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. As such, it falls to language teachers to present tasks which language learners can complete in the target language. This requires an extensive amount of scaffolding, and initially a great deal of scripting. One easy and fun way to introduce scripted conversations is through math games. The necessary language to play can be explicitly taught all while reinforcing important math skills and conversational use of the language. Research reveals teachers play an important role in fostering children’s interactions with one another and creating meaningful purposes for language use.

In order to create an expectation that the play will occur in French, I make sure to model the play with the whole group and encourage echo and choral speaking so everyone has a chance to « rehearse » the script before getting started.

How do I make sure the learners play in French once the time for partner play comes around? Don’t they just switch back to English once they’re on their own? In order to create an expectation that the play will occur in French, I make sure to model the play with the whole group and encourage echo and choral speaking so everyone has a chance to « rehearse » the script before getting started. It looks like this: we all sit in circle. I gesture (and the kids speak with me) « Aujourd’hui, la classe va jouer un nouveau jeu de mathématiques avec les cartes. Je joue avec mon ami X (this learner is sitting next to me in the circle). En premier, je mélange les cartes. Mélanges, mélanges, mélanges. Après ça, je compte dix cartes pour moi et dix cartes pour mon ami. Tout le monde compte avec moi. 1, 1. 2, 2. 3, 3. 4, 4. 5, 5. 6, 6. 7, 7. 8, 8. 9, 9. 10, 10. Maintenant je comptes mes cartes et mon ami compte ses cartes. (Je comptes mes cartes à voix haute, puis mon ami compte à voix haute.) Maintenant on va tourner une carte. On dit « 3, 2, 1, tourne! » 3, 2, 1, tourne! Maintenant, je regarde ma carte et je dis « j’ai X » et mon ami dit « j’ai Y .» La personne avec le plus grand nombre gagne. Y est plus grand que X, alors mon ami gagne. Il garde les 2 cartes. Mon ami est très content, il dit « j’ai gagné, j’ai gagné. » Maintenant on peut tourner encore. »

Now, it may be tempting to stop here, given that the learners surely understand how to play at this point. Resist the urge! Encourage the whole class to speak along with you and play the game to the very end. Remember, research proves that pleasant repetition increases oral language production in the target language. By playing the game all together and requiring everyone to speak aloud the whole time, the expectation that the kids will speak in French while they play is clearly established and the learners get a ton of practice with the script for the game. If everyone was speaking confidently during the rehearsal, then they are ready for the main event (their turn to play with a partner). However, if it was difficult for the learners to remember their lines then you are still in rehearsal stage. This could mean one of two things: stop now, and try again tomorrow starting from the very beginning, or choose two different children to play the game with the whole group. You could draw a line down the middle of the circle and play one half of the class against the other half. This is another way to make sure the learners are getting the guided practice they need in order to be successful without the language teacher right at their side should they get stuck while they are playing. Usually after two rehearsal rounds, the learners have memorized their script and they are ready to play. Remember, this is content and language integrated learning (CLIL).

Math games are meant to be fun. If the rehearsal round(s) is(are) taking a long time, stop there. There is nothing to be gained by pushing too far too fast. Celebrate the winner of the whole group game, and move on. You can pick this game back up again another day. Once the learners have played the game several times as a group, they will amaze you with their ability to play with a partner in French!