A better way

Some days, I feel like I'm really rockin' it in the classroom. Other days, I feel like there's something missing. Like I could be doing things better or differently in order to allow my students to learn and grow even more. I've been thinking about this for a while and have discussed with my fellow teacher/fiancé. "There will always be a better way of doing things," he says. I agree, and I'm on a search for a better way of teaching written language structure, all the while thinking how much focus i should put on this area, since we are moving towards a more oral focus in French core and immersion?...

I don't have lessons that target only language structure like verb tenses, adverbs, etc. In order to maintain a high level of engagement on behalf of my lovely students, I try to include the language structure content in more meaningful lessons. For example, this rule of having "ent" at the end of a verb when the pronoun is "ils" or "elles" seems to be a very difficult concept to grasp when both reading and writing. During our shared reading of various non-fiction texts lately, we have taken the time to stop and discuss those darn "ent". Do we read it out loud as the sound "en"? Are they silent? When are they silent?... Anyways, through these articles about fire tornadoes and raining frogs (more on this later) we are learning some things about language structure. But, is this enough? How hard should I be pushing this "ent" when one of our main goals is teaching these kids to effectively communicate both orally and in reading/writing, but mostly orally in a French setting? I go back and forth in my head on this all of the time. There must be a way out there to still offer interesting, engaging and meaningful lessons, all the while providing students with a deeper knowledge of vocabulary and language structure.

This is one of my big missions for the next little while. If I find the key to all of this, I'll be sure to let you know, hah! But until then, stay tuned for my reflections and thoughts as I try different approaches and strategies with the students. Oh, and I will make sure to share more about the raining frogs!

Stephanie