Most language teachers would agree that it is important to use the target language in class as much as possible.  The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) recommends that at least 90% of classtime be conducted in the language.  In the past, I’ve used a sign that says “anglais” on one side and “français” on the other.  When the French side is “activated,” French is the only language spoken.

I’ve got a new technique I’m trying out in my preschool and elementary French classes this year.  I’m calling it my “beret magique.”  When the beret goes on my head, I will magically lose my ability to speak English.  I’m hoping it will be visual, fun, and meaningful for the little ones.

What is your beret magique? How do you stay in the target language with your kids or students?

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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!

My kids and I have been dancing to Spanish this summer!  Whistlefritz has just released a new CD–Cha, Cha, Cha! The folksongs and original songs are recorded and arranged by award-winning singer/songwriter Jorge Anaya.  What I really love is the feeling of the music.  Culture is infused into every beat . . . be it samba, merengue, reggae, or more.  It truly “sets the mood” for language learning.

I’m a HUGE  believer in using music to aid language acquisition and memory.  As a French teacher myself, I can’t imagine even one class session without traditional songs, melodies for memory, or cultural music.  Whistlefritz’s Cha, Cha, Cha! has it all.  And while the music stands on its own as something great to listen to and enjoy, the inherent language lessons introduce kids to numbers, months of the year, days of the week, and more . . . in an immersion setting!   As a novice-level Spanish learner myself, I was grateful for the lyrics/translations included with the CD.

You can listen to some clips here. My favorite is the first track, El Barco Chiquito.  The kids love La Cucaracha.   And singing days and numbers has never been more fun.  The vocabulary is clear, comprehensible, and catchy!

Cha, Cha, Cha! is perfect for Spanish teachers to use in their classrooms, and for moms to use at home or in the car.  Gracias Whistlefritz

Looking for a fun, communicative partners activity for back-to-school? Foreign Language House has prepared a tic tac toe grid with French and Spanish vocabulary lists for school and classroom objects.

To receive your free downloads, sign up for our FREE newsletter for language teachers at this link or on the right sidebar. Every month you’ll receive fun teaching tips and a new download for your beginning students in French, Spanish, and  English (ESL/EFL).  This freebie has already gone out to our subscribers.  If you’d still like it, simply join our mailing list and then e-mail me directly to tell me you’d like the classroom objects tic tac toe game:  foreignlanguagehouse@gmail.com

If you teach a language, this newsletter is for you.  Why?

• You get free printable downloads for your students every month.
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• Diane and Catherine are veteran foreign language teachers with nearly 40 years of combined experience.  They’ve taught it all:  French (Diane), Spanish (Catherine), pre-k, K-12, public, private, parochial, homeschool.
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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!

I decided to write my first ever “techie” post to help teachers use the wealth of authentic materials found on YouTube.  I recently began using an iPod Touch and some cheap speakers in my classroom.  (I am done with my boxes and boxes of CD’s and cassettes, not to mention the bulky boomboxes of years gone by!)  So, I was planning a nice little immersion cooking lesson for French camp tomorrow, when I thought how nice it would be to show a clip of crepes being prepared by a Parisian street vendor.  This is camp, so I don’t have computer/Internet access, just my trusty little iPod.  Here’s what you do:

1.  Locate the YouTube video you wish to use.  I look for authentic sorts of clips–nothing that broke copyright in any way!

2.  Copy the url at the top of the screen.

3.  Go to:  KeepVid.com, copy the url, and click “download.”

4.  Save as MP4.  Once it downloaded, I did a “Save as” onto my desktop.

5.  Open iTunes and select “Video.”  Drag in your new video.

6.  Plug in your trusty iPod.  Click “Devices”, then “Movies” and select the new movie you want synced.

7.  Sync your ipod.  Ta-da! Authentic video clip for teaching tomorrow.

p.s.  I haven’t tried this procedure on my PC, just the Mac.  I “heart” my Mac!  Please comment if you know something I don’t about getting this to work on a PC!

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Offering a Madeline camp for 5-7 year olds has me more enthused than ever over these classic books by Ludwig Bemelmans. Even my boys are asking to hear tale after tale about the brave little girl from “the old house in Paris that was covered in vines.” Madeline provides a wonderful context and reason for learning some beginning French, as well as for discovering the monuments and surroundings of Paris.

Here is a resource guide of Madeline books to help you make that French connection!

Madeline The story that started it all back in 1939!  Madeline gets her appendix out.

Madeline’s Rescue Meet Madeline’s faithful friend Genevieve, the dog that rescues her when she falls into the Seine.

Madeline and the Bad Hat The Spanish Ambassador and his mischievous son, Pepito (the “Bad Hat”), move in next  door.  This book really helps to engage boys in the series.

Madeline and the Gypsies Madeline and Pepito travel with a gypsy circus!  As they hit the road, readers are treated to wonderful illustrations of famous places around France, not just Paris.

Madeline in London Pepito moves to London, so Madeline and the other little girls visit to cheer him up.

Madeline’s Christmas It’s Christmastime, and Madeline takes care of the other little girls who are sick.  Who comes to the door but a magical carpet  merchant!

Madeline in America and Other Holiday Tales (by Ludwig Bemelmans AND his grandson John Bemelmans Marciano, who completed the unfinished manuscript.)  Madeline and the girls travel to Texas.  Madeline’s great grand-papa died and left her a fortune!

More books by John Bemelmans Marciano:

Madeline Says Merci Learn manners with Madeline’s “Always Be Polite” book.

Madeline and the Cats of Rome Madeline and the girls help rescue cats while on a spring vacation in Rome.  There are wonderful illustrations of Rome for an Italian connection.

Here are a few of the popular titles written in French:

Madeleine (French Edition)

Le Sauvetage de Madeleine (French Edition)

Madeleine et les Bohemians (Madeline and the Gypsies), French Edition

Noel De Madeleine (French Edition)

What’s your favorite Madeline book?

I had to do a quick post here on the ‘ol blog because there was some “foreign language fun” in the film.  (I won’t say any more than that!)  Check out the new Spanish theme song by the Gypsy Kings:

You’ve Got a Friend in me – Hay un amigo in mi

It’s time for my French summer camp!  Tomorrow I set up my room, and then the fun begins on Monday.  This year, I’m offering something new–a Madeline camp for rising K-2.  I’m going to use my tried and true French camp program “Passport to French Fun.”  My campers always have a BLAST preparing for an imaginary trip to Paris on the last day of the session.  Only this time, we’re heading to Paris for Madeline’s birthday party!

Every day of camp, we’ll do a little something to get ready for the trip.  We’ll learn a lot of French expressions, play French games, and sing French songs during daily language circle time.  Also, I’ll read a different Madeline book every day and make a Madeline craft.  Here are the craft ideas I have so far:

One of my favorite web sites, DLTK’s Growing Together, has a cute toilet paper roll Madeline craft.

These coloring pages are from a great site I just found and bookmarked–educationalcoloringpages.com.  I might print some images onto cardstock and create bookmarks for the kids to color.

I am LOVING these adorable Madeline hats made from paper plates and bowls at Familyfun.com!  (I’ll have a boy or two . . . think they’ll mind terribly?)

And here’s my own original contribution:  we’re going to make “An old house in Paris that was covered in vines.”  I’ll have the kids cut out a house shape from brown paper grocery bags.  We’ll glue on white paper windows and fabric scraps for curtains.  Maybe we’ll add several small construction paper blue squares for a shingled roof, too. Since it IS camp, we’ll head outside to look for a little nature to glue on as vines.  Should be cute!

EDITED TO ADD:

Madeline Camp was a great success!  The toilet paper roll Madelines were very cute, but we actually cut the body even shorter, maybe 3 inches or so.  I read somewhere that there is often bacteria on toilet paper rolls, so we cut up a paper towel roll.

The hats were ADORABLE!  We had to attach ribbons on the sides so that they did not slide off.  The boys had an alternate project:  tiger masks!

From Day 1, the kids were asking and asking to make an Eiffel Tower.  We blinged out some craft foam with glitter, sequins, and jewels!

The bookmark came out cute, too.  We attached a string of bleu-blanc-rouge pony beads.

Here’s a photo of some of our projects.  You’ll also see the kids’ passports and envelopes holding their airline tickets and souvenirs.

My husband was looking forward to watching yesterday’s World Cup match between England & the U.S. I was looking forward to keeping my boys busy. They are budding soccer fans, but too young to sit and watch a match on TV. Yet they DID, with just a little bit of planning.

First, I declared it a “World Cup Party” and we made an indoor picnic lunch to eat during the game. For dessert, we included shortbread (for England) and red, white, and blue Little Debbie snack cakes (for the U.S.) Then I assigned a team to each child and gave them a scavenger hunt-type activity to do during the game. They had to color uniforms, write down player numbers (great for keeping the youngest boy busy), and check off penalties, headers, & goals on a chart. They quickly got into the spirit of the game and watched almost the whole thing!

Here’s a template that you can use with your family for upcoming games. Kids’ Soccer Game Fun Sheet

Enjoy the World Cup!

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