| Photo from http://bit.ly/1jXEHWx |
So I have been a little overwhelmed here at the end of the year and have relied on the textbook more than I care to admit. Of course I can see the engagement in my classes going down and the students getting that "zombie" look on their faces but I just haven't have the energy or time to create authentic and creative lessons. Last week I told myself I needed to get out of this rut and try something new. We haven't had a story lately and we didn't do much with the reader that we just finished so I wanted spice up my presenting of new vocabulary with story-telling methods So I decided to bring a little drama into the classroom. .
I had originally planned on creating an entire play for the students to act out and focus on the new vocabulary in the play. This seemed like a good idea (and still is) if I had the time to do all that! After realizing that the play was not going to be finished on time I started thinking of what to do. I didn't want to waste all my work I had put into the play so far and I enjoyed the idea of having the students act out a play instead of just watching an old movie clip from our text or watching me present the new vocabulary. Then it hit me! Why does the play have to ended by me? Why not have the students write their own ending to the play.
The play consisted of a few friends shopping for new clothes (our unit is on clothing and shopping vocabulary). 2 people hated each other and 1 of these two is a real jerk the entire play. The other 2 liked each other but hadn't acted upon their feelings The end of the written play leaves the reader saying "what?!" and leaves the story wide open for possibilities. I didn't want this to be too overwhelming for the students so I separated the class into two groups (about 6-7 students in each group) and told them they must end the story. I gave them 3 basic plot questions that they had to answer by the end of the play. When they finished they were required to act out their play for the rest of the group.
Here are my thoughts on the activity:
PROS:
- Students had more fun reading the play and using the new vocabulary in context rather than just me presenting the new vocabulary and then us doing activities to practice it.- Students were able to get creative and collaborate on the end of the play
- Culture was easy to introduce into the play as I wrote it. I was able to get a few extra vocabulary words that the book doesn't teach as well as some common phrases that don't translate well from French to English.
- Students were engaged and enjoyed the play
- It had students speaking and reading in French for the majority of the hour
CONS:
- Next time I think I will use smaller groups for creating the endings. 6-7 was too many and not all students were helping with their group's new ending- The focus on using the new vocabulary was lost when students started to re-write the ending. Next time I will need to have a set list of words I expect to be used in the ending so that they focus on the key vocabulary.
- I underestimated how much time the students would need for this activity. They were very much so engaged but they were only given 15 minutes to complete this activity. To actually get quality endings I would guess the students need double that time.
- I had only one person write out the ending for the entire group, but I think that when we have iPads next year I will have the students create a googledoc and collaborate on the same document. This way I can see who contributed what to the play.
Overall this activity turned out really well for a last minute lesson plan idea. I plan to use it again and hopefully embellish and improve it next time. The students enjoyed it and they were using the language for a creative writing assignment.
