EVEN MORE Engaging FSL Activities That Get Students Talking!

by 10:07:00 0 comments

This post is an extension to Interactive and Engaging FSL Activities That Get Students Talking.  Each activity listed below is organized with CEFR descriptors as well as "I Can" statements.
**All activities require the use of tablets and specific free apps, however they can easily be tweaked if this technology is not available in your classroom.**

Activities for A1 Learners

Goal: I can act out the meaning of sentences

Using Legos, the Stop Motion app and iMovie students can creatively act out the meaning of sentences provided by the teacher.  In the examples provided, students were asked to act out the meaning of sentences related to proper behaviour at school. Students used the Stop Motion app to create their videos, then used iMovie to record their voices.

This type of activity could also be used for several other CEFR "I can" statements:
I can express my basic needs
Students can create a Lego classroom with Lego characters and review all the basic needs that could be expressed when they are at school:
        -Est-ce que je peux aller aux toilettes?
        -Est-ce que je peux emprunter un crayon?
        -Est-ce que je peux aller boire de l'eau?)

I can use basic greetings expressions
Students can enhance their Lego setting with hand drawn backgrounds and practice different greetings that are appropriate for particular social settings:
      -greeting friends at their home
      -greeting parents
      -greeting sales staff
   

Goal: I can express my feelings

The selfie has become one of the most popular forms of self-expression making it an effective tool to use in the classroom.  By simply using the Camera and iMovie, students can explore different emotions through selfies.
For this activity, students take a variety of selfies to show the different emotions learned in class.  All selfies can be uploaded into iMovie so students can orally describe the emotion that is being shown.

Activities for A2 Learners

Goal: I can understand the main points of a short video or a short message

Recap is a free student video response app that allows students to record and submit short video responses and quick self-assessments.  This is a great app to use in FSL to promote oral communication!  Students can respond orally to teacher prompts and receive feedback in return.
Get your entire FSL class talking!  Use this app after listening or reading activities so students can submit oral responses to comprehension questions.    

Goal: I can describe myself, where I live, my interests and hobbies, and my daily activities

It's time to spice up the traditional "Je me presente" activity! Get your students to create an audition clip for a reality TV show such as Survivor or The Amazing Race. This app smashing activity uses ChattepixEraseExplain Everything and iMovie. See the attached video for an example of what the final product could look like! This is the example I provided students so they could see the possibilities of this app-smashing activity.
Step 1: To get this activity started, find background pictures that could be used in the audition video.  Google Images is the best place to look!
Step 2: Take pictures of students and use the Erase app to erase the background.
Step 3: Insert the background picture and the student's picture in Explain Everything.  This is where you can manipulate the student's picture so it's the correct size and in the correct location on the background.
Step 4: Take a screenshot and import the picture into Chatterpix. Students will now include their oral description of where they live, their interests and hobbies, and why they would be the perfect candidate.
Step 5: Import all Chatterpix videos into iMovie to create one video! Students can also include background music.

Activities for B1 Learners

Goal: When I can't think of the word I want, I can use a simple word meaning something similar

The following activity essentially turns Spark Video into a wordless picture book that allows students to become the storyteller. The objective of this task is to challenge students to narrate the story by only using French words.  If there is a term that students are not familiar with, they must replace it with another word that means the same thing.  Students do not have access to dictionaries or translation programs.
If this is the first time students do this activity, I recommend that the picture book images be provided to the students by the teacher (Google "wordless comic strip" or "wordless picture book" to find some great images). See examples below.



Next, students will import each picture into Spark Video and narrate a short story based on what they see in the pictures.  Students can also include a description of the setting and a description of the characters.  Spark Video is a great free app for this activity because it limits students to narrating only one slide at a time.

Goal: I can listen to short narratives and predict what will happen next

This is an extension activity to the one described above but the teacher becomes the storyteller. Find images of a picture story, import and create in Spark Video, then provide students with your version of the story.  However, don't give away the ending! Students will have to complete the story themselves by predicting what they think will happen next.  They can complete their prediction in Spark Video and share with the class.
Encourage students to share their work with the class by having an awards ceremony with categories like "Best Ending" or "Best Choice of Images".







Lindsay Deschamps

Developers

I am an Innovation Instructional Coach for District School Board North-East in Ontario, Canada.

0 comments :

Post a Comment