Session 6: Visual Survey

Objective

By the end of class, you will be able to…

(NOTE: The example objectives and lesson are given in French; they can be used with any language. You can download materials in multiple languages from our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff), or use the examples to make your own materials.

Beginner: say words or phrases in French to describe places that people in our class like, using sensory details (e.g. describing the weather - what you can see, hear, feel - hot, cold, sunny, rainy, etc.)

Intermediate: say two or more sentences in French to describe places that people in our class like, using sensory details (e.g. describing the weather - what you can see, hear, feel - hot, cold, sunny, rainy, etc.)

Advanced: say a paragraph in French to describe places that people in our class like, using sensory details (e.g. describing the weather - what you can see, hear, feel - hot, cold, sunny, rainy, etc.) and compare them to places in the francophone world

Preparation

Prepare a series of images for the Visual Survey. This is basically a series of images about a topic, which you will describe/discuss, and then a “voting slide” which shows all four of the images so that students can vote on their favorite. You can also download pre-made Visual Surveys from our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff). Generally, I find that either four or eight images is the best number. That way, I can make a series of four images, and then a voting slide, as shown below. If I have eight images, then I would have two sets of four images and two separate voting slides. Sometimes I like to do a “runoff vote” between the winner of the first voting slide and the winner from the second one, to find the class’s “ultimate” favorite image.

Norming the Class

Continue to greet the students in English, review where to put their things, etc., remind them briefly that in this class we will be communicating a good deal in the language and they need to work together to focus and listen because that is the best way to help yourself and everyone else be successful in this class. Tell them that each day the first activity of class will be reading and that today you will read about information science, like computer programming and game design.

If you have not yet set up your Videographer, you might want to do that before you begin this lesson. See the HR Manual in the Appendices for more information on this job.

Hand out (or project/display) the Reading Workshop text. You might make your own, use the ones in our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff), or read a Shared Writing text from the first lesson(s) of the year. Then, share the lesson objective if you have not already done so, check in with your Class Starter (and perhaps Videographer), and have them give the signal (or give it yourself if no one has yet to volunteer for the job), and begin filming if you are starting that today, and then begin speaking in the language.

Reading Workshop

Find That Cognate and Pronunciation Practice

See the notes in the previous sessions for detailed instructions on how you might conduct this Reading Workshop strategy.

Distribute or display the text. Once the students can see the projected text, or they have it on their desks, you can proceed.

“Let’s read this text about “Sports on YouTube France”

Your job is to notice (if the students have a paper copy, you might say “mark the text”)

the cognates, the words that are the same in English and French. I will read to you in French, then you will tell me the cognates you noticed

(you can say them in English).”

(If you have a Videographer, have them begin the video.)

“I will read in French and remember that your only job is to listen and understand, and my job is to make it easy to understand. Shawn, let’s go!”

(Shawn gives the signal. You take a deep, calming breath and center yourself to lead the class through a simple, very comprehensible task.)

(Place your hand or pointer on the title of the text and begin reading in a slow yet fluid way, moving your hand or pointer through the text as you go. Resist the temptation to stop and establish meaning. The goal is for students to actually read through the text in its entirety with you, looking for cognates.)

(Read the text aloud in the language.)

(Once you have read the entire text, point to or circle a very obvious cognate and ask for its meaning in the class’s stronger shared language.)

“Class, ‘practice a sport’ in English?”

(Students answer. Then you write the English on the text, and spell it, saying the letters in the course language, as demonstrated below.)

“Yes, practice a sport in English, is practice a sport. P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E-space-A-space-S-P-O-R-T. Practice a sport.”

(Note: This sounds like: “Oui, practiquent un sport est practice a sport. payy - arrrr - ahhh - sayyy - etc. (saying letters in French).

Practiquent un sport.

(Repeat with another cognate, or move on to the pronunciation practice as explained below.)

Let’s practice our French pronunciation. I will read a sentence in French and then we will all read it together. Your job is to pronounce the words as closely to how I say them as you can. We will really ‘French it up’ and try to use the ‘Frenchest’ pronunciation you can.

(Read a sentence from the reading aloud in the course language, really emphasizing the pronunciation so students will stretch their speech articulation muscles when they repeat the sentence in the same fashion.)

“OK, let’s read that together, and ‘French it up’ as much as we can.

(Read with the class, modeling very clear and almost overly-articulated pronunciation in the course language.)

“Good job. But I bet you can ‘French it up’ a little more. Like this. Listen.”

(Read the same sentence aloud in the course language, really emphasizing the pronunciation, perhaps even more than the first time.)

“OK, let’s read that again, and ‘French it up’ even more.”

(Read with the class, modeling very clear and almost overly-articulated pronunciation in the course language.)

Repeat with a couple of other sentences. After a few minutes, move into the Guided Oral Input, beginning with a brief calendar check-in and then moving on to discuss the slides or images you prepared for the Visual Survey.

Guided Oral Input

Visual Survey (Locations)

Move to the calendar to transition to the Guided Oral Input. For the rest of the year, it is suggested that you continue a brief calendar check-in to transition to the Guided Oral Input, which (1) creates an opening/ transition routine and (2) continues to reinforce, daily, and in a meaningful context, important vocabulary such as the names of the months and days, weather, numbers, preferences, and activities. For guidance on how to gradually introduce new topics/vocabulary into this daily routine, please see Session Five.

“Look

(gesture and pause to sweep the class with your eyes to check for understanding)

at the calendar. Is today’s date…August 30

(jot “30” somewhere, perhaps on the board)

or August 31

(jot “31”)

?”

(Some kids call out “30”)

“Yes, class, today is August…30

(write 30 on the calendar).

” “Class, is today Thursday

(point)

…or Friday

(point)

?

(Some kids call out “Thursday” )

“Yes, class, today is Thursday

(point),

August

(point)

30

(point).”

(Walk over to the window, or display the weather forecast, if you have no windows.)

Look

(gesture)

out the window

(walk to the window and point)

Look

(gesture)

out the window…think

(gesture)

…is it hot

(gesture)

or cold

(gesture)

?

(Students answer, in English or French, depending on ability/inclination, Hot!/Cold!)

Class, is it hot

(gesture)

or VERY

(gesture)

hot

(gesture)

?

(Students answer) Today it is hot. Very hot. (write and spell) V-E-R-Y hot.

Visual Survey

The setup and execution of this strategy is quite simple. Just paste four images into a slide or document that you can project, with each image labeled A, B, C, or D, or 1, 2, 3, and 4, or (like the examples provided) with an icon or picture of related vocabulary. You might choose to use images of culturally-relevant items, or other vocabulary that you need your kids to know (foods, or articles of clothing, for example), so that students get a little additional exposure to these terms.

You will talk about each image to describe it, as you would in a Picture Talk (a widely-used input strategy), perhaps bouncing back and forth from

one image to another, comparing and contrasting, and asking questions. Then you vote on which image is the class’s favorite, asking “A, B, C, or D,” or using the icons (e.g. “the canoe”) and the class votes on their favorite.

For upper-level students can “angle” the question towards certain language structures that you want to reinforce. For example, you can project four images of various school supplies, and ask which one is the Number One Can’t-Live-Without school supply (e.g. “Which is the most important”), or which one will get you in the most trouble in math if you do not have it, or which one your parents would be the most upset if you lost or broke and had to ask to get replaced. You might also, in order to elicit higher-order thinking, ask them to choose the two that go best together and lead them in a discussion of why they would and would not go together.

Working with the example Visual Survey might sound like this:

“We are going to look at a series of images that show different places that people like to go to have fun. I will describe them to you in French, and then you will vote on what kind of place you like best. We will write about the class’s favorite place later in the lesson.”

“Look

(gesture)

at this picture. It is a stadium

(place your hand on the projected image).”

“Is it a big

(gesture)

stadium or a small

(gesture)

stadium?”

(Students call out, “Big!”)

“Yes it it a big (gesture) stadium. Is it a football

(sketch a football or show a prop (a football, perhaps) or use an image, or teach a gesture for “football”) stadium, or is it a soccer (sketch, gesture, etc.)

stadium?”

(Students call out, “Soccer! Football!”)

If there is a lack of consensus on the question, with some students saying football and others saying soccer, then simply point out details on the image, to help students clarify.

“Is it sunny

(point to the word “sunny” on the calendar or other visual aid from a previous lesson)

?”

(Note: If you have not used the word “sunny” then you can establish its meaning now, or simply choose a word that you have already added to the calendar, for example, “hot.”)

(Students call out, “No!”)

“No, it is not sunny. It is dark

(place your hand on the night sky in the image).

Look

(gesture)

at the lights

(place your hand under the lights in the image).”

After a couple of minutes spent talking about the first image, continue to the next slide.

“Look

(gesture)

at this cinema

(place your hand on the image).

There are one, two, three

(counting)

people in the cinema. Is it sunny

(point)

in the cinema?”

(Students call out, “No!”) “

No, it is not sunny in the cinema. It is dark. Is it sunny at the stadium

(go back to the first image)

or is it dark in the stadium?

” (Students call out, “Dark!”)

“No, it is not sunny in the stadium. It is dark. It is not sunny in the cinema

(go back to the image of the cinema).

It is dark. Is it crowded

(write this word in the course language and perhaps also write a translation, or show pictures that illustrate the meaning of the word “crowded”)

in the cinema?”

(Students call out, “Yes! No!”)

(Note: Again, if there is debate, this is a good thing, because it leads to more engagement and is an opportunity for you to give more input by pointing out details in the image(s) that help to settle the debate. Also note that when the emotions get involved, usually students - in all levels - cannot restrain themselves from communicating in their stronger shared language(s). This is OK; you will simply refocus the class and re-state their ideas in the course language, making sure that they are re-focused on listening as you “close off the debate” and move back to the discussion.)

After a couple of minutes spent talking about the first image, continue to the next slides and briefly talk about all four of them in the same manner. Then continue to the “voting” slide.

“OK, we are going to vote. Vote means vote. Show me vote. Show me look. Show me think. Show me like. Show me prefer. Show me vote.”

(Note: When cycling through these gestures, you will want to use the form of the verb in each instance that corresponds to the form of the verb used in the original utterance. In this case, for French, it would be the infinitive. So I would say the infinitive of the rest of the verbs, too.

A further note is that I would not worry about the “we are going to” part of this utterance. Students can gather from context that I am saying the class will vote. I do not want to get into establishing the meaning of every single word because it slows down the class activity. If I wanted to work with this construction, I could do a Language

Study lesson on it, using the recommendations in the Appendices. Here, in the moment, I just want to establish the meaning of the words that are critical for students to comprehend the meaning of the communication. In this case, “vote.”)

“Look at the canoe

(place your hand on the canoe).

Is this the stadium, the cinema, or the amusement park?”

(Students call out, “Cinema!”) “

Yes this is the cinema. Look

(gesture)

at the baseball

(put your hand on the baseball).

Is this the stadium, the lake, or the amusement park?”

(Students call out, “Amusement park!”)

(Continue to review all the images, and then vote.)

“We will vote

(gesture)

. Look

(gesture)

at the pictures :Look

(gesture)

at the stadium

(point)

, look

(gesture)

at the amusement park

(point),

look

(gesture) at the cinema (point), and look (gesture) at the lake (point).

Think

(gesture).

Think

(gesture )

about the stadium

(point)

, think

(gesture)

about the amusement park

(point)

, think

(gesture)

about the cinema

(point)

, and think

(gesture)

about the lake

(point).

Do you prefer

(gesture)

the the stadium

(point)

, or do you prefer

(gesture)

the amusement park

(point)

, or do you prefer

(gesture)

the cinema

(point)

, or do you prefer

(gesture)

the lake

(point)?

Who in the class

(gesture)

prefers the cinema

(point)?

One, two

(counting)

…Five people prefer the cinema

(note this somewhere).” (Continue with the rest of the voting. You can ask for further details by asking who likes or loves the places, and tabulate that.)

Scaffolded Oral Review

Finish My Sentence

Move to your Review Spot. For a detailed explanation of the “Finish My Sentence” strategy, see Session Five.

“OK, we are going to play a game called ‘Finish My Sentence.’ I will say a fact from what we just learned, in French, and then you will all speak in French as much as you can, to finish the sentence and say more facts that we learned, or add on other facts that you know. I will listen and count to six on my fingers. If everyone is still talking when I get to six, the class will get a point. If you cannot keep talking in French for the whole six seconds, I will get a point.”

“Number One.

(hold up one finger)

The stadium is…”

(The class speaks in French saying endings like, “popular, big, dark, not sunny.” or other statements according to their ability.) “

Six! Good job, a point for the class!”

(Tally the class points, perhaps writing on the board.)

“Question Two. The lake is…”

(The class speaks in French saying various endings as you count the seconds.)

Repeat, if time permits.

Shared Writing

Write and Discuss

The actual contents of Write and Discuss will, of course, depend upon your class’s discussion from the lesson.

With a Visual Survey, usually we choose to write about the winner, or sometimes the loser, of the class’s vote. For instance, if 22 people voted for the cinema as their favorite place, you might choose the cinema. Or if no one voted for the amusement park, or only one or two people voted for it, then it is sometimes interesting to write about how no one likes this place, or the specific details of the one or two people who do like it.

Note: Of course, if those one or two students are the less-forthcoming type, or they are in any way marginalized by their peers, or have anxiety about being singled out for any reason, you are advised in the strongest terms to NOT single them out and, rather, focus on the POPULAR option.

You will follow the same procedure as in the previous sessions. If time permits, you might do a little Write and Discuss move called Writing More Than Originally Existed. See Session One for an example.

You will most likely only write three or four sentences for Shared Writing. That is OK; you are building the foundation in these first lessons. You will probably notice that, because most of the lesson components have been repeated several times in the first sessions of the year, you are already seeing less need to explain/give directions in English.

Your Shared Writing might sound something like this today: Write: Our favorite place is Say: Is our favorite place the cinema or the amusement park? Students: cinema! Say and write: Yes, our favorite place is the cinema…(writing and spelling in French) C-I-N-E-M-A. Write: The cinema is Say: Is the cinema dark or sunny? Class: Sunny! Say: Yes, the cinema is dark…(writing and spelling) D-A-R-K.

Reading/Recycling: Our favorite place is the cinema. The cinema is dark. Say: Do 22 people like the cinema or does ONE person like the cinema? Students: 22! Say: Yes, 22 people like the café. Write: Twenty-two people like the cinema. Reading/Recycling: Our favorite place is the cinema. The cinema is dark. Twenty-two people like the cinema. Write: The cinema is Say: Class, is the cinema crowded (use the same gesture or place your hand under the visual aid/translation you used previously)? Class: Yes! Write and spell: crowded. C-R-O-W-D-E-D. Reading/Recycling: Our favorite place is the cinema. The cinema is dark. Twenty-two people like the cinema. The cinema is crowded.

Time permitting, you might write more (or less).

Shared Reading: The “Go-To” Daily Strategies

During Shared Reading, you will work with the text that your class just created together. You will continue to use the three “Go-To” strategies (or, for block classes, perhaps four strategies, if time permits). Today, Shared Reading might sound something like this:

Read in the Language

“Now I will read to you in French and then we will read in English together.”

(reading with expression, and pointing to the words) Our favorite place is the cinema. The cinema is dark. Twenty-two people like the cinema. The cinema is crowded.

Choral Translation

“Now we will read together. Your job is to read with the class, not faster not slower, not louder, not softer, just say each word as I highlight it. It might be in a strange order when we say the English, but that’s how language works; you can’t always translate every single word. Say the words as I point. 3-2-1, go!”

(class reads: our…favorite…place…is…the…cinema…the…cinema…is…dark…Twenty-two…people…like… the…cinema…the…cinema…)

(seeing a “teachable moment”, you circle the words “the cinema”)

“This is a little boring, to keep saying ‘the cinema, the cinema’ over and over. We can say “it”

(change “the cinema” to “it”)

to make these sentences sound more interesting. Let’s back up to here and go again.”

(class reads: the…cinema…is…dark…Twenty-two…people…like…the…cinema…)

(seeing a “teachable moment”, you circle the words “the cinema” again)

Wait, this is still too much ‘the cinema.’ I’m going to change this to “it” too.

(Note: in French, one of these would be the word “il” and another would be the word “le” but at this moment, I am not going to belabor that at all, or even mention it. The reason is to allow students to notice these differences on their own before jumping in with a bunch of teacher talk that they are more likely to tune out, if they do not first have this sense of curiosity or slight confusion.) Let’s back up to here and go again.”

(class reads: the…cinema…is…dark…Twenty-two…people…it…like…?)

(sensing confusion, you circle the word “le”)

“This means ‘it.’ Let’s back up to here and go again.”

(class reads: the…cinema…is…dark…Twenty-two…people…it…like…it…is…dark…)

(continue in this fashion.)

Grammar Discussion

“Well done. Did anyone notice anything else about the French language, how it is spelled, or put together, that they can teach the class?”

(Lead a brief class discussion and circle any students’ noticings on the text, ideally using a second color, and perhaps writing the students’ name/initials by their contribution.)

To continue to Reading from the Back of the Room:

(You have walked to the back of the room)

“We are going to discuss what we wrote. If you need to look back at the text, you can. It is right there. But if you can look back here and answer the questions, you will feel really smart and know that you are learning a lot of French.”

“Is the cinema dark or sunny?”

(the class responds: dark!)

“Yes, the cinema is dark. Is the lake

(pointing to the picture from the Visual Survey)

dark?”

(the class responds: No!)

“No, the lake is NOT dark. The lake is…?”

(some students finish the sentence: Sunny!)

“Yes, the lake is sunny. Is the cinema crowded?”

Continue in this fashion, time permitting.

Student Application & Assessment

The Q and A Game

The Q and A Game has students engage in interpersonal speaking, and is a good way for students to practice stretching their spoken discourse to say more and more, in a low-stress and engaging setting — speaking to a partner to answer your questions.

There are several options for playing this “game”. The first one is the “quick and easy way” which is the best way to begin during the first three or four weeks of the year. In this version, students simply count the number of words their partner says.

Students will find a partner, or you will partner them up. Once they are in their partnership, they decide who is A and who is B. If you have an odd number, then you will have one group of three, so you will have to play three rounds, and the other partnerships will have one person speak twice.

You will instruct the Partner As to listen to your question, which you will repeat twice, and then speak their answer to their Partner B. You will instruct the Partner Bs to encourage their partner to “say more and more” by smiling, nodding, and gesturing to them with their hands in a “tell me more” gesture, if they stop speaking.

You can also instruct the Partner Bs to point to resources on the walls, such as the class’s Shared Writing text displayed on the projector screen, that will help the Partner A to say more. It is recommended that you leave your projector on during this time specifically so that you can display the class’s shared writing to support students’ speech.

The Partner Bs will count on their fingers the number of words that their Partner A says. Each word is a point for the partnership, and the goal is to have as many points as possible.

You then ask the Partner As to listen to you repeat a question two times. Then all the Partner As talk to their Partner B and say as much in French as they can to respond to the question, add on, and perhaps ask Partner B an additional, related question.

The purpose of having students try to say as much as possible is to stretch them to produce their own original utterances and not just repeat the language used in the question. The performance indicator that separates Novice High speaking from Intermediate Low is that speakers (and writers, too) are able to produce novel sentences, and so you are setting up a task (saying as much as you can) that requires students to try their hand at saying more, original statements after using the language you provided in the question.

For example, if you ask the question, “Is the cinema dark or sunny?” then you will hear most of the Partner As beginning by saying, “The cinema is dark,” almost as a choral response, as they begin speaking to their Partner B.

Then, you will generally hear a cacophony of less-confident, more hesitant speech as the Partner Bs gesture encouragingly to the Partner As and the Partner As add on more information. Of course, beginning students will be producing some very hesitant speech once they strike out on their own to add on their own ideas. Also, their statements will most likely be riddled with less-than-perfect language, and they will most likely be casting their eyes around the room to find language supports to help them keep talking. Some might even be reading the Shared Writing text to their partner.

This is completely normal and OK; your students are growing, and you have again set up a task that rewards their continued interaction with the language input, by leaving the Shared Writing text there for them to refer back to.

After you ask the Partner As a question, you will then ask the Partner Bs a different question, and the students will switch roles.

Today’s Student Application and Assessment might sound something like this: “You will get with a partner and speak to that person in French to answer a question that I will ask you.” (Students get with a partner in whatever way you have chosen.)

“You will decide who is Partner A and who is Partner B. Partner A will raise their hand.” (repeating the directions in the course language) “You will decide who is Partner A and who is Partner B. Partner A will raise their hand.”

(once half the class is raising their hand)

“I will ask a question to Partner A. Partner B will listen and count the words and gesture like this to encourage Partner A to say more. You get a point for every word you say.”

(repeating the directions in the course language)

“I will ask a question to Partner A. Partner B will listen and count the words and gesture like this to encourage Partner A to say more. You get a point for every word you say.”

“Partner A, Is the cinema popular or is the lake popular? Is the cinema popular, or is the lake popular?”

(Partner As are talking, Partner Bs are counting. After about 20 seconds, it is usually time to move on.)

“Partner B, Is the cinema sunny or is the cinema dark? Is the cinema sunny, or is the cinema dark?”

(Continue on in this manner if time permits.)

After this, it is fun to ask the students to raise their hands if their partner earned more than ten points, more than 15 points, more than 20 points, until you have a “winner” whose partner said the most words. You can award a sticker or some small prize, or simply applaud their achievement. Then, you can continue on to another “round” and ask all the Partner As a new question. You can ask the students to stay with their partner or find a new partner for the new round.

Students’ speaking performance during these end-of-class application tasks is highly-contextualized within a familiar, “practiced” context, because they have just received instruction on the day’s topic and there is so much scaffolding available to them in the form of resources displayed in the room. So, it is entirely within the grasp of students even in their very first weeks of language study to be able to perform in class at the Intermediate Low level, when speaking about a “practiced” topic from that day’s lesson and with access to resources (like the Shared Writing text) that have lots of language for them to use.

For students to develop true Intermediate Low proficiency, however, meaning that they can speak at that level in multiple contexts, including those that provide no scaffolding, about various topics, including topics of general community and world interest that they have not “practiced”, you will have to wait patiently and provide months of language interactions that allow the natural process of language acquisition to unfold.

At the end of the period, you might want to debrief with students, congratulating them on what went well, and setting goals or perhaps telling them that tomorrow they will be able to understand and say even more.