To begin, I realize that tweeting and blogging can be complementary practices in the language classroom. Either can be used to gain viewers to the others’ platform. It was through Twitter that I was able to get readers and comments on my class blog and it was with blogging that I was able to discuss resources that I found on Twitter. Recently, I have used both to create review opportunities for my students.
Part of the grade 11s’ French food unit includes describing ethnic cuisine and past dining experiences. Both Twitter and our blog were used as tools to practice reading and writing such descriptions in French. Students used Twitter to discuss food and even conduct research for finding French recipes. By doing so, the students practiced writing using the imparfait verb tense and creating adjectives from familiar cooking verbs. Blogging proved useful as well, as they read a post about a dining experience at a local restaurant. When they didn’t understand parts of the post, I referred them to our reading strategies poster, next to the Smart Board. I was able to reiterate at that point that these reading strategies can be used across the curriculum, when they don’t comprehend something in a reading passage.
Their final performance for this unit will be to cook, present and share an authentic French dish. One of the students will film the presentations and post them to YouTube and we will be able to showcase these on our blog. We can invite our “tweet-pals” to our video, showing them some of the recipes we received via Tweeter. In the future, I would like to create a virtual classroom with our tweet-pals and have them with us for these presentations, either through Skype or another video conferencing site.
Part of the grade 12s’ fine arts unit includes exploring French contributions to the arts. Students also write about their own artistic tendencies. Students tweeted their preferred arts and used the plus-que-parfait verb tense to discuss past actions. Students also read a post on our blog about French/African music. The blog then led them to famous French singers’ songs on YouTube.
Both mediums allow for students to review essential elements in their language learning. I will expand on this in the future by including daily exit tweets for reviewing the language points they learned during French class. In addition, students will write a review section on our blog. These activities will provide a means for others to benefit from and comment on our learning as well.
Until next Thursday, when we share our French cuisine experience with you…