lundi 26 janvier

We went over the writing homework. It was of a high standard.

One grammar point that arose was how to express you have been doing something for a spell of time. English would be something like …

I've been married for 10 years

I've lived in Ayr since 1982

I've been teaching for 5 years

If in English it is "have been …  or have done … for a length of time or since with a date" then the construction in French is the Present tense of the verb not past tense as in English and preposition depuis

je suis marié(e) depuis dix ans

j'habite à Ayr depuis 1982

j'enseigne depuis 5 ans

Anyone else who wants their writing corrected please email or post in comments

We spoke about the problems of how to get pupils to write and what we should expect of them. We looked at the 5-14 guidelines and the new outcomes both of which are fairly vague. Writing is of course the end of a long process of the teaching via listening, talking and reading. We talked about support with word banks and had some suggestions for types of activities and context.

Finally and still to do with writing we went to www.voki.com to create a French speaking character. This involves typing French,  listening to the computer voice read it and eventually recording your own voice so writing, listening and talking!

Homework: to create a voki  that looks like you  with some of your personal information

Create an account (free)

You need an active email to confirm account. 

Create and email me your voki. 

Beware of typing names - the French voice simulator will have trouble eg to get it to read Kay I typed quai. Probably best to avoid names. Also it will only accept about 3-4 sentences. 

If you know how to record your voice on to the computer you could try that. It will let you record longer maybe 60 seconds.

You should also see if it is going to work in school websense etc.

We also had a look at www.toondoo.com

This allows you to create a 2 or 3 pane cartoon with speech bubbles. No sound but it is very colourful and motivating for writing!

Again you need to create an account (free) 

If this appeals to you, have a go!

Here are some examples created by B Eds displayed on a wiki

Amusez-vous bien!