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Cute Short French Warm Up
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14 thoughts on “Cute Short French Warm Up”
Just one comment about using these videos. Yes they are great and we should use them. But there is only about a half an hour separating us from regular non-CI classes. Brigitte said this yesterday. There is no subsitute for CI. And these vids are not pure CI unless, like Sabrina’s kids, most have acquired the vocabulary in the clip, or unless we isolate and target and establish meaning before showing the clip. That is what we do, we establish meaning, we deliver the CI and read. So if we are not sure that the clip is readily understood by our kids, we need to either work with it for the entire period to make sure it is comprehended, or just show it, point out a few things, have them listen for a few words and then get moving to some real CI. This is something that, oddly, has been in my mind all day today. I think I was just remembering what Brigitte said that there is and never will be a substitute in terms of real and actual language gains devoid of any bullshit eclectic talk from people who don’t fully comprehend what CI is. I wanted to write that somewhere here today – how it’s CI or the highway, once we get past the learner’s stage of grasping that one single basic and most foundational concept to our work as language teachers. Video clips are great, as long as the kids understand them. If they don’t, sure, show them, but fast, adding in any little details about culture in English, and then moving post haste to the main course – tasty comprehensible input in any form (PQA, stories, reading, songs, etc.), properly marinated with lots of slow circling spiced with strong choral responses, served with a nice side dish of laughter and fun, and with a nice motivating dessert of a 9 or 10 on a quick quiz to end the meal.
Ben,
you hit it on the nail. There is no substitute for CI. Whatever I do in my classes, my rationale is ALWAYS to deliver CI. And it always is on the back on my mind, informing everything I do.
So with this video, although I won’t be delivering the CI myself, this adorable little girl will. And I trust it will be compelling b/c how could you not totally fall in love with that adorable little girl telling such a cute little story?
Most importantly b/c I have these kids for 2 years now, I KNOW the language they have acquired , and I can go in tomorrow confident they will be familiar with 95 % of what that adorable little girl said.
The only thing that may sound different to them is the accent (this girl has a southern accent whereas my accent is Parisian) . But I ‘ll let them watch it twice if necessary. I think it s great that they can hear different accents.
When I showed my kids the Canadian Clip about texting and driving , I asked them if they heard the different accent and they were able to hear it.
The other video I sent, the commercial clip called ipad vs paper is different. I use a total different approach with that one. The commercial has almost no words, but the message is clear through the visuals.
So I have already planned out all the CI I will use. I plan to stop the video at each new image and will circle the who/where/when/what/how/why questions and will provide the structures/words they don’t have and we’ll circle that . That is like movie talk but done on a smaller scale. I plan on circling that for about 40 minutes BTW.
To me it’s just another form of CI , and it gives them a break from the stories , adds a little novelty , cute visuals, and their brain needs that.
Then for the rest of the week we’ll watch videos from 3 class competitions I did, and then we’ll go back to stories next week.
Too many things to do, not enough time. That is my new motto!
One thing I forgot to ask:
Did you hear how that little girl used the passé simple twice in her story ?
First she said il vit (he saw) , then later she said il décida (he decided).
I think it s important to notice that b/c I remember that Chill, Jen, Ben and Leigh Ann mentioned to me it is not really taught in American high schools!
Excellent. I wish I could be that thorough. This comment should be a post, because it tells how to use YouTube clips in detail. I’ll time stamp it for the fall.
One thing in particular you said, among all the jewels there about how to best use YouTube videos, is this:
…b/c I have these kids for 2 years now, I KNOW the language they have acquired….
This is unique to CI instruction. It is an amazing thing. How do we know what they know? We just KNOW, as you say Sabrina, and it is quite a remarkable thing. It reveals a much closer sharing of the lamp of learning than is possible in traditional methods.
By the way, I think the expression is not “you hit it on the nail” but “you hit the nail on the head” actually…hee hee!
Along the lines of videos for other languages… Chinese teachers might want to check out FluentU.com. Very nice, short video clips mainly from Chinese TV shows, commercials, and music videos at many levels of Chinese ability. They add transcripts in characters (simplified or traditional), pinyin, and English (which may be turned off). You can search by topic/word, too, so when I’ve used it I search based on something just covered in class. It’s free at least as of 4/1/13.
And if anyone is wondering why a three-year-old is using the passé défini, it’s because that’s the language of stories. She’s obviously used to having stories read to her, stories that are written with the passé défini.
Judy,
Have they changed the name of passé simple to passé défini?
And yes, definitely passé défini/simple is not just a written form, it is used in speech, when telling stories. This is why I use it when I do stories. And my kids never question why I use it instead of passé composé b/c they understand it in context and they couldn’t care less about what tense I use.
However, what I m finding out is that this tense is not widely taught in the USA, so naturally French teachers have a hard time with it , understandably!
…they couldn’t care less about what tense I use….
Why did Sabrina say that? If you can say the same thing about your students, then we can safely say that you have graduated out of the kindergarten level of teaching languages. Why?
Because when your kids “couldn’t care less about which tense” you use, you have succeeded in spending the time in class in GETTING THEM FOCUSED ON THE MESSAGE AND NOT THE WORDS.
If this site is dedicated to anything, it’s to the words in caps above. We talk about it, we ruminate, we reflect, we gas, but do we do real CI or not in the extremely limited instructional moments we are given with our kids? That’s the entire thing right there and the rest of it is all secondary.
Again, what is CI? It is when the conscious analytical mind is not involved and the unconscious aborptive mind is fully active. That is how Clarice defined rigor and that is the end of the discussion. Go to the rigor category here and read about rigor again*.
Sorry to be hammering the point, but if we are not doing comprehensible input as defined above and in my rant from yesterday that nobody commented on (thanks, guys!), then we are wasting our students’ time and our time bc they will not acquire the language. They may know a little ABOUT it, but they won’t AQUIRE it. And that is a radicial ass statement.
We need to grow up now. We get Krashen, and we now have no excuse to deliver the CI on a daily basis in our classrooms and stop with the bullshit mixing of methods that we do (at least I will admit I do and I’m supposed to know what I’m talking about).
And Judy what is this passé défini?
*Here is one of the rigor posters from Clarice (if you go to the posters page on this site you can download them and make them into posters for next year):
WHAT DOES RIGOR (HARD WORK) LOOK LIKE IN THIS CLASS?
Language acquisition only happens when written and spoken
messages are actually being understood. In this class “hard work”
means that ON THE INSIDE you need to:
– Stay focused on the message being delivered.
– Observe what is happening.
– Listen with intent to comprehend.
– Read with intent to comprehend.
HARD WORK (RIGOR) is when you are actively engaged with the
language, which means that ON THE OUTSIDE you will:
– Respond with body language.
– Show the teacher when you do not understand.
– Respond with short answers.
– Read and show that you understand.
RIGOR means that you will FEEL:
– Confident.
– Aware of the stream of the conversation.
– Like you understand, but you may not feel as if you are learning.
– You don’t feel lost, confused, defeated or frustrated.
You will KNOW you are learning when:
– You understand what the teacher says or what you are reading.
– french starts to fall out of your mouth in class without you
thinking about it too much.
– french comes out naturally and makes sense (even with errors).
– You notice you can write more in french than you did before.
– You are not translating from English to french when you speak
or write.
I just used that video today with my level 2s. They also don’t care what tense I use. I am not French so I don’t use passe défini or simple or whatever it is called, but like my students I hear or read it in context and don’t even think about it. I did not point this out to the students (only if someone had asked) and they understood it perfectly.
Today was pretty magical listening to that cute girl. I have used this video before with another class, maybe 2 yrs ago. But today, with a group that is in the second year with me doing CI… OH MY!
We watched the whole thing through once (lots of “Ohhh, ” and laughter and spontaneous random echoing of some of the things she said) and then on the second viewing I paused frequently for either circling or just to ask “Did anyone hear how she said “baby monkeys” or whatever. I’ve been seeing lots of evidence lately that something has clicked / shifted for this group, but doing this particular video really hammered it home: their ears are trained and tuned into the sounds! I had barometer students making really confident guesses/ responses based on what they heard…just shouting it right out as if it were so obvious and how could I not have heard it?!?! WOW!
So yeah! Stuff is clicking for this group 1.75 years in.
Hey Jen,
What I ended up doing with this one clip is this:
1) Yesterday we listened to it without watching it first . I asked the kids to write down whatever they heard and recognized while listening (listening with a purpose). Then they told me very proudly all known words/expressions they had heard/recognized. The reason I did it like that is b/c there are english subtitles on the clip and I didn’t want them to focus on the written english first . I wanted them to focus on the auditory French piece.
2) Then we watched it for the first time, and that was the second time they heard it . But they had an idea what the story was going to be about b/c they had enumerated all the words they had heard first. It is like when you frontload vocab ( Thank you Ben, I had no idea you had coined this term) .
3) On my own I transcribed the script which is a little different at times from the subtitles. Today I gave them a copy of the transcript and they listened to it ( third time for them) but I asked them to listen and follow the written words on the sheet at the same time.
4) We chorally translated it and did Q and A, (became very easy for them ) .
Tomorrow I will quiz them.
So all this to let you know that I have written the transcript for it (and may be Ben wrote one too). So if you or anyone on this blog wants it, let me know. Actually I sent it to Ben so if anyone is interested he can put it on the blog.
Many of my kids told me today they watched it again and showed their parents the clip last night. And they even told me there are other clips of this little French girl on Youtube.
Jen, alot of what you described in your kids’ reaction I experienced the same with my kids. I would say this clip was a success!
Oh yes! I would love a transcript. Haha, I was going to e mail you to ask a few questions about some parts I couldn’t make out. Merci!
Smart idea to have them listen first w/o video. Oh well, next time! I am going to give a quick quiz tomorrow but then if I have the transcript I can do R&D. Cool!
🙂
Transcript is up as a post (French YouTube Clip 2) today thanks to Sabrina, jen.
Yeah jen – 1.75 years in of CI. I have found it to be a magical time as well. Like, for all that time, we ask them to trust us, and we give input day after input day. And then boom, who are these kids? Surely not mine! Those kids who have kind of been staring at me for almost two years start rockin’ and rollin’ and mojofyin’. It’s magic. It’s all magic. We don’t need to understand why CI works, we just need to do it.