MODL+Reflections

Lesson: Introduction of the imparfait
 * Day 1 : Monday, November 14th**

Mrs. Palmer has two sections of French 2, so I was able to teach this twice. The second section was what was recorded. This lesson was the beginning of the next unit titled “Mon Enfance (My childhood)”. With that comes the imperfect verb tense. The only materials I was given was a list of vocabulary that the students were going to learn in this unit. Mrs. Palmer told me to pick random vocabulary words from the different sections (vocabulary, verbs and adjectives) and use it in my lesson.

I warmed the class up by reviewing the present tense. It seemed to me that the class had a strong grasp on present tense conjugations, so we moved on to the imperfect. They seemed to pick up on the conjugations pretty quickly.

I realized that the PowerPoint I made was long. Students’ participation dwindled after about ten minutes. If I were to redo this lesson, I make the PowerPoint shorter or at least break it into chunks. For example, I could have cut the presentation in half and had a class activity to keep the students involved. This would have given them more of a chance to speak and apply their knowledge of French and not just repeat after me. The second half of the presentation could have been viewed either after the activity or the next class day.

I know that there are some students in the class that need to be disciplined better because they get very chatty with their neighbors. I did not realize how much they were talking in class until I watched the videos of me teaching. One of the most obvious solutions to this problem is having a seating chart. Mrs. Palmer does not implement a seating chart and that proved to be an issue. There were problems in every class I observed of students sitting next to their friends and talking during class. I realize that I am not the best at disciplining, but I firmly believe that a seating chart would be the first step to managing her classroom. If there was still a problem with those particular students, they would need to be given verbal warnings that they are being disruptive.

In the beginning of the field experience, I sat behind a group of three boys in this hour that pose the biggest problem. Even though they talk most of the hour, two of the three of them really know their stuff. In a partner activity they had to do, I was surprised to listen in on what they know. The third boy made a comment to the other two: “How do you know all of this? Do you study?” His replied that he did not study at home, but paid enough attention in class to know the vocabulary. In my opinion, he had a stronger grasp on the language than some other students in the class that seem to pay better attention.

We had unplanned extra time after the PowerPoint and the worksheet were complete. I asked the students to get the little white boards and a marker so we could conjugate verbs in both the present and the imperfect. The verbs I used were straight off their worksheet that they just completed on their own. Some of them realized this about half way through. I did this so that they could reinforce what they just did and have an opportunity to check their answers. I did not tell them this because I did not want students copying their answers. Only a couple students were actually showing me their white boards after they wrote the answer. I should have required all students to show me so that I could assess whether or not they understood it.

I warmed up the class by having them ask their partner what sports they played when they were younger. We then reviewed the imperfect endings and focused on the irregular “être” and “manger” conjugations. I also pointed out to students how to tell the difference between “il avait” and “ils avaient” just by listening carefully. We then went through another PowerPoint. It started off reviewing and introducing some vocabulary for the unit. That was followed by another story presentation like yesterday. I used a lot of what was on the previous presentation except this time left the verbs unconjugated and had the students conjugate it verbally. After the PowerPoint, we did an oral activity.
 * Day 2 : Tuesday, November 15**

If I were to do this again, I would break up the PowerPoint and sandwich the oral activity in. I should have taken a break between the vocabulary and the story in which we could have done some of the oral activity or a different activity that incorporated the imperfect and the vocabulary.

The other problem I had was the students not knowing some of the verbs or vocabulary that I put on the oral activity I created. I assumed that they would have already learned a lot of what was on it by this time. Redoing it, I would go through it with the class to make sure that they all understand what the questions are asking.

As I said before, Mrs. Palmer has two sections of French 2, the second being videotaped. Students in the first section are my guinea pigs. I realized then that they do not know a good chunk of the vocabulary that I used. In the second section, I wrote a lot of it on the board while the students were working with their partner. This way, when they asked for help, all I had to do was point to the board and they could figure it out. Going through all of the questions as a class would have saved me a lot of time circulating and helping students figure out words they did not know.

After reviewing the videos, I realize that I say “bien” way too much. I never even realized I did this until seeing myself teach. Another thing I do that I find a little irritating is with my hands. I cannot seem to hold still and am constantly playing with a marker. I also realize that I should be speaking more French especially when students ask me yes or no questions.