A book that changed everything...

Wow, what a dramatic title!...  It hasn`t really changed everything, but man oh man, what a great book!

It all started when I went to Chapters in Ottawa (the one in Gloucester), and was so pleased to see that their collection of French books had gotten much bigger!  I found so many books that I wanted to buy, but that ol' wallet of mine would not permit it.  So, I limited myself to three books.  One of them was La Légende du Chien Noir, by Levi Pinfold.  I first picked it because it reminded me of my new dog, Mr. Jenkins (great name, huh?).  It`s about a big black dog.  Pretty straight forward!

I finally read the book to my students this past Thursday.  It was a hit!  We made predictions, we discussed the illustrations, they answered some of my questions, and never, had I EVER heard them speak such beautiful French!  I don`t know if it was the book, the Christmas break or my strict French rule in the classroom, but I was so incredibly pleased to see and hear that most students were making the effort to discuss and answer questions in French.

I desperately needed a successful lesson like this, because I was starting to feel a tad discouraged about oral communication in our classroom.  Although they are more than capable, I have a couple of`"players" (I hear some people call their behaviour students "players" once in a while, so I thought I`d give this new lingo a try!) in my class, and they really aren`t major behaviour concerns, but their lack of motivation to speak in French had really put a downer on the rest of the class.  Like I said, they have no motivation to speak French, and so not only do they speak English, but they try and get the others in on it too.  Ugh!  This was getting worse in December, but I guess the upcoming break could have been a playing factor as well...  Who knows!  The great part is that I have some students who are getting pretty annoyed with those "players" and are speaking up.  "Arrête de parler en Anglais." ...  "PARLE EN FRANÇAIS!!!"  That's now what I hear from my students when others aren't putting in the effort to speak French in class.  And, you can really hear the frustation in their voice!  I love it!  I think that hearing it from someone else than the teacher who is always nagging has a much bigger effect on those students who just don`t try.  What a nice fresh start to the New Year!

Now that the break is over, and I`m finally getting into the swing of things, stay tuned for more posts!

Stéphanie