Instructional Session 25

Objective: By the end of class, you will be able to… Beginner: say sentences in French to teach/inform about regions of France, using transitions from the anchor chart to organize the information Intermediate: say a series of connected sentences in French to teach/inform about regions of France, using transitions from the anchor chart to organize the information Advanced: say well-organized paragraphs in French to teach/inform about regions of France, using transitions from the anchor chart to organize the information

Preparation:

The Guided Oral Input strategy you will be using today is a Visual Syllabus. A Visual Syllabus, like the syllabus for any course, gives an overview of the entire topic study. It situates the subtopics (i.e. in this example, the subtopics are the four regions: Normandy, Corsica, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and the Grand Est) and the “shape concept categories” (i.e. in the example, Geography, Important Sites, Economy, and Cuisine) within the larger, overall structure of the topic (i.e. in this example, “Regions of France)” using some kind of

visual metaphor to arrange the subtopics and some basic information about the Shape and Concept Categories.

In this example lesson, the “visual metaphor” is the blank outline of a map of France. A blank map is wellsuited for the Visual Syllabus if you are presenting geographical information. If you are presenting historical or biographical information, you might use a timeline or road. If you are presenting information about different

Page 419

times in the day, you might use a clock. You basically want to use a format (sort of like a graphic organizer in the form of an image) that will logically hold the subtopics. The example lesson uses a digital Visual Syllabus. It consists of the blank map on the first slide and slideable icons that you can place onto the blank map as you present the information. If you want to provide more structure and accountability for your students as they listen, you can give them a blank copy of the outline (in this case, the map of France) and ask them to make notes/sketches on their copy as they listen to the lesson, to organize and record their learning.

You can also draw the Visual Syllabus on paper as you teach the information.

In that case, you will probably want to outline the details in pencil prior to class, in much the same way as explained in Session 18. You can project the outline of the image that you want to use for the background (the map, timeline, etc) and trace it, and then write/sketch the details that you will teach about each subtopic and the Shape and Concept Categories. See the images below for guidance.

Page 420

Another option for presenting the details on the Visual Syllabus is to print or draw them on pieces of on paper, which you can affix to the background as you teach. This saves time in class as you teach. To replicate the lesson for other classes, you can simply pull off the papers from one class’s chart to re-teach to your next classes, or you can make photocopies or print multiple copies of the papers, so that you have a fresh stack for each class, which is more efficient, since you can leave the first class’s details on their paper without needing to remove and re-position them later.

You will not be able to say much, when teaching using a Visual Syllabus, about any one topic, since the time for Guided Oral Input is generally about 12 minutes. This is an exposure lesson, so the point is just to give a brief overview of the topic study (hence the name “Visual Syllabus”) to orient students to the learning to come.

Please note that you do not need to pre-teach the vocabulary. The “Process Grid Process” in this lesson sequence is designed to teach and reinforce the important vocabulary through the lessons and readings provided. The average student WILL NOT retain many of the specific words. That is not the point. The point is to equip students with enough familiarity with the terms to allow them to read the upcoming Expert Group Readings, which follow the same structure (each reading contains sections on Geography, Important Sites, Economy, and Cuisine) and recycle these terms again and again.

You will go deeper into the subtopic “Grand Est” in the next lesson, using an “Input Chart” on the first parallel subtopic (in this example, the Grand Est). Then, students will be prepared for the super-scaffolded jigsaw reading they will do in “Expert Groups” to become “experts” on one of the three other regions (i.e. Normandy, Corsica, or Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and then share their “expertise” with the other class members who did not read that subtopic in a “Process Grid.”

Now, on to the lesson procedures:

Continue to greet the students in English, review expectations, etc. Share the lesson objective. You might make your own Reading Workshop text, use the ones in our Teachers Pay Teachers store, such as the example below, or work with a Shared Writing text from a previous lesson. In this lesson, you might also choose to return to the Big Book from the previous lesson, either to review it or to finish presenting pages that you did not have time to use in the previous lesson(s). Distribute or project the text. Then, share the lesson objective if you have not already done so, check in with your Class Starter and Videographer, and any other student workers whom you need to set up, and begin the lesson.

Page 421

Show Me Your (Writing) Moves

In this sample lesson, I use the beginner reading from our Teachers Pay Teachers store (CI Liftoff) for Cycle One Phase Four, shown below, in French. The texts for this phase are infographics. Of course, in any Reading Workshop, you can always choose to use a text that your class wrote together in a previous lesson’s Shared Writing. This might actually be the ideal option, especially for beginners, since the texts that they co-create with you will be the most comprehensible.

As always, the lesson notes are written in English. Words that are said in the course language (French, in this example), are written in black text. The class’s stronger shared language is written in this color.

Once the students can see the projected text, or they have it on their desks, you can proceed. We will use the “Show Me Your (Writing) Moves” strategy with the Reading Workshop text today. This strategy was first introduced in Session 9, and you can find a more detailed explanation in that session.

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 and use the strategy, as modeled below.

“I will read this text to you in French, about what to do when you visit Paris. We will continue using this list of words (point to the anchor chart) to write sentences about the text.”

(Give the signal to start class, have your Videographer begin filming, and read the text in the course language.)

(Speaking and writing in the course language) “I want (gesture) to…class, I want (gesture) to eat (gesture) in a café…or I want (gesture) to experience (perhaps jotting in the course language to establish meaning of this close cognate) French cafés?”

Page 422

Students: Experience!

(Speaking and writing in the course language) “I want (gesture) to experience E-X-P-E-R-I-E-N-C-E French cafés. Firstly…”

“Firstly (holding up one finger and perhaps pointing to the anchor chart) I want to have French bread (pointing to the text) or firstly (holding up one finger and perhaps pointing to the anchor chart) I want (gesture) to have French lemonade (pointing to the text)?”

(You might want to give the class a check mark on the anchor chart or other location, to award a “point” for using an item from the chart.)

Repeat with a couple of other sentences, using the term(s) on your Anchor Chart to restate the information from the Reading Workshop text. You can also ask students to write their own sentences, working independently or with a partner, using the anchor chart and the text to support their writing in the course language.

Quick Calendar Check-In

Move to the calendar for a brief calendar check-in to transition to the Guided Oral Input. Refer to Sessions 1-8 for more details on Small Talk (calendar and weather). Then move on to the Visual Syllabus as shown in the graphics below.

After about 12 to 15 minutes of Guided Oral Input, you will move on to the Scaffolded Oral Review. You might not have time to teach about all the Shape and Concept Categories today. That is fine; you can simply return to the Visual Syllabus in the next lesson to finish it up. If, for scheduling reasons, you cannot “afford” an additional lesson to complete the chart, then you will want to make sure that you plan this lesson so that you say only one or two simple facts about each subtopic for the Shape and Concept Categories, so that you can cover all the information in one lesson.

Page 423

Five-Finger Review Chart

Move to your Review Spot. This Scaffolded Oral Review strategy was first introduced in Session 22, and it is explained in more detail in that session. In this session, you might want to have students prepare their own version of the anchor chart, so they can use it in the Student Application and Assessment for this session: the Question and Answer Game with the Five-Finger Review Chart option. See the graphics below for guidance on how this might go.

Page 424

You will continue to use the anchor chart that you set up in Session 22. See the sections on Reading Workshop and Shared Writing in Session 9 for more detailed information on setting up anchor charts and goal boxes during Shared Writing. To read more details on Write and Discuss in general, please see the first eight instructional sessions.

The specific example for Shared Writing about a Visual Syllabus is found below, in graphic format.

Page 425

Page 426

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.

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, read the text in its entirety.)

Choral Translation

“Now we will read together. 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 OK; it’s normal. Say the words as I point. 3-2-1, go!”

Grammar Discussion

“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:

Since you have been doing the same sequence of Shared Reading strategies, most likely you can simply move to the reading from the back of the room spot and begin asking questions, without needing to speak in English to transition. Your specific questions will vary depending on the content of the class discussion.

Q and A Game with Five-Finger Review Chart

The Q and A Game is explained in more detail in Session Five, on page CheckXX, where it was first introduced. This variation challenges students to use their Five-Finger Review chart to say a string of sentences using the phrases on the chart to say more. You will want students to have their charts in front of them as they speak with their partner.

Page 427

You will also want to leave the class’s Write and Discuss text, and the Visual Syllabus, visible to the students as they speak, so that they can refer back to the language and information on the class text and from the Visual Syllabus. This not only scaffolds students to say more, but it also sets up a task in which they are quite likely to refer back to the input from the lesson, reading back over the class’s text and/or referring back to the images and words on the Visual Syllabus.

Walk to your Quiz Spot. Review the Q and A Game, and perhaps set up a points system to track whether the speakers say all of the phrases on the five-finger review chart. You might give students paper clips, checkers, squares of colored paper, or other objects to mark their chart when their partner says the phrases. Then proceed with the Q and A Game as previously described and modeled, giving a bit more time for the speakers to answer, as they will most likely be saying more, using the chart to scaffold their responses.

At the end of the period, you might want to debrief with students, congratulating them on what went well, and setting goals for future improvements.

Page 428