College Saint-Exupery, Nice it is. I'm going with Samuel from my class, to teach and observe at College Saint-Exupery.
We will teach in English, History and Social Studies and perhaps in P.E.
We will be in Nice from the 18th of September to the 17th of November. Doing this stay we will produce a report on culture differences, teaching technics and much more. We will also have lesson via Zoom from Denmark each week as a part of the program.
The overall name for this semester is 'The European Teacher' which is a newly established line at Metropolitan University Copenhagen.
Throughout our stay, we will make updates from our observations and reflection on our teaching.
- College Saint-Exupery
NICE
Lessons and didactic thoughts
The theme "social media" was already chosen an started when we started our internship. So what we did was to sit down and went through the material the students already had seen and made a lesson plan with that in mind. Another focus point was the style of teaching we have observed during the first three days. The French style of teaching is not the same way Samuel and I have learned to conduction a classroom or a lesson.
Below I will give my thoughts on some different aspect, that had an influence on our choice during the preparation of the lessons.
The different approaches to teaching - France vs. Denmark
At College Saint Exupery, there is not an explicit way on how to conduct your classroom, but it is up to each teacher to decide on how he or she wants to manage their classroom. During the first three days where we were observed, we saw three different styles in three different classrooms. You can't divide two of the teachers into the stereotypes of being "Laissez-faire, strict and in between", but the third one is a perfect example of one of these, but I will return to that below.
In the first class, we are seeing a non-verbal in between teacher. There is a certain amount of discipline in the class, but the teacher uses her body language to uphold the discipline thought out the lesson. The students have a healthy respect for her and how she is conducting her lessons. Her lessons are constructed as plenum lessons without any differentiation. Every student gets the same assignment no matter which level they are showing.
There is a natural distance between the teacher and the students. They are not friends and don't have a personal relationship towards each other like we would see in the Danish school, where a teacher-student relationship is own of the most sort after things.
In France, the teacher has a more natural authority from the surrounding society and parents stands behind the teacher, so if a student acts out and the teacher gives a remark, the parents will correct the child accordingly to what the teacher as written.
In this classroom, there is a strong feeling that the teacher and students take this "culture placed" authority with them, inside the classroom.
Inside the classroom, the teacher prefers to teach in a plenum context. This means that there is a minimum of group work activities no differentiation in the material given to the students. This more "streamlined" way of teaching creates an environment where students exposed to the same level and same criteria as their classmate though the may not be on the same level. In a normal classroom in Denmark and in France, there is a diversity when it comes to levels among students in a particular subject, They do not learn in the same way and some are stronger than others in certain areas. Therefore it is important to look at the individual student and not as one in a class of 25 students. By taking your point of view from the "this is a class of equals", you do not give the individual student the opportunity to perform the best they can.
The second teacher, we have only observed in one lesson which was enough to get a clear feeling on how she conducts her classroom. She is a more hands-on teacher who goes around in the classroom each student when she is teaching, so in this way, she has a more direct teacher-student relation. But on the other hand, she also conducts her lessons with a strict authority. By walking around in the classroom she has a view of what every student is doing all the time and she has no problem correcting students in a very old fashion way if they step a little too close to her lines of non-acceptable behaviour.
This way of almost creating fair inside the students would not be applause in the Danish school but in France where the teacher as said before is in the possession of a culture given authority, this is not as unpardonable as it would be in Denmark.
The third teacher is more a mixture of the two teachers above and more what we would see in a Danish classroom. But again the lack of knowledge of didactic theories is an issue because she doesn't have a clear strategy on how to conduct a lesson where you as a teacher reach every student's level. On the other hand, she has arranged her classroom in group tables and tries to make as much of the teaching to be group activities where the students may help each other during the lessons.
When it comes to her classroom management, she is also a mixture of the two other teachers. She starts out more laissez-faire but is not afraid to punish the student accordingly to her opinion.
This mixture in classroom management is normally a good way to manage a classroom but if its the students can't read the teacher and the rules are not clear they can become confused and feel insecure because they do not always know where the line for allowed behaviour is.
All this focus point Samuel and I took into consideration when we were planning our lessons and which didactic structures to have in focus.
We chose these focus points
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Cooperative learning
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We wanted to interduces cooperative structures to inspire the students to learn in new ways. None of the students were used to being exposed to more dynamic teaching method such as group work.
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Group assignments with a final presentation
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To take a step back from plenum teaching we wanted to interduces group assignments to see how the students worked in teams to learn them how to benefit from helping each other during such a process. We also took cooperative learning structures into consideration when planning the groups.
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Differentiation
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To take the individual student level into consideration we used cooperative learning structures to divide the groups and also gave the "lest" gifted students some opportunities, to help them reach their goals.
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Summative feedback and evaluation
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To boost the student's self-efficacy, we made self-evaluation sheets to show them their own progression and process throughout the group work and presentation.
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Visible learning
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We build the foundation of our teaching on John Hattie's theory 'Visible Learning' to show the students where would like to get then and how to get there.
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Introduction of "brain breaks"
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To help the students during a long day in school and lighten the mood and show them that learning English can be fun.
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What is this about?
This page will contain information about the teaching conducted during the internship. Didactic thoughts on the teaching strategies we are introducing and the strategies which the Frenches teachers are using.
I will show and comment the material we have created and been using during lessons and some of the work, the students have produced as a result.
There will also be a paragraph about the culture of the French school system and the differences between France and Denmark regarding school and how the culture interacts with the school system.
So why France?
I chose to go to Franch to challenge myself in another language and to teach students in who lives in a culture where they are exposed to as little English as possible. By during so, I had an opportunity to work with some of the theories about L2 language that I have learned.
By living in a country where you do not speak the language test your skills to communicate in other ways, both with students during school and down at the grocery. This is something I find very interesting an something that can develop me as a person and as a teacher.
Practical information about the internship
For the first three days, we observed English lessons in different classes with three different teachers. The grades that we observed was from 6th to 9th grade. After the first free days, our internship teacher and one of her colleagues asked us, if we would like to try to create a lesson for the kids and teach them ourselves.
From there on, we have created material and taught the 9th graders (four classes) in a theme "Social Media". This course went on the rest of the internship.
I have observed one 6th grade from time to time because the English teacher in this class is also the main teacher for the class, so there are a lot of aspects of the lessons that are not related to English, but more generally to the class as a whole.
The material we have produced is sent to our intern teacher to look at and give constructive feedback before we have used it in class.
My weekly schedule.
The schedule is divided between my colleague and me because some of the lessons in 9th grade are at the same time.
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Teacher cooperation
One of the most critical things to establish as a teacher is a good working relationship with your coworkers. Both Samuel and I were agreeing about this before going to France.
Before living, with had some contact with your internship teacher about all the pratic things that needed to be in place. The first Monday in France, we went to the school to have a meeting with her about what due she/the school expect from us and the other way around. We quickly found a comment standing ground about how the team should work.
Already at the third day of the internship, we were asked, if we would like to a serial of lessons for the 9th graders. Both Samuel and I have a huge eager for teaching, so off cause, Samuel and I said: "yes, please".
We took control of four 9th grade classes who have to different teachers. We got free hands when it came to how we would teacher under the main subject 'Social media'. The only agreement that we had, was we would send our material to the teacher beforehand and had en weekly meeting, where the teachers and we would evaluate the week before.
This teamwork has worked without any obstacles and we have had a lot of didactic conversations in the team about why we are doing as we are, and why they do as they do.
I can't put a finger on anything that should have been done differently from our or their side in the process. It has just been a perfect of good teamwork where everybody is on the same page all the time, with a common goal.
By doing it this way, I think the students have had an easier time adjusting to Samuel and me as new teachers, but also that whoever they have asked a question, they have been given the same answer.
First ten lessons
Underneath you will find a lesson plan overview, the material that has been used during the lessons, video clips from the teaching and didactic thoughts on why we have done it as we have. Every lesson is build-up on the theory of 'Visible Learning'. You can see this by every lesson starts by a walkthrough of what the lesson is going to contain.
Lesson plan overview
Lesson one
The first lesson was an introduction to what social media is or can be.
First of all, we went through there homework and a Warm-up exercise, which is something they do every time. We kept this structure to make the students safe in our teaching. When providing structure and the known for a child, they will feel safe and will, therefore, have a bigger possibility to gain knowledge.
Scaffolding
After this, we went through what social media can be in a plenum discussion. After that, we went through a glossary with some comment words when talking about social media. We made the words visible both in English and French to use the students L1 language as a tool to learn the target L2 language.
Exercise
We gave the student a text on paper, when given out we went through the text on the whiteboard where every sentence was translated into French, so we knew that everybody did understand the text.
Afterwards, the students had to talk to the partner next to them, about social media by using the glossary and the text just read. By during so, the students are 'forced' to use their verbal English and the provided material, also the students have to reflect on what we have been talking about in the lesson. This structure is taking from cooperative learning and was something new to the students.
Homework
As homework, the students had to speak to their parents about who they are using social media. They had to write down their answers in five sentences in English. By making them talking to their parents we try to make the parents a part of the classroom so they can get a bigger interest in what their kids are learning in school. Again, we also the students L1 language as a resource to learn L2.
Lesson two
In the second lesson, we continued working with social media.
Again, we went through there homework and a Warm-up exercise, to keep the known structure.
Scaffolding (pre)
We introduced the cooperative learning structure 'Quiz-Quiz-Trade' to the students. Again, this happened both in English and Frech so that their L1 language could stimulate their L2 language. We made it explicit that they were not to speak French during the exercise but they should use what they have learned the previous time. We also told them that a yes or no answer is fulfilling but they had to use sentences. We gave them examples and made them give examples in the plenum.
Exercise (during)
We did the exercise outside. When telling the students this, they were more or less shocked. They have never done any lessons outside in the schoolyard. The reasoning behind taking the students outside was to break down the strick structure we have seen throughout our observations and to try out a way of teaching, that we have found positive at home.
We had a positive response to the exercise and the students where very eager to participate and most of the time they were speaking English.
Follow-up and homework (post)
After the exercise, we went into the classroom again to sum-up on the exercise. We ask the students to reflect on the exercise by making them put words on how they thought the exercise was, and what they have learned. We did this to make them reflect but also as a summative evaluation to the process they just have been through.
As homework, they had to 15 lines about the dangers when it comes to social media. We did this to make them reflect on the subject and as a preparation for the next lesson.
Lesson three
Lesson number tree about the social media theme had focused on the students verbal English. We quickly found out that the verbal aspect of the English was there were they struggled the most, so it that's why chose to focus most on this aspect of English teaching.
Scaffolding
To help the students get a structure in their sentences, we made a glossary with more helpful words about the subject and completed Q and A's. Again, we chose to use their L1 language to help them with their interlanguage. The glossary and Q and A's was handed out and put into their folders.
Exercise
We chose to use another structure from cooperative learning due to the success from the last lesson. The students had to be in groups of four, using the glossary and phrases they should discuss social media and one in the group should write down what they came up with. The exercise took place outside due to the response from the last lesson.
After they had talked in the groups for 20 minutes, we meet in the schoolyard where every group should present in front of the whole class.
To present something in front of the other students was something totally new to them, so the outcome was so and so, but the exercise itself went well.
Homework
As homework, we chose again to focus on their verbal English, so they had to practice phrases, glossary and Q and A's which would be supervised next lesson.
Lesson four
Lesson number four was about cyberbullying. Samuel and I chose this subject due to some material we have read in English and all the stories from Denmark about teenagers sending nudes of themselves online. We wanted the students to understand that social media is not just all fun, but it can have big consequences if you do not act cautiously.
The lesson was build up differently than our previous lesson, where we had used the structure pre, during and post reading. This lesson was only scaffolding due to the upcoming project.
Scaffolding
We introduced the term cyberbullying to the students and gave a brief description of what it could mean. Then we had a plenum brainstorm of what they could think off when it came to cyberbullying. We chose to use brainstorm to introduce this method as a way to connect thoughts to a certain subject because we had planned a larger project for them after this lesson.
After the brainstorm, we went through different kinds of cyberbullying to give concrete examples. At every example, the students had to talk to their partner about it. Again to make their L1 language be a help to their L2.
Homework
As homework, they had to write 5 sentences about they personal experience with cyberbullying. We chose this approach to make them reflect on how to conduct yourself on the internet and that it is not okay to be a bully even when you are behind a screen.
Lesson five
Lesson number five was an introduction to a project about social media which the students had to work on in groups and thereafter present in front of the rest of the class.
We chose to do a project with the classes to sum-up all the previous lesson into something they could show. Also, a project with a final product conduct in groups, the students had to use some of the structures from cooperative learning that we had introduced them to.
Scaffolding
We scaffolded the criteria for the project process both in English and French. We chose to give two group-members special tasks as leader and secretary to give the group work more structure and in that way make it easier to make the group function as a whole.
After the introduction, we had a brainstorm about which kind of subjects they could work with, again to show them how this tool is useful and to make them think about what could be fun to work with.
Then we went through the requirements for the final presentation. We had made these very explicit so that the students knew exactly what was required of them. By making it so explicit as possible, we were creating a structure that the students could hold on to and therefore a kind of safety net.
Afterwards, we made an example of a presentation, so the students could see a presentation about a social media subject could be done. The students also had to make a powerpoint for the presentation, so this example also gave an indicator of how that could be done.
As a visible learning strategy, we gave them an overview of the next five lessons, so they knew what to expect and so that they could plan their project. We gave every group secretary a copy of the exampled presentation and the lesson plan.
Assignment of the groups
We did this lesson in four different classes but did the assignment of the groups in two different ways:
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We let the students chose their own groups to see how this would work. By doing it this way, we gave the students control and the trust in that they could figure this out. But because they had never done this before, it went bad. It took almost 20 minutes to assign the groups and there were a lot who was unhappy with the groups they got in.
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We made the groups in forehand by using a cooperative learning structure where each group will be made of one good-level student, two middle-level students and one not-so-good student. By doing it this way, we made sure that every good had the skills to make a project that would pass and that every student had the opportunity to gain knowledge during the process.
When giving them the groups, there were no students complaining about their group. I think this is a result of the culture the French school system has, where the teacher is an authority you do not argue with.
Homework
As homework, the groups had to decide on a subject and had this ready for next time.
The next five lessons
The next five lesson was divided into three lessons to group work and the last two to presentations. We found three lessons enough to accomplish what we would find acceptable.
The first free lessons, the groups were working in the computer lab finalizing their projects. We as teachers walked around an helped the groups if they had any questions or difficulties. We also had an eye on the work process inside the groups due to this was the first time the students worked in this manner.
All in all, the groups worked fine a had a good production but in some, there were some issues with some students who took advantages of the free work environment that this kind of structure gives. They are not used to work like this and some of them seemed to test boundaries.
The presentation
The first day of presentations was not something to write home about to say it straight. But that's okay because this was the first time these students tried to stand in front of the class presenting something and this was a learning process. And the class showed us that they were learning, we sow this by the next groups presenting. They have learned by the mistakes the previous groups had made, so the progression of level in the group presentations was positive.
But there were issues surrounding the presentations. We had a lot of troubles keeping the 'auditions' quiet during the presentations. This came as a little shock for me due to the culture we have seen in the school. But afterwards looking back at it, it was the same persons how acted out in the group work who was disrespectful during the presentations.
Evaluation and grading
This was the first time Samuel and I had to grad students and what a hard job. To sit there and have to evaluate somebody skills right there and then is not easy and it is a huge job which is something I have learned a lot from and I am looking forward to getting more experience in this field of teaching.
After the groups had presented we teachers sad down and discuss what we through the student deserved for their presentation, we also took into notice if somebody had been disrespectful during the presentation because this would downgrade them. The students knew the criteria of which they would be evaluated on, so they also knew about the downgrading opportunity.
This was an equal process where our internship teachers recognized our opinion as valuable as theirs.
The students who had failed were given the opportunity to present again because this was a learning process and also due to we could see that the groups learned from each other mistakes.
When given the grades, each group was taking a side for a sitdown where they were given the grades and the reasoning behind. We through that the summative feedback was very important because this is something they can take with them and reflect on.
In the end, we made the students fill out a self-evaluation sheet. This sheet is made from to the theory of visible learning so that the individual student could reflect on their own process throughout the whole process.
They had to put the sheet into their folders so that they next time when they have to make a similar project can look at it and see what the have put improve.
Follow-up lessons
During the process of working with social media, we the teachers had noticed some commend mistakes done by the students. So Samuel and I took these mistakes into consideration and made a lesson plan which had focused on these particular issues. We did this due to the agreement that this whole thing was with a focus on the process and not the finale grade itself.
Duolingo lesson
The Amygdala lesson
Why a lesson with Dualingo?
Sence we came to France we have been eager to try the platform Dualingo due to the lack of exposure to English.
By introducing the app, we hope to create a way for the students to be exposed to English on a daily basis that would
help them with their pronunciation and vocabulary.
How did we do it?
In Dualingo, you as a teacher as the opportunity to create a classroom with all your students. By doing this, you as a teacher can assign specific categories to each student and set a goal they need to complete in a certain time period.
After the presentations, we gathered all the grammatical mistakes the students had on a paper and came to the conclusion that Dualingo offered the tools we need to correct these mistakes and at the same time exposed students to both written and verbal English in a daily basis.
How did the students react to this new form of teaching?
After some start-up problems, the students got to work with Dualingo in the computer lab for about 30 minutes. We asked what they thought about working with English on a computer/phone and we only got positive reactions from them. They liked that it was more there 'speed' in ways of learning English and that they could collect points and compete against each other.
Why a lesson about the amygdala?
I think that everybody at some time has been acquainted with our amygdala and the
problems this can give one. During the group work and presentations, some of the students
meet their amygdala, so we thought that it would be a good opportunity to enlighten the students
about what their brain is doing and why. By making the individual students aware of this, they can work
on minimising the implicit of the amygdala in the future.
How did we do it?
We started the lesson by talking about what the Amygdala is and how it works. We told the students the functions of the Amygdala and the influence it has one own behaviour when we are in certain situations.
After this, we explained why it is important to know something about one own's brain. We used some examples from the students' own presentation to show them, that this is not just something 'mumbo jumbo' Samuel and I had cooked together, but it is real and it happens to anyone.
Then we showed them a YouTube video, which explains some techniques which the students could use to reduce stress.
Then we used these techniques in a brain break where mind fullness was the theme. We put on some relaxing music and had the students close their eyes, relax and only concentrate on their breathing for three minutes. Even dough the students found this exercise strange, we made realise that these techniques can be a helpful tool for them when going to the exam, having a test or presenting like they did in the social media project.
