Chez Renée

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

Bonjour fellow teachers!  It's the end of April...a time of year when most of us feel tired and are wondering if we can make it to the end of the school year.  It's the time of year when we feel like we're just limping or maybe even crawling to the finish line.  Creativity wanes.  We find ourselves just trying to survive.  And our students probably feel the same way.  Believe me, I know...and I feel your pain. I want to offer you some encouragement.  It is for all of these reasons that something new & exciting is just what is needed in our classrooms.  For our own sake, and also for the sake of our students.  We can not hope to pass along enthusiasm for learning to them if we're not excited about what we're teaching ourselves!  I get excited when I try something new and it turns out to be successful, and that's exactly what happened last week.  I had an idea about a new story I could write about my classroom mannequins, Jacques...

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...

I've been meaning to write a new story for The Adventures of Jacques & Suzette, my classroom mannequins (see previous posts on How to Use a Mannequin in Your Classroom for further explanation).  In particular, I've intended to write a story about Valentine's Day, but have had difficulty finding the time to do so.  I was inspired anew on a recent trip to Rome, where I saw padlocks covered with the initials of lovers locked to chains and posts on the bridges crossing the Tiber River.  I learned that the tradition is for lovers to lock these padlocks to the bridge and throw the key into the river as a symbol of their love. This tradition also spread to France, where lovers lock padlocks to the Pont des Arts  (this is the name of a bridge, for those of you who may not speak French) in Paris.  How romantic!  So, I wrote a new adventure about Jacques planning the perfect Valentine's Day date for his girlfriend, Suzette.  They wen...

My first year students were learning to name methods of transportation, which inspired me to write a story about Jacques, the classroom mannequin.  In the story, Jacques is trying desperately to get to his girlfriend's house to pick her up for a date.  He tries various methods of transportation, but each one fails for one reason or another.  In the end, he has fallen off a bike and broken his leg, so he walks the rest of the way, dragging his broken leg behind him. When he arrives (late, obviously), his girlfriend's dad opens the door and says, "I'm sorry, but Suzette isn't here..." Students were asked to write a 5 line ending to the story.  They worked in groups of 2, and were instructed to write out their lines on paper.  Then they had to act out their endings for the class.  Here are some photos of their endings. These students borrowed some crutches for Jacques (left).  Suzette's father is on the right.  Notice the smile...

Jacques DUBOIS, my classroom mannequin, just turned 16!  So we had a birthday party for him in French I.  Students were asked to bring Jacques a present for the party.  It had to be something they made or something from home they could give away, but they weren't allowed to buy anything for him.  Students wrote descriptions of what they were giving him and why in French, and on the day of the party, they presented their gifts to Jacques in front of the class.  Here are some examples: This young lady is giving Jacques a wig, because he's bald :). This young lady is presenting Jacques with a scarf. One student made Jacques a French driver's license! My students got really excited about giving Jacques a present!  It continues to amaze me how easily I can get them to buy into the whole story.  It reminds me that they're still really just kids at heart (and maybe I am, too :). Students also enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to ...

We've been learning what one might say at the doctor's office and how to describe pain in various parts of one's body.  So I've been using my classroom mannequin Jacques to help teach this.  I told students that Jacques was in the Tour de France last weekend (yes, I know it's not really held in March).  I also told them that it wasn't really Lance Armstrong who won the race...it was Jacques, of course :).  Did you notice Jacques' really awesome, authentic maillot jaune (yellow jersey)?  I paid a lot of money for that... I saw it at a store in the mall once and I knew exactly how I'd use it!  I told students that Jacques fell off his bike during the race and that's why he's wearing bandages. I acted out a conversation between Jacques and the doctor.  I played the part of the doctor, and the part of Jacques' voice as well! Jacques told the doctor that his nose, mouth and arm hurt.  The doctor told him to take two aspir...

Third year French students are currently learning how to describe a person's hair in detail.  Our textbook presents vocabulary on specific hairstyles as well as what to say at a hair salon if you want to get your hair cut.  I used a collection of wigs and masks (many of them purchased at Halloween stores) and my friend Jacques to introduce these words in class. Jacques has short, black hair.  And he's saying, "Merci.  Merci beaucoup". Jacques has braids. Jacques has short brown hair. Jacques has a punk hairstyle! Jacques has hair that's short on the top and sides, but long in the back. Jacques has curly hair. Jacques has long, black hair with highlights. Students also practiced suggesting how Jacques should cut his hair for the various hairstyles shown.  I got my students to laugh with the Elvis mask, and I was proud that they understood the joke in French, however simple it was :).    ...