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Are there jobs for French speakers?

2007-08-02 23:25:00.0

Let's dispell a myth right off the bat. We've all heard this one: there is no need to learn French; no one speaks it, and no one needs it in the U.S. How wrong that is! I just did a job search on monster.com. There were 1,118 jobs around the country under the keyword "French". Of those, more than 400 were in California and very few--less than 100 nationwide--were jobs that did not in fact require French proficiency (such as jobs at French restaurants, jobs on "French Rd." and so on). That's more than 1,000 jobs for those who become proficient in French. These jobs are in all kinds of fields: secretarial, accounting/banking, media, graphic design, medicine, legal careers, and more. Anything you want to do, there is probably someone somewhere looking for a French speaker to do it. And the biggest travesty is that those jobs will often go unfilled because the employers cannot find French speakers to take the positions. Of course, if you are a French speaker who is qualified to do the job, you will likely be hired because there won't be a lot of French speakers competing with you! How many jobs are there for French speakers in fields in which you are interested? Check out monster.com.

Why I love teaching

2007-08-26 13:19:00.0

When I started teaching in 1993, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I knew I was fortunate to find a career doing something I actually love doing. In 2004, I was offered the opportunity to be a full-time mentor to beginning teachers. Accepting this opportunity meant that I would have to leave the classroom for three years. I almost declined because I love teaching so much. Fortunately, I accepted the assignment. I spent three years working with teachers all over the district, in every grade level and subject area imaginable. I helped with lesson planning and classroom management. I observed my mentees while they taught. We analyzed student work together so that we could see what their products could tell us about the successes and challenges of our teaching. We went out to observe successful veteran teachers together. We spent hours discussing teaching, parent communication, classroom management, helping all students succeed, technology integration, and any other topic related to education today. Some of us attended workshops and trainings together. I learned at least as much as any of my mentees did! Now that I am back in the classroom, I have a remarkable opportunity to put to use everything I have learned as a mentor and I can't wait. It was a privelege to be selected as a mentor, but for me, the greatest honor is still being a teacher. This year, I hope that my students will find that lessons are crafted to meet their needs. I hope that students will believe that material has been taught and practiced, rather than "covered". I hope that my teaching methods and the practice, application and extension activities I plan will provide all students with opportunities to learn and apply the material, but also to make personal, relevant connections to the material. I hope that students will see assessments as a reflection of what they know and can do in the language rather than as an effort to "catch" them not knowing something. I hope that all students will feel that my classroom is a safe-haven: a place where all students are welcome and respected and where they can come to talk, to learn, to practice, and to take risks as they develop their skill in communicating in French. The first week of school was invigorating, exciting, and incredible. And it was proof of why I love teaching. I loved meeting the French 1 students, who all arrived with such enthusiasm and so willing to try out these new sounds that don't exist in English. French 2, my biggest class, arrived with a bang--almost literally. Virtually all of the students know each other, and they are a very gregarious group. Of course, this means it takes longer to progress from one activity to another, and any jokes I (or other students) make require some time to regroup and refocus the class, but we're working on that together. Soon, even this more gregarious class will progress smoothly from one activity to another (and we won't have to abandon all jokes and humor to do it!). Their energy and willingness to speak will actually be an asset in the long run. I won't have any trouble at all getting this class to try speaking French! French 3, 4, and AP came in a little more subdued, but that was to be expected; they are older, they are preoccupied with heavier course loads and beginning to prepare for SATs or for college applications, and...they have had the most experience with the previous French teacher, Mme Jenkins, who is a very good friend of mine (I've known her since 2002). I had selected Mme Jenkins to replace me in 2004 while I was mentoring because I knew she would be perfect for the position. And she was. Since there tends to only be one French teacher in a school, French teachers have the opportunity to get to know their students over several years. Both the students and the teacher benefit from this unique setting in the hectic high school world of changing six or seven teachers every year, and possibly even at the semester. This shared student-teacher knowledge of each other can enhance lesson planning because it is easier to plan lessons that clearly meet the students' needs and interests, and it can lead to a better classroom environment because the students know each other and the teacher very well (and vice versa). As a result, I could sense that it was a little difficult for the more advanced students to be as thrilled with my return as I was. Fortunately, I knew that this would be the case, and I know that it will take time for these classes to learn as much about me and my teaching and expectations as they knew about Mme Jenkins. That said, I was thrilled to see how willing they have all been to try everything I have sent their way. They have been speaking and writing in French since the first day of school and patiently listening while I conduct class almost entirely in French for them. While some may have dreaded the end of summer vacation, I have been anticipating my return to teaching. Now that the first week is over, I remember what I love most about teaching: the students--their learning, their visible progress, their enthusiasm, their interests outside of class (that may be the focus of lessons inside of class), their creativity, their imagination, their willingness to try the language, their willingness to help eachother. In what other career would I have the opportunity to work so closely with so many unique individuals?

Grades are coming!

2007-09-28 17:27:00.0

It's that wonderful time of year--the first progress reports. For some students, it is the first indication they have of their progress in a class. Hopefully, that is not the case for my students, since grades are available on a secure web site. Of course, I get an awful lot of "failure" messages when I send the "grades have been updated" message. That means I have a lot of incorrect e-mail addresses. Anyway, as the progress reports arrive home, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, the grade listed is a grade in progress; it is not set in stone and it is not going to be in the student's permanent record. There is still time for improvements to the grade. That said, students play a very large part in whether or not the grade will improve. Another point to consider is that the first progress report can be a little misleading. There isn't very much in the gradebook as of yet. One missing assignment could cause a student's grade to plummet. Two missing assignments are pretty much a disaster for any student's grade. Students have been coming to realize that they can come in for help and to make up work pretty much any time. For some students, just the act of coming in to complete one missing assignment has made a huge difference for some students. For other students, the effort to speak French is making a huge difference. There are a few students in each class who are completely committed to French and who are working very hard to only speak French. This has already caused some of those students to be more comfortable expressing themselves in French and more comfortable when listening to others speak French. Although not everyone will be pleased with the grades on their progress reports, I want everyone to know that I have enjoyed every one of my students. It has been a pleasure to get to know them over these first six weeks and to see the different facets of each student's personality. Every student has brought something unique to each of my classes, which is something I enjoy during every class, every day.

Giving new meaning to "transitional year"

2008-08-06 19:06:00.0

Well, I had disabled the blog last year because I ran out of time to update it, but I'm back and I'm trying again. As I prepare for "la rentrée" (the first day of school), I find myself faced with a list of questions: Do I want to revise my grading structure to better reflect what the students do in class? (yes...that was easy. Oh, wait...how do I revise the grading structure? No easy answer to that one!) Do I want to rework my homework packet system so students and parents get more frequent information? (yes...and, this was much easier. Students will now turn in homework packets weekly so that they always know when the packet is due.) How do I send solar-powered lights to our partner school in Burkina Faso? I have money (but not enough); I have a field trip planned to learn about solar lighting, but there is so much more to be done, especially with the intracies of sending large amounts of valuable equipment to a foreign country. How do I ensure the ACE program for college credit will be successful for my students? Better yet, how do I ensure I am offering college-level content to those classes in a way that is engaging, meaningful, and effective? How can I better incorporate regular reading? Maybe a return to Silent Sustained Reading? A Spanish teacher in Elk Grove tried that with fairly good success. Maybe Thursdays could be at least partially dedicated to reading. What can I do to improve my use of the journals I started last year? Perhaps it would be valuable to tie them into the weekly reading...there's a thought! How can I enhance the effectiveness of the interactive white board installed in my room? I wanted the interactive whiteboard for its...interactive...capabilities. I never wanted a glorified white board that the students don't use. The learning curve has been steep, but hopefully, I now have a better idea of how to create student-response activities using the board's software and hand-held response units. We'll find out on day 1 since I'll be using the hand units to survey my incoming French 1 students. Each year of high school is a "transition" year of sorts for the students...changing grade levels, changing teachers, changing levels of responsibility, preparing for college and other post-high school endeavors. For the first time in a long time, I feel like my students. I'm approaching the year with a clean slate and a lot of questions that don't have easy answers. Fortunately, all transitions are an opportunity to change for the better, which makes this year a very exciting time!

So far, so good

2008-08-30 18:31:00.0

It's been an exciting start to the school year. So far, the changes I have implemented (such as weekly homework packets) are having a positive effect in class. I am more aware of which students are struggling to keep up with the pace of the work and I already have far more information about my students' achievement in French than I had at this time last year. In addition, it has been a thrill to see my French 3s and 4s again. The improvement they have made since I met them for the first time last year is incredible. All of them can write coherently (if simply) in French now. When French 3 wrote an introductory paragraph for me this year, I was able to understand all of them, even with errors. Last year, I asked all of them to write me a paragraph introducing themselves and many of the paragraphs were incomprehensible. I congratulated the French 3 class on their success with the paragraphs because I want them to know that even if they feel like they struggled in French 2 last year, they actually have made gains and those gains are apparent in their writing. French 1 has proven the most interesting. I am ashamed to admit that I still don't know all of their names, but I am getting there. What I found interesting is that my use of French in class has definitely been appropriate because some students--including some with no French experience in their background--have already started automatically responding to me in French anytime I talk to them (when they have the words to do so). This is a sign that they are already mentally switching to the French they do know when they are with me and definitely indicates that they are excellent candidates to become fluent speakers of French down the line. Bonne continuation!

Wiki wonderland!

2008-10-04 18:01:00.0

So I discovered wikis at a leadership institute for language teachers in Iowa in 2006. Of course, my students had no idea I knew what a wiki was because when I returned to BV last year, I did not start using wikis with students. I had created several wikis to enhance teacher collaboration and the sharing of information and resources on specific topics and I knew I wanted to use them with students for the same purposes. You are probably asking yourself, "What is a wiki?" No fear...I'll explain and then I'll follow my explanation with a really great video from the folks at CommonCraft. A wiki is part of web2.0. Web 2.0 content is generally content that allows users to interact with a web site, usually by contributing, editing, or otherwise changing what is on a web site, often in real time. Businesses use wikis to facilitate project management when meeting in person is impractical. All members of the team can upload their pieces of the project and everyone else can see and comment on what has been accomplished while also uploading their own portions. If you'd like to learn more about wikis, check out this cool video. Anyway, I finally decided that it was time to introduce my students to wikis, but as is my style, I jumped in with both feet, and all of the rest of me. If I was going to try wikis with students, then I was going to go all out...multiple wikis, with different purposes for all of my students. So now, all students are working on paperless culture projects. All of their research will be uploaded to their class culture wikis so we can all visit their pages and learn from what they studied. French 3 and 4 also have epals in Belgium, but rather than email, we're corresponding on the wiki. The students love it because they can see what everyone is writing and they can write to everyone, not just to their epal (and I can track what they're writing by going to one web site rather than opening individual emails). French 4 is also collaborating on a wiki to share their growing knowledge of solar energy with others and they're even beginning to blog on their thoughts regarding Burkina Faso Solar Project on that wiki (I'm blogging there too). The wiki provides authentic opportunities to communicate in French, cultural connections to other French speakers who are joining our wikis, and an easy way to collaborate with others on projects without being in the same room or even working online at the same time. Since none of my students had yet used a wiki, some "all together" practice was necessary. But now, they're all getting the hang of it and updating their various pages from home or from the library. Even students without internet at home are participating, in fact I consider it more critical that they participate. Their lack of internet at home should not be keeping them from working with current technologies. Although technology will always evolve, and wikis will one day be replaced with something else, students' ability to adapt will be critical to the workplace, and adaptation requires numerous experiences from which to build.

Hoping to go farther

2009-02-01 11:34:00.0

So, being sick set me a bit behind, but it did give me time to catch up on some professional reading. That, in turn, has reinvigorated my desire to move away from business as usual in the classroom and continue looking for ways to make learning more meaningful, relevant and engaging for my students.

Don't get me wrong; I haven't found the answers I'm looking for yet. But I realized that I've somewhat lost my way on that path. Oh sure, my lessons are always planned, and some of them are even good. Yet, when I ask myself, "Is each lesson relevant to my students?" I have to conclude that the answer is probably "no."

Have I gone out of my way to tailor lessons to my students interests? Maybe not. I've tried. I gave French 4/AP a choice on how to proceed for the next several weeks, and our lessons are based on the results of their discussion and vote. I've tried to provide opportunities for French 3 and 4/AP students to have real conversations with French teenagers through their epals wikis. French 4/AP is also trying to make a difference in Burkina Faso. Somehow, though, it feels like these are more my pet projects than theirs. There isn't nearly as much excitement for communicating with other teenagers (native French speakers) as I hoped there would be. Our Burkina Faso solar project has generated the feeling that we're making a difference beyond our classrooms, and connecting with another part of the French-speaking world.

French 1 students prepared questions a little over a week ago that they may able to use to interview French-speaking celebrities and athletes through their fan sites. I still have to put together a list for them and find the fan sites, but this was one way I hoped to make their learning more relevant for them as well. Yet, for French 1, I still need to do so much more. I want to build their foundational language skills so that they will be prepared to take on more complex linguistical challenges in subsequent levels, but I really feel a need to spend more time tailoring to their interests. Perhaps a survey (either learning styles, interests or combination) is in order!

I keep seeing technology as a way to relevance, but I'm not finding it as easy as I'd hoped to seamlessly embed communicative technologies in our lessons. Issues of access at home have somewhat hindered our progress and our access on the mobile computer lab at school can be problematic, especially on the internet. My experiment with the wiki culture projects didn't quite turn out as I'd hope, but that was mainly because I was overwhelmed in grading so many projects and I realized that I hadn't set up appropriate structures, such as a rubric, to grade them effectively. Ideally, culture shouldn't be separate from the curriculum anyway, but rather integrated into the linguistic content of each lesson. While I feel I do that rather well through class discussions and also through the use of authentic documents (menus, TV guides, phone book pages, web sites, advertisements, etc.), I don't find that I am easily able to assess their cultural knowledge other than by asking specific questions on tests. That seems somewhat limited and contrary to the goals of the cultural components of lessons.

Clearly, I still have a long way to go towards becoming the teacher I want to be. When I get there, I'll likely have learned so much that I will find many more things I need to learn to take my practice even further. On the upside, I am still going. I don't believe in treading water just to stay in the same place. I'd rather swim.

The same, yet different

2009-08-06 10:07:00.0

Unlike most summers, I had a lot of time this summer to do some reading. In fact, I finally read most of the numerous books I've been collecting on various aspects of education and teaching. I read books on supporting my students multiple intelligences; books on assisting students to summarize, evaluate, and analyze information in a variety of ways; books with ideas for increasing the amount of student talk in my world language classes; books on the appropriate design and use of homework to further student achievement; and of course, the seminal "Classroom strategies that work" by Marzano, and its companion "Classroom strategies that work for English Learners" (who aren't so different from my French learners).

Then I spent time online looking further into technology integration, which led me to join ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). The depth of knowledge and resources in the materials provided by this organization will keep my brain buzzing for quite a while. Boredom certainly won't be an issue!

Did these books books and web sites impact my practice? I like to think so. I took copious notes in them and elsewhere. I designed my first week's lesson plans using some of the new strategies and technologies (such as my current favorite: wordle) I had read about. I created new wikis for each of this year's classes. I reconsidered my homework policies...although I was gratified to see in the research that, for the most part, my use of homework is in line with what many consider to be best practices, including not usually assigning homework on weekends or holidays. My main focus on homework this year will be to build in more feedback mechanisms (from me or from the students themselves).

I also spent time this summer closely studying the new World Language Content Standards for California Students K-12 and determining which standards I would address at each level of instruction. Eventually, these standards will be available on the California Department of Education web site, but apparently, they are still finalizing the editing and formatting. Having this new document available to describe the practice of all language teachers in the state (and the level of accomplishment of all of the state's students) using the common language of the standards will impact--and invigorate--language programs throughout California.

I did take one trip: to New York City, where I visited two exhibitions related to WWII France (one about literary life of French authors under the Occupation and the other about the life of the Jews throughout Europe, including France). Both exhibits featured sections on the author Irène Némirovsky, whose unfinished work Suite Française I also read this summer. Even more devastating than the knowledge that she died in deportation before she could finish this work were the letters included at the end of the book where all who knew and worked with her were desperately (and unsuccesfully) trying to spare her from the consequences of being a foreign-born Jew in France during the war.

Numerous documents and concepts I viewed in the exhibit will be incorporated into my WWII unit for advanced students in the late spring, which will now have an added component on the power of words. Students need to realize how words are used in the literal and figurative senses to drastically influence public opinion. The Shoah (the term preferred by practicing Jews for the Holocaust) started with words. Words are used to describe and denigrate those of the "other" tribe in Rwanda and other war-torn regions of Africa. Weapons may kill physically, but words are used to justify the unjustifiable or to break the spirit first. Our students must become more critical listeners and readers because words will always be used in ways that twist and alter their intended meanings. Fortunately, focusing on the power of words will allow us to also examine how words can be transformative in beautiful and positive ways as well.

While I was in New York I purchased the French edition of Suite Française and also numerous other books and magazines in French for my students this year. In fact this summer I purchased dozens of books and magazines for my students, making a significant contribution to the variety of reading materials available for the silent reading French 3 and 4/AP students do every Thursday.

All in all, I'd say it's been a wonderful summer. These past several weeks functioned exactly as intended: to refresh and renew, preparing me to start another year that will be the same and yet different. Just the way I like it.

Technology I'm liking right now

2009-08-06 16:35:00.0

So, as I've mentioned in an earlier post, I did some exploring of technologies I might be able to use in my classes. I already have an interactive white board and I make extensive use of that. So in addition to numerous sites I love specifically for their frenchiness, here are some online tech tools I'm planning on using this year:

http://www.wordle.net : allows users to create word clouds. I see this working both for giving students a chance to practice with specific functions (like describing themselves) and as a really cool tool for analyzing literature. Downside: no way to search for created images once they're uploaded to the gallery and the process for saving them to a computer is a bit tedious as well.
http://lingtlanguage.com/nnaditz allows me to create my own speaking and listening practice activities, using my own voice or using video that has been uploaded to youtube. I've created a few simple activities so far, but I'm planning on creating more and expanding on the creativity of how I use the program.
http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/ allows users to create many different types of analyses based on data sets. I haven't figured out how to use this yet, but I have a feeling it could be really good.
http://wiki.classroom20.com/ has an awesome collection of links on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom

Tipping point

2009-11-14 06:48:00.0

So it appears that my teaching is taking a drastically different direction--at least in French 4/AP. Perhaps this is because I'm always looking for ways to make learning and practice more authentic (more realistic). Perhaps I simply reached the point (finally) where I felt comfortable enough to not be so traditional, if only at this one level of my instruction.

So, as I look at what's left of this school year, it struck me this week that I we have so many long-term or ongoing projects to do this year that we won't have time to do as many activities centered around the textbook as I normally do. I should clarify...the textbook never teaches material; I do. However, I often (but not always) use the sequencing of information provided by the textbooks at each level to determine the order in which I will progress. I often (but not always) do the majority of practice activities (for all skills--speaking, listening, reading, and writing) that are provided by the textbook and its ancillary materials. For many years, I've wanted to move away from having so much class time spent with books open--even though the students are usually talking in pairs or small groups to accomplish the book activities.

Back to my point. At least in French 4/AP, I may have hit the tipping point. I've managed to get so many projects going that we simply can't do as much from the textbook. The challenge will be for me to seamlessly fold in the vocabulary and structures the students still need around the work they are already doing for their other projects. I'll need to be very thorough in assessing language needs for each little chunk of every project so that I can determine which elements of language naturally complement their success with that facet of the project.

So what are we doing? Well...

we're starting an online TV show with 14 episodes. Each episode will stream live on the internet and also be recorded and saved on the show's TV site. The episodes will have a different student director each time who chooses the theme of the episode based on his/her own interests and who assigns roles (on- and off-camera) to all of the other students. If you'd like more information about how this show is related to our standards, and our school's vision and mission, contact me. Would you like to watch our shows? Go to our show's channel on the web!
we will be doing a student-created museum in downtown in the Spring. This will be the third museum we've done. This year's theme will be WWII France. You can see much of the information we'll be studying by going to my WWII France wiki.
and we just received a grant to implement a project-based-learning event called the café des arts. The students themselves helped me design the project and write the grant last year. It's incredibly complex--easily the most complex learning event I've ever tried to organize. If you'd like to see what we're doing, contact me for a copy of the application.