Unit 10: To Sir with Love

The question in Unit 10 asked:  'What makes a good language teacher?' My response could apply to any teacher. 

I was inspired to be a teacher by a fictional character, played by Sidney Poitier in the movie To Sir With Love. I was unsure which career path I would choose when a friend, who was in education, insisted that I watch his favourite movie, the reason why he became a teacher. After watching I knew I too wanted to be a teacher, to try and make a difference in a child's life.  To be able to do that not only did I need to know my content but more importantly I needed to be able to have skill set  #20: Enjoys people, shows enthusiasm, warmth, rapport and appropriate humour (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 547). These are the teachers we remember years later. 

In my 30 years as an educator I have brought my enthusiasm to teaching a second language instilling my passion for learning to my students. Helping them to find a way in to acquiring a new language through games, songs and movement. As a teacher and as an administrator I have striven to create an environment that is inclusive and welcoming to all who work or learn in the school. We laugh, we learn and we know and care about each other. We are a community.

Brown & Lee begin Chapter 22 by saying: One of the most invigorating things about teaching is that you never stop learning. (p. 540) They are so right, and if you are a good teacher, regardless of the subject, you will transfer that feeling to your students, through your enthusiasm.


If you've never heard of Robert Brooks you may want to check out his books and website. He talks about many things related to education, resilience and raising children, but in particular he believes in what he calls the importance of a charismatic adult in the life of a child or adult. He has done much research on the difference making a connection with a student can make, academically and emotionally.

Charismatic adults

Never watched To Sir with Love? Here's a link to the theme song, it will definitely make you want to watch the movie!   
Theme from To Sir With Love


This article talks about all the skills #20 refers to and how you can achieve them.
 Positive relationships

Unit 9: C'est marrant!

Of all the K-5 subjects I've taught, French was my favourite, in terms of the curriculum and the delivery of the course. Students loved playing games, singing songs and exploring the new language through skits and plays. Every Friday we would have game day, an opportunity for students to apply their learning from the week during a variety of game activities. We played 'au coins' where one person covered her eyes, counted in French and called out one of the items in a corner of the room. The game participants would quietly move to a corner where I had placed a card. (We emphasized walking quietly so they wouldn't be heard as they walked, this also prevented running in the classroom and someone being hurt! 😉) The last person standing at the corner was the winner. This incorporated: counting in French (this varied by grade any group of numbers on a decade e.g. 20-30 if we were reinforcing that set of numbers), vocabulary and movement.
Bingo in any language is fun and covers all the vocabulary or verbs. Little prizes of pencils with French sayings, erasers, 'French' candies, were much coveted.
It was also easy to convert games like Jeopardy, $10 000 pyramid and Scattegories into French games. We even played sports like baseball in French and learned all the terms of the game (getting us ready for when the Expos come back to Canada!) I know people love to play electronic games but there is something to be said about the old favourites! I incorporated the games but we also spent time singing and acting.

French was also the only subject I would sing in! Who doesn't love belting out the Voyageur Song! The principal could hear us sing 'oui, oui, oui', 'non, non, non' down in his office.

Puppet plays and skits are an opportunity  for students to try out the language, in a real-life scenario but with an alter-ego. The child who would be too scared to answer a question in class would come to life as a puppet in a play, hidden behind the character.
I have a teacher at my school who is an amazing artist. She incorporates art into every component of her language teachings. Students have created some amazing French books on a variety of themes, all with original artwork.
Here is a link to some excellent suggestions to 'non-tech' games. 10 best games

How do I make learning fun? By teaching a language!!

Unit 8 It's not just about the test

I try to vary my data collection as I find that reliance on one form of assessment may limit a student's ability to demonstrate her learning. I would include some of these methods of collecting information:

Cloze: A gap-fill assessment activity which requires students to understand the context and vocabulary. Depending on the level of your students you may provide a word bank (beginners) or allow for synonyms that identify that the student understands the meaning of the passage. This is short answer so may be a little less intimidating than a long-answer explanation on a topic.
Observations:The first step in observations is to create a chart outlining what it is that you want to observe, this narrows down your focus. If you simply have a sheet with empty grids your observations can be too random to be purposeful. There can still be a section for the teacher's reflections or global points to assist with teaching or re-teaching. For instance, if you find that 5 out of 15 students are having an issue with the future tense then highlight their names to indicate that will be a group you will meet with to re-teach the concept.
Presentations:  Glogster is an interactive visual tool which incorporates multi-media to demonstrate what they have learned about a topic. This is better than a standard poster presentation as students can embed technology in to it e.g. a video clip.
Reflections journal: At the end of each class ask students to record in their journal (this can be a section of their portfolio). You can provide the students with the questions, if you are looking for feedback on a particular area or leave the task open. You might want to have some sample questions up in the classroom for those students who might get 'stuck' on what to write. ( Sample reflection questions )
Rubrics: Co-create rubrics with your students using tools such as Rubricmaker (example of  Oral presentation rubric ). When creating the rubric include some non-negotiables to ensure that the outcomes being measured are reflected (e.g. uses the past tense correctly). Rubrics are not necessary for every activity but students should know the target they are working towards when they are being assessed.


This article has some good additional strategies that work for performance based assessments: 

6 Types of Performance-Based Assessments

Kelly, Melissa. (2019, May 27). Authentic Ways to Develop Performance-Based Activities. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/ideas-for-performance-based-activities-7686