Teach Another Language to Kids (T.A.L.K.) Davis CA

Friday, February 24, 2017

Beginning French at Davis Art Center

St. James Intermediate ASL Class ~ Week 19

So far we have been learning a lot in the St. James Intermediate class! The students have been practicing ASL conversation skills, holiday, clothing, animal, and school signs. Today we played a game of Memory using past ASL vocabulary. We had a lot of fun trying to create a story at the end of the round using the winner's sign cards!

Earlier this year we raced each other in a fun relay game to practice clothing signs. Students rushed to put on pajamas, hats, and sweaters over their clothes before the other team. At the end, we put on a spontaneous fashion show, in which everyone strutted their stuff down the "runway." It was a great show, to say the least!

Monday, January 30, 2017

Patwin Beginning ASL Class

Scavenger Hunt

For the last part of the semester, the class has been learning about body parts & getting dressed. As a fun activity, I created notecards for some of the body parts we had been learning. Each student picked a color. I signed the body part they had to find, such as eyes, ears, and nose. If a student couldn't find a notecard, they asked for help from the other students. This was a really fun activity to get the kids moving and signing.

They then drew the other feature of their person and gave them a name.

A good practice for the students at home would be to have them describe their clothes. They can sign the color first and then the article of clothing.

Next few weeks we will focus on learning foods.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Beginning French

Danielle's class at Davis Arts Center

October 2016

We have been having a lot of fun in our class these past couple of weeks! So far we have learned how to say body parts, colors, numbers, fruits, basic food items and family members in French. The classroom environment is especially fun and exciting with the beginning French students because they all love helping each other and all of the students actively participate. Please take a look at the photos I have taken of some of our class activities!

Les parties du corps:

This week we focused on learning les parties du corps (body parts). During this particular activity, students picked pieces of paper out of a basket that had a body part vocabulary word written on it. Students had to say the word they grabbed out loud for the rest of the class to hear, then they got to draw the body part on our monster which we then named Bob. The students got very silly with this activity and there was lots of laughter as the students made Bob look as silly as possible.

Another day during this week, I stuck drawings of body parts around the classroom and I called out different vocabulary words that the students then had to run around the room to find and bring back to the white board. This activity did not include any writing or grammar as I challenged my students to listen well in order to process the French word without any written clues.

On a side note, I would like to add that the students have the responsibility of writing the date on the board everyday. In the photos you can see that we have written out the phrase "Aujourd'hui on est _______ le __ _______ 2016." Every morning I ask a different student which color of marker they would like to use, they then have to speak with the class as a team to figure out the day in French. I have them spell out the word as I say the letters in French, then we all say the entire phrase together. I love this daily activity because the students practice saying colors, the days of the week, months, numbers and the French alphabet.

La nourriture:

La Nourriture:

-les fruits

-les légumes

-le pain

-la baguette

-le croissant

-le jus de pomme

-le lait

-le lait au chocolat

-le fromage

-la confiture

-l'œuf

-les pâtes

-le riz

-la salade

-la soupe

-le sandwich

-le croque-monsieur

-la pizza

-la fourchette

-la cuiller

-l'assiette

-la serviette

-la tasse

In a previous week, the students learned how to say various fruits which included

a multitude of activities that included play-doh, drawing and a game of hide and

seek with plastic fruits. As requested by a student who will be travelling to France

in the Winter, we have been going over food vocabulary in French. This week we

began incorporating fruits into the different meals of the day as well as going through

basic food items in French. In this specific activity displayed in the photo above,

students had to draw table a setting with a plate, cup, fork, etc. Then they got to fill

their plate with food items they enjoy eating for breakfast. By the end of class, we

had some pretty cute drawings of le petit déjeuner! Students then came to the front

of class and presented their petit déjeuner in French to the other students. They were a

bit nervous to speak in front of everyone but they are very respectful to each other

and I believe activities like this improve their confidence with the French language!

Thank you for reading! À bientôt!

-Danielle Preston

Friday, October 14, 2016

St. James Intermediate ASL Week 5

Carlie & Naira's class at St. James
Intermediate ASL Week 5
Drawing with shapes and colors

In class, we all sat around and took turns describing something to draw. This was to practice the shape and color vocabulary for the week.

Wednesday, October 12th

As you can see, the class events changed a little bit. The first picture was the plan for the day but then the class ended up learning more than the original vocabulary. We ended with a game of four corners!

A good practice for the students at home would be to have them describe something, then you draw it and take turns to practice colors and shapes.

Next few weeks we will focus on learning numbers and describing a person.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Beginning French

Danielle's class at Davis Arts Center

September & October 2016

Learning numbers 1-100

Playing bingo while practicing pronunciation of numbers with repetition.

Learning Family Members

Along with other activities, we created family trees and presented who was who in our families and how we are related. We also spelled out some names on our white board to practice saying letters of the alphabet.