that Lydia, the girl who painted me, did a fantastic job !!!! By far the painting she made was the most beautiful.

I have of course bought it and now we need to find the perfect place at home

French Teachers in NZ

2010-07-18T16:56:00.004+12:00

I am very lucky as a French teacher in New Zealand as our network ( French teacher network) is well developped.

We have a website where we can find all sorts of resources and where we can find the latest news e.g. a new change in NCEA - by the time we finish reading this post, approximatively 23 changes would have occurred to NCEA French!!

If it was not for French.ac.nz it would be very hard for me to keep up with all that. The website is done in such a way that it is one stop shop. I do not need to waste my precious time looking for details, everything is under the same roof. From resources for my Year 10 to practice assessment, I will always find something useful.

Who create all those resources?? it is us, us French teachers. We can easily upload resources we have made for others to enjoy in the country. It is as easy to also share a link of a website we find useful.

Each week, French teachers in NZ receive by email a newsletter in which they can find the latest resources and ideas which have been uploaded.

It helps to keep an eye on what is new and on how other teachers teach French in the whole country. I am the only French teacher at school and sometimes one can feel alone, but not anymore with French.ac.nz

Pascale Hyboud-Peron is the website administrator and is doing a fantastic job with it. I hope that she realises how much her work helps teachers in NZ . French teachers from other countries should have a look at it and see what can be achieved

Teacher of NCEA

2010-06-15T20:32:00.002+12:00

I teach NCEA….I am ashamed of what I do but it is the truth I am a NCEA teacher !!!

When I go to a party, which is not often enough !!!, and that I meet new people, they ask me the question that everybody asks when you meet someone “what’s your job?”. So far I have been lying to this question, too ashamed to admit what I actually do. I look straight and answer with my thick accent “ I teach French!”.

Do I ?? Do I really teach French???

I would say that 70% of the time I do. Unfortunately during the remaining 30% of my teaching time I teach NCEA.

Let’s start for the beginning: I teach geeks,I know I should not use that word but it is true, they are geeks and they only want to get Excellence at NCEA, a Merit being a failure. And knowing that NCEA French requires students to know and use weird grammar structures that French native speakers would never use I have to teach kids tips on how to introduce those structures onto their writing.

NCEA is not about communication, it is not about if you can share opinions or understand other people’s ideas. It is about creating sentences with some “pourtant, mais, cependant, où, qui, que, dont etc….” (however, but, where, who, which etc..).

I have a Belgian student in my class this year who is a French native speaker. I had to teach her how to pass the exams as she was not writing the required structures. She was failing although she speaks fluently French. Thank god I was here to tell her to produce strange sentences that nobody would say !!!!

In NZ we are SO lucky to have a very good curriculum, but at the same time we have NCEA which does not allow us to actually teach the curriculum. Because my students want an Excellence, I actually spend time in class teaching them how to pass the exam. If I don’t they will fail for sure. If a French native speaker cannot achieve, how can a kiwi pass???!!!!

So yes I teach NCEA

Pam Hook changed my life

2010-06-10T20:15:00.002+12:00

Last week I was lucky enough to participate to a 2 day PD with Pam Hook and Julie Mills about SOLO taxonomy.

Sometimes you go to a PD and while the presenter makes his show, you think to yourself “right mate, what you say is very good but I don’t want to end up with 18 cats because my husband left me after I spend 10 hours to do one of your activity!!!!”

It’s true it happens heaps. You go to a course and it was a waste of money and a waste of your precious time. I become very tight with my time as it seems to run away from me.

Last week was not like that at all. Sometimes you meet someone who transforms your life, and this person for me is Pam Hook. Not only she has transformed my life but she has also transformed my students’ life.

My year 9 are working on “clothes and description”. After this fantastic PD, this week they wrote a piece or work on their uniform. They had to first describe their uniform, say why they like it or not (explain), imagine their ideal uniform and explain why they chose each item (e.g. mon uniforme idéal aurait un pantalon car c’est confortable). I gave them “serait” and “aurait” (would be and would have) as it is a Year 12 grammar structure. I was very impressed by the quality of their work.

What was the best thing about this activity is that the kids could express what they wanted, they were not stopped in one year. I mean that the time when they had to wait to be in Year 12 to do/learn something interesting is over. They used their brain and they produced something of an extraordinary quality

Teacher's job

2010-05-19T19:39:00.001+12:00

For the last week, my Year 10 and I have been studying French school system.

After the first “I want to go to school in France coz they don’t have uniform”, we actually start to look a bit deeper. We looked at the value of education here and in France, chances given and respect that teachers have or do not have. The usual thing.

The class I teach is mainly made out of students coming from an accelerate class. They are very nice, clever and mature students....but very lazy.

I told them that when I was in high school ( I am French you see, nothing is perfect !!!), I was working very hard every night although homework was not compulsory. And here came their surprising comments. Students told me that if they were lazy it was our fault (teachers’ faults of course) because we were not asking enough of them. Kids said that in one hour lesson, they only actually work 15 minutes max. As for homework, they cannot be bothered because it is too easy and they can do it in 20 minutes, so it is not the point to waste time.

My reactions to those comments are first that as teachers we obviously need to cater for those kids, and be sure that the work which is set is challenging enough to be rewarding and engaging and second I find very strange that we still haven’t managed to teach our students to be independent.

I remember that when I was 17 (3 year sago !!!) my German teacher was crap. It didn’t matter to me because I knew how to work independently, and so I worked every night in order to speak German very well.

In conclusion, we are not doing a very good job: not only we don’t manage to engage students but also we are not capable of teaching our kids how to be independent learners.

censure et autres at school

2010-04-27T20:03:00.003+12:00

I am very annoyed !!!! For the last 2 weeks, I cannot print at school, I cannot receive school email and twitter and Gmail are blocked !!!!!

sometimes I wonder if we are really in 2010. Maybe I am in a fourth dimension where I thought that computers had been invented but in fact I am in 1767 and electricity is still a mystery !!!!

You could ask now “ but Froggieflo why is Gmail blocked at your school??”, and this I couldn’t answer because I have been thinking about it and I couldn’t find any plausible answer. I have been told that I should use my “school email” address, which by the way I cannot access via my apple mail. I have to go online to check my email. Which would not be a problem if I could access it outside of school, because, who knows why, we can only access our email box only at school. Gmail is much reliable and I can access it everywhere even on my Itouch !!!

Do you want to laugh??? I hope you are sitting because this one is quite funny. As of yesterday, students at school are given a gmail address. They had NO email address until yesterday !!!! so students can access their gmail but not the teachers.

And now you would want to ask me “but Froggieflo it is now 2010 (but os it?), I am sure you can work with teachers using Twitter, for sure it would be in the interests of your students that you communicate with other teachers. So Froggieflo tell me why is Twitter blocked?”. Well once again I cannot answer. I have been thinking about it for the last month, and I don’t seem to find a good reason why you would not want teachers to be connected with others.

HA it is SO good to laugh sometimes !!!!

"There are only two reasons to learn something. Either because you need it or because you love it."

2010-04-09T11:06:00.002+12:00

Yesterday @Johnpnz asked me what were my thoughts on this quote

"There are only two reasons to learn something. Either because you need it or because you love it."

He asked me on Twitter but I couldn’t answer in only 140 characters . So here is my answer to him.

I wanted to write something about it for a while anyway but I couldn’t face to put my thoughts on a page as I was still fuming.

I was lucky enough to go to Learning At School Conference in Rotorua last February. Like a lot of teachers, I thought this conference was fantastic, but (there is always a BUT!!) I went to a workshop which made me very angry. I went to see this lady who I had seen before and thought she was amazing. Well since L@S I have changed my mind. This lady said we should be able to see in the future and see what we need to learn. According to her, it is unnecessary to learn French (she actually took this example in her workshop) if we are not going to use French in our professional life later.

As you can imagine as French teacher and as a lover of languages I was bloody pissed off !! She could have taken any other examples and it would have been the same thing as I think you shouldn't learn things just because you will need it.

Here comes my answer to @Johnpnz :

I think of course we need to learn things because we need them. If I were living in a forest I would need to learn how to hunt efficiently- and very quickly- in order to survive, no doubt about it !!

I have learned heaps of things just because I like them. I have learned how to sign (French sign language) just because I like it, I don’t need it, I didn’t want to get a job where it could be necessary, I have learned Latin (although I was very bad at it!!!) just because it is interesting.

So I would say that of course we learn things either because we need or because we love them.

What makes me sad in NZ is the fact that we don’t give the opportunity to students to do something just for the pleasure or just for the pleasure of culture. We ask our year 9s or Year 10s to choose their options according to which job they are thinking doing later ( maybe in 10 years or more). It seems that we consider that knowledge which is not needed is obsolete. Why would you learn French or biology if you are not going to use them later???
I am a learner, and proud of it. You know when we play the game “What would you do if you were winning the Lotto?” , I would answer that I would pay my mortgage and install double glazing of course, but it would also give me the opportunity to learn even more. To be honest, I love my job, I think it is the best job in the whole world, but after teaching, marking, doing duty at lunch time, looking after my baby in the evening, carry on work at night at home etc.. I am very tired and I cannot find the time and the energy to learn what I would love to. I always wanted to learn pottery, Russian, Arabic...not because I need them, but because I would be very happy to go to bed thinking I can create a vase (not only I want to, not by need) and I could have a conversation with people in Egypt and/or in Algeria. Exactly like now when I am happy to go to bed knowing a bit of biology and geology although I don’t need to.

Sometimes it feels like Education is seen by Schools and Governments like a water tap which has been set to only have a few drops of water running. Why can we not open the tap full and let kids learn just for pleasure ???

Hannibal in Lebanon

2010-04-08T15:43:00.002+12:00

This morning I was watching the news on Aljazeera - thank you Stratos for broadcasting it on your channel. Today the accent was on how history is taught in Lebanon. It was of course very interesting as it always is on Aljazeera.

I thought the most surprising bit as a teacher was when teenagers were asked which History character they admired. I have heard Hitler, Napoleon, Hannibal and some Lebanese men.

While I was watching I asked myself what would the kids I teach answer. I am sure they would say Dan Carter, you know the guy half naked on our billboards with tight buttocks! Don’t take me wrong it is nice to have men with tight buttocks, but I am not sure if my students have ever heard about Hannibal and even Napoleon. I remember that once when I asked my students what they knew about Hitler, they told that “he was a very nasty man”.

Although I teach in NZ, I know this is happening in other countries as I used to teach in England. So it is not the usual excuse that we live on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean.

On the Aljazeera news, the students were capable of discussing their opinions and their point of view on History in their country. I would love to see that in my class (although I don’t teach social sciences) and not hear that Hitler was a nasty man.

The classroom seemed bare, they had a black or white board and students seemed engaged and passi

Solo taxonomy and a Year 10 French

2010-03-23T20:11:00.001+13:00

Today I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I was looking at my Year 10 French. I saw engaged kids who used their brains although we are studying daily routine which is not very exciting!

When my students leave school I want them to speak French, of course !!!, but I want above all that they open their mind to the rest of the world.
Since Learning At School Conference, I make sure that my students do activities which are high order thinking.

After looking at the life of a child from a 1/3 world country, students wrote a text about their own life, their own daily routine. Today they had to find the consequences of their daily routines on both their life and the 1/3 world country child’s life. What will/could be the impacts of their daily routine on their future lives?

I divided the class in small groups with a “French expert” in each group. I am aware that this activity was extremely challenging as my students have been studying French for only 1 year. After a few minutes, each group was working very hard.

I was of course very proud of each student’s effort but I have to admit that I was even prouder of a struggling student who could help in her group. Although this student has learning difficulties, she was able to contribute in her group with her strength. It was also very interesting to see that each group came up with a different point of view on the consequences of their daily routine. Students who are usually very good did not extend themselves as much as I thought they would, whereas students who are less capable shined during this activity even if their level of language was lower than better students.

Most groups came up with the idea that education takes a major place in life. According to them, one of the massive difference between them and a child from a 1/3 world country would be access to a good education. Students reckon that if you do not have access to a good education, you do not get a good job. If you do not get a good job, you won’t make good money. If you don’t get money you won’t eat good food which will lead to malnutrition and disease.

Overall it was a very good and engaging activity. I will definitely do another activity like this one. What is amazing about this type of activity is that children do not need to be fluent in the language they are using.

French camp at Tui Ridge

2010-03-22T20:16:00.002+13:00

French camp has been another success !

Two teachers of French, from Cambridge High and from Hamilton Girls High, and myself have been organizing a French camp for the second time now.

The camp lasts 2 days, starts on Thursday morning and finishes Friday afternoon. This year we looked after 150 students who come from the Waikato and The Bay of Plenty. This camp targets students from Year 12 and Year 13. Kids have to speak French of course for the full duration of the camp. I always thought that students would not like speaking French to each other (shame of their low level of language) but actually they all make an effort and use French almost all the time.

After going through the Douane where they have to give home baking, students have a brise glace activity to go through. During the afternoon, each student goes through some activities directed by teachers. As it is a French camp, there is food for about 3000 people and we stop often for a big or a small snack.

In the evening after dinner and a French quiz, schools have to present a show to the other schools. My students presented the story of the 3 little pigs in mime. I think everything went well.
Thank god that DVD has been invented because after what it seems like 58 hours of crazy teenagers, it is nice to watch a French movie (Bienvenue chez les Chtis) before to go to bed at midnight.

On Friday, after croissants (of course !!!) and 2 slots of activities, it is time to do a bit of prize giving.

Overall it was another fantastic French camp. I enjoyed myself and although I was VERY tired I cannot wait the next one.
I have to add that without the help of the teachers of French from the Waikato and the bay of Plenty this camp will not exist. Merci à tous !!!

Bringing expert in a French class

2010-03-08T20:17:00.000+13:00

Although I am a true French ( with the accent and all), I wanted my students to hear somebody else’s story about their life in France.
I thought that a kiwi living in France would give them another point of view of France that I cannot present. My experience of France is unique as somebody else’s experience of France would be.

After a fast search on Mr Google, I have found Kim Martelli who blogs about her life in France. She is a kiwi and used to go to Katikati College. I wrote her an email explaining that I wanted to bring an expert in class via Skype. Without hesitation she accepted.

This morning, during period 1 (9 am), Kim had a 35 minutes skype conference with my Year 13. The kids were of course shy (and giggly !!!! As you can imagine teenagers dealing with a new situation) and asked questions that came up naturally. The only boy in the class had, of course, to ask if French girls were hot or not !

After the conference, the students carried on their conversation and asked me other questions. It was nice and exciting for me as their teacher to see the experience continue even after the conference. I was very happy to see them thinking.

As I come from Corsica and Kim lives in the center of France, it was also very interesting to listen to her describing her food experiences. She told the kids that it was hard for her at the beginning to get used to the massive amount of butter used in the French cuisine. Her experience is totally different than mine, as we don’t use butter where I come from but olive oil.

Over all it was a very positive experience that I would love to do again

Failure does not have to be a bad thing

2010-03-01T21:14:00.000+13:00

When I arrived in the UK what shocked me the most was the fact that you could not tell a child that he wasn’t good at something. It seems that failing at something was the most degrading thing on earth, so degrading that people didn’t even dare saying the word.

Well, actually we are not all tall and beautiful, we are not all slim and attractive, rich and intelligent….some of us are small, some are not as academic as others etc.. Why should we not admit it ??!!! I am small and I am never upset that people tell me I am small, because of the simple fact that I am actually small.

When I was at school, I was very bad at maths (and biology, and physics, and chemistry, and English !!!!) but I am ok with that. My teachers told me at a young age that maths was not my bag, and thank god they did !! If they hadn’t told me that I wasn’t good at maths, I would not have discovered that I am actually good in grammar and I would not enjoyed doing a degree in linguistics. I am very happy that my teachers were honest and so I could discovered my talents.

Although I failed at maths (and biology, and physics, and chemistry, and English !!!!) I have excelled in other areas which have given great pleasure in life. If my child could not sing at all, would I tell her that she can sing perfectly ?? Or will I help her to find something she enjoys doing ??

We don’t have to be good at everything, and I think it is acceptable to be bad at something at school because that could lead us to something much greater.

I suck at maths and I am happy !!!!

Revelation at Learning at School conference

2010-02-25T07:22:00.000+13:00

On the first day of the conference I went to a breakout on SOLO taxonomy presented by Pam Hook from Hooked on Thinking.

I had heard about SOLO taxonomy before and to be honest I hadn’t understood a thing. So here I am in this presentation hoping to understand a bit more.

Well my dream was shuttered at first ! For a good part of the talk I couldn’t understand a thing….not a thing. After crying for a while on my own shoulder, disappointed to be “unclever”, I had a click and understood what it was all about !!!! (at that point I was so proud of myself I wanted to dance on my chair, but don’t worry I didn’t !!!)

After the first few seconds of happiness I became very sad again as it hit that I am a crap teacher ! (crap is here not standing for any clever educational abbreviation, just crap!) I don’t use SOLO taxonomy in my class. I don’t ask THE right questions to my students. I thought until this presentation that my students in my class were actually thinking all the time, but they are not.

So after wanting to dance on my chair I wanted to hang myself on my chair ! And then I thought that instead of crying I should take the decision that for now on I should learn more about SOLO, and implement the theory in my French class.

This breakout was a revelation for me and I am SO glad I went there as I have (again) grown so much as a teacher. I am a long life learner and not ashamed to admit it

Learning at school conf 2010

2010-02-24T06:57:00.000+13:00

Here I am in my bed at 5 am in the morning and already awake in front of the computer. I could not sleep because I am as excited as a child on the day before Christmas.

Here in Rotorua is going to be held a conference for eager educators willing to learn new stuff. I have booked the breakouts I wanted to attend and I actually cannot wait that the conference starts at last.

I have been in NZ now for a bit more than 5 years and I have always been impressed by how much the educators are here passionate about their profession. Although we are a very small country (only a bit more than 4 million kiwis) the technology is here cutting edge and what I find the most amazing is how much educators are interested in LEARNING. I have never been in a country where learning takes such a big place in education.

I am sure I won’t be disappointed and I will learn a lot during this conference because I know how well prepared all presenters are and I know that all the teachers participating to this conf are ready to learn.

I feel I am very privileged to participate to such a conference.

So, you want to know how was my 1st ICT lesson???

2010-02-06T14:27:00.000+13:00

I have been teaching in NZ for 5 years now, and since I have been here I have been teaching French and only French. Unfortunately this year I also have to teach ICT in order to teach a full timetable !!! :-(

Kids who take French in NZ are usually smart kids with a very opened mind ( languages are optional) and are, most of the time, very polite.

Yesterday was my first ICT lesson with a Year 9 (13 years old) and I have to admit that I hadn’t used any behaviour management strategies for the last five years. In my French classes, if students chat a bit too loudly I only have to give them a bad look and they stop! However yesterday I had to use a lot of strategies I used to use when I was teaching in England.

I was very tired at the end of the hour as I had to spend a lot of time dealing with misbehaving kids. I was also very upset to think that I had been paid during this hour to implement behaviour strategies instead of engaging ALL students.

To be honest, after lunch time when I had finally cooled down, I reflected on my lesson and realised that although 4 students were not taking advantages of whatI had to offer in the classroom, 26 students (or almost 26 ) were engaged and actually very excited about the learning and the thinking that were happening in our ICT class.

Should I be happy that I engaged 26 students out of 30?? Or should I aim to engage the whole class?? Would I be happy with 80% successful results if I had another job??

A year with Toni Twiss

2009-12-09T14:41:00.000+13:00

Toni Twiss has spent a year with us at Matamata College, succeeding Richard Vandijk, as our ICT Facilitator.

Toni had to fit some very big shoes as Richard is a very good ICT facilitator but she managed it….very well. Toni has helped me during the whole year and actually saved me from boredom.

Before Toni arrived I was very bored and was never presented with challenges. It didn’t feel like working in a school but more like in a factory where everyday goes by and you feel you do the same things….over and over again.

Then arrived Toni !!! Thank god!!! If Toni had not come you would have found or dead in the staffroom or I would have to take drugs in order to forget I was in the staffroom!!! Toni made the staffroom a place where one can learn and discuss about good teaching practice. She shared her knowledge generously and was never crossed when I had a “thick day” ( or a thick month!!).

Toni Twiss is going to be missed a lot in our school…..I will miss her incredibly as I am very scared to be very bored again next year

Core subjects versus Option

2009-11-21T15:48:00.000+13:00

In most schools in New Zealand, timetables are done in such a way that there are “core subjects” e.g. Maths, sciences, english etc and “option subjects” e.g. Languages, cooking, woodwork etc…

In most students’ minds and, unfortunately, most teachers’ minds, core subjects are seen as very important and option subjects are seen as unimportant, invaluable subjects where one can mack around and where work is optional.

Last week, I went to a NZALT meeting and we started to speak about the fact that, as language teachers, we do not like that senior managements speak about Core subjects versus option subjects. We thought it is time to find another word than “option”. As the meeting ended we were not able to find a right word.

I know that changing a word would not obligatory change people’s set of mind but I reckon it would help. I was speaking with a teacher from a respected private school and he said he has the same problem with his pupils not willing to do any work as his subject (French) is seen as optional, which means for the students that no work is required.

When I was at school, option had another meaning. And as I am not that old, one can not say that the word has evolved ! Latin was for example an option. An option was then available only to people who could intellectually follow such a course. An option was a subject quite elitist that not everybody could chose. Although French in NZ is still very elitist, the subject does not seem to be seen as an important subject.

I would love to see teachers to change their view on optional subjects and realise that option teachers teach a lot to the students, like literacy.

Easi Speak Microphone

2009-11-10T15:59:00.000+13:00

Although they are very small and look like toys, I have been very impressed by the Easi Speak microphones. I have been using them to record my students NCEA speech. The sound quality is extremely good and the teacher who moderates the speeches said that she could hear/ understand words that she had been unable to hear before.

Using Easi Speak is very easy. Last week-end I recorded myself reading some articles in French. After recording I just plugged the microphone onto my computer, dragged and dropped the MP3 from the microphone onto my desktop and bingo!!! It was done. Then I could put the sound on a wikispace, blog or as I did that time, I sent the mp3 to my students via email. I know my year 13 were very happy as they could listen to a true French article only a few weeks before the exams.

Until now I have been borrowing a microphone from another teacher at school, but as today I will use my own ! Today I received 2 new microphones!!! A very happy day..

use of ICT in classroom

2009-10-29T21:36:00.000+13:00

I am going to be nasty here, and maybe I should feel guilty…..or not.

The school bought 16 notebooks a little while ago. Fantastic!!!! We now have 16 keys to explore the world. We share these notebooks among 5 or 6 teachers.

I try to book those laptops regularly, and sometimes (most of the times) unsuccessfully. Maybe I should plan my lessons 6 weeks in advance, but that would be being organised! And then I think “well fair enough, other teachers must use the laptops effectively and they need them more than I do”

2 days ago, one of the teacher I share the laptops with was away and some relief work had been set (by her). I had to help the reliever to set up the laptops etc..

Then I had a look at the work set up. The kids had to use the internet to create crosswords. No explanation was provided at all.
The next day the same situation started again, except that the kids had to use Word to write a story.

What shocked me here was the fact that it is not because you use a computer that you re using technology effectively. What is the point of spending $16000 to create a crossword? The students engagement and their learning are not greater because you use a computer instead of a piece of paper. The question here is “what is the point of making a crossword?” What is the learning? Where is the thinking here? Where is the teaching?

French visit in my class

2009-10-18T21:29:00.000+13:00

Last week a French lady came to spend the day with me in my class. She is thinking of becoming a teacher, maybe, perhaps….she had a bad experience at school and she is not sure if she wants to spend the next 20 years at school.

This lady spent the full day with, to see what a secondary teacher does. My first class was a year 9 French (of course French coz I am a French teacher!!!). The students had to make photos of them expressing verbs with their body. They could use a photo camera or a mobile phone. The lesson started and some kids had forgotten their mobile phone. They asked me if they could use my Chinese made mobile, which they love, to make some pix, I lent it to them and off they went outside taking some dressing up clothes on their way out.

Suddenly the lady looked at me and told me “ Oh my god but do you trust the kids with your mobile phone? Are they allowed to be outside? Don’t you want to stay with them outside to check on them?”

It was the first time she visited a school outside of France, and she never experienced a class where the kids are in charge of their learning. She was also very surprised that I was not lecturing my class.

I have not thought about my own experience at school for a long time. And it is very true that in France teachers lecture a lot, actually that is the only thing they do. This type of teaching suited me a lot when I was at school myself, but as a teacher I do not lecture, and I always make a point of making the kids responsible of their learning.

The fact that this lady was with me all day made me realise how much I have evolved in my teaching since my first class when I used to only lecture, exactly as I have been taught.

Smart enough?

2009-10-04T07:54:00.000+13:00

I have Smartboard Software installed onto my computer, and I have had it for 2 years or so (maybe 3, time flies !!!). I have to admit that I don’t use it a lot because I use heaps Powerpoint which I find very interactive. I use it mainly when we watch a video and the students have to fill in the gaps using a air mouse. You see I don’t have a IWB and I live very well.

Feeling a bit guilty I tried during the holiday to create a presentation using smartboard software.

I made a movie to show what the activities are on the presentation. I hope you can understand my thick French accent- no hope for me to lose it ever as I have been living in an anglophone country for 9 years now!!!!!

I added this post because I would like to know if I am on the right track. Are there other tricks and tips that I am not aware of?? I actually need some help to know a bit more about IWB.

I have found a lot of inspiration here
http://www.youtube.com/user/souffleruk and http://souffler.typepad.com/home/

surprise!!!

2009-09-25T21:19:00.000+12:00

What a surprise….

Today during a lesson with my year 12/13 we had a very interesting and surprising conversation.

I found a French text from a very old book at the back of a cupboard. The text was dated from 1972 (well before I was born!!!) and was about Education.

The author was arguing that schools should prepare students for their future life and that students should learn what they need and what they feel like learning to prepare them for their future instead of being taught what teachers think what students should know. As I said the text is more than 35 years old.

The whole class then started to discuss the text. One thing leading to another, the students started to criticise the way they are taught and said a few things which surprised me.

First, they admitted that they would rather being lectured. They reckon that they need to simply being told the knowledge and they complained about the lack of notes given by the teachers.

Second, they think that at the beginning of the year, each student should be put into a group according their learning style. Thus, all the visual learners would work together and would only make visual activities-and so on for the other type of learners. They think it would be best for them as they reckon that they are wasting their time doing activities that aren’t of their learning style e.g. during a lesson, a teacher usually tries to cater for all type of learners by proposing different activities; if you are not a visual learner, you will not learn by doing activities that are targeted to kinaesthetic learners.

They also criticised group work when they are asked to go through exam results together into groups. They would rather want to have the teacher going through the right answers.

At last they also complained about the fact that there isn’t enough “current affairs analysis”. They would like to be more in touch with the world and with what’s going on.

I thought it was very interesting to know what they really want from school and now I need to digest all the information they gave me to adapt my teaching to their needs.

shocking !!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-20T20:29:00.000+12:00

Shocking works

This week I twitted what I was doing with my year 12 French class. Tonitheisen asked me to elaborate, which I did, but I thought (sometimes it happens) “well, why not blogging about this activity!!!??”

The last topic of the year is “Sex, drugs and alcohol”...actually it is “Give advice”, but I have noticed that if I say to the students that we are going to study “sex and drugs” they are very engaged and work very hard :-)

Revenons à nos moutons.

Last year, at the NZALT conference in Wellington, I have learnt this wonderful activity.

After teaching the students how to give advice (si j’étais toi, à ta place, il est recommandé de etc..) I put them into groups. I give a picture to each group. They have 7 minutes to write (spelling does not matter) a story explaining what has just happened to the people on the photo and give an advice.

Of course I gave them pix which are very shocking. I want them to be inspired and I want to present them with an opportunity to give an advice.
At the end of the 7 minutes, each group has to tell their story and their advice without showing the picture. The other groups try to understand what their story is about.

In the lesson, each group end up having several photos. I try to keep the pace very fast to keep them engaged and excited.

Xtranormal

2009-09-13T19:47:00.000+12:00

Extra Normal ???

On Saturday , I discovered Xtranormal, but I can not remember how ( post pregnancy brain- at least this is my excuse!!!). You can make 3d movies. It is very easy to create a short movie. Of course it is not perfect, I think they are speaking too fast but it is free and I think it could be very good in a Language class.

It took my 15 minutes to create the movie. I will check if it is blocked at school, if not I could use it with year 9 in 2 weeks after the exams.

Langsem 2009

2009-09-03T19:53:00.001+12:00

langsem 2009

View more presentations from florencelyons.

detentions!!!!!!!!

2009-09-01T16:36:00.000+12:00

During lunch time I went for a walk ( yes I actually left school during school hours!!) with a teacher who used to work in the science dept and now works as a relief teacher. She is very tall, scary and she is very talented working with difficult kids. It is always amazing to see all the hard gangsta ( you see I use hip words??) kids behave so well when she teaches and they learn so much with her.

Get to the point Florence!!!

During our walk she said that she was very amazed how students use very bad language in class and that they do not respond to detentions. It is true that students will get detentions after detentions and will not change their behaviour. My friend reckons that something is missing in the pastoral sector at school.

I was actually thinking about what she said during our HOD meeting ( ooops!!). I think it is not so much that we should invent means of torture to make kids change their behaviour, I think that they are not getting out of school what they should.

Usually the kids misbehaving are kids not achieving...what about if we were proposing things at school that could interest them instead of asking to produce complex texts in English when their level of language is very low. If John likes horse riding and is passionate about it, why not proposing a course about horses. I am sure that John would then not misbehave anymore and stop swearing at teachers.

It is time to rethink about what the word EDUCATION means really in practice.

French Speech Competition 2009

2009-08-27T20:01:00.000+12:00

Pourquoi ne pas les frapper tant qu’on y est ??!!!

Yesterday was a very good day. It was again French Competition day at Waikato University (thanks to the Alliance Française).

I took 3 year 12 and 3 year 11 students. Off we go in the van with Mrs Lyons behind the driving wheel. After few “ OMG we are going to die!!!”, we arrived safely at Uni.

We were warmly welcomed by Ruth Bourchier and Dr. Jennings, like always and everything went smoothly. I had to judge 24 students of Year 11 with the help of another French teacher from Hamilton.

Students had to produce a speech of roughly one minute and had to answer 2 questions (all in French of course).
Teachers had to pick the 3 best students of each year. It was very hard as all the kids made immense efforts, but we finally managed to pick three.

So far so good.

When I went to my 6 students who had already done their speech, they asked if they won. I had to tell then no (unfortunately!) but what hurt me the most it is when they wanted to know their grade. After checking their grade on a sheet, I realised that monsters teachers had given grades like 7/20 or 8/20.

Let’s be clear here. It was not an exam at all, it was not NCEA, it was a competition for students to meet other kids from other schools who study French, it was a day where students can be proud of their achievements, it was a perfect day for students to have their confidence boosted. Instead I have to tell my students now that they got crap grades!! I am so angry as I don’t understand why a teacher with a heart would do that.

My colleague and I (both judges of year 11) gave 20/20 to the first winner, 19/20 to the second and 18/20 to the third. As for the other 21 students in our group they all have been given between 15 and 17.

When a child that I had judged asked what was her grade I told her 16/20. She was so happy !!! She said to me “ wouah!! It is only 2 points from the third”. She couldn’t see that almost all the students had similar grades. For her, yesterday was a positive and wonderful experience and she can not wait next year to enter again the competition.

I don’t understand why teachers would do that to students! Kids have been very hurt… actually they haven’t because I lied to them and told them they got 15 !!!!

news podcasting

2009-08-23T16:19:00.000+12:00

So simple so effective

My year 9 French are learning how to describe people (physical appearance and clothes). And I have to admit they have never been very excited to be tested on it because they don’t find it very relevant I suppose.

Because this year, the Board of Trustees bought us 16 notebooks,I decided the kids could start podcasting. I wasn’t sure if they would like the activity…..suspense..very intense……

I put the students in a front of a virtual newspaper article using fodey where they could read in French that a teacher from our school had disappeared and that everybody was looking for him/her everywhere.

Their task was to produce a radio announcement describing the teacher of their choice.

I was amazed by the amount of work the students tackled. They were very engaged, excited, they wanted to know more vocabulary of a year 11’s level. I was so happy!!!!

We had some News Jingles to the podcast and Voilà !!!!

Mission accomplished!!! Kids produced some work of a very good quality and enjoyed working hard

another dollar

2009-08-15T20:04:00.000+12:00

I am going to scream!!!

If I hear one more time in the staff room “mmmmh!!! Another day another dollar” I am going to scream or strangle a teacher.

Ok in New Zealand our terms are roughly 10 weeks long and we have 2 weeks off. So I don’t know why teachers are still teaching if it is so painful for them to come back to school. I hear the same phrase every Monday morning !!!

Don’t take me wrong, I LOVE my week-ends and my holidays and I (be careful here, I might shock you here) don’t miss the kids. Why would I miss my students? I am a normal human being with a life. I actually always find a bit creepy when teachers tell you that they miss their students. I want to show the students that you can be happy with your life, and so can they. And my life does not stop at 3 pm!!

Because I love my week-ends, I love coming back to school on Monday morning. I have chosen my job very carefully and to be honest I would not have another job. I hear other teachers saying exactly the same thing but still complain on Monday morning.

Voila! I feel much better now, merci :-)

Franseme 2009

2009-08-05T14:31:00.000+12:00

Franseme 24 juillet 2009

Ruth Bourchier, French National Advisor, asked me to present a little thing at Franseme this year. What an honour!!!!

The setting was so nice, Ferndale House in Mount Albert. Well, if I were a bit organised I would have read the program properly and realised that Ruth told us that it was very cold in the house. Of course I came half naked and I froze all day….note to myself: next time read what people send you!!!

I am going to jump to the last intervention. Simon Curnow, French teacher at Kings College, presented some videos made by his students after reading Candide, Voltaire and L’Etranger of Camus. First of all I couldn’t believe that some students in an English native speaker country could study these books as they are so hard ( I studied Candide when I was 16 in France!!!). And then I was amazed by the high quality of their own interpretation of the books.

First, I felt very bad as I don’t do this type of literature in my classes, but then I felt quite inspired. His presentation was very good ( short, I love short presentations!!!!) and straight to the point.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t assist to Anne-Lise Perrier’s workshop as hers was at the same time than mine. She presented the last songs and artists in France. She was kind enough to give me the booklet she gave to the other participants. It is where I have learnt about Grand Corps Malade. So on the following Monday I used his song about Saint-Denis with my year 12/13. They loved it and thought I was very cool ( quite easy to fool teenagers!!).

Ruth Bourchier showed us how an oldie can become a fantastic activity. Her workshop was about how you can make a Dictée become a communicative activity by simply guiding the students through some vocabulary to speak about their work. After having done the dictation itself you present the students with a sheet full of sentences they can use to speak about their work and their peer’s work. Before marking the work, each student compares his work with his partner and then they both compare their work with 2 other partners. It is using one task to make students speak in French in class.
As soon as I could I create my own dictation and tried it on with my students. Although it was very challenging, they loved it and it increased their vocabulary in French. I have heard students using sentences from the “dictation sheet” in class.

Overall it was a fantastic day. And most important it gave me a bit of a boost in the middle of winter and filled my head with new ideas ( I also got a beautiful present to present a workshop there !!! ). What more to ask ?? :-)

Why do we all need to be life long learners

2009-07-07T19:58:00.000+12:00

I am reading an article by Bruce Hammonds, “ Why do we all need to be life long learners”, that makes me think, especially one thing. When Bruce Hammonds write “For students to remain positive towards learning our classrooms learning communities need to provide students with the following vital elements.Students need to be given choice about what it is they are to learn...”, it actually makes me feel good.

I explain. Last week, I asked my year 9 students what they want me to teach them. I have enough of teaching them what I HAVE to teach them. So I asked my students. Some boys want me to teach them about cars, well I felt embarrassed at first because I know nothing about cars at all, and then I said to myself “ you know what that could be a good thing for me as I would learn something”. But what actually surprised me is that my students want me to teach them about what I am supposed to teach, I mean they asked to be taught about “giving directions in French, shapes, animals etc…”, exactly what I will teach them soon.

I am thinking that next year instead of teaching the curriculum, I am going to ask the students at the beginning of the year what they want to learn, knowing anyway that they would ask for the topics from the curriculum. If I start that way they will feel more enthusiastic and will feel that they are in control of their own learning. I hope by doing that they stay happy learners.

I will write another post about that in a year time to say if it works :-)

French immersion week-end 04-05/07/09

2009-07-07T19:26:00.001+12:00

Last year Ruth Bourchier, French National advisor, organised a French immersion week-end in Wellington at the beginning of our winter holiday (July) just before the NZALT meeting. This week-end was very interesting for both Kiwis wanting to ameliorate their French and the Francophone presenting workshops. We all learnt heaps during these 2 days.

Due to the success of that week-end, Ruth has been begged by several people to organise another one this year.

And here we are it is the French immersion week-end and once again it is grandiose!!!

The venue was Kings College in Auckland. I had obviously heard about it, who hasn’t?, but I had never seen any picture of it ( Yes I know I live like a yokel in my country house with the cows!!). OMG!, I thought I was in a Harry Potter movie (with better actors though). The buildings were stunning and the grounds were incredible. Mr Simon Curnow (French teacher at Kings College) was a fantastic host and we felt like diplomates.

I have to admit that I enjoyed terribly Saturday during which we played divers games, I think I haven’t laughed like that in years.

There were teachers from all the country and heaps of francophones. 6 of them presented workshops, among them myself. I was very happy to attend others workshops as it gave “un coup de fouet” after a hard and long winter term. I feel now very refreshed and enthusiastic. I came back home with my head full of ideas and I have already started to work on new activities. I am so existed about what I have learnt during that week-end.

I really can’t wait the next one :-)

Powerpoint is not dead

2009-06-26T10:14:00.001+12:00

Powerpoint is not dead!!

Funny that I read heaps of people saying that Powerpoint is not a 21st century tool in ICT. Well I disagree.

With my first computer I used Powerpoint like a Overhead transparent, of course like every body did, but now I make my presentation so interactive and so engaging that students are very enthusiastic in their French class ( especially in a country where languages are not valued at all). And I have to admit that my imagination is my only limit regarding presentations.

I don’t want to sound French ( you know complaining and arrogant) but I have seen a lot of powerpoint online that look very dated although they have been produced last Monday. Powerpoint is not about little animation that fly on your screen ( things like that do not make students interested, they are not mentally retarded, at least not all of them).

The best tool for me in Powerpoint is the trigger button - you know this word will appear when I click on this picture ( or something like that). This is where the presentation becomes interactive, and not because you have chosen a pretty background.

As you know (because of course you read my post regularly waiting for the next one with impatience!!) I have a Mac (yes a Mac with a capital letter) since ...I think May or something like that. I was so excited when the school gave it to me, I almost made the wheel. (because I am very flexible). But then I realised that in the Powerpoint which is supported by the Mac, there is no Trigger!!!! Catastrophe. I cried and I almost gave the computer back because for me Powerpoint is so powerful that I could not live without the trigger thing. (later we found a solution and now I have Virtualbox installed).

For me Powerpoint is not to be used as a slideshow. Do you use your computer only for word? Have you spend your school budget buying a data projector or an interactive whiteboard and you use them only to project Word?? For me it is exactly the same thing for Powerpoint. If you use PPt as a slideshow (I mean pictures move, slide change and youpi students should be excited) no wonder that you think that PPt is not a 21st century tool.

Ps: I don’t get paid by Windows to promote PPT (unfortunately!!)

Pps: If Mr Gates is reading this post ( I know he does coz he is very interested in what we do at Matamata College’s French department!!) I would not mind to be paid to promote your products :-)

enjoyment in teaching

2009-06-22T09:10:00.000+12:00

I have just read Sonja’s post on e-learning Research,”Learning-the question of enjoyment", and a million of thoughts are running into my head ( I actually didn’t think my head was big enough but obviously it is).

My first reaction on why learning is sometimes no more enjoyable for learners is maybe because Teachers don’t enjoy what they are doing. How can you make people excited about something you are not even enthusiastic about??

Why are teachers not enjoying what they are doing?? This I have got no answer for. Have they chosen this job only for the holiday? Are they in front of the class for the security of the job ( no recession in teaching)? Are they not paid enough? I have to admit that maybe the fact that teachers get paid peanuts might make the sparkle of teaching leave pretty quickly, but really it is the main factor, or could it be??

I do believe deeply that if you are having fun you will learn better and faster. It is why I try to make lessons varied and I make a point of having a good relationship with my students. I make fun of them, a lot!! (dead easy though!!). But I also have noticed that if what you are asking to the kids is too easy they do not have fun finding the answer. They like finding it hard. For some kids, fun means thinking and being challenged. Do we challenge them enough??

One thing I am sure about is that to have enthusiastic students we must enthusiastic ourselves. ( Oh so profound!!)

rethinking my teaching

2009-06-16T17:27:00.000+12:00

Je n’ai peur de rien

This year I have been rethinking totally my teaching. I feel like a rebel on my harley scared of nothing and nobody.

So instead of teaching year 9 what I should teach them, I started to teach what comes up in class in our daily conversation.

It doesn’t make any sense, does it?? Well let me explain.

I am supposed to teach them about introducing themselves, numbers, months, family etc… sometimes I was coming into class with a lesson plan, what are we going to learn today “family”. But then John ( I actually don’t teach any John, but sounds so likely I could teach one!!) comes in and is eating chocolate. I could scream at him and tell him that he should not eat chocolate in class, but why would I do that when I can ask him for some chocolate instead? So here we are I ask him in French (of course), and I help him saying that he had some chocolate but he ate it all. So of course I am very upset because it means I will not get my usual dose of sugar ( I steal a lot of lollies from the kids, they are stealing my youth I steal sugar from them!!) but instead of crying out loud I start to teach them to say “je l’ai déjà …”. ( I have already…)In a previous lesson they had learned how to say what they did the night before (it gives me a good occasion to bully them about the programs they watch on TV. :-) ) so now we can combine the both.
E.g. Qu’est-ce-que tu as fait hier soir?
J’ai lu Harry Potter
Which becomes je l’ai déjà lu

So after 2 terms of French (well not really coz they miss a lot classes due to sport and other commitments) the little year 9 understand heaps of French. They actually ( yes I mean ACTUALLY) understand questions in present tense but also in the past tense, then they can give me compliments when they want something from me.

So far I have noticed that their French is well advanced compared to previous years. I might be a bit late in my curriculum but the benefits are extreme!!! I will reassess things later and see if it is worth it.

learning for the pleasure

2009-06-11T10:32:00.001+12:00

Et la culture alors on en fait quoi?? Des confettis??!!!!

I am a teacher of French and (unfortunately for my accent when I speak English!!) I am French. I live in an English native speaker country (New zealand) and I have to answer all the time why should we learn another language. ( this need another post)

In NZ, the languages which are taught are generally French, Japanese, Spanish, German and Te Reo (Maori).

First I hate when I tell people that I am a teacher of French they answer straight back that the students are “SO lucky to have me as a teacher”. To that I ask “Why?” ( is it because I am extremely pretty? Or because I have a high sense of fashion? Or is it because I work like a slave for peanuts, literally ??) people answer it is because I am a TRUE French and when I speak French I obviously don’t have a kiwi accent.
To that I want to answer bull**** but I am too polite. Yes I am French but it does mean that I am a good teacher, I could be very crap while a kiwi could be a fantastic and motivating teacher.

So this is my first “coup de gueule” !!!

Then next one. Languages here are not compulsory at school. I hate when people tell me that they would like their kids to choose French as an option so they can go to France on holiday. Do you only pick a language so you can spend 2 weeks in your life ordering a Coca Cola or a meal at a restaurant? I think this is wasting a lot of your energy.

I have learned English at school for the pleasure, I never wanted to actually go on holiday in England or in NZ. But not only English. I learned science and maths until last year at school and I never use science in my job. However, I am extremely happy to be able to place the liver and to roughly understand the theory of relativity (I think I do anyway!). I love learning just for the pleasure, and why can we not teach at school just for the pleasure, just for cultural purposes and nothing, not for your 2 week holiday in Brazil??

When I learn something, I feel so happy and proud of myself in the evening when I go to bed. I go to bed a bit less dumb than in the morning when I got up, and it feels so good. Learning a language is the same, your learn it for pleasing you, not for your exam, not for a job.

Voila!! I feel relieved that I got that out of my chest :-)

twitter again to the rescue

2009-06-08T14:27:00.000+12:00

Yes another one!!!!

Bon alors ok you have heard it from so many sources that you know it by heart now. But because I am so egocentric I am going to tell you about my experience.

A few months ago, @tonitones introduced me to twitter and what a bless. Since then my life has changed, well maybe not that much but it sounds so dramatic and powerful when one writes it down. So I have been twittering heaps since then ( and not only about me drinking a cup of tea as my lovely husband thinks I do). One day ( can’t remember when exactly as time is so relative!!) I wrote on twitter that I was studying Le Petit Prince with my year 13 French. At that point @tonitheisen answered and told me that she was studying it as well with her class in Loveland-Colorado. Long story short, @tonitheisen decided we should create a common wiki. In a week-end she created it and sent me the address on the Monday.

Then the fun started… @tonitheisen put some resources and I did the same ( I have to admit that she put much more than I did). Later my class had the fantastic surprise to find on the wiki some videos of their american friends introducing themselves and their school. So of course we had to do the same. From then started a ping pong game with videos until the summer holidays started in the US.

Well this would have never happened without twitter. Really what is my chance to meet someone from a country on the other side of the world who teaches the same book as the same time.

Merci monsieur twitter

online collaboration

2009-06-03T12:30:00.000+12:00

Comme le monde est petit

I am really happy to be 32 in 2009 ( did I say 32? I meant 21 of course!!) for one reason : the Internet (with a capital letter to show how much respect I have for it). You are going to ask me why I like the Internet so much. I will answer to you in only a few words (you see I am not so boring after all!), it is because it makes the world very small.

Although I live in New Zealand in the middle of nowhere ( my neighbors are cows, literally speaking) I feel in the center of the world, thanks to the Internet.
I would say a month ago (maybe 2) I met @msfrenchteach on Twitter. An one day I asked who wanted to work on an online work using etherpad. @msfrenchteach answered quickly and after calculating the difference between our times ( oooops I have forgotten to say that @msfrenchteach is in the US) we made an online appointment.

I picked my year 12 French (their 4th year of French) and told them roughly what we will be doing (couldn’t tell much because I wasn’t sure of what will be happening). So here they are at school at 8 am (we start usually at 8.30) ready to work. Skype and etherpad are on. So after a few minutes giggling (teenagers the same everywhere!!) they were ready to work hard. We spent one hour online asking each other questions. I was just here to help them in case of emergency, like a dictionary. I have to admit I was so proud of them. I was looking at them working with pleasure, they were so excited to speak with other people so far away. And I know they were not lying because at the end they asked me when we will do that again.

When I said to people about this experience they all asked why I didn’t do that with a French school. Easy to answer. When you are 15 or 16 you don’t feel very confident and you know that your level of French is not very high. Why would I have put them in front of kids who speak fluently French. Realistically we all know how boring it is to speak with people who just start to learn a language, it requires a lot of patience that you don’t have when you are 16. But I do believe that you feel ok when you speak with people who have the same level of language as you ( hope that what I write makes sense!!, bloody French can’t even write English properly ☺ )

This experience was wonderful for me and the students and we can not wait that @msfrenchteach has finished her summer holiday (we are so selfish) to have another online collaboration

My new MAC

2009-05-26T12:21:00.000+12:00

long life learner

For years now I had Pc and only PC. Of course I had seen Mac, or should I say I have seen people using MAc in front of me, but I have never really had the occasion using a MAC myself....but a computer is still a computer isn’t it? And because I have been using PCs for so many years I thought “ Well don’t need to be a genius to know how to use one of these beautiful white MACs!!!”

Yeah right!!!

Because I have been moaning for so long at school about not having a MAC, “ I want a MAC, I want a MAC, I want a MAC, I want a MAC, I want a MAC, I want a MAC, I want a MAC, I want a MAC,!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Deputy Principal must have had enough of hearing me and to make me shut my big French mouth, she gave me one.
So, with my new MAC, I came home and started to play...it looks so cool. But after the week-end, when I had to actually teach, I realized that although MAC is quite easy to use, I couldn’t teach! I asked the kids to be patient and told them that it would take me a little while before I can be as confident with a MAC between my hands as I was with a PC. Funny enough, the students who usually sigh if things don’t move as fast as they want were really nice, patient and so understanding!!! I was honest with them and I think they were patient because they saw me as a learner for once and not as a teacher.

Actually, this is a lie because as being French leaving in an English speaking country, I am always a long life learner. I don’t have an Uni degree in English (I have learnt English on building sites), the kids know that and I always make clear that although my English is not perfect (far from it ) I am not ashamed to speak and I am definitely not ashamed if the students want to correct my English. Aren’t we role models? Of course we are!!! So it is really good for our students to see us as long life learners.

So last week when I had for the first time in my hands my beautiful white computer and I looked like a retard in front of my classes, I felt at ease because I proud to be a long life learner.

2009-05-13T12:26:00.001+12:00

another powerpoint

2009-05-12T13:58:00.000+12:00

I love Powerpoint and I think it is a fantastic tool to engage students and to make lessons interactive

2009-05-04T08:30:00.000+12:00

Oh mon Dieu!!!!

Alors I know that Richard Vandijk has already spoken about it in his blog, but I feel I have to write something about it as well as a French teacher. Richard spoke to me about Stu’s Jeopardy on Twitter. I thought it was really strange because he knows I already have some Jeopardy games, I use Powerpoint for that. But well, Richard is really clever ( he is Dutch) and if he recommended me a site I should have a look . Well, merci mon Dieu I did!!!! This version of Jeopardy has been made for me ( and for you as well it is why I have the urge of speaking about it!!!). it is free (Yes!! free, gratuit, gratos, donné, offert..), I love that word!!!, the only condition is that you have to send the creator a quiz that you created. Speaking about creation, it is so easy it is incredible!!! Usually when I use the Powerpoint template it takes a million years to create a game ( I grow a beard every time!!!) but with this one it is fast, easy, clear (don’t need to have a PHd to understand how it works or being a geek who has not seen day’s light in a decade) and if you make a mistake ( it never happens to me!!!) dead easy to fix it.

So I jump onto the programme and created a game for that afternoon for my year 13. I thought why not making a whole Jeopardy on conjugation revision?? So I did exactly that. A few minutes later my afternoon lesson was ready. The students came in and I told them what will happen during the lesson. They were not that excited as we play heaps of games and they already Jeopardy as I said earlier. We played. They used their brains. And at the end they asked if I created the game myself ( I wish I was smart enough!!!) and begged me ( yes I used Begged!!!) to create more quizzes. 16/17 year old teenagers thought the game was really good and when I asked them if I was doing more quizzes would they want to play they said “of course, it is cool!!!

Voilà!! I just wanted to share my excitement about this game because it is a really good game.

songs in MFL class

2009-04-28T13:06:00.000+12:00

kids and I love singing in class ( and dancing as well actually!!!) I only use true material in my class. I use songs that I love, new or old ones, and we sing along. it helps the students to memorise grammar structures more easily. I use smartboard software for that, because it is easy and interactif.

relevant assessment

2009-04-27T08:28:00.000+12:00

Toni asked me if I can make assessment relevant to the students. I would say that I try as much as I can. Of course, I can not change NCEA ( NZ equivalent of GCSE and A levels) but I try with any other assessment. I love the idea of the students learning more about French culture. We live so far from France and it is really hard to make it real for the kids. I am going to give you an example. I asked my year 10 to make a research on a French singer. I give them a list of singers to actually help the students who are struggling. If they want to choose a singer who is not on the list it is ok with me. And then I ask them to find relevant information about this singer. I do not tell them what to find because every body is interested in something different. For some kids the singer’s favourite course might be more interesting than how many albums s/he has sold! My only instruction is that it is forbidden to copy/paste from the internet because if they copy/paste they do not learn anything. I had fantastic work from the kids. I remember some presented the singer and they created a quiz to see if you followed their presentation. They even did some Powerpoint presentation with videos found on Youtube.

I was really proud of their work and they learned so much by having no directions because they worked towards something they were interested in, it was relevant to them, they enjoyed it so they worked bloody hard….and they were successful of course.

la nourriture. que choisir?

2009-04-09T10:08:00.000+12:00

amis terriens salut,

A fast and easy powerpoint that I use with year 10 with food topic.

What do I think when I teach??!!!

2009-04-08T16:02:00.000+12:00

OK, so Toni wants me to put a new post about my teaching. Yeh right, but now comes the question "Do I really know what I am doing?"
I teach French in a rural school (year 9 to 13) in New Zealand. French is an option and as you can imagine the community does not really see the point of learning a foreign language in NZ; and anyway we speak English in NZ and everybody speaks English in the world don't they??!!!
So it is a struggle for me to keep good effectifs. When I started in 2006 we had 2 year 9 and no year 13 because nobody wanted to carry on French. In 2009, we have 3 year 9 and one year 13 (OK only 5 kids but still!!!).
When I reflect on my teaching and that I look at what I am doing in the class, I would say that I concentrate on making my classes enjoyable. If the students enjoy my class they will work harder, and if they work harder they increase their chance of succeeding. If they succeed they will carry on French. So to make my classes enjoyable I try to vary the activities as much as possible. I love ICT as it is a fantastic tool for engaging students, but I also dance and sing heaps (with a funky plastic microphone) and I always make sure that students are pushed hard. I have really high expectations and I do not lower them down. One of my priorities is to always teach what the kids want me to teach even if it is not in the curriculum. It is sometimes more important to capture a student that is interested in " how is a day at school in France?" than force feeding him with "l'accord du COD place devant le verbe"!!! If you captured this child, if you have answered his questions, you might have captured him for the rest of the year. I am thinking right now about this girl N who is so out of her depth in French, but who is also so excited and interested...today she even gave me some easter chocolate!!!!!

So how do I teach???? What is my philosophy of teaching ( what a grown up word!!!)? Well I work hard to make my lessons enjoyable. Am I a clown in front of my class?? I'd say "Yep, all the time"

Froggieflo

writing can be fun

2009-04-06T08:54:00.000+12:00

Coucou!!!

here is a video to show a powerpoint that I use with writing. kids have to write the text before it disappears. they all enjoy it because it is quite challenging.

2009-03-31T12:14:00.000+13:00

I am going to show you how to through a tomato at my face ( sounds quite weird to actually to write that down!) using the mighty Powerpoint

2009-03-24T12:12:00.000+13:00

I demonstrate how to use the Draganddrop macro in a French lesson (here teaching subjonctif to year 12) and I use self mockery to involve kids in my class

at last!!!!

2009-03-20T12:17:00.000+13:00

hey!
Bonjour

here I am at last blogging like a geek

this is going to be a space about teaching French in an innovative way that will involve kids so much that they will take French up to year 13 ( in my dreams at least :-) )