Wednesday 9 August 2017

Storywriting Together

Bruce Emmerton in Kingston and my class in London were both working on reviewing/learning body parts, colours, adjectives, etc.  My students had worked collaboratively in small groups to plan and design a robot with some other aspects.  We used Adobe Spark video on the iPads to create the videos.  I made a new generic Google acct to be used only for this app so I could leave it open and not be concerned about access to any other information.  My students had completed their projects which included writing the sentences and saying the sentences for each body part on the slides.  Then they gave it to another group to listen to and cut out and complete the robot, taking the pictures and adding them to each slide to show understanding.

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A finished project can be viewed here.

I took the idea that we had used in class and asked Bruce if his class would like to do a collaborative story-writing activity.  We used Adobe Spark video again, and I shared my generic Google acct with him so we could all have access to the files.
We set up 6 groups and 6 story starter videos.  Working in groups, my students wrote about the first body part they wanted their corresponding group to create.  (e.g., Il a une grande tête rouge). After they wrote it into the slide, one person in the group would record the sentence.  So on my end, I incorporated writing and speaking, and when Bruce’s groups got it, they would be using reading and listening.  The group members had various tasks which were rotated each time: one to decide what the sentence would be; one to write the sentence; one to be the vocabulary finder; one to record the voice over.  All were responsible for verifying that the correct adjectives forms and structures etc were used.

When my groups were finished, I texted Bruce to let him know it was his class’ turn.  They read and listened to the clue and then either drew the part or made the required piece out of construction paper.  Then a picture was taken and put on the next slide to show understanding.  Finally Bruce’s groups had to write the next line of the story and record it and send it back to us.  

We continued this back and forth until the robot was created.  (Note:  It is necessary to keep the drawn picture or the parts after each session as the students have to continue to build each time.)

To view a finished project, click here.

Feedback from my students:
They enjoyed working as a group but honestly admitted that too much English was spoken; however, many attempted to use only French.
They liked that they could watch finish product on videos.
It was fun- all had a turn and gave their best effort.
They understood even if someone made errors in pronunciation because they (Bruce’s students) used familiar vocabulary, and we practise a lot.
They liked that all 4 strands were involved.

Metacognition:
strategies:
-asked a friend if did not understand
-répétez/rejouez le vidéo

For my students, these projects continued to build vocabulary as they constantly wanted to add to the descriptions:  light/dark (colour), thick/thin;
When Bruce’s students used new vocabulary, my students used their strategies to problem-solve: e.g., long et court - understood long because it is a mots amis; court - dictionnaire ou Madame a fait les gestes.
And of course, what do we do with new words?  Add to our word wall.

Finally, this led to a hangout where my students each drew, coloured and named a robot on a ¼ sheet of paper. I scanned and sent a copy of each to Bruce so he could copy and use in the game.  Bruce’s class either did a robot but some wanted to change it up, so being before Christmas, they coloured elves.  Bruce scanned and sent to me.  (See First Hangout blog for playing).  This led to further learning for my students as they did not want to use “mains” but “mitaines”, not “pieds” but “bas”, and of course, they needed “cadeau”.  We also learned the difference between using mon/notre and ton/votre.

A great learning experience and once again an opportunity to learn new vocabulary/structures and to hear different accents/pronunciation.

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