THe time is already near when students in 6th grade will be switching languages.  So, whatever they have done in one language will now be pretty much repeated in the other language.  Then in January, everyone in 6th grade has a chance to decide if they want to take French or Spanish for the rest of their time in middle school.

Many of my 6th grade students have already declared “I’m taking French!”  or “I’m definitely taking Spanish” though they haven’t taken Spanish yet.   Let’s wait until you’ve had a full experience in Spanish before you decide for sure.

For my 7th and 8th grade students, and those of you who aren’t my students but love French, what are some of the reasons you take French?

I just learned about a really cool site where you can record yourself speaking French and then I can hear it !  I created just one example so go try it http://lingtlanguage.com/frenchymms  Make sure you submit it at the end- you don’t have to have an email address.  Just use your first name and that should be fine.  For this one, you can have extra credit but eventually, you will have to do this kind of thing as an assignment!

We’re about to create our first video to share with our French friends in Mme. Kolendo’s class in France!  In 7th grade, we are working on schedules, favorite classes, etc. and that is the same thing she is working on with her students in English!  She’s going to have her students make a video to send to us and we’re going to work on one for them!  Let’s see how much French you can speak! Have you checked out her blogs in my blogroll?  Look on the right side, toward the bottom.

6th grade- we’ll work on something later in the year, when the students who have chosen French are with me for good in terms 3 and 4.

8th grade- we’re working on something for you too!

Can anyone tell us the name of this place in  Paris?  Can you tell us about it?

Les Francais have no problem driving tiny cars.  Here in America, when the Mini came back and the new Smartcars were introduced, some people thought they were way too small and dangerous.  In France, most cars are small like this.   This picture is of an old car in France, but many are this size.   Since large cars are not all that common, it’s not so dangerous to drive a smaller car because you probably aren’t likely to hit a large truck or car.  Why do you think the French drive smaller cars?

Since I created this blog for my students, today I thought maybe I’d find out what you want from it.  What do you want to see?  How can this blog help you?  What should I get rid of or add?

I’ve had 5000 visitors to my site since last spring!  This year, my students have been very active with posting and viewing the website.  If you have a blog of your own, let me know so I can link it to mine!

Can you guess where this picture was taken?  If you said a McDonald’s you are correct!  This picture was taken at a McDonald’s in Belgium when I was there in 2003.  They had many of the same things on the menu that you would see here.  Instead of the Dollar Menu, they had the Euro Menu.  There were some things on those menus that were unusual like a fruit cup, a salmon sandwich, a ground lamb sandwich.  Each country tends to have things that are more popular in that country, a well as your typical 1/4 Pounder, McNuggets, etc.

I don’t know what it is about this picture but I get such a laugh out of it every time I see it!  This is the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris, near the Centre Pompidou.  The fountain is full of silly sculptures but this one is my favorite.  It seems so inappropriate in a classy city like Paris that someone would create a sculpture of lips and have water coming out of them like they’re giving someone the raspberry.  Do a little research on Le Centre Pompidou here http://www.junior.centrepompidou.fr/ and see what you can find out.  It’s a fascinating place from the outside of the building to the things are on display inside. 

For those who want to do some extra credit and make some powerpoint projects, this might be something good to research!