Conjugation Pasting

My French 1s are currently in the throes of learning ER conjugations, and they were having a hard time understanding the connection between things like "parler", "tu" and "parles" for example.  I wanted them to see it as a whole picture rather than just copying and pasting more verb charts, so I came up with an idea that I think would work well for a LOT of different verbs (especially those four main verbs).

What I did was write 6 different infinitives on the board and put each of the six subject pronouns underneath.  Then, I had the class help me define the infinitives.  Next, I cut out different conjugations of all of the verbs and gave one or two to each student.  Then, they had to tape their conjugation to the right spot.

This activity, while simple, worked SUPER well.  They definitely started to see how everything worked together with the infinitives and the different endings based on the subject.  Give it a shot sometime!

Ditch the Flashcards Part 2: 9 Other Great Ways to Reinforce Verb Conjugations

A couple weeks back, I wrote about different ways to practice vocabulary other than using flashcards.  This got me thinking that it could also be useful to discuss verb conjugation tactics as well.

Conjugating verbs correctly, while annoying and nit-picky at times, is very important.  Students need to not only be able to conjugate based on who is doing the action, but they also need to be able to accurately express the tense of the action as well.  Unfortunately, the best way to do that is drill, drill drill, but these are some ways to practice that don't feel so repetitive.

1. Dice tic-tac-doe
This is a favorite with my students.  I generally pick the harder verbs of the verbs we are working on.  They love having six games of tic-tac-toe going at once and the intensity definitely rises when students are trying to roll the die to get to a certain board.

2. Avalanche
This is a team game with a lot of activity and excitement.  It requires teams to know the definition and the 6 different conjugations of any given verb.  It particularly helps with those difficult verbs.. when teams keep getting avalanched over and over again, you can always bet they will remember the real conjugation when it comes time for the test.

3. Songs
I often teach songs with especially difficult verbs.  It may not 100% teach the spellings, but it at least gives kids the right direction to think when it comes to the spelling.  It also really helps with pronunciation of the conjugations and helps them realize that often, the je, tu, il/elle/on and ils/elles forms all sound the same.

4. Anagrams
Giving students only a specific set of letters and making a game/challenge out of them coming up with conjugations always helps to reinforce the spellings of different conjugations.

5. Whiteboard practice
Just throw together subjects and verbs on slides and voila... you have an activity for students to practice verb conjugation.  I always set my slide up so it shows the subject and verb first, then on the click shows them the right answer.  It's a great way to give them immediate feedback, which is important.

6. Spoons
This game is great for getting students to either group conjugations of the same verb or different verbs of the same form (for example, all of the "tu" forms).  When teaching multiple tenses, you can even put different tenses in there and have them group by subject or infinitive.

7. Category sorting
Like spoons, it helps students to group conjugations together.  I will often put 20-30 conjugations in a list on a sheet. First, students must sort each conjugation into the correct infinitive.  Then they must sort conjugations into the correct form (je/tu/etc).  Sorting into the correct form helps students to see patterns of any given subject (for example: tu conjugations almost always have "s" or "x" for the ending).

8. Foldables
While these work great for vocabulary, they can also work well for verbs too.  It requires students to keep re-doing any of the problem areas but not anything they already have figured out.

9. Conjuguemos
I've said it before, I'll say it again: I love Conjuguemos. It's an awesome online tool for students to not only practice what they're learning (you can do just about anything: verbs, vocab, grammar, you name it), but to get immediate feedback.  If a student is struggling with a particular verb or two, they can set it to just put those verbs up when it quizzes them.

                                              (photo from: www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk)

Spoons

If I could pick one area of weakness with my kids, I would definitely say verbs.  There's only so many conjugating worksheets you can do, but games with verbs are hard to come by.

Then it hit me.  Spoons.

It is played like the game spoons. Here are the rules if you are unfamiliar with it.  However, using the printer in the office, I created my own decks of cards.  Each card has a verb on it...either the infinitive or a conjugation (je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles) but WITHOUT the subject.

I came up with two different ways kids could make a set of four.  They could get four different versions of the same verb (for example: portons, porte, porter, portes) OR get four different verbs in the same conjugation (for example: suis, ai, vais, fais [the first person singular of four different verbs]).  I found that both worked GREAT and they had so much fun with it.  It happened to be nice outside so we took the game outside.  If you don't have spoons, any objects will do.  I used markers and it worked just fine.

To help them get MORE practice, if they are "out", I require them to still play.  They just cannot grab a spoon.

Dice Tic-Tac-Toe

I came up with a fun new game for students to practice verb conjugations.
Basically, it's a variation of tic-tac-toe.  I made sheets of paper with six tic-tac-toe boards.  Each space has a different subject (which left me with one leftover space, so I just put definition in that last one).  Each board corresponds with a number and a verb.  For example, if you roll a 1, you have to go on board 1 and only conjugate the verb that goes with board 1.
Rules:
1. Split the class into groups of two (or if you want to make it even more interesting: three).
2. Make sure the students have the list of which number corresponds to which verb (either with them or on the board... in the future I might just put it on the sheet of paper they use for tic-tac-toe).
3. The first student rolls.  They then choose a subject off of the corresponding board.  They write down the conjugation on a sheet of scrap paper.  Their partner must check the answer.  If it is correct, you can put your X or O down.  If incorrect, you don't make a mark and that spot is still up for grabs.
4. The next student rolls.  They can choose an available subject off of the corresponding board and conjugate as well.  Play goes back and forth until each board has a tic-tac-toe on it.
5. If a player rolls the number of a board that already has a tic-tac-toe, then the turn is over.
6. The winner is the person with the most tic-tac-toes.  In the even of a tie, roll the die.  Whoever won the board that corresponds with that number is the winner.

The kids played it today actually and they seemed to like it a lot.  I am always trying to find new ways to review, and this way worked well.

CLICK HERE to download your very own reusable template.

ER Verbs

I figured since my French 1 students had such a hard time learning être, learning regular ER verbs was going to be a very difficult task.  I braced myself for confusion with them.

Much to my surprise, it went amazingly.  I introduced it last Thursday, and they already seem to have a great grasp of it.  Before I taught them how to conjugate it, I gave them definitions and examples of subjects, verbs, conjugations and infinitives.  I then explained to them how to conjugate regular ER verbs in French.  

Any homework I give immediately following the introduction of a topic is just given completion credit.  Either you did it or you didn’t.  If I do completion credit, I walk around and stamp their paper (so if I make an error in the gradebook, they can show me the stamp and prove me wrong).  On those days, we still correct the homework together so they can check their work and maybe clear up any lingering confusion.  To get a feel for how they did, I just ask them “how’d you do?” and they all respond with a thumbs up, a thumbs sideways or a thumbs down.  It’s a super easy way to get immediate feedback on how well they are grasping what we are learning and if we can move on or not.

Anyway…the day after I taught them ER verb conjugation, we went over a practice worksheet that had been assigned for homework, and at least 70% of them gave me a thumbs up.  That is HUGE.  I was very pumped that they grasped it SO quickly, especially since être was such a struggle.

Today, to reinforce a bit more, we played avalanche in class.  They just rocked it!  They rarely made any mistakes.  I did end up teaching them a song to reinforce those endings (which can be found HERE), which I think helped a lot too.

To any readers, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I, for one, am looking forward to our break with immense impatience.

I don't get it.

My previous post talked about my French 1s and their horrible quiz scores.  My second set of quizzes from school 2 ended up much better than school 1.  Which confuses me of course considering I taught it the same in each place.  But...that could be the problem.

I'm about 6 quizzes in from my French 2/3 kids.  I gave them a verb quiz today on the verbs that are part of their chapter vocabulary.  Verbs that, mind you, they have had for about 2 1/2 weeks now and they've done numerous upon numerous assignments on and done very well.  So hopefully this explains why I'm really upset that they are abysmal so far.  One kid even got a 5/20.  And he's a French 3.  And some of these are verbs that they have had since French 1.

Part of my frustration is that I feel like they just haven't been adequately taught thus far.  I've been told by multiple teachers, and even the students, that the previous teacher just didn't have her heart in teaching anymore.  She often just had videos and worksheets and didn't do much to explain grammar.  She had them write a lot more than they spoke.

To top it all off, it's cold and drizzly outside.  Thankfully we have a three day weekend coming up because I'm feeling very burnt out.  Hopefully I can recharge and get back to it on Monday!

Their chapter tests are on Thursday because I have a conference on Friday.  Hopefully this is something they can get a little more prepared for.  I did talk to the 1s about their study habits.  I did see a huge correlation between the people who studied and people who got As.  I think part of the problem is that they simply don't know HOW to study.  I give them practice activities online, but they don't use them.  So we did take some time yesterday to make a list of different ways we can study.  They came up with some great ideas so hopefully they can apply those ideas for the test Thursday.

Avalanche

When student teaching, I learned a really cool game called avalanche that helps students practice their verb tenses.

You split the class into teams of 6 or 8 kids (I try to stay away from 7 because each person ends up getting the same subject) and put them into rows, facing the board.

You call out a verb.  The job of person 1 is to run to the board and write the infinitive and the definition.  They take the marker and hand it off to person 2.  Person 2 then runs to the board and writes the je form and conjugates it (je = I).  Then they hand it off to person 3, who then goes to the board and writes the tu form.  This continues until all six forms have been written.

Example (typed..it would normally be on the board)

 

However...if at any point a student gets something wrong, you erase EVERYTHING (all while screaming "avalanche! avalanche!" that has been written.  Then, the student who was next in line (so not necessarily person 1) starts over.  This is even if they mess up the last form.  I usually count accents as well.   

Example that would warrant an "avalanche"

 

The winning team is the team that gets to the end correctly first.  This game works best when you have a whole list of verbs or when learning a specific tense.  I recommend writing out the verbs you are using first.  In the heat of the moment while judging 3-4 teams, it is easy to forget if they formed that form correctly.

A tweak that someone recommended to me was not avalanching them right away.  Instead of writing the next form on the board, the next person in line could fix a previous person's error instead, and then hand off the marker (so you are still wasting a turn to fix the error).  The only time you'd avalanche is if the person AFTER the person who wrote the 6th form says "yes it's all good!" and it's not good.