January and February just flew by and we are approaching spring break. A few things happened during those months. This entry will be short and I apologize for taking so long with an update. First things first, I would like to thank the McMurchy family publicly for hosting our annual Deutsch 3 dinner. The students prepared the food themselves and everything turned out great. We enjoyed an evening off campus, speaking German, cooking and eating. Enjoy the photo album! One of the pictures is actually a group photo from an earlier trip with German 4AP and French 5 students to the Akron Art Museum. We visited the Gauthier exhibit "Machines at Play", discussed it in class and wrote about it.
The French club celebrated Epiphany right after Christmas break, prepared and consumed their "Galette des Roi" after classes. The galettes were prepared by Emily, Annie and Madame Borrmann at our house and received a rating of "excellent" by all participants.
This was a short entry to catch up and have the opportunity to post the respective albums. Another entry will follow today or tomorrow about our celebration of Mardi Gras!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Visitors from France
We just said goodbye to some dear friends from Pau in France. 13 students and two teachers from Lycée St. Joseph spent the past week at WRA, living with host families and colleagues. They were reunited with our ELISA students who spent 3 weeks with them in June. The group attended classes, participated in our French courses and were busy visiting with students. Mme Eschenauer and Mme Borrmann planned with the help of the host families a spectacular week in Northeast Ohio. Luckily, we had our generous parents and host mothers to rely on. The group got to visit Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, shopped at the outlets, had an ice cream social at the Gotthardt's and to top it off a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast at the Forhan's. They were charmed by the warm welcome and generous hospitality of their hosts. None of the French teenagers wanted to leave and thought the stay was too short. They particularly enjoyed the typical Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings. The WRA French teachers and our colleagues from France, Colette and Brigitte, thank all of the families for all their contributions to the Thanksgiving party, for opening their homes, for their willingness to drive and for their effort and good will to make the group welcome. In order to give an impression of their stay, I added a slide show with some images from their visit. Thanks again to everyone who participated, we made some new friends, created wonderful memories and can look back at a great success.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Fall Notes
It is very difficult to believe that the first marking period is already over. Grades and comments are being distributed, the football team is away for their final game of the season and all the other fall sports have already finished. We had a few nice activities outside of classes and sports and I am sharing those with a new photo album on the side.
About the courses: I have gotten to know all of my students very well and everyone is making my work very enjoyable. We have established a solid academic relationship and are working on improving in all areas of language studies. I have come to like our new classroom management system "Moodle" and I have to say I am impressed with the tools and possibilities it offers.
A few more words about the pictures: The first few are from the club fair, where clubs presented themselves and invited students to sign-up. Interest was high in the French club, particularly in the chocolate fondue. The next few images are from the Harvest festivity at Barlow Farms. My children love this event and this year there was a group of WRA students who volunteered and did everything from setting up to directing traffic, face painting, crafts and cleaning up. A great way for the students to get involved in the community. Finally, our family hosted the 14th annual advisee-pumpkin-carving-extravaganza. We invite our advisees to carve pumpkins, eat pizzas and candy and just hang out at our house. This year we were also saying goodbye to five senior advisees who have participated anywhere from one to four years. Thank you, we had a wonderful time with you! Overall, we carved 22 pumpkins, which were used on Halloween Night to decorate our lawn for trick-or-treaters.
As we approach the holidays there will be more activities and news, so come back in about two weeks to get some updates.
About the courses: I have gotten to know all of my students very well and everyone is making my work very enjoyable. We have established a solid academic relationship and are working on improving in all areas of language studies. I have come to like our new classroom management system "Moodle" and I have to say I am impressed with the tools and possibilities it offers.
A few more words about the pictures: The first few are from the club fair, where clubs presented themselves and invited students to sign-up. Interest was high in the French club, particularly in the chocolate fondue. The next few images are from the Harvest festivity at Barlow Farms. My children love this event and this year there was a group of WRA students who volunteered and did everything from setting up to directing traffic, face painting, crafts and cleaning up. A great way for the students to get involved in the community. Finally, our family hosted the 14th annual advisee-pumpkin-carving-extravaganza. We invite our advisees to carve pumpkins, eat pizzas and candy and just hang out at our house. This year we were also saying goodbye to five senior advisees who have participated anywhere from one to four years. Thank you, we had a wonderful time with you! Overall, we carved 22 pumpkins, which were used on Halloween Night to decorate our lawn for trick-or-treaters.
As we approach the holidays there will be more activities and news, so come back in about two weeks to get some updates.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Bienvenue - Welcome back!
Welcome back everyone! We are just two weeks into the school year and things are already very busy. All French and German classes are going well so far. Everyone seems pretty well adjusted to WRA and the fact that summer is really over.
We are happy to see all the familiar faces again and excited to work with lots of new people not only in our courses. Many changes are taking place and improvements are being made. For example: My wife and I are learning to use a new class management system called "Moodle" which is replacing Blackboard. My first impression is that it is a very powerful technology and will allow us to use technology even more effectively in our courses. It might take us a few more weeks to work out some of the details but I have to say that I like it very much. It does not have the polished feel of Blackboard but I am certain that this will change and improve over time. The functionality is there and that's the most important aspect. So far I have asked the students to find their syllabi, to view assignments, to take a practice quizzes, to do exercises, to create a vocabulary database, to work together on a wiki and a to write a journal assignment. I will keep you updated on the progress we are making and hopefully find a way to share some examples of student work with you.
We will soon have some info about our French club, the ELISA trip this summer and we will post pictures about our activities throughout the year. Thanks for reading and again: Welcome back!
We are happy to see all the familiar faces again and excited to work with lots of new people not only in our courses. Many changes are taking place and improvements are being made. For example: My wife and I are learning to use a new class management system called "Moodle" which is replacing Blackboard. My first impression is that it is a very powerful technology and will allow us to use technology even more effectively in our courses. It might take us a few more weeks to work out some of the details but I have to say that I like it very much. It does not have the polished feel of Blackboard but I am certain that this will change and improve over time. The functionality is there and that's the most important aspect. So far I have asked the students to find their syllabi, to view assignments, to take a practice quizzes, to do exercises, to create a vocabulary database, to work together on a wiki and a to write a journal assignment. I will keep you updated on the progress we are making and hopefully find a way to share some examples of student work with you.
We will soon have some info about our French club, the ELISA trip this summer and we will post pictures about our activities throughout the year. Thanks for reading and again: Welcome back!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
"Speak, record, broadcast and listen"
I apologize for the delay since my last post but I will make up for it. Tomorrow, actually in a few hours, my AP-German students will take their BIG exam and I think I am just as nervous as they are. The weeks since we returned from spring break just flew by.
However, as the title of this post indicates, I am going to talk about something completely different: I had the opportunity to give a workshop at the OFLA (Ohio Foreign Language Association) conference in Cincinnati last month. I had 16 participants who attended a two hour session on Saturday morning from 8:00-10:00 a.m. (!). The title of this post was also the title of the workshop, which got really good reviews by the way :-) Here is what we did:
During this workshop, I presented tools such as hardware, software and websites that allow recording, listening and posting of audio files. These files are intended to allow foreign language students to create foreign language content, to practice their pronunciation and intonation, and to prepare for standardized tests such as the advanced placement exams. The examples were mostly in German and we considered podcasts, audio journals or radio shows as examples. The rationale why I chose audio files over video is that I find it important to focus with learners of all proficiency levels in a foreign language on how they "sound" and not have them worry so much how they look.
My colleagues who attended the workshop agreed with that idea and we had a good deal of fun experimenting with various software programs. We also discussed practical application and uses, lesson plans and assessment of such activities. Among the links on the right, I put an example of a poetry project that we did in my AP-course. The student you hear is a native speaker who visited our class for a few weeks. He recorded a poem by Rainer-Maria Rilke to which he added music that underlines particularly the rythm of the verses. Enjoy!
However, as the title of this post indicates, I am going to talk about something completely different: I had the opportunity to give a workshop at the OFLA (Ohio Foreign Language Association) conference in Cincinnati last month. I had 16 participants who attended a two hour session on Saturday morning from 8:00-10:00 a.m. (!). The title of this post was also the title of the workshop, which got really good reviews by the way :-) Here is what we did:
During this workshop, I presented tools such as hardware, software and websites that allow recording, listening and posting of audio files. These files are intended to allow foreign language students to create foreign language content, to practice their pronunciation and intonation, and to prepare for standardized tests such as the advanced placement exams. The examples were mostly in German and we considered podcasts, audio journals or radio shows as examples. The rationale why I chose audio files over video is that I find it important to focus with learners of all proficiency levels in a foreign language on how they "sound" and not have them worry so much how they look.
My colleagues who attended the workshop agreed with that idea and we had a good deal of fun experimenting with various software programs. We also discussed practical application and uses, lesson plans and assessment of such activities. Among the links on the right, I put an example of a poetry project that we did in my AP-course. The student you hear is a native speaker who visited our class for a few weeks. He recorded a poem by Rainer-Maria Rilke to which he added music that underlines particularly the rythm of the verses. Enjoy!
Friday, February 8, 2008
I did it, I changed it!
I had to change the title of this blog because it is very obvious that I am not just talking about my classes and students anymore. I am really posting about the work that is done in the Language Department with a focus on German and French. There are lots of students involved and all of my colleagues and I do not intend to take credit for their work. I participate and make suggestions, set up, clean up, take pictures and post it on this blog. I enjoy writing about what all of us do and hope it is fun and interesting to the readers. In the WRA Language Department, we teach for understanding. We work with the students and try not to get in the way of their creativity and energy. You can look forward to more pictures and entries about what is happening here.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
L'épiphanie, la galette des rois - French traditions
Early in January, we celebrate epiphany and in France the arrival of the three kings includes sharing a special cake with family and friends. The "Galette des rois" is a cake which is prepared specifically for that day and it contains a bean or little porcelain figurine (la fève). The person who discovers it in his piece of cake is crowned as king or queen for the day. He or she gets to choose his/her king or queen and they are in charge for the rest of the day.
Members of the French Club , which is supported by my wife and my colleague Brigitte Eschenauer, came to our house and baked some galettes from a French recipe and they turned out marvelously. A French exchange student had even brought a galette back from France and that was very special although a public vote determined that the homemade ones tasted better. We spent an activities period with some 25 students eating every last crumb of our galettes. The students appreciated the sweet treat and discussed details about the holiday. As usual, there is a small slide show to go along with this post.
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