Update

Hello Families, 

I hope that you are all keeping well and safe during this time. I am thinking of you and of your children and I hope to see you again very soon. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know that I will be uploaded activities, readings, reflection questions, etc. for your child. This will be posted in our Google classroom. I hope that your child will be able to access this in order to practise their French language as well as continue to develop their reading, writing and listening skills. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at julia.green@yrdsb.ca. 

Writing

In French, students have been working in small groups to create paragraphs that use the success criteria we established to create strong arguments. Students are also including counter arguments and disproving the counter arguments. We have also been focusing on utilizing strong vocabulary that can be used to convince/persuade the reader. 

Listening Activities

In order to improve French understanding of oral texts, we have watched a couple of videos from a series called "One day, one question". Students can write in to ask questions on world topics and the site creates a mini video with the answer. The videos we will be viewing often pose a question or an idea that can be debated. For example, can happiness be measured? Students are asked some comprehension questions but are also asked to provide arguments to either support or oppose the topic. 

Communication Folder

Today your child will be bringing their communication folder. In the folder, you will find:

• Reading journal #1
• Reading journal #2
• Learning Skills self-assessment and goal-setting (I conferenced with each student about their goals and the strategies they will use to achieve their goal)
• Listening Activity

Bias

In French class, we have been reading texts and discussing the perspectives presented. We have explored the reason for certain perspectives being omitted and how bias is formed. Students engaged in discussions about specific perspectives related to topics such as education and the environment.  

Creating Arguments

In French class today we examined various perspectives on a single topic. Students created arguments both for and against a topic for each perspective. We discussed how each topic could have multiple perspectives and even within those perspectives, there are various ideas. After populating the table, we discussed which arguments were strong and how we came to those decisions. 

New French Unit of Study

This week, we have begun a new unit in French. The focus of this unit will be on perspective. We will be reading a variety of texts and determining the perspectives presented as well as the arguments given. We will also discuss which perspective(s) were omitted and the reason for this. Students will explore bias and have many opportunities to discuss varying perspectives on a single topic.