Language learning magic begins with AIM. I am living this truth each and every day! It was another magical day today in French class! I am teaching with the Accelerative Integrative Methodology by +Wendy Maxwell. The students are thriving and they are very obviously loving it. With all the laughs, smiles and loud excitement all period, it's hard to misjudge that they are happy learners!
First, we started with a little TLSE (Teacher Led Self-Expression). I expressed myself through gesturing while the students spoke for me. Sounds a little 'different' to a non-AIMer, but this is just one of the many wonderful techniques built into the methodology that allows students the chance to actively participate in learning by speaking from bell to bell. Students in an AIM classroom very rarely sit passively listening to the teacher. Instead, the teacher gestures what she wants to say, preferably with her mouth silent, like I did today. I said a couple words that were newer to them aloud, but for the most part, I gestured, they spoke...then we all laughed. I was telling them about how I was so excited about the weekend, because we don't have one day or two days, but we have three days this weekend. Then I went on to explain how I am frustrated on weekend days because my children do not understand that we don't need to wake up early. Of course I gesture this with a lot of emotion...I have to admit, that I get a little crazy with my TLSE. We always end up in stitches, though. I think I was born to teach middle schoolers...we just click and have so much fun together!
Second, was the song and dance practice. Oh my, this is getting really interesting! First of all, they are really learning the words to the song. The song is basically a story re-tell of the AIM play we are learning. If you'd like a sneak peek, check this link and scroll down in the video section to "Mon frère Henri."
I play the video with the French subtitles, they stand up and dance and sing. I turn down the music and let them carry the tune at several different sections to see how well they can do. They are really, really getting into this. It is so much fun to see how far they have come since the first day I introduced the song!
Third, we have started answering partial questions, both orally and in writing. I am blown away at how well they are doing with these. They are able to compile complete thoughts in French both orally and in writing at a level I would not expect after two months of language learning. It is AIMazing!!!
Lastly, was our play practice. The students got into their groups and starting practicing the play together. The pronunciation and ability to say their lines is really impressive. They are getting a hang of the play and I simply cannot wait to see what sorts of videos and presentations we come up with next month!!
It was another AIMazing day in my AIM classroom! I cannot wait for the next one...although I am going to enjoy this weekend in the meantime...hope you do the same! :)
Yesterday was a magical day in my AIM-world! It was the first time we used the paper puppets. I honestly did not think it was going to be earth shattering...but boy, was I wrong! The students volunteered to come up in front of the room and hold the puppets. They moved them around to act out the play as we practiced saying it together, with my gestural support.
The students really got into it and made their puppets act in such a funny way....it was it hilarious! First, before we started, they asked me why the dog puppet was so enormous. The play calls him a "petit chien" but really, they're right, the puppet is enormous in relation to the people. We had learned the word "dinosaure" for one of the hats we used in a previous lesson, and one of the kids said something like "Yes, the 'little dog' is like a dinosaur." I am always amazed when students ask me questions in the target language. They are not always perfect, but after just 6 weeks of French, they are comfortable enough to create questions on their own about things that we have not really talked about before in class. It is so cool! Thank you, AIM!!!!
As we started acting out the play with the puppets, I realized I was missing some props. I was missing a bag for Henri to hide the dog in, for instance. I grabbed the closest thing I could find to give to the student holding the puppet for Henri. It was the wolf puppet, which when turned upside down, actually did work like a bag. The kids really got a huge kick out of using the wolf as a bag...I think it's one of those things you'd have to see to truly understand just how funny it was...it seems there's a bit of this happening in my classroom as I said something similar in last week's blog post. At any rate, the students really blew me away with this puppet activity. Everyone was reciting the play even faster than I could gesture...and laughing all the while as some of them moved the puppets around in funny ways to match the words. What a great way to start our lesson!
After our first attempt with "Put the words in order" (which they picked up on really fast), we played a review game. I had told them in the beginning of class: "If you work really well and really hard in class today, we can play a game at the end." Well, actually I was gesturing it and they spoke it for me...there is rarely a moment when the class is not speaking out loud in an AIM classroom...one of the many reasons that AIM truly is an "Accelerative" method!
Playing this game was one of those moments where you just love life, love your job, your students and you are extremely sad that the bell is going to ring and end it. I have to admit, though, that I am getting this sort of positively-good feeling about teaching more and more now with AIM than ever before. Watching my learners grow like never before is such a wonderful experience for all. They are doing so great and I simply cannot wait to see how far we make it in one year. I know they are feeling good, too...I can see it in their faces and eyes when we take a moment to talk about everything we know so far!
So back to the game...here's my quick AIM Forum description of the activity, along with the link to download the game. Please note that I used this template created by Arik Durfee. Arik, if you ever read this, THANK YOU! This was a hilarious, engaging review game. The amount of giggles and belly laughs was more than I've ever heard in my classroom! Here's some screen shots:
The part they loved the most was the random bonus rounds that kept popping up here and there. They would have to read the clue, that would pop up after the message you see in the picture below. It told them to do things like:
1. Stand up and dance Gangnam/French months Macarena/Le twist/etc.
2. Stand up and jump three times really quick
3. Come up to the smartboard and touch Frankenstein's head
I'd love to hear your ideas for more bonus rounds! If you think of anything, please let me know. The bonus part, I feel, was what kept them on their toes and it also made the game even more fun and unpredictable. They just never knew when the bonus would pop up and they were all on alert for it. I was amazed at how fast they were able to read and comprehend and then act out the request.
Later in the day yesterday, the Peace through Language club and I were able to volunteer in a first grade classroom. We did AIM's hat lesson that I mentioned earlier. The kids really love this lesson...whether they are first graders or middle schoolers! I think I have collected over 20 hats now. I need to update my picture, but here's some of them:
So basically, this activity teaches the little linguists about counting in context, the opposite verbs of "put on" and "take off" and the verb "fall" once again, in context. The lesson is just plain, good fun! By the end, there are students all over the place putting on and taking off hats and then they give them all to me. Once I have them all back, I stack them on my head, one at a time saying: "I'm putting on one hat now...Now I'm putting on two hats...etc. They get piled up so high that they start to fall. This caused quite a uproar in giggles with these little ones! AIM has you pre-teach the verb for fall so the students are hearing it again in the same day. The giggles that this activity got were the perfect opportunity to teach the verb "to laugh" so of course we learned that, too. We reviewed the expression, "Ça, c'est fou" as well! (That's crazy!)
There was a birthday in the first grade class this week, so we moved to the smartboard for some birthday fun with this symbaloo I created called "Joyeux Anniversaire." It has birthday songs and other fun goodies for little French linguists...but middle schoolers seem to find it amusing, too!
After singing "Bonne fête" and allowing the birthday boy to choose a link from the Birthday symbaloo, we decided to have a little Halloween fun. We used my other symbaloo: "C'est l'halloween" and we chose +Sylvia Duckworth's video of Matt Maxwell's song "C'est l'halloween." The children learned to sing the chorus and the parts with all the "oui, oui, oui's" and the "non, non, non's." Here's more about my Halloween symbaloo and here's what it looks like...you 'll have to scroll right to see everything:
They loved touching the buttons on the smartboard and seeing the boy's costume change. I was able to ask them some total questions, AIM-style, like "Is this a boy or is this a girl?" and "Is the boy a ghost or is the boy a pirate?" We did this all in French, of course, with complete sentences for answers. The little ones are also doing so great with AIM!
All in all, it was simply an AIMazing day! With such a great start of the year, I honestly wasn't sure I'd be able to keep up the excitement in the classroom...but so far, so good!
Listening to the laughs and seeing all the smiles yesterday just reinforced my passion for AIM Language Learning. Not only was it fun for the learners, but they were speaking in full sentences (and reading as well for the middle schoolers) from bell to bell. It is music to my ears. It makes my heart sing. I even hear from parents on a regular basis that their children come home speaking and singing in French...it doesn't get any better than that!
This summer, I hosted a summer program in my home for neighborhood children. It was quite an experience for all! There aren't any French-speaking families in my area, so I wanted to encourage my children to use the French they know in a fun context. I also wanted them to see that other people in the community value language learning. This camp really did the job! The other goals of the camp were to provide the neighborhood children with exposure to a language at a young age. At our local school, language learning begins in grade 7. This camp was also my first step towards more lengthy programs in the community. It gave me a chance to see how it would go, given the small venue of my great room and basement "kidzone" for the games.
Sunny Earth Camp provided me with many learning opportunities and as always, I learned more from my mistakes than from the successes. For example, having a wide multi-age group of children can be challenging! We had children ages 2-8. For the most part this worked, but I quickly realized that the 2-3 year olds would sometimes need a parent to stay and participate with them. Also, I learned that my own children, even though they are within the age range, did not always behave like perfect angels and sometimes needed daddy to step in to help. It is true that my children are more advanced than any of the other camp participants and I must remember that. They may be the same age as the others, but they understand French well as I have been speaking it to them since birth. The best lessons for them were when they could help me teach or act as a peer leader of the group...what fun that was!!!
None of this is really that surprising. Despite any bumps along the way, the experience was positive for all. My children enjoyed being able to excel and help teach the other children. They also thought it was super cool to have so many fun kids over at the house at the same time! They were always excited when they learned we would be hosing another camp. That is a good thing as my ultimate goal, other than the joy of teaching young children, was to help boost my children's desire to learn and speak French. I think that Sunny Earth Camp definitely helped! I am so thankful to the many parents who chose to bring their children to join us this summer! MERCI!!!!!!
I used this AIM Language Learning Kit as a resource (scroll down in link to see samples of videos we used) along with a variety of fun videos, songs and active games. To read more about AIM, check out my AIM google doc. However, to fully implement AIM, I need to set up future programs to include more than just a few hour-long sessions in the summer! I cannot wait to make this dream come a reality! I am already speaking to community organizations to see where the best venue would be.
As everyone was arriving at camp, learners would gather around the table for the first few minutes to color and decorate name tags and/or other various coloring sheets. There were cultural coloring sheets and French alphabet books and other fun take-home activities at the table for children to choose from...but usually, I'd limit the sheets to what we were working on that day. For instance, if we were learning our fun "Girls and Boys" song by Melanie Cody, then I'd ask the children to color the picture for their gender.
Once everyone arrived and had a few minutes to color, my daughter would help me sing the "Assieds-toi" song by +Ann Chiasson. I added a "viens ici" section first, to bring the children over to the carpet in the great room, then we sat with an "assieds-toi" verse. (I've been told by a couple parents on different occasions, that their child has been "caught" singing this "Assieds-toi" song!)
On the "Boy/Girl" day, after we were settled at the carpet, the children really enjoyed singing and doing the actions to the very active Boy/Girl song! First it says "Girls stand up, girls dance the twist, girls do a spin...girls sit down." Then it's the boys turn "Boys stand up, boys jump up high, boys run really fast, boys sit down." After singing and acting out the song, we'd then play around with the words for boy and girl, learning the AIM gestures and practicing our pronunciation and pairing them with the proper person for their gender. Here's my expert helper a morning before a camp:
The learners thought it was the absolute most hilarious thing when they would purposefully call and girl a boy and vice versa...this hilarity stemmed from my daughter, I'm sure! The giggles were unstoppable! :)
From the AIM kit (a 50 hour unit of instruction), we used this "Bonjour mes amis" song along with the "Au revoir" song. I also pulled from various methods used in AIM.
After our welcome song, we would take a few moments to learn how to ask and answer the question: What is your name? We sang a little song with the names. Before we moved on, everyone was given the opportunity to ask and answer this important question! We then moved on to "How are you?" Of course there was a lot of acting out the different responses! Here is my helper reading her first French words to the class:
We would then usually take a "brain break" to watch a fun video. Here's one example of a video created by +Sylvia Duckworth :
We often would play the "Am Stram Gram" game I made up that combines to different children's games...one French, one American. Am Stram Gram is a choosing rhyme, kind of like Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe. This French rhyme is great for learning the French sounds, but doesn't mean anything. I combined the rhyme with "One Potato, Two Potato" or "Bubble Gum" and the kids really enjoyed being the one to do the "choosing." They never wanted to stop until everyone had their turn! I was able to stop saying the rhyme with them after a couple times, too.
Other "brain breaks" included were 5-a-day dancing routines which helps the children learn directions and other command forms in a fun kinesthetic context:
In between all these active songs and actions, we would use the language in context and/or use it to play games. For instance, after learning the numbers, we went downstairs to the "kidzone" in the basement. I had a couple balloons down there that we used to play a number game the I found from this blog post by Spanish Playground. The kids used their numbers in sequence to count the balloon hits. They really enjoyed that game!
At our last camp, we made crêpes! Many of the children had never had them. They all enjoyed them with nutella, despite the other healthier choices...some added some peanut butter to the mix and one, yes, just one, tried a crêpe with apple pie filling. Many asked for seconds and a couple even asked for thirds!!!
For more videos from our camps, check out this YouTube playlist.
Here's some parent feedback from the camp: "My daughter absolutely loved French Camp this summer. She was excited to learn new words and when she came home she may have "forgotten" what she did when asked, but she'd be singing the songs and counting to her sister when they played. Overall, I think it was a positive experience for her and her little sister is excited to do it next year!" Here's feedback from a Thank You card: "Thank you for inviting my daughter to Sunny Earth Camp. She enjoyed her time with you. Your passion is contagious, and the incluence you have had on my daughter is terrific. Thanks again."
Sunny Earth Camp was really fun...I'm looking forward to future camps and events of this nature and I know the kids are, too! That makes it all worthwhile!! Woohoo! Life is an adventure in learning!
What are some of your favorite language adventures? I'd love to hear!!!
Thanks for reading! :o)
P.S.
Here's my sample flyer for what will hopefully be coming soon to my neighborhood:
Sunny Earth Camp
French for Little Linguists
Teacher: Audrey
Misiano
For little
linguists ages 5-7 No previous French required 40 minutes bi-weekly for 1 year Play performance in French at end of camp
In order to accelerate learners French abilities, I will use the Accelerative
Integrative Method (AIM) for language learning. Instruction is provided almost
entirely in the target language. AIM provides an arts and literacy-based
approach to language learning. The program incorporates stories, drama, music
and dance into the learning, which helps children become emotionally engaged in
language learning. Active fun will be the fuel that drives the learning
process. On the last day of the camp, the little linguists will perform and
present what they’ve learned to their families and friends: “La Poule Maboule”
play, entirely in French!!!
Purpose: This language camp will provide children
with the ability to communicate using basic French. Videos of short segments of
each lesson will be uploaded to YouTube for campers to review at home (parental
consent required). If families go the extra mile at home using our uploaded
lesson videos along with other AIM supplies and resources compiled by Sunny
Earth Academy, “campers” and their families may continue their learning outside
of camp hours and teach others in their family.
VIDEOSCRIBE = PURE GENIUS! Very few apps will ever earn a title like this by the “Appy Family,” butVideoscribe by Sparkol has done it! This easy to use app has some amazing features that blow many other creation apps out of the water. It creates professional-looking content in a matter of minutes! Here is a link to their website and here is a link to purchase the app.
I have my friend, Sylvia Duckworth, to thank for tweeting me this a few days ago (click tweet to view Sylvia’s animation):
Some quick words of advice on how to get started:
1. Make sure your iOS software is up to date. At first mine wasn’t, and therefore I was unable to launch
2. Play around with the app just a little bit before you start anything serious
3. Watch the tutorials (Even if you’re like me and usually try to just figure it out without the tutorial…I did NOT watch them and wish I had as it would have saved me some time and trouble). Click here to view the tutorials. The first one should be enough to get you started.
4. Plan your video out from start to finish before starting with the app. Include your wording, layout and image ideas. Only when complete with planning, start creating with the app.
5. Plan to create the animation when you have a good chunk of quiet time. I was in a semi-public place and you can hear quite some background noise behind the music. Also, I ran out of alone time well before I wanted my time to be up…the app is ADDICTIVE!!!
6. FYI: When importing images, best to use .svg since those are will draw the best, but you can also try others like .jpg, .png, etc.
7. Have fun! This is going to be an extremely fun app to play around with!!!
Here’s my first videoscribe:
The downsides:
The audio recording feature is one thing I’d like to see improved. What I don’t like about the built-in feature is that you cannot record small sections of audio as you go…it’s all at once (unless I’m missing something). I know that you can upload your own audio file that you create using another software, however. I guess I am comparing it to Explain Everything a bit. I really like how with Explain Everythingyou can record small sections of audio that go along with your presentation as you’re creating it. To learn more about this other “Pure Genius” app, visit this blog post. It is possible, however, that I just haven’t learned enough of the advanced features yet…I’ll have to report back if I was mistaken on the above judgement!
Secondly, I was unsuccessful publishing to YouTube or Facebook directly from the app. It stated that it had published it, but it had not. I ended up saving it to my camera roll and then publishing it from there. Not a biggie, but weird that it didn’t work as it should.
Lastly, I’d like to see more images added to the free built-in library with future updates.
Despite these minor downsides, Videoscribe still earns the highest thumbs up ever and has made one very (h)Appy Family! I am VERY happy to report that this is our new favorite creation app!!! It is just too cool!
I simply cannot wait to see what creations will come of it and neither can my husband…he was quite impressed!!!
One thing I keep noticing over and over again about children's game apps is the lack of opportunities for language acquisition. Many of the apps my children prefer have little language audio, meaning there's music and sound effects, but very little narration. Often these same apps could have narration that would greatly increase children's' acquisition in first and second languages. Tiny Tap makes acquisition possible! You're in control! I can imagine all kinds of fun learning and creating with your children using Tiny Tap! You will surely help their language acquisition along the way!
This is my second post about the fun Tiny Tap app. I introduced it here just a week ago. I am choosing to write about it again because I have found it to be tremendously fun, easy and a unique app for language acquisition!
Here is how you start a new game or story:
First you create your slides which are the visuals you'll use
Next you add voice. This could be a story, introduction, etc.
Then if you are creating a game, you can add your questions, praise and encouragement for when the child answers incorrectly.
Save and share the link globally for all. You also have the option to submit your game for sale within the Tiny Tap app. This is the option I'll be using and I'm happy to report that my first game has been accepted for sale and is available here ($)! I am very thankful to +nathalie bonneau for giving me permission to use her images of her adorable Mimi the Mouse. To have some fun with Mimi in French, please check out Nathalie's amazingly engaging website here!
Here's a tutorial by Tiny Tap:
I decided to use Tiny Tap for English Language Learners first. Typically, I create resources in French and Spanish, however, this time, I wanted to start with English. I'm realizing that when I start from my native language, it is then easier to then translate into my second and third languages.
Why do I love Tiny Tap?
1. My kids LOVE it!
2. It is amazing for language acquisition
3. The basic app is free and then most games are either free or under $1
4. It allows you to create and publish globally within minutes
5. Kids could eventually learn to create their own games and publish them for their classmates, friends and families. The app is just that simple!!!
6. It allows you to feel like you are creating your own app. In fact I call it "an app within an app." For someone who is seriously interested in app creation, but has no clue where to start, this is the perfect app to feel some sense of accomplishment towards this goal! Yippeeeeeeee!
My first "app within an app" game created with Tiny Tap has been accepted by the Tiny Tap team for the market! It is available for sale ($0.99) by clicking here or by searching "Mimi the Mouse" in the Tiny Tap market. You first must download the free Tiny Tap app.
To create the videos below, I used my new "Reflector" app and this article on how to record via +Stephen Lai. Also special thanks to +Sylvia Duckworth for tweeting and telling me about the app! It is awesome!!! The rest of the game (not seen below) includes increasingly more difficult levels.
I hope you have fun creating with Tiny Tap. I'd love to have your share your ideas and creations in the replies! It'd be great to see what unique ideas you come up with!!!
Happy Creating!!!!
P.S. I'd also love to hear about the apps you consider to be awesome for language acquisition!!!! (Preferably those that could be used in multiple languages) Thank you, merci, gracias!
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