First Year and Block Schedule

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First Year and Block Schedule
By JoEllyn Caudle

Hi! I have been teaching French I,II and sometimes III for the last 7 years. I have also taught some intro Spanish to middle school students. The best advice that I can give to you is to you as far as the block scheduling
is concerned (I had 75 minute periods) is to break it up into 20 to 30 minute units of activities. Don't try and lecture the entire time, but don't forget the explaination either. I make all of my students keep a notebook divided by parts of speech (noun, adjective, verb, ... and culture).I make them keep the notebook from year to year. I usually start with the phonetic alphabet first thing.

I let the class make the sounds on large notecards, they love to decorate them, and then we hang them up. The sounds become a simple and easy warmup exercise as well as a decoration for the whole year. Also, don't forget the grammar! Yes, you need to let them speak sometimes without correcting them after each word (I like skits, role playing, taking surveys..) but you have to remember that they will never improve if you don't tell them what they are doing wrong. After all, our job is to teach them "proper" speech that someone from Spain or Mexico could actually understand.
I hope some of this helps. If it does and you would like to e-mail me, feel free. If I don't answer this summer it is because my computer is at school and I am not. Good luck!. JoEllyn Caudle