Kate and I reviewed greetings; numbers 1 thru 20; days; months; weather; seasons; and time. I introduced Kate to time beyond the o’clock - especially a quarter after and half past. All vocabulary was presented on activity sheets, then reinforced via songs on you tube.

This was Kate’s 2nd lesson in French. She learned greetings, salutations, days of the week, numbers, time and weather. We used activity sheets and a textbook. For the last 15 minutes, to reinforce today’s lesson, Kate opened youtube and found songs corresponding to the number and days of the week. She seemed to enjoy the songs very much.

This was a substitution. Kate asked if I would teach her some French. Using my activity sheets, I taught her a some greetings; days of the week and numbers 1 thru 20. We then spent time on you tube where she found songs for each of the items I taught her. She showed a strong interest in learning the French and continued to play the songs and go over the French vocabulary until she had mastered it. She did very well.

Elle said she did not want to write today, as soon as she walked into the room. I offered the white board and said I was going to “time” her as I said short conversational sentences, in English. She didn’t mind that, but she insisted on holding onto the “reference sheet” as she searched each sentence/phrase in French to copy onto the whiteboard. These are the same greeting and saluation phrases and sentences we have been doing for one month. She did a few then stopped. She took a 10 minute break for a snack. We then moved onto a different activity in order to practice the same material (it is explained below).
Elle and I began with a review of greetings and salutations. She wrote a few of the sentences on her white board using an activity sheet to assist with spelling and word placement. We did this as a game and I “timed” her as she wrote each phrase and/or sentence. Subsequent sentences took less time. I then gave her a page with all the phrases and sentences written out in Bingo card format. I said a greeting or salutation in English and she searched for it in French. When she found it, she crossed it off. We kept going until they were all crossed off. As Elle does not like to write in French on paper, I counted this as her quiz. 80% of the work she did was on her own and correct. 20% was with clues and/or assistance. Elle had a 10 minute snack break during our time together.

Elle was “talking” to Tara and a couple teachers when I said good morning and asked her to come into her room with me. (She was not directly involved in their conversation, she was just trying to add to their conversation.) It took 10 minutes to get her into the room. Even after she entered the room she sat in the corner and would not look at the vocabulary list. She began telling me she did not need to learn any vocabulary - that she knew it. This continued for 7-8 minutes.
30 minutes: I introduced the vocabulary of food. The foods were in groups and I asked Elle to choose a food from each group: drinks, fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, seafood and desserts. I also introduced the specialty stores in France that sell specialty foods. Remainder of the time - we reviewed numbers 10 thru 60 by playing bingo. Elle used the reference sheet to look up the numbers as I said them in French. She then checked her paper to see if she had them. We played the game twice before time was up.

Elle was trying to hide from me when I came in. She was reluctant to come into her room with me. She went to Nicole who convinced her that she must begin French. For the first 5 minutes she was sitting in a chair opposite me saying she didn’t know anything as I went through a vocabulary review. She then took a blanket and for the next 5 minutes laid on the floor, blanket wrapped around her, still saying she knew nothing. I told her the words were on the piece of paper I had and I showed them to her as she lay on the floor. She finally got up and sat in a chair. I slowly went over the vocabulary and tried to play games with her using the vocabulary.
15 minutes - vocabulary review of greetings, numbers, city buildings, time and weather. 15 minutes - in a pre-prepared Bingo format, Elle identified the vocabulary of greeting sentences - questions and answers. I would say “what is your name” and she found the corresponding French sentence. She read the French when she found it then crossed it out. We went through a series of 14 questions and answers. She is identifying the greetings with more ease now, however, she does not want to attempt to write it out. Remainder of the time - I gave Elle a photo of a summer scene and a spring scene. Using her “weather” activity sheet, she wrote 5-6 sentences describing the weather in each. She then went on her computer and chose a winter and autumn scene. She printed them and once again using her “weather” activity sheet wrote out 5-6 sentences describing the weather.

Elle arrived late today. She then spent 10 minutes speaking to Elise and Nicole about lunch and her new babysitter. She lost 22 minutes of class time. 15 minutes - We began with a review of “city places” by playing bingo. Each square had the name of a place on her map project: a library, a house, etc. I called out names in English and Elle searched her bingo board which was entirely in French. Once she found the French translation for the English word I had called out, she said it in French. Her French pronunciation was good. This continued until she called “bingo”. Elle needed to look up the words to many of the places. If I were to grade her, she would have received 50%. 10 minutes - We then practice the “time” format and some times in French. Elle is improving with telling time. 10 minutes - I introduced “weather” and “seasons”. Elle and I had discussed weather briefly last week, so it wasn’t entirely new. She repeated all the expressions from the activity sheet I had prepared. She then identified weather patterns on scenes of seasons. Remainder of the class time: We moved to “you tube” which Elle enjoys very much. I allowed her to choose a couple videos of weather & seasons totally in French. She chose the ones that were songs and she sang along with the native speaker. It was very effective and she continued to sing the weather and season song even as our time was up and the next teacher entered the room.

Elle and I did an oral review of greetings and salutations. We went on to review basic conversational questions using an activity worksheet I had prepared for her. Elle knows 90% of the vocabulary and I supplied the remaining. She repeated the conversational sentences but was very resistant to writing them out. I changed the activity to one in which she could write out the French sentences on her computer. I asked her to choose, from the activity worksheet, the sentence that says: when is your birthday? She identified it on the sheet but was hesitant to write it out even on the computer. Elle needs writing practice in French. We will continue learn to write in French next week.
Elle spent a lot of time searching pictures on the computer and putting them on her word document. I had to redirect her activity many times. By the end of the hour, she did have 8 sentences on her word document but had to copy them directly from the activity sheet. If this had been a quiz, she would have had 50%.

25 minutes - Oral review with emphasis on pronunciation of: greetings; salutations; conversational questions; days of the week; months of the year; buildings on Elle’s “city project”; weather and time. 15 minutes - Elle and I went outside to write up a weather report into Elle’s French journal. 20 minutes - bingo game with numbers from 11 to 59. Elle needs to practice writing out her French vocabulary. We will work on writing this week.