Chez Renée

Popplet Lite is a FREE app for iPad which allows the user to diagram or map ideas with ease.  I've been meaning to try this app with my students all year, and finally did so in my French IV class.  We had just finished reading Le Comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo) as a class.  This was a lot of work and took us a lot of time.  After finishing our study of the book, we watched the film in French.  As is often the case, the film is quite different from the book.  I wanted my students to compare the book with the film in French, and using Popplet to do this worked really well. I asked students to map out the differences and the similarities between the book and the film, and then to share the popple with me.  Here's an example of a student mapping the differences: And here's a popple showing the similarities: I found this app very easy to use and very intuitive.  It is also possible to insert photos into ...

Have you heard about Quizlet? It's a very powerful tool all teachers should know about! Basically, Quizlet is a website that allows you to create flashcards in many languages. Students can access the cards you've created and play games and even take tests in order to learn the words on the cards.  They can also  listen to any word in French and hear how it's pronounced.  And it's FREE. I decided last year to make Quizlet flashcard sets for every unit for each level of French that I teach.  That was a lot of flashcards!!  I put links to all the sets on my class web pages, and now students can go there any time they want to and study for any unit they want to, which I think is a great resource for a teacher to provide.  If you would like to see the sets I've made, or even use them, you can search for my user name ( madamermwood ) at the Quizlet site. The questions becomes, however, how to integrate this tool into a wo...

This year I tried a new project at the end of the semester as a way to review what we'd learned.  My high school is in year #2 of a 1:1 iPad program, and I consider myself lucky to have this amazing tool to work with when considering a new project.  I decided to try an app I'd heard of called PuppetPals HD .  This app allows students to create puppet shows using different backgrounds and different characters, and they are able to record their voices as well.  The possibilities for creativity are endless, and to top it off, the app is free! I asked students to create a puppet show after giving them specific guidelines for what I expected to be included.  Students had a lot of freedom to create whatever sort of story they wanted to.  While creating these projects, I was happy to see lots of smiling and giggling going on.  I was also pleased with the results.  Here's an example. I was delighted to ...

Enrich your classes and teach French culture at the same time by including some fun French Christmas activities!  I enjoy teaching students about the bûche de noël  (Yule Log cake) eaten in France in December.  I like to bring a cake in as a surprise and let students eat it after I've explained what it is.  My students really enjoy this and even remember it years later.    Some years, I've made the cake.  And sometimes I buy a cake when I can find one.  This year I found a beautiful bûche at Holiday Market  in Royal Oak.  Here's a photo: I always make sure to provide students with a recipe and encourage them to try and make one if they like to cook.  It seems like there are always a few students for whom this ignites an interest in French on a new level.  Because the cakes are expensive to buy & time-consuming to make, it's not practical for me to share this in every level of French th...

Wow!!  I just learned about a new app called Morfo.  The English teachers at my high school were using it in their classes, and one of my students showed it to me.  This app allows you to animate a photo of a person's face and you can also add audio.  You can cause the face to show different emotions such as surprise, or you can make the face smile.  My mind is spinning with ideas about how I can use this in French class! Naturally, I tried using it to make my classroom mannequin come to life!  In the past, I've used the FaceJack app (which I also LOVE) to bring my mannequins to life.  But Morfo offers even more possibilities!  Here's a quick sample of my classroom mannequin in the Morfo app.     I decided to try using Morfo with my French IV class last week.  We're currently reading Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. I assigned each student a character from the book and asked them to fin...

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I use antique department store mannequins in my classroom as a way to teach French creatively and with pizazz.  My students love the stories I write about Jacques and his girlfriend, Suzette.  I often act out these stories, which are written to reinforce whatever I'm trying to teach at the moment.  In my opinion, the use of these mannequins is one of my best ideas for keeping my classroom exciting & stimulating.  You can imagine my excitement when I recently discovered 2 antique mannequin children for sale!  I knew that these mannequins would be Jacques & Suzette's children, and would provide inspiration for me to write new stories.  It didn't take me long to decide to buy them, knowing that I might never find mannequin children again. Here they are! I love the detail on these...they have real eyelashes!  It will be one of my goals for this new school year to write...

Hoorah for summer!   Although school has been out for a while, today feels like the first day of summer for me since I've been busy attending workshops for the past few weeks.  I heard from several experienced edcuators who shared from their wealth of knowledge what they've learned over the years.  Mostly they reminded me of some important things that I already knew, but that are easy to forget when one is focused on the daily responsibilities of teaching.  I'd like to share what I was reminded of with you :).   Students will believe what you tell them :  Dr. Sharon Faber reminded me of this truth...and it is so easy to forget!  High school students may look like adults, but they are truly still children in many ways, and will often believe what you tell them simply because you are the teacher.  So remember to say such things as, "This is going to be your best year ever!", becaus...