Again, I would never try anything like this back in my big urban classes in Denver. However, since the classes are small and the students very highly motivated college bound kids, I can give homework as described below. I had previously published these homework guidelines here, a few days ago, but these have been updated. We have replaced Notability on the artist’s work with Little Story Creator, which is excellent and allows us to do more things. That new update can be found in point (3) below:
French Homework Guidelines
Note that 1, 2 and 4 below are required for Foundational classes; 1, 2 and 4 are required for Intermediate classes and 3 is optional; 1, 2, 3 and 4 are required for Advanced classes. (In rare cases a student in Foundational may want to attempt option 3.)
- Written Stories: Translate/point out the grammar in the written stories to your parents. This is done using your first language. (Foundational, Intermediate, Advanced)
- Story Drawings: Drawings by the class artist will also be available on the blog as the stories are completed. The students are required to retell the stories to their parents while looking at the panels drawn by the class artist. Only use words that you already know from class. (Foundational, Intermediate)
- Create a New Story: (1) Using the same structures as those used in the class story, on a sheet of paper or writing directly into the Little Story Creator app, write a story of your own, using the structures from the class story. Do not use Google Translator – only write words that you already know. Refer to the Free Write Rules posted on the website for clues to help you complete this task. (2) Download and open “Little Story Creator” and draw 4 to 6 pages depicting the story. Pulling sentences from your written story, add a caption to each panel. (3) Record your voice to retell the story. With Story Creator, you can import pictures and put videos in (up to five seconds) and you can even add stickers and draw other things. By adding a story or two per week into that app, we can look forward at the end of the year to sharing our new collection of stories with others, including future French students at AES, our relatives, friends, etc. Note: [Technical note: If you want to delete a story, it’s a bit complicated: 1. disable the zoom in settings, 2. click on settings and tap three fingers at once to unlock the parental gate, 3. click on “customized stories”, then on “delete” 4. select your story and click on “delete” again.] This homework task is optional for Intermediate, required for Advanced classes.
- Two Free Writes: Students in Foundational French are required to do at least two out-of-class five minute free writes per week. This shifts to ten minutes on November 1st, 2015. Intermediate and Advanced students must do two ten minute free writes. Feel free to write more than ten minutes if you want!
Note that one of the two free writes due in each story cycle is be based on the three structures used in the in-class story that week, and the other can be on any topic but the writing must be from words that the student already knows. Both free writes are to be submitted to the proper folder at the end of each week. (In-class free writes will be put into the composition books.) Free write guidelines can be found on the blog – look for that category.
Parents please initial each box on the homework log when your child completes each of the four tasks for each story. This homework will not be placed on the calendar because the student has a period of 3-4 days per story to complete each task, with no specific due dates.