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How to use a mannequin in your classroom #17: Guess what's in Jacques' head?

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Last year I added a new routine to my French III class which I've named Guess what's in Jacques' head?. It was inspired by a wonderful game I purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers called  La Boîte Mystère   from The French Nook (un grand merci, Jennifer, for this great idea!!). The basic idea is that you hide a random object in a mystery box, and students have to guess what's in it. As I pondered using this idea, I remembered that Jacques' head is hollow! I decided that my students might like this activity even more if I hid the mystery object inside his head. So now I do this every Friday and my students practice asking yes/no questions about the shape, size, texture, color and the general use for the item until they guess it. Once they do, I make a big production of tipping Jacques forward so we can all look inside his head.  The activity takes about 5-10 minutes of my lesson. It has been a real hit in my classroom. Everyone loves it! And it has helped them to ...
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How to use a mannequin in your classroom #16: Break-out lesson!

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Bonjour fellow teachers!  I'm excited to share a new idea with you that I tried for the first time last month.  I was inspired by a presentation I attended at a world language conference on creating a "break-out" lesson.  Have you heard of these?  I decided to try one as part of my semester exam review in my French III class. It was a lot of work to create this lesson, and at one point I did wonder if it was going to be worth it.  My students adored it though, and I thought it was fun, creative and a great way to review major concepts from the semester. If you aren't familiar with the concept of a break-out lesson, the basic idea is that groups of students are racing each other to unlock boxes containing clues which lead them to unlock the next box.  Each group is racing to be the first to make it to the final box.  So, one needs to create some sort of story which gives the students a reason for wanting to race to that final box.  That wa...
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How to use a mannequin in your classroom #15: L'accident de Jacques!

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One of my goals each school year is to find new ways to use my classroom mannequins in my lessons.  I enjoy creating & teaching these lessons, and my students really love them too!  Last week I had a new idea.  In French IV, we've been studying how to talk about accidents and doctor visits.  I decided to dress Jacques up as though he'd had an accident.  Here's what he looked like: Instead of having the students describe what happened in random pictures of people who had suffered various accidents (found in their textbook), I asked them to describe what happened to Jacques.  This was instantly more interesting to them.  And they were interested in the lesson as soon as they entered the classroom...they wanted to know what had happened to Jacques. Students were asked to take photos with their iPads of Jacques' head, neck, hand and leg. Jacques has a bandage on his head, and stitches on his neck!! Jacques has a scar on his ...
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How to use a mannequin in your classroom #14: Le pique-nique de Jacques & Suzette!

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I would say that after more than 20 years in the classroom that one of the most important lessons I've learned is this:  If you can get your students interested in what you want to teach them, it will make you instantly more effective as a teacher!  My mentor would agree.  When I was a new teacher, he encouraged me to find out what students wanted, and then repackage my lessons accordingly.  I have found this to be very wise advice.   My students are immediately interested in anything that has to do with my classroom mannequins.  And why wouldn't they be?  Wouldn't it be SO MUCH more interesting to sit in a lesson where a teacher was telling & acting out a story about a life-size department store mannequin than to read a boring dialog in a textbook about Pierre & Anne who went to the grocery store?  I took that textbook dialog meant to teach students how to use the passé composé and threw it out, replacing it with a  story I wro...
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Get students speaking by hosting a Game Show!

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Bonjour tout le monde!  I hope everyone has had a great start to their school year! I haven't posted in a while, and I'd like to thank those of you who've recently reminded me that you are reading my blog which has really encouraged me to keep on writing. I'd like to share a successful lesson that I taught last week.  This lesson was used in high school French II and students were learning how to name various professions.  I took a writing activity from my textbook (which described what certain people did in their professions and asked students to guess what it was based on the description), and turned it into a television style game show!  I made index cards on which I wrote the short descriptions and the French name of the person assuming that profession.   Then I made a Power Point presentation to create a game show atmosphere.  The slides of the Power Point showed the same names and descriptions that were on the index cards.  I also inserted game ...
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Les petits bonhommes

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Happy winter from the Mitten!  This weekend I spent a lovely few hours in my kitchen trying a new recipe.  Even though I've had the incredible good fortune to have lived in France, I had never heard of les petits bonhommes  until I saw a French chef preparing them on a cooking show.  They are absolutely adorable, and ever since I saw the show, I've wanted to find time to make them for my students.  You can find the recipe  here . The recipe is not simple and does require some time.  I love to bake though, so for me it was enjoyable and also very satisfying to be able to expose my students and also my own family to this French treat!  Here's how mine turned out: Let me tell you, these things smelled heavenly!  Not only are they cute, but to me they are so very, very French! I would describe the taste and texture as something close to a German soft pretzel, except that the dough is slightly sweet.  They are made in Alsa...
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How to use a mannequin in your classroom #13: Crime Scene Investigation!

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As I write this post, I'm sitting by my swimming pool enjoying the month of July and reflecting on the past school year.  This lesson was one of my favorite lessons, and it was something I'd never tried before.  I think it's so important for teachers to continue to learn, grow, and adapt.  This lesson was born out of a desire to find a more effective and interesting way to introduce the correct use of the passé composé (compound past tense) & the imparfait (imperfect tense) when describing past events.  I used it in my French II class, which for me is the first time the concept is introduced.  The idea I came up with is something that I discovered that many elementary school teachers already use...I first saw the idea on Pinterest.  Here it is:  use a crime scene investigation to get students to recreate a past event.  Brilliant!!!  I have to say that I've learned a lot from elementary school teachers over the years!  If you've ...
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