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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Show and Share Question Wheel
Learn how I teach questioning vocabulary by playing three questions and three guesses during Show and Share times.
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.
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.
Celebrating Language Identities in the Writing Zone
Just because we value the target language, it does not mean we have to devalue home languages. Our language(s) connect(s) us to our ancestors.
Two French Language Teachers Meet in a Hallway
Does it sound like the beginning of a bad joke? I hoped it would! But this is no joke. What happens next? Do they speak in French? Do they speak in English?
Language Learner Becomes Language Teacher Learner
Learning a new language presented the greatest cognitive challenge I had ever experienced, and I loved it. I will forever be a language learner, even as teacher.
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.
Post Office Play Centre (Part 2)
I like to schedule the play time very early in the day if my hope is that some kids will choose to play in French - this is cognitively challening work! Here is how I do it.
Post Office Play Centre (Part 1)
Recent studies show that immersion teachers feel like they have resources to support the teaching of reading and writing, but very few to support the teaching of oral language.
Do You See What I See?
There are many ways to introduce the idea of looking closely. Provocations involving things from the real world together with magnifying glasses are an easy first step.
Story Retelling: A Classroom Staple
Intentional teaching is huge. Start by sharing a story orally, with the intent that the learners will be able to retell the story themselves (not read it from a book).
Let’s Talk About Feelings
Social-emotional learning is important for kids as humans. I’m grateful to see a holistic approach to education which teaches to the heart, body, AND mind.
Talking Time Meets Math Time
The more time our language learners spend using the language, the stronger their sense of language affiliation and ownership will become.
Speaking Routines (Part 2)
Closed questions are a very important tool for scaffolding oral language production because the language needed to answer the question is presented in the question.
Speaking Routines (Part 1)
Young learners can gain a sense of expertise quickly when repetition meets routine. Recent research shows discussing the daily schedule is a great way to start.