Last week, one of my French classes enjoyed a MAJOR treat.  A very generous parent had an authentic New Orleans King Cake shipped to us here in Michigan.  It was from Manny Randazzo King Cakes and let me tell you, it was DEEEE-LIC-OUS!  Everyone loved it!

The cake arrived safely and well packed to its destination.

This gorgeous poster greeted me as I opened the box.

This little bag of goodies included information about Mardi Gras traditions, beads, doubloons, and a mask for our king/queen of the party.  (The person who received the special piece of cake with the plastic baby inside.)

Looks yummy, n’est-ce pas?

If you can’t get your own authentic cake shipped this year, you can create a simple version at home by purchasing a couple of tubes of refrigerator cinnamon rolls, braiding them together into a ring, and then baking in the oven.  Once it’s cooled, you can decorate the top with icing and colored sprinkles.  Be sure to hide something (safe) inside so that you’ll be able to crown a king or a queen.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Well, okay, it’s not really the big, official Back-to-School time of the year.  But the first day back after winter break harkens the fresh slate feeling of the new year.  And even if it’s not yet a new semester, it soon will be.  Many language teachers in middle schools or in high schools with block scheduling will be getting a brand new class list and going back to Day 1.

Here are some useful downloads, powerpoints, and units for the first days of French or Spanish class:

First Week Spanish:  Dynamite Lesson Plans for the First Week of Spanish Class

Top Ten Classroom Survival Phrases in Spanish Worksheet

Spanish Survival Expressions Power Point

First Week French:  Dynamite Lesson Plans for the First Week of French Class

Top Ten Classroom Survival Phrases in French Worksheet

French Survival Expressions Power Point

Back to School in French Class:  School Supplies Web Quest

Comment ça va?  Visuals and Activities for Beginning French Students

Welcome back to school in your foreign language class!

Image by clipart.com

Check out:  The Ultimate Online Resource for Learning a Second Language

Join Foreign Language House for our first annual Facebook Turkey Trot Down countdown to Thanksgiving Break.  Click this link to join our FB community. Beginning Monday, November 8, we’ll be “talkin’ turkey” with our foreign language teacher friends.  Each morning around 9:00 a.m. EST, we’ll post a discussion question.  When you leave a comment, you’ll be entered in a drawing for that day’s giveaway.  Winners will be determined by random.org and announced the following morning.  Join in the fun to win great prizes every weekday until Thanksgiving.  Free e-books, e-courses, downloads, and more!    Gobble Gobble!

Image from clipart.com

It’s time to go back to school!  Whether I’m teaching first graders or high schoolers, I like to have my students create desktop name tags in the first class session or two.  I’m very visual, so I need to see name/face to get all of those new names into the ‘ol memory.  And in middle school and high school, my students often choose French names.  (Oui . . . double the names to learn!)

Catherine and I at Foreign Language House have just created some printable desktop name tags to help you make this opening activity look nice and polished!  We have eight different designs for each language.  You can choose your favorite, or your students can choose!  Card stock is ideal for allowing your name tags to stand up and stay in place on desktops.  The images are B&W for ease of copying and also to allow your students to color and decorate them.

Homeschoolers, these name tags can also make nice decorations for a notebook or a bedroom door!

In the classroom, I collect the name tags after each class.  Some days I pre-arrange the name tags and students need to find their tag to find their seat for the day.  This way, they can meet and work with various new classmates.  This also helps me to determine the best possible seating charts to start off the year.

Other days, I hold the stack of name tags in my hand, review the alphabet, and then say the letters as I read a name on a tag.  When students identify the person, I pass out that name tag.  Nice way to take roll, too.

Follow this link to get your desk top name tags.  Hurry!  This week they are absolutely FREE!

Looking for French classes in the Detroit area?  Be sure to check out my brand new “baby” Pink Poodle French!   (Site still in development.)  Beginning Fall 2010, I’ll be teaching French to all ages:  traditional classes, tutoring, homeschool, immersion cooking, and other special events.  My home or yours.  If you don’t live in Metro Detroit, be sure to stop by to download some free printables, and check back soon for online classes.  Ciao!

Ready for Oscar Night?  Sunday, March 7, I have a date with a big bowl of popcorn and a televised view of the Red Carpet.  I haven’t actually seen many of the nominated movies yet, with the exception of Up!  Still, I fondly remember my pre-parenthood days of dates at the cinema instead of my living room.

Anytime there is an event people might be buzzing about, such as the Academy Awards, I want to bring the conversations into my classroom as a way to motivate my learners to talk in the target language.  For Oscar Night, Foreign Language House has just prepared some conversational activities for secondary students.  Check them out at these links:

Spanish Conversational Activities for the 2010 Academy Awards

French Conversational Activities for the 2010 Academy Awards

We tried to make the classroom activities a lot of fun.  To introduce the topic, we prepared formal invitations in the target language for the big event.  This warm-up provides lots of question-answer opportunities to discuss the who/what /where/when/how-to-dress of the Academy Awards.  Next, students imagine they are in the Kodak Theater, discussing the nominees listed in their program.  Finally, a thematic grammar-practice worksheet reinforces the various forms of the word “best.”

Hope all you film- and fashion-buffs enjoy Oscar Night, both in the classroom and in front of the screen!

Image credit:   http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1041043

I created or modified some songs and fingerplays for the groundhog unit.  As a supplement to the paper download, I prepared this video to demonstrate the gestures and melodies.  Click here to view it:  French Groundhog Unit Video

The 4-lesson download is available for purchase.  Click here.

Image Credit:  http://morguefile.com/archive/display/72775

September.  Most students are back in school, and it’s a safe guess that foreign language teachers are starting off the year with some basics: alphabet, names, greetings and introductions. I like to have my older students choose names from the target culture as their new identity for the year.  I personally don’t require it, and I don’t even offer the possibility to students younger than 12.  But it’s fun and helps to keep the language “flowing” during the lessons.

Today I’d like to share one of my first-week-of-school activities that’s a hit year after year–Name Bingo.  Once my students choose a French name, they practice spelling it out loud using the French alphabet.  They receive a bingo grid and write their own name in one of the squares.  Now the activity becomes interactive as the students walk around the classroom to ask their classmates, “What’s your name?” and “How do you spell that?” so that they can add it to their bingo grid.  (Spelling names is a practical life skill, by the way.  Just today, I had to spell my last name two times.)

Once the students have filled in their bingo card, the teacher spells names of various people in the class to be X’ed off.   4 X’s in a row is a Bingo.  Don’t forget the prizes!  

To purchase an inexpensive French Name Bingo printable with directions, click here.  And click here for the Spanish version.  Play this game completely in the target language.  Your newbies will feel successful and proud!

Photo Credit:  by Cecile Graat at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1132275

Buzz is a favorite filler activity in my foreign language classes.  When I have a few minutes to spare at the end of a lesson, I take the opportunity to practice counting with this classic game.  It’s an oldie but a goodie!  Learners as young as 7 enjoy the challenge of Buzz.  Want to know how to play?  Here’s an excerpt from our newest Foreign Language House publication, Middle School Madness:  Cooking Up Foreign Language Fun and Games:

Ingredients:

• One soft ball (squishy or Koosh)

Serving Size: The whole class

Time:  5-10 minutes

Method:

The whole class stands.

1. Toss the ball to the first player and say the number “one.”
2. This player will continue counting with “two” and toss the ball to the next person.
3. Tossing and counting continue around the room.
4. Whenever there is a multiple of 5 (or whatever multiple you choose at the start of the game) the player must say “Buzz” instead of the number.
5. Players must sit if they say an incorrect number, do not know the answer, forget to say Buzz, or drop the ball.
6. All players left standing at the end of the game are winners!
7. For an added challenge, you may continue with higher numbers, or begin counting backwards.

For over 50 more fun language learning activities, order Middle School Madness as an instant digital download or paperback.

For more counting ideas, check out my article on Foreign Language Number Games.

Help learners to survive and thrive in an immersion classroom environment with useful questions and statements in French or Spanish.

Immersion is the most effective way to learn a foreign language, but it can feel scary at first.  Classroom beginners might worry: “What do I do if I’m confused as the teacher rambles on in a foreign language? What page was the homework? And what if I need to go to the bathroom?”

Language learners can feel confident and empowered in their new language by mastering a few key survival expressions during the first week or two of class.  My Back-to-School routine always begins with a solid mini-unit on classroom communication.  During this time, I allow my students to “practice” being in an immersion setting, alternating between chunks of the target language and English.  After investing this initial time, we can “get the party started” and use the target language exclusively for the remainder of the school year.

Here are my essentials:

Basic French Expressions and Manners, such as Yes, No, Please, and Thank You.

Interrogatve Expressions. Even if students are not quite ready to conquer question formation, they can memorize the “who-what-where-when-how-why” expressions in order to clarify understanding.

Negotiation of Meaning. This skill is extremely important as learners try to make sense of a new language.  Students need expressions such as:  Slow down, Repeat please, I don’t understand, and How do you write that?

Asking Permission is crucial in most school settings, and your students will never be more motivated to speak!

Borrowing. Instead of becoming upset, I decided to make forgetfulness a teachable moment.  Learners need to be equipped to ask for items in the target language.  When I noticed that my students said the phrase “I forgot” on almost a daily basis, I simply taught them how to say it in French.

Foreign Language House has just published French and Spanish downloads of Classroom Survival Expressions that are perfect for the start of the school year.  You’ll find games, activities, worksheets, and printable handouts:

French Classroom Expressions

Spanish Classroom Expressions

BRAND NEW FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL 2010:

French Top Ten Classroom Survival Expressions POWER POINT

Spanish Top Ten Classroom Survival Expressions POWER POINT

Portions of this post were originally written by me here at Suite101.com

Image Credit:  http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1195995