Tried to insert my presentation, but it said the file size is too big! I will email it.
That’s a Wrap (for now) with Learning French
I can’t believe the semester is over, that just flew by! It felt like just yesterday I did my introduction for my learning project and now I’m doing a wrap up post! I learned a lot that I haven’t learned before and I am so excited that I was able to learn some French to use in my future. I may not have ended up where I wanted to be at the end of the semester with learning the language, but that’s okay! I still learned a lot.
I also learned a lot about blogging and just getting my thoughts out, which isn’t something I have done before. I like the blog style that we did throughout class, it made it easier to do the assignment such as not having to reference in APA (lol). You can just insert links, your own pictures and videos and there you go!
It was a long and difficult journey but I am proud to say that I know more words in French. I will summarize week by week for you all what I have learned:
Learning Project: Future Pro in Francais:
-wanting to speak & write more in the French language
-wanting to converse more in French
-background knowledge of what I already know in French
-some of the apps & websites I plan to use for my learning project
-using the app Duolingo to practice learning French
-20 minutes of learning per day
-the app is like a game, you earn XP for completing lessons & can level up
-Has a streak feature to keep you motivated
-You have to pay extra for “hearts” to continue lessons
Duolingo Super…Better than Regular Duolingo?
-Unlimited number of “hearts,” so if you make a mistake, you can always keep going
-Includes “ranks,” where you can play against other people
-expensive, probably not worth 119$ a year unless you are really committed to learning the language.
-Used French Pod 101 on YouTube to learn some new phrases
-Learned telephone and internet phrases
-Used iMovie to edit a video of me practicing and uploaded it to YouTube
Using a Netflix Show to Learn French?
-watched Emily in Paris on Netflix to practice learning French
-learned new phrases such as “I care about you” and “I’m proud of you”
-Used the app Busuu to practice learning French
-has a daily streak count to keep you motivated
-videos of people speaking the language rather than an animated animal or person
-You can keep on practicing despite making a mistake
-Learned phrases such as “What did you do today?” and responses to that question.
Dabbling in the French Experiment
-sites that includes online French lessons for beginners
-many different lessons on the website including counting in French, telling the time, question words, etc.
-learning how to make possessions negative
-learning about moods in French from a popular YouTuber
-Alexa goes over the French phrases, repeats them and then gives a test at the end
-learning French from another popular YouTuber
-learning about relative pronouns in French
-games include numbers, phrases, foods, animals, etc.
-Focused on learning the names of animals in French
Contributing to the Learning of Others
I have contributed to the learning of others lots throughout the semester, such as commenting on blog posts regularly throughout the weeks, checking discord and leaving a resource and participating in class discussions in Zoom breakout rooms.
Seeing my classmates progress in their learning projects really made me happy. To see them from beginning to end and see all that they have learned really made me feel like you can learn just about anything from the internet.
I learned a lot from Ali J and all the ideas he shared in class. I enjoyed reading Brianna P’s ASL posts and seeing her progress from beginning to end with learning the language. I also learned a lot from Kacey D. I enjoyed seeing her progress about her making bows.
Here is a link to the resource I shared, and some of the posts I commented on!
MagicSchool to Create a Whole Presentation??
This week, I used MagicSchool to create a presentation to tie along with my learning project for French, which was learning the names of different animals. I thought this would be a perfect example of something to do for this week because I was struggling with what to come up with. I tried to upload a photo of the presentation, but it said the media file was too big.
MagicSchool is awesome and I can see myself using it in my internship and in my future classroom. You can create lesson plans, rubrics, presentations, feedback comments, etc. and it’s very helpful and convenient. You just have to plug in the information that you want to use and it creates a whole project for you.
MagicSchool divided each animal in to categories such as barnyard basics, feathered friends, hooved helpers, unique farm friends, etc. MagicSchool thought of categories for the presentation that I wouldn’t have even thought of! This would definitely enhance student learning and make it more fun and engaging for the students.
Some ethical complications could involve not fully creating a lesson plan on your own. I think it would be fine though because you have to plug in the information that you want to use and MagicSchool just enhances it. It doesn’t really add in any new information. So, I think it is a good tool to use.
Learning French with Games??
This week, I was struggling with what tool to use to learn French. I stumbled upon this website which is a website that you can use to play games to help learn French vocabulary! I think this is an awesome website that you can use as a teacher because the website has all grades you can choose from and find what you are teaching in French at the time to help teach your students.
The only downside is that you have to have a membership and pay for it to play the games. I think it would be beneficial though, especially because children find it motivational to use games to learn. I focused on the homepage, which is free. You can see numbers, phrases, food, how to tell the time, animals, etc. I think you could also use this as a resource in the classroom if you do not want to pay for the membership.
As you can see by the photo, I focused on learning about the names of animals this week. I already know the names of basic animals such as dog and cat, but I don’t know others! Specifically, I learned about sea creatures. I think young kids would love learning the names of sea creatures in French; I definitely did! It tied in well with my learning project this week. Here is a list of names of sea creatures that I learned:
I also wrote down the names of the animals on my iPad again to help practice writing them, and saying them!
Digital Literacy in the Classroom
Teaching about digital literacy is so important, in any grade or age level. Teaching students that not everything they see on the internet is true is major. Getting students to read part of or some of this book. can help such as getting students to check their emotions when reading news or other “facts” on the internet. This can usually be helpful. When something feels too good to be true, it usually is.
This website is also beneficial because it gives facts on what fake news is and how to spot it. There are different types of fake news such as clickbait, sponsored content and fabricated journalism. Who knew there could be so many different kinds of fake news? Even I didn’t. That’s why it is so important to educate our students on this matter.
This book looks wonderful because it includes different lessons to teach your students with. What could be better than that?? Having lesson resources is always beneficial to a teacher. This book includes lessons tying fake news in to science, math and English. I think this book is a hole in one!!!
To include the NTCE framework in my future classroom, I find that it is important that all students have access to the information that they need to complete assignments. If they do not have access to this information, then it will hinder the student’s success in school. Internet resources should be used responsibly and respectfully amongst all students and teachers. Students having access to inappropriate websites such as social media, etc. is not a necessity in the classroom.
I think you could tie any subject, specifically I’m looking at grade 5 because I think that’s the age group that I am interested in teaching to fake news. In Health Education, you could do an activity such as giving the students a fake article or fake video and having them look for the inconsistencies in it and then teach them the importance of not everything that you see is true on the internet.
Learning French with Vincent
This week, I decided to use a series of videos from the YouTube channel Learning French with Vincent. Specifically, I decided to focus on this video.
This week was learning all about relative pronouns in French. It was a little tricky, but I got used to it. I’m not going to do a good job of explaining what a relative pronoun is on my own, so I am just going to quote the video: “A relative pronoun in French is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause, which provides information about a noun in the main clause.” 
I focused on the French phrase “lequel” which translates in English to “which,” “who,” “that” or “whose.” It is difficult knowing that one word can translate in to. so many different meanings. Vincent did a good job of reading out the phrases in French and then translating them to English and explaining what they mean and why. I again wrote the phrases on my iPad to help practice writing them and also saying them.
Overall, I recommend Learning French with Vincent on YouTube. He does a great job explaining what a relative pronoun is and how to use it in different contexts. I recommend anyone to check him out if you are a beginner at learning French! He helped me out a lot and made it easy to understand.
Teaching Students about Digital Footprints
Teaching students about digital footprints is so important. What we post on the internet will follow us everywhere and I think that this is something that students need to know at a young age. I found this video that does a great job of explaining why we should care about our digital footprint; it is worth a watch!
When we are young, we post almost anything on the internet without thinking. I know this because in class we had to look up our name, and when I did that I found my old Facebook account that I made when I was around ten years old. I cringe every time that pops up on the web. I wonder who will see it such as friends, future job employers, etc. I’ve tried to get rid of the account, but Facebook said they can’t do anything about it. Nonetheless, I have to deal with the consequences of my actions of making a Facebook account when I was ten years old. (lol)
I will teach my students the importance of a digital footprint by making sure that what they post online is appropriate. I will teach them that anyone can see what they post, such as on Facebook unless they have certain privacy settings turned on. I will teach them that even when you send a picture on Snapchat and it “disappears,” that it has not actually disappeared and it is still out there somewhere. All in all, I will teach my students to be aware of what they are posting and doing online because it will follow them in to their future. They may not think it does, but it does!
Learning French with Alexa
This week, I practiced learning French with a series of videos from the Learning French with Alexa on YouTube. I mainly focused on this video.
Learning French with Alexa is a great YouTuber. She goes over the French phrase, then repeats it and then there is a “test” at the end that goes over what she had just taught. This week, I decided to focus on learning how to say different moods in French. I think that we say our moods quite often in English, so why not try to learn them in French too? I thought that it would tie in perfectly with my learning project!
I thought a funny and enjoyable thing about the video from Learning with Alexa is that she put on funny glasses that represented different moods to get her viewers to guess what mood she is and to say it in French. It made the video more fun to watch and made it feel less like “work.” All of her other videos are like this too, very enjoyable and fun!
I recently bought a new iPad and I used my it to write down the phrases this week. I found it helpful because I have always had my iPad on me lately. So, I could easily go back and refer to the phrases and practicing saying them. Alexa went over the masculine & feminine phrases of the different moods and she explained it in a way that a beginner could easily understand! I definitely recommend Learning with Alexa on YouTube if you are a beginner learning French!
Digital Citizenship in the Classroom
I looked at this site to help me through my response.
I plan on using digital citizenship in my future classroom by making sure that everyone has access to what they need to have access to such as sites they need to use to do their schoolwork. Other than that, I would prefer to have all inappropriate sites blocked such as social media in order to avoid distraction while trying to complete school work. I also don’t any students to end up on any inappropriate sites and “get in to trouble.”
With digital etiquette, I plan on teaching my students how to use their devices “properly,” in order to be respectful of others. I’m thinking of in class when we learned not to take a picture in front of a casket. It seems like common sense, but in actuality, maybe not everyone knows not to do that, especially at a young age. So, I will teach my future students to have respect when using their devices around others, such as not to take a picture of someone if they do not want one taken and to always ask before a picture is being taken if it is okay. Having consent for these kinds of things is always important, and vice versa.
Here’s a video that I found interesting on digital etiquette that I found interesting and that I think young kids could understand and find helpful.
With digital health and welfare, I will teach my students of the importance of living a balanced life with technology and without. Nowadays, people are on their devices a lot, mainly on social media. Being on technology and social media all the time is not healthy, we know. So, teaching my future students the importance of balance will be on the top of my priority list. But, I’m worried about having the time to teach these kids things with the heavy curriculum. If there’s any advice, let me know, I would be happy to hear from you!