How to encourage students to use L2

outside the classroom?

Odile Rollin, October 30, 2010University of Calgary

Department of French, Italian and Spanish

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2 projects

High SchoolUniversity

Challenges in French Classes

• Number of students per class• Motivation & engagement of students• Resources available• Time to cover curriculum• Time for practice and provide feedback• Classroom : “artificial place”

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Community Resources

BookstoreRestaurants

Local newspaper

“Le Chinook”

Choir

Church

Radio

Television

Alliance FrançaiseACFA

Festivals

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Cafés

Time

ApprehensionLocation

Motivation

Students’

response…

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Pilot Project

University Passport

“Passeport d’activités”

- With the support of the French Centre

- Since September 2009

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University

Passport

MotivationApprehensionLocationTime

What is the French Centre?• Drop-in Centre (Craigie Hall C 301)• French Monitors• Magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, films, newsletter,

music, TV, radio...• FLIP + French courses• Trip to Quebec• Scolarships• Repsit• Various activities from Sept till April: Café – croissant,

immersion weekends, games, presentations, movies… mostly conversations and individual help

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• University of Calgary:

– FRENCH 209 (200 students/year)

– FRENCH 211 (130 students/year)

– FRENCH 213 (200 students/year)

3 courses with a final oral exam

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1. Reading

• Students choose and prepare one paragraph from any text.

• Students meet with a monitor and read aloud.

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2. Editing

• When an assignment is graded and errors identified by the French Instructor, students make the necessary changes at home.

• Then, they meet with a monitor to go over the changes they made.

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3. Communication

• Students choose 2 to 4 questions in a list of questions provided by the Instructor.

• Students prepare the answers at home.• Students meet with a monitor to present their

answers.

FRENCH 209 :- Introduce your family- What do you study at the U of Calgary and what courses are you taking ?

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4. Writing

Students prepare their assignment at home and meet with a monitor to read their work aloud.

FRENCH 211 Events of their

weekend

FRENCH 209“Acrostiche” based on

their name

FRENCH 21310 sentences using the

subjunctive around a topic

Example of acrostic for FRENCH 209:C courageuseO optimiste U universitéR réservéeT timideN nationalité canadienneE éléganteY yeux bleus

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5. Oral Presentation

• Students prepare an oral presentation for the Lab Instructor.

• Students practice their presentation in front of a monitor.

FR 209You meet a student from University Laval . Prepare a dialogue including greetings, questions on university courses and family members.

FR 213Prepare a presentation on a trip you went on.

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How to use the Passport?

• Pick-up the passport at the French Centre• Sign up the sign up sheet for each activity• One activity per week • 11 weeks to finish 5 activities• 2% per activity• Activities done in any order• Hand in passport to Instructor one week

before the end of classes17

Date

EVALUATION

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Feedback from Beginner Students• “The passport was an overall good experience. To

be honest, it was very scary going to the French Centre as a beginner, but it only encouraged me to speak French. It was intimidating trying to talk to someone much more fluent in the language, but all of the monitors were helpful whenever I struggled. My favorite activity was the acrostic! All the different descriptive words available made it interesting, but also challenging to find the right ones! ”

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• “It was somewhat intimidating to go to the French Center as a beginner. It was not 'fun' per se, but I suppose it was helpful.”

• “Some activities were more fun that others. For example, the “acrostiche” was fun, but the oral presentation with my partner was difficult to schedule”.

Feedback from Beginner Students (2)

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• “I very much enjoyed going to the French Centre. I think it was a great way to get the students to practise their oral skills. I ended up spending quite a lot of time there.”

Feedback from Intermediate Students

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• “I enjoyed the “Passeport d'activités”. It forces students to go to the French Centre and practice speaking. I think it was very worthwhile as after I had been to the French centre a few times, I felt comfortable to go back often. ”

• “The “Passeport d’activités” gave me a specific purpose to go to the French Centre. Before, I was not sure what to do there.”

Feedback from Intermediate Students

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• “Overall I thought that the “Passeport d’activités” was useful and encouraged us to practice speaking French outside of the classroom. I don't think I would have visited the French Center if the activity hadn't required us to do so. After having been to the FC, I visited the center more (especially in preparation for the final exam).”

• “I enjoyed the "Passeport d’activités", I found the monitors very relaxed and extremely helpful. The activities were enough work to learn something but they were not too much to be difficult to finish in a reasonable amount of time.”

Feedback from Intermediate Students

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Feedback from monitors

• Passport built ties and friendship between students and monitors

• Students participated more in activities offered by the French Centre (Immersion weekends...)

• Monitors gained knowledge of curriculum taught in each course

• Monitors developed strategies to help students in specific areas

• Attendance in the French Centre was higher

... BUT...24

• Shorter activities (200 students x 5 activities= 1000 visitors for 6 monitors)

• Immersion weekend counts for 2 activities (Communication and Oral presentation)

• Activity date stamped• No make-up activities for lost passports or late

students• No drop-in, sign-up sheet only

Feedback from monitors

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Feedback from the Instructors

• Excellent preparation for the final oral exam• Regular contacts with native speakers improve

comprehension• Individualized support from specialists• Confidence building in L2• Easy to mark (0%, 1% or 2% : total = 10%) • Use of target language outside the classroom

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Feedback from the French Centre

• The French Centre is now known from most students enrolled in French courses

• Recurring visitors to the French Centre (6 visits)

• Higher attendance in the French Centre• Affordable document (7 cents / passport)• Hiring of 2 extra monitors

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Any questions?

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“Passeport francophile”

Designed and put in place by Nathalie Dunn at William Aberhart High School (Calgary Board of Education) in 2007.

- 16 pages- Attractive- 9 categories- 8 stamps/page

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« Passeport francophile »

• Rationale:• - to integrate culture in

L2 learning• - to encourage the use

of L2 in class and outside the classroom

• - to put students in authentic L2 situations

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Motivation ?

- Oral participation mark

- Citizenship Award

- Prizes at the end of the year

- Scholarship (Trip to Quebec)

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How does the “Passeport francophile” work ?

- One passport per student per year

- Stamped and dated by all immersion teachers

- Completed pages entered for the draw

-Passports handed in for oral participation mark

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Categories included in “Passeport francophile”

- In class use of L2

- Films, book club, and guest speakers

- Trips, exchanges, and special events

- Participation in “Immersion in Action”

- Music and community events attendance

Each activity is stamped and dated

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Feedback on the “Passeport francophile”

- Good motivator for most students

- Difficult to complete some pages

- Easy to use for teachers

- Costly document

- Sponsors to contact

-Support from the school / staff

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Any questions?

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Repsit

• Web site designed for teachers and students of French

• Started in 1997• Designed by 2 French

instructors• 4000 sites

• 10 categories– Civilization– Dictionaries– Exercises (on-line)– Newspapers and Medias– Libraries and Bookstores– Literature– Youth literature– Music– Pedagogy

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Caracteristics of Repsit

Excellent quality of sitesExcellent quality of language

Regular updates

Wide variety of sites

Stable site since 1997

No advertisement

Instructors’ emails

User friendly

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Dictionaries (75)

Definitions

TranslationSynonyms

Thematic (Music, Food, Stainglass …)

Illustrated Vocabulary

Other (Etymology, Quotes, Proverbs, Acronyms…)

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Exercises

Interactive

Selfcorrecting 1200 exercises

3 sections

Grammar VocabularyComprehension, Culture, Phonetics

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Statistics

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Statistics

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Statistics

• 84,000 visits per year• Visitors from 170 countries• Proper connection over the year : 96%• Direct traffic: 22%• Referring sites: 52%• Search engines: 24%

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Odile’s Bookmarks

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1. To teach French http://www.ucalgary.ca/repsit/ 

2. To listen to the French news  http://jt.france2.fr/20h/

3. To translate a word           http://wordreference.com/

4. To prepare self-correcting exercises        http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

5. To read the French newspaper from Calgary http://www.lechinook.com/

6. To send students to a great programme in Frenchhttp://www.francophoniedesameriques.com/forum2010

Any questions?

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Odile Rollinrollin@ucalgary.ca

Eileen Lohkaelohka@ucalgary.ca

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