Session 10: Visual Lecture

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

Beginner: say words or phrases in French to describe people in class and write longer sentences using transition words to say more

Intermediate: write two or more sentences in French to describe people in class, using transition between sentences to say more

Advanced: write a paragraph in French to to describe people in class, using transition words to say more and organize your paragraph

Preparation

The Guided Oral Input strategy you will be using today is a Visual Lecture. This is basically a strategy in which you present information and lead a class discussion, using visual scaffolding. This might be a slideshow or other resource that you have prepared, or it might be as simple as drawing in front of the students as you speak, on a piece of chart paper, under your document camera, or on the board. In the example lesson, I will use the Visual Lecture from our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff) called “I’m Like That,” which presents a series of images with various terms to describe people’s personalities.

When preparing the lecture, if you plan to draw as you speak, you will most likely want to print or write the most important points in large letters, so that you can refer to it as you deliver the lesson. It is also a good idea to spend some time rehearsing your delivery. As you rehearse, you might find it useful to use a piece of paper to represent your whiteboard and draw/write on it in the same way that you intend to do during the lesson. Some teachers find it useful to hold a copy of the written facts, while others prefer to use the paper on which they have planned the drawings and other visual supports.

Draw the information as it unfolds, sentence by sentence and detail by detail. This is much more engaging than simply presenting it to the students in already-completed pictures or slides. Seeing the teacher draw on the board as the lesson unfolds is key to the process. You do not have to be an amazing artist. Quick sketches are best, as they keep the plot line moving along. Two books are recommended to you if you find yourself in need of help with your drawing skills -- Make a World by Ed Emberly and Chalk Talks by Norma Shapiro. They present very simple templates for many different drawings.

The most important factor when practicing is: How will you make the information comprehensible to the students? You do NOT need to worry about teaching them each word in the story. Students do not need to comprehend each and every word in the story in order to acquire the language. They DO need to understand the messages that the language is delivering. So, the goal is to make the storyline comprehensible and give the students what Dr. Krashen calls “the illusion of transparency” - the feeling of following the plot of the story. In order to do this, you might want to consider several supports to aid in their comprehension:

1. Writing cognates on the board so that students can “see” the English inside the L2 word 2. Writing L2 and L1 on the board (translation) 3. Sketching stick figures to represent the characters and action, for instance, changing a character’s face from smiling to frowning to denote a change in emotion. 4. Using voice intonation and gestures to enhance the students’ understanding of the information.

If you plan to prepare a slideshow or other digital format, you will still want to go bit by bit, beginning with an almost-blank slide, as shown to the left, so that each slide adds a little more information, instead of presenting it all at once on a slide that is chock-full of information.

Regardless of the method you choose to deliver the lecture, it is of the utmost importance to speak slowly and simply, even if it means delivering far less information than you wish. Your primary objective is to make the messages understandable. Go with understandable, simple facts. You will also want to think through how the information will be built piece by piece.

The example used in this lesson is a slideshow called “I’m Like That” which contains a series of images that describe personality traits.

This is a very simple Visual Lecture; they can be more complicated, but this is a good way to get your feet wet.

If you want to try your hand at sketching as you speak, you will simply want to plan ahead to build the images bit by bit as you add details, as shown in the images below.

Continue to greet the students in English review expectations, etc., and share the lesson objective.

If you have not yet set up your Videographer, I urge you to do so now. See the HR Manual in the Appendices for more information on setting up this and other student jobs. It is especially important to get the

Look at this line. Some people like to be alone. Some people like to relax alone. Some people are introverted. Some people HATE to be alone. Some people like to Some people are

Videographer job working before you move into stories, in Session 16, so the sooner you start training that position, the better. You will almost certainly want to use the Videographer when you begin stories, to make recordings of the video retells. So, this is an excellent time to get the Videographer trained, if you have not yet done so.

You might make your own Reading Workshop text, use the ones in our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff), such as the example below, or work with a Shared Writing text from a previous lesson. Then, share the lesson objective if you have not already done so, check in with your Class Starter (and perhaps Videographer), and begin the lesson.

Pronunciation Practice

In this sample lesson, I use the beginner reading from our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff) for Cycle One Phase Three, shown below, in French. The texts for this phase are “Personal Profiles” about contemporary people who have made an important contribution to the world.

As always, the lesson notes are written in English. The course language is in black. The class’s stronger shared language is grey.

Hand out (or project/display) the Reading Workshop text. Once the students can see the projected text, or they have it on their desks, you can proceed.

Again, since the Reading Workshop texts are more challenging in this phase than in the previous phase, we are returning to a familiar instructional strategy to allow students some time to “settle in” to this phase and text type, if you are choosing to use our resources. Because this strategy has been explained in detail in Session Three, we will move on to the lesson procedures right away in this session. For more details on this strategy, please review Session Three.

First, tell the class what the topic of the reading is, most likely speaking in the class’s stronger shared language, and then read it aloud in the course language.

French Extension Resources - Video French Beginner Text - Personal

French Extension Resources - Article

“I will read this personal profile to you in French, about M.C. Solaar, a musical artist who performs in French.” (read in the course language)

“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’ even 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.

Quick Calendar Check-In

It is suggested to continue the routine of a brief (2-3 minutes) calendar check-in, 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.

Let’s move on to the procedures for this Visual Lecture.

Look (gesture) at this person. This person is athletic (place your hand under the word). Class, does this person play tennis (gesture or sketch to establish meaning) or soccer (gesture or sketch)?”

“Yes, this person is playing tennis (place your hand on the picture). Who in the class (gesture) plays tennis? (counting in the course language) One, two, three…three (hold up three fingers) people play tennis. Who in the class (gesture) is athletic (place your hand under the word)? (counting in the course language) One, two, three…twenty-two (jot “22” on the board) people in the class are athletic. Who is NOT (gesture “no”) athletic? (counting in the course language) One, two, three…three (hold up three fingers) people in our class are NOT (gesture) athletic.”

“Class, look (gesture) at this person. This person is hard-working (place your hand under the word). Class, is this person working on reading (gesture or sketch to establish meaning) or are they working in the science lab (gesture or sketch to establish meaning)?”

“Yes, this person is working in the science lab (place your hand on the picture). Who in the class (gesture) works in a science lab? (counting in the course language) One, two, three…three (hold up three fingers) people work in a science lab. Who in the class (gesture) is hard-working (place your hand under the word)? (counting in the course language) One, two, three…fifteen (jot “15” on the board) people in the class are hardworking. Who is NOT (gesture “no”) hard-working? (counting in the course language) One, two, three… eleven (jot “11”) people in our class are NOT (gesture) hard-working.”

Continue on in a similar manner, working your way through several options, time permitting. You might not get to all of the slides; that is OK.

After about 12 to 15 minutes of Guided Oral Input, regardless of how much of the information you covered, move on to Scaffolded Oral Review. You could choose to come back to this strategy in follow-up lessons, or later in the second round of Guided Oral Input in a block class, to process more of the data, or simply process what you have time for now.

Quick Quiz

For a detailed explanation of this Scaffolded Oral Review strategy, please see Session One. After moving to the Review Spot, you will say: “OK, time for a review quiz. Remember, you will hear the question TWO TIMES. The first time, LISTEN. Do NOT talk. Just listen. The second time, answer.”

“Number One. (hold up one finger) Class, twenty-two people …. shhhhh…. in our class…shhhh…are athletic….shhhh….or twenty-two people are…..shhhhh….hard-working…shhhhhhhh? Shhhhh! Twenty-two people …. shhhhh…. in our class…shhhh…are athletic….shhhh….or twenty-two people are…..shhhhh….hard-working? (The class calls out, “athletic!”) “Yes, class! Twenty-two people in our class are athletic.”

“Number Two. (two fingers) DeZhane is introverted…..shhh….or extraverted….shhhh? Shhh! DeZhane is introverted…shhhh…or extraverted?” (The class calls out, “Extraverted!”) “Yes, class! DeZhane is extraverted.”

Ask more questions, if time permits.

Write and Discuss with an Anchor Chart

You will continue working with the anchor chart that you set up in the last lesson. You might add another transition phrase or conjunction that would be useful for the writing goal of “saying more.” You might want to make a “goal box” on the top of your Shared Writing text, and challenge the class to use the “goal words” a certain number of times in the writing.

Continuing on with your Anchor Chart today, you will most likely find that you only have time to write three or four sentences for Shared Writing. That is OK; you are still building the foundation in these first lessons, and you are still working to establish the use of a very powerful tool: the Anchor Chart.

A “Goal Box”

Your Shared Writing might sound like this today: (Draw a box and write/sketch the word “Goal” in the course language, as shown here.)

“Our goal (point to the word “goal” in the course language on your Shared Writing paper or digital file) is to write more (point to the title of the chart) and today our goal is to use these words (point to “mais” and “but”) or this word, “or” (add “or” to the anchor chart in the course language).

We will get a point every time we use one of these words, so look for ways to use them in the sentences. (Write “mais” and “et” and “ou” (and, but, and or) in the goal box in the course language.) OK, let’s go!”

Write: Introverts and Say: Introverts and Hard-working People or Introverts and Extraverts? Students: Introverts and Extraverts! Say: Introverts and (Say/write and spell in the course language:) Extraverts E-X-T-R-A-V-E-R-T-S Ooh! AND! (give the class a check mark in the goal box). Good job!

Reading/Recycling: Introverts and Extraverts Write: Introverts prefer (gesture) Say: Do introverts prefer (gesture) to relax alone (gesture or point to an image to reinforce meaning) or do introverts prefer to relax with friends (gesture or point to an image to reinforce meaning)? Class: Alone! Say: Yes, introverts prefer (gesture) to (writing in French) relax alone, (say “comma” in the course language) but? or? and? Class: BUT! Say/write: but (give the class a check mark in the goal box) Nice job! Reading/Recycling: Introverts and Extraverts. Introverts prefer to relax alone, BUT (say/write:) extraverts prefer (gesture)…class, do extraverts prefer to relax alone or to relax with friends (gesture or point to an image to reinforce meaning)? Class: Friends! Relax with friends! Say/write: to relax with friends (gesture or point to an image to reinforce meaning) Reading/Recycling: Introverts and Extraverts. Introverts prefer to relax alone, BUT extraverts prefer to relax with friends. Say/write: DeZhane D-E-Z-H-A-N-E is…class, is DeZhane introverted or extraverted? Class: Extraverted! Say/write: DeZhane is extraverted…but? and? or? Class: and! Say/write: and (give the class a check mark in the goal box) Nice job! DeZhane is extraverted and… athletic? hard-working? calm? creative? Class: athletic! Say/write: DeZhane is extraverted and athletic.

Continue as time permits, accumulating points in the goal box as you go. If another conjunction comes up naturally as you write, you can add it to the Anchor Chart. You will add one to two words or phrases to the class’s Anchor Chart in each lesson that you work with it. Thus, one class might have slightly different conjunctions on their chart, because their Shared Writing might have been better-suited to one particular conjunction while another class’s Shared Writing may have used a different one.

This is OK; the Stepping Stones framework is designed to be flexible in the specific language. The overall learning goal is to “say more” or “use conjunctions” or “write more complex sentences,” NOT to learn specific conjunctions.

The “Go-To” Daily Strategies

Shared Reading is not modeled in this lesson in detail, as you are simply continuing to use the “go-to” strategies explained and modeled in detail in the previous sessions.

True-False Quiz

After moving to the Quiz Spot, you will say: “OK, time for a review quiz. It is true (gesture thumbs up) and false (gesture thumbs down).”

You have already used this strategy several times in the previous sessions. However, you might still need to write the words for “true” and “false” in your language on the board, or have signs or other visual aids ready to use, or use gestures, for example, saying, “Show me true, show me false” to help your students recognize the thumbs-up and thumbs-down gesture you are using.

“Remember, you will hear the question TWO TIMES. The first time, LISTEN. Do NOT talk. Just listen. The second time, answer.”

“Number One. (hold up one finger) True (gesture or use visual aid) or false (gesture or use visual aid) …. shhhhh…. LOTS (gesture) of people….shhhh…. in our class are athletic (gesture)….shhhhh….True (gesture/ visual) or false (gesture/visual)…shhh…LOTS (gesture) of people in our class are athletic (gesture).” (The class calls out, “TRUE!”) “Yes, TRUE, lots of people in this class are athletic!”

“Question Two. (hold up two fingers) True (gesture or use visual aid) or false (gesture or use visual aid) …. shhhhh…. Marc is….shhhh…. studious (gesture) and serious (gesture)….shhhhh….True (gesture/visual) or false (gesture/visual)…shhh…Marc is….shhhh…. studious (gesture) and serious (gesture)? (Students call out "TRUE!”) “Yes, true (gesture). Marc is studious and serious.”

Repeat with more true-false questions if time permits.

At the end of the period, you might debrief on what went well, and perhaps setting or reviewing goals.