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Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices

View & Analyze the Video

As you reflect on these questions, write down your responses or discuss them as a group.

Before You Watch
Respond to the following questions:

  • What accommodations do traveling teachers (that is, teachers who do not have their own classrooms) have to make?
  • What kinds of activities engage second-graders in a language class?
  • How might you connect with content that students learn in other classes? How might you work with general classroom teachers to establish this connection?

Watch the Video

As you watch “Mapping Planet Earth,” take notes on Ms. Appel’s instructional strategies, particularly how she organizes multiple activities and connects to content from other subject areas. Write down what you find interesting, surprising, or especially important about the teaching and learning in this lesson.

Reflect on the Video
Review your notes, and then respond to the following questions:

  • What strategies does Ms. Appel use to hold students’ attention?
  • What evidence do you see of students learning geography content? What evidence do you see of students learning French?
  • What techniques does Ms. Appel use to maintain communication in French when speaking with students?

Look Closer

Take a second look at Ms. Appel’s class to focus on specific teaching strategies. Use the video images below to locate where to begin viewing.


Video Segment: From Review to New Learning

You’ll find this segment approximately 6 minutes and 30 seconds after the video starts. Watch for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

The class reviews vocabulary terms for the solar system, and then focuses on Earth geography.

  • What does Ms. Appel learn about students’ language development?
  • How does Ms. Appel respond when Yasmine has trouble answering?
  • At what point does the class shift to new learning?
  • How does Ms. Appel help students understand what the map represents?

 


Video Segment: Becoming the Teacher

You’ll find this segment approximately 14 minutes after the video starts. Watch for about 4 minutes.

Students take turns asking their classmates to identify the continents on a map.

  • How does Ms. Appel facilitate the activity for students who take turns leading the class?
  • How does Ms. Appel structure the activity so that it is a positive experience for all students?

 


Video Segment: Working in Pairs

You’ll find this segment approximately 21 minutes after the video starts. Watch for about 4 minutes.

Working in pairs, students label the continents and the oceans on a world map.

  • What is the purpose of the pairs activity?
  • Observe the two featured student pairs and answer the following questions for each pair: Which student takes the lead? How do the students interact? What language pattern is used in French? When do the students use English?

Series Directory

Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices

Credits

Produced by WGBH Educational Foundation with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 2003. 2016.
  • Closed Captioning
  • ISBN: 1-57680-731-2

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