Interactive Activity Helps Students Create Their Own Learning
During our unit on travel and transportation, I wanted to design an activity that was more interactive than simply finding information from an authentic French website. I know that the “jigsaw” technique is a cooperative learning strategy that allows students to create their own learning. I found a comprehensive French website that is an encyclopedia for cars and driving. Initially I wanted to assign a different method of transportation to each group, but quickly realized I needed to focus on one theme. Although most of my students are 16-17 years old, most do not have a license and instead rely on bicycles for their main mode of transportation on campus and around town, I selected the page for cyclists.
My objectives for the lesson were:
Interpretive Reading: Students will understand the main idea and some supporting details from a website on safe bicycling practices in France.
Interpersonal Communication: Students can ask for and provide information about safe cycling practices
After careful reading of the text, I designed four different activities based on information included in the article. Each student was provided a sheet with all four activities. I divided the class of 16 juniors and seniors into four groups. Each group was assigned one activity on the sheet (A, B, C or D).
In groups and using the target language, students record answers to their assigned activity based on information on the website http://www.encyclautomobile.fr/fr/encyclauto/fiche-pedagogique/les-2-roues/le-cycliste.html. They become « l’expert » on that section of the text.
When the activity is complete, I formed new groups, making sure each new group has at least one member from each original group. Again using the target language, « l’expert » teaches their new group about what they found in the text, en français, bien sûr. Group members fill in answers based on what the expert tells them. They are encouraged to use the target language to ask questions in order to successfully complete the task.
Throughout the activities, I circulated among the students to make sure they were on task, using the target language, and to answer any questions they might have. All communication was done in French.
After completing the second phase, we met again as a whole class and I selected some questions from the activities to talk about together.
Challenges or Obstacles:
- Although not blocked in my office, our school’s Internet filter blocked the website. I was able to request that the website be unblocked.
- I considered creating a tiny URL so the students would not have to type in a long web address, but URL shorteners are also blocked by our school’s filter.
- This lesson was designed for groups of 3-4. If I had more than 16 students, I would design a 5th activity to keep the groups small.
Benefits and Successes:
- This activity ensured that every student had a chance to speak using the target language in class in a meaningful way.
- After school, a student stopped by to say that she really enjoyed the activity as it provided her more opportunity to use French in class than she normally has on a daily basis.
Additional Information:
jigsaw-instructions-cyclistesle-cycliste-jigsaw-french-2
Submitted by: Jennifer Robinson, Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities