Getting students motivated to read, understand and above all, enjoy poetry in any language can at times be challenging. I love sharing my favorite poems in French with my students but when I announce to my classes that we will be reading a poem, I usually see a few eyes roll or a "deer in the headlights" look on a few faces. I am constantly looking for tips and ideas on how to have students interact with a poem. One activity in particular that students enjoy is writing their own poem in French after we read one of my favorite poems, Dejeuner du matin. Not only is this a great poem but it also helps students to review the past tense of irregular verbs in French. After interacting with the text and a discussion of the poem to ensure comprehension, students work in small groups to write their own poem in French about an event, (real or imaginary), using the poem presented in class as a model. The quality of writing I receive always amazes me and at the same time students are surprised at their own abilities. Many wind up admitting that they actually enjoyed the writing assignment.
These past couple of years my goal has been to run my class as "green" as possible, paperless, as much as I can. This is why the blog post I located this evening was of great interest to me. The teacher who posted this on his blog did a very similar activity with the students in his Latin class, however, he used a Google tool called "wave" which enabled him to comment on the students' work while they worked so that they could use the feedback to make adjustments in their writing prior to turning in a final product. This sounds like a tool I could use in my classroom, in particular with writing writing assignments. I have never worked with Wave but I have a feeling I'll be looking at it real soon . . .
http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2010/03/using-google-wave-in-foreign-language.html
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