French and English Language Arts for Immersion, Upper Elementary-Middle School 1
What's included
16 live meetings
14 hrs 40 mins in-class hoursMastery Evaluation
1 hour per week. This is an interactive oral and written language class. Evaluation is ongoing and continuous. Students will have a notebook -- please get one at the start of class -- and workbook plus worksheets which the parents print out and put in a folder. Parents may check progress in the notebook and worksheets ant any time. Parents can also talk to me for a few minutes after each class meeting. A formal written report can be made at the end of class, on request.Grading
A certificate of completion and a progress outline may be provided on request.Class Experience
US Grade 3 - 6
Intermediate - Advanced Level
In this class we will alternate, one day all English and one day all French. The goal is full bilingualism so students need to dive in and hold conversations in whichever language is today. No problem if you forget a word; we can talk it over, look it up, or look up an image. That's all part of the fun. Each day we will read a story, answer some questions or do some learning exercises, and talk over vocabulary, grammar, and other content as it comes up. When we meet new vocabulary and concepts we may look at images or Wikipedia or sometimes a video (monitored and controlled by the teacher). The grammar will follow the outline of Spectrum Language Arts Grade 4. In this first class we will be focusing on parts of speech, nouns, pronouns, verbs, helping verbs, linking verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and articles; we will look at both English and French and discuss the many similarities and the few but important differences. This preparatory work sets the students up for success in later courses studying sentence structure and writing. In French we will use selections from Defi 100%, Moi Je Parle Francais, French the Easy Way, and other materials, paralleling the same topics in English for reinforcement. As we are only using short selections, I will make materials available to download and copy. The class session will be divided into about twenty minutes of formal grammar using texts and workbooks, twenty minutes of oral reading of interesting age and grade appropriate stories, and fifteen minutes of reacting to the stories looking at vocabulary, grammar examples, and comprehension work to be answered in full sentences or short paragraphs. As the reading abilities and experience of students in this class will vary widely, we will try out a few different books in the first few days to find an appropriate instructional level; the goal is a book which the student can read well enough to comprehend, but challenging enough that they may need help with perhaps a few words in every hundred. We may also need to explore background knowledge further which of course is part of the fun and interest. I have a large collection of literary readers and short story collections to choose from: English -- Canadian Reading Development Series. Holt Rinehart Language Patterns, Nelson Reading For Meaning, Dent Readers, and others; French -- Ratus Decouvre Les Livres units 3 and 4, Je Lis collection, Ratus Poche short paperbacks, Tout Mon Quatrieme/Cinquieme/Sixieme Annee, and more.
Learning Goals
Students will read, speak, listen, and write using the two languages French and English equally, at an age/grade appropriate level.
We will explore various samples of literature and some non-fiction reading in both. We will practice using the web wisely to look up things we don't know and other facts we would like to know.
Syllabus
16 Lessons
over 16 WeeksLesson 1:
Common and Proper Nouns
Define a noun, identify nouns in a short reading passage, name a few known nouns, learn about common and proper nouns and capitalization in English; read an interesting story of appropriate level in English and note use of common and proper nouns, answer comprehension questions.
55 mins online live lesson
Lesson 2:
Nouns continued; French nouns
Continue exercises working with nouns; French nouns and the issue of gender in French. Finish story and comprehension questions in English.
55 mins online live lesson
Lesson 3:
French nouns, gender and differences in capitalization.
Do exercises recognizing French nouns and classifying them by gender. Read a short story in French and note use of nouns and capitalization.
55 mins online live lesson
Lesson 4:
Pronouns
Define a pronoun, identify pronouns in a short reading passage; possessive pronouns. Read a story in English and answer comprehension questions. Note use of pronouns.
55 mins online live lesson
Other Details
Learning Needs
I teach kids with ASD and ADHD and I'm open to more. Please drop me a message and we can talk about your needs.
Parental Guidance
Stories chosen are appropriate for the age/grade level, assuming an average of about Grade 4-5 age 10-11. At this age sometimes violence and inappropriate behaviour are described, in order to have action and plot. Gratuitous violence is avoided. Questions about sexuality -- normal at this age -- will be referred back to parents.
We will be using the web as a resource for language, vocabulary, facts, music, and images. The teacher will model searching in a directed way for educational purposes. However, trolls lurk everywhere and on rare occasions inappropriate vocabulary and very rarely images may show up. These sites will be closed immediately and the teacher will give a short message about appropriate and useful web use.
Please note: French has grammatical gender. Every single object has a gender, from a table (F) to a shoe (M). Gender neutral language is literally impossible. My apologies. Unfortunately the Academie Francaise has not moved on this so we are stuck with it.
Pre-Requisites
A minimum of Grade 3 (first language) level reading in both English and French and should be able to construct a complete sentence answer in both languages, in both speech and writing. Students must be mature enough for grammar lessons
Teacher expertise and credentials
2 Teaching Certificates
Non-US Teaching Certificate in Secondary Education
Non-US Teaching Certificate in Foreign Language
4 Degrees
Master's Degree in Education from Tufts University
Bachelor's Degree in Foreign Language from Bishop's University, Canada (second copy for double major)
Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from Bishop's University, Canada
Bachelor's Degree in Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hello! I have been teaching since 1974 and tutoring privately since 1984. I've been on Outschool since 2019. I've taught a lot of people to read, write, and speak both English and French. I work with students with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, as well as those who just fell through the cracks. I also teach reading in French (which I speak and read fluently), reading in English, high school French, and advanced mathematics for college and university.
I keep up to date with reading about the latest in reading and
education and I participate actively in educational Facebook pages.
My academic background includes a BSc from MIT, MA in Education from Tufts University, Honours BA in Mathematics and double major in Foreign Languages and linguistics from Bishop's University in Quebec. I also studied for three years in graduate school math but had to leave for health reasons (respiratory failure of unknown cause). After some years teaching in classrooms from K to college level and four decades tutoring, I now live semi-retired in a Quebec village. I speak both English and French equally every day with neighbours, people in shops, medical staff, etc.
Reviews
Live Group Course
$18
weekly or $280 for 16 classes1x per week, 16 weeks
55 min
Completed by 1 learner
Live video meetings
Ages: 8-12
1-5 learners per class