Lisez-vous en français?

-

My Final Vision Project 

sd8.bc.ca

Create something to help students choose a French book and foster a French reading culture

Why do students need help choosing a French book?

Katherine A. McClellan sums up my experience perfectly in an excerpt from her master’s thesis. I completed my schooling in French immersion, and as a child, I too was very resistant to reading in French. I remember discussing with my friends that French books were bad, making such broad statements as “I don’t like reading in French.” Looking back, I’m not sure it was necessarily that I didn’t like reading in the French language, but more that I wasn’t finding books that peaked my interest that were written in French. (MCCLELLAN, 2009)

How do you foster a French reading culture when the library is closed?

To answer this question, I’m going back to my previous post and to my beliefs about fostering a French reading culture. The key to get students to “buy into” reading in French is all about peaking their interests.

I’ve decided that a good starting point will be to create and distribute the infographic. In order to peak the students’ interest, it needs to be visual. It needs to use simple, easy to read language that is free of jargon. It needs to include links to something that is living and that will be added to over time and once the COVID rules are over, that students can add to as well.

Here is a translation of the big ideas of the my Piktochart

1. Set a reading goal

2. Answer the following question: are you reading for imagination?

3. Or for information?  

4. If you choose fiction, what genre do you prefer? Look at the title, cover page and summary. Does it interest you? Give yourself a goal to read the first chapter.

5. If you choose non-fiction, “read” the pictures and the descriptions. Give yourself a goal to learn 5 new facts.

6. Look at the different series in the library.

7. Is there an author in English who you like? If so, ask if there are translations of his or her books.

8. Look on Destiny Discover for recently added books. Be the first to read a book and write a review!

9.  Ask a friend to recommend a book.

10. Watch some book trailers of recommended books.  

Get the teachers on board

Simply printing and posting this Piktochart is not enough. I will be sharing it at our next staff meeting. After all, I need the teachers to “buy into” it before I can sell it to the students.

Lessons

Once the teachers have an understanding, I will be going into classrooms to “teach” the different aspects of the chart. Although French immersion students are resistant to reading in French, teachers may use teaching strategies and classroom programs that will promote reading in French, in order to increase student success in the French immersion program. (MCCLELLAN, 2009.

Image: time4learning.com

These lessons include, setting reading goals and choosing a good fit book in French, learning more about the different series in the library, using Destiny Discover to see newly added French books and how to write book reviews, and watching and creating book trailers for recommended books.

Measuring my efforts

How will I know if my efforts have been successful? I will be using the reports that can be generated through Destiny Discover, and by asking my colleagues and students at the school. I am limited here because the library is closed at this time.

Suggestions from Students

What could I do differently? I asked my grade 6 students and they had some thoughts and suggestions:

“I like it. It’s easy to read” Dustin P.

“You could add something about French reading challenges.” Nate S.

“The Animoto videos are cool. I want to make a book trailer and add it to the YouTube channel”. Michelle M.

“I think this will help me pick a French book.” Dow A.

“You should have pictures of students from the school on the Piktochart.” Aiyanna D.

“The QR codes are fun. I want to learn how to make them”. Jillian W.

“I like the google doc with the series of books. Destiny Discover doesn’t always have pictures to go with the French books so this makes it easier.” Esther O.

 “There should be prizes for reading in French”. Olivia F.

I will definitely keep these ideas and suggestions in mind as ways to foster a reading culture in French.

Personal Reflection

On a personal note, I have done a lot of learning with this project. I learned how to create a Piktochart, generate QR codes (and shorten URLS when the QR codes didn’t work), create google docs, and make Animoto videos for a newly created YouTube channel. This has been a labour of love and I hope that you enjoy it.

Be well and stay safe!

sjasd.ca
Bibliography

Animoto. (2020). Retrieved 20 November 2020, from https://animoto.com/projects

How to Create a QR Code | QR Code Generator. (2020). Retrieved 13 November 2020, from https://www.qr-code-generator.com/guides/how-to-create-a-qr-code/

Create Infographics, Presentations & Reports | Piktochart. (2020). Retrieved 20 November 2020, from https://piktochart.com/

Fact Sheets. (2020). Retrieved 25 November 2020, from https://cpf.ca/en/research-advocacy/research/fact-sheets/

MCCLELLAN, K. (2009). FRENCH IMMERSION STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS READING IN FRENCH (Master of Education). University of British Columbia.

Tiny URL | Free Short URL Redirects with Tinycc. (2020). Retrieved 20 November 2020, from https://tiny.cc/

QRCode Monkey - The free QR Code Generator to create custom QR Codes with Logo. (2020). Retrieved 25 November 2020, from https://www.qrcode-monkey.com/

 

Comments

  1. Alison MackleyNovember 30, 2020 at 12:03 PM

    Jennifer,

    Did you make your book trailers. Super fun. I am wanting to get into the book trailer business, but am filled with trepidation. I have a plan to link up with the drama teacher to perhaps put some trailers into production. Last week at the Tuesday night chat, Shannon shared a book tasting slide that she made using google slides; "if you liked .. then you may also like ..." That idea would segue nicely with your other ideas.

    I wish you all the best as you continue on in your TL journey.

    Alison.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownDecember 2, 2020 at 5:17 PM

    Hi Jennifer,

    Wow, what a great tool for the students. It's true, we experience the same thing at our French Immersion school. The students are reluctant to sign out French books. This seems like a really easy tool to use and I can see teachers using it with their students before visiting the library. I like how you mention the different genres and encourage the students to set attainable reading goals.

    Kathleen W.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TL Captain MurrayDecember 3, 2020 at 10:30 AM

    Hi Jennifer,

    What a great Piktochart, and a lot of learning that you did! It's great that you now have a visual to refer to as you teach those lessons to your students, and they can refer to it too, once the lessons are over. I love that you got suggestions from your students, they always have such good ideas. Best of luck!
    Linnaea

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ms. Harte December 5, 2020 at 7:37 AM

    I like how you used a flow-chart for book choosing! It reminded me of a 'choose your own adventure' and will likely be engaging for the students. It is a great idea to have a visual for this topic. "I don't know what to read next" is a comment I hear frequently too.

    I can see myself using something similar, in english, for my students!
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fostering a Reading Culture at School

-
Image
  #1  Parti cipate  in b ook clubs such as  MYRCA  (Manitoba Young Readers Choice Awards).   This is a great  book  club that promotes Canadian literature  and is heavily  encouraged  by school and city libraries. Students in grades 4-8 read from a list  chosen by a committee.  In years past, students would meet a couple of times a week in the library  for reading time, discussion or activities.  At the end of the year, the students vote for their favorite book. I’ve usually  done an Oscar-themed party, red carpet and all, where the academy  (the MYRCA book club students), choose s   the school award  winner . Each student is assigned to be a book’s representative and writes an acceptance speech  from the book’s perspective.   The  winner  accepts the award  and makes his or her speech .  Occasionally, tears are  shed,  and s nacks always follow.  ...
Read more

Gaining Perspective

-
Image
Literacy and Internet Access in Developing Countries I loved this week’s assignment. It got me thinking about things other than what is currently going on around me. Teachers are running at full capacity. Homeroom classes are now split into two rooms and the teacher is going back and forth between them. He or she is also teaching students remotely providing 90 minutes of face to face learning time per day. It is definitely a very interesting time to be a teacher! I am truly overwhelmed by the dedication of staff to meet the needs of the students. Room To Read I find that thinking of others during hard times can be a good way of gaining perspective. My research led me to learning about John Wood, a former executive from Microsoft and Room to Read, an international literacy nonprofit organization. In a nutshell, I love what Room to Read is doing. “It builds bilingual libraries, schools, and computer labs in developing countries. The organization also collects donations of English-langu...
Read more

Responding, evolving and still laughing!

-
Image
FYI: this blog post has lots of memes to keep us laughing during stressful times!  I have decided to be very upfront and honest when answering this week’s assignment questions as I want to think about strategies that will help the staff in our current situation. I’m not quite ready to dream about what I could be doing ICT-wise in a non-COVID situation. How can we, as educators and Teacher-Librarians share what we’ve learned with our wider communities of practices?  How can we best respond to the needs of our staff, in their wide spectrum of abilities and experiences, with the most appropriate and useful professional development? What tools and strategies are best implemented to meet the professional development of staff?  How can we evolve and adapt this practice to be more responsive to the personalized needs of the educators, staff, admin, parents, and other members of our educational community? Winnipeg schools are now moving to Code Orange which means that parents hav...
Read more