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Promoting Oral Language Production

As a French teacher, my heart swells when I hear my students speaking the language. I know their sense of language affiliation is strengthened through speaking. Learners entering school with no language base in French don’t just magically become spontaneous speakers of French. Research consistently shows what language teachers do and how they do it has a direct impact on the language expertise of their learners. 

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Embracing Belonging through Kindness
If we want our learners to use kind words when they speak to and about one another, we need to get intentional.
Snack and Chat
Snack time is a daily activity which provides an opportunity for practicing turn-taking in conversations, expressing likes and dislikes, and asking and answering simple questions.
Show and Share Question Wheel
Learn how I teach questioning vocabulary by playing three questions and three guesses during Show and Share times.
Body Movement Chants
Moving our bodies while speaking is a fun way to practice critical vocabulary. That is why I love to make up little chants to match up with broader themes.
Post Office Play Centre (Part 3)
Teaching students how to play using a purchase exchange dialogue is a great way to model everyday language to young learners. Here is how I do it in at the Post Office.

Making Language Thinking Visible

Taking inspiration from the work of Harvard’s Project Zero, I consider and explore the role of questioning, listening, and documenting in early French immersion classrooms. Join me as I paint my own “Pictures of Practice” and explore ways to advance learning by adapting thinking routines for the French language classroom.

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Circle of Viewpoints
This thinking routine focuses on perspective taking. Click to read about how I paired it with a kindness act to build on our capacity to identify different perspectives.
Documenting
Choosing what to document and how says as much about the teacher researcher as it says about the learner thinking and ideas surrounding a given investigation.
Think, Pair, Share
This core thinking routine gets daily air time in my classroom. Read on to find out how I first introduce it with scripted interactions in the target language.
See, Think, Wonder
Supporting emergent speakers to express their wonderings in French is a complex task. Thinking routines help make this easier for learners because they become just that, routines!
Translanguaging Towards the Target Language
In French immersion, teachers feel the impulse to translate everything a learner says into the target language. Don't skip the journey & jump right to the destination.

Language Identity

Sense of identity is constantly evolving; linguistic identities are no exception. Due to the sociocultural nature of language acquisition, relationships and sense of belonging are critical elements to consider for language teachers. Join me as I explore culturally sustaining educational practices and strive to nurture linguistic identities.

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The Dreamers, the Doers, and Me
I have a clear memory of waking up the morning after my first French dream. Do you dream in all your languages? Read on to find out what it means to me.
Family Reading
When families first join the school community, I believe part of my job is to also make the adults feel like this community is for them. The school serves the learners and their families.
Celebrating a French-Full Classroom
Learners' words can come out mixed up; they think they are speaking French, but English words get mixed in. This is translanguaging. I celebrate it.
Connecting Language and Culture
Dance teaches so many important skills, plus it is so joyful! Here is where we can get serious about learning gauche from droite. Here are some ideas.
Creating Space for Additional Languages through Read-Alouds
My learners quickly discover that I am open to other languages and that I think they are important based on the way I react as I read this story.
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