Help me give my students the resources to support their language learning face to face or remotely with high interest materials from Scholastic Magazine!
I am a French teacher in a small coastal town in Maine. The middle school is standards and proficiency based with students working to demonstrate what they can do.
My students are just beginning their second language study at the most interesting and most awkward time of their lives and learning remotely has taken this awkwardness to a whole new level.
Since this is their initial exposure to language learning, they are very eager and enthusiastic which makes teaching them enjoyable. Students can be both child-like and adult-like in the same 45 minute block! There is never a dull moment, for sure. Our class is hands-on, fast paced, very interactive and proficiency-based. I work hard to make sure everyone feels safe and comfortable with learning a second language. Now, I'm striving to do this while they are at home.
My Project
When you are a middle school student, trying to read in a second language, most things written for your age's interest level are NOT at your second language reading level. Reading material you do not comprehend is frustrating, disheartening and a major inhibitor to your learning. On the other hand, reading material that is comprehensible AND age appropriate, while studying your second language, not only supports your language learning, but increases your motivation as well.
Paul Sandrock, a language learning expert, said this about novice language learners: "My brain is not at a novice level, please engage my brain." That means my students crave content and context that will engage their mind, yet need material that is comprehensible for beginning language learners.
Scholastic language magazines are written in easy to understand French, and are of high interest themes and high interest vocabulary. My students will be challenged and engaged while reading without feeling frustrated or insulted.
Scholastic language magazines and the corresponding interactive website will be perfect learning tools for a remote language experience if fall finds us in a similar situation to now. I would then need an issue for each student, rather than a class set.
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