le 23 juin:  What a whirlwind week.  I was away Wednesday and Thursday in Haida Gwaii, and Friday we presented our scripts (some of us in front of a film crew!).  If you haven't yet presented your script, please do by Wednesday at 3:00pm if you would like to receive a mark for it (incompleted projects don't tend to get a very helpful mark).

You have a test on Monday on "J'aime Voyager".  Here's what you need to study:

-all of our airplane vocab, just from deciding to go traveling to sitting in the departure lounge, watching the planes take off and land.  You don't need to know how to talk about the inside of the airplane.
-all the verbs from the unit, including aller, venir, prendre, voyager as well as the verbs we learned in this unit, in present, futur proche, passé récent, and impératif.
-all the countries which we studied (see list below)
-all the geographic prepositions of place (to, from) and how they apply to countries

The format will be translations, find the booboo, and lots of little games, as per your instructions.  Bon chance!  :)
​

le 19 juin:  Mme GZ was away on the 16th; hope you got lots of good work done.  Today we learned the four "cousin" verbs partir, sortir, dormir, servir.  They're cousins because they're all irregular "ir" verbs that are conjugated in the same way.  Here's dormir:

je dors     nous dormons
tu dors     vous dormez
il dort       ils dorment
elle dort   elles dorment

We did an exercise whereby I left a verb out of a sentence and you decided what verb it was, then how to conjugate it.  Here's the exercise with the answers:

1. Elle sort de l’aéroport.
2. Tu pars du Canada.
3. Nous dormons dans l’avion.
4. Je sors de la porte d’embarquement.
5. Le steward sert les boissons dans l’avion.
6. Ils dorment dans un lit dans la chambre.
7. Il sort de l’avion.
8. Elles partent pour la France.

 We talked about using sortir and partir with prepositions:

a) sortir de – to exit from 

1.  Je sors du taxi – I’m getting out of the taxi.
2. Il sort de l’avion – He’s exiting the plane.
3. Sors de ma salle de classe!  Get out of my classroom!

 
b) partir de – to leave from 

1. Je pars des États-Unis. – I’m leaving the US.
2. Ils partent de la France – They’re leaving France.

 
c) partir pour – to leave forElles partent pour la France.
1.  Tu pars pour le Mexique.

We spent the rest of the class working on our scripts.  Remember, they're due on Friday, with your part memorized.  I'll perform the other character in your script.  I have some optional homework for you to do if you want some practice with the four new verbs:

Translate into French:

1.  I'm going to leave the airplane.
2.  She just left Switzerland.
3.  Get out!  (plural)
4.  I just slept on the plane.
5.  We are going to serve the coffee.
6.  You (s) are leaving from France for Morocco by plane.

le 15 juin:  After our quiz, we talked about how we do assessment in the classroom, as one of my classes is going to be part of a video for the Ministry of Education on June 23, and the other Grade 9 class will have some members joining so that we have more than just a few students.  :)  We talked about what you think when you get a bad mark on a quiz, and why we write quizzes in the first place:

If you receive a bad mark on a quiz, what do you think?
 

• “I should have studied”
• “I should have made sure that I memorized some of the simpler things”
• “Whatever, I’ll do better next time”
• “I legit think I’m an idiot”
• “I should have checked my answers again”
• “I’m stupid for second guessing myself”
• “I need a new way to study to remember better”
• “I need to now study what I got wrong on the quiz”
• “I studied as hard as I could but it didn’t help”
• “I read the question wrong”
• “What is wrong with me?”
• “I should have paid more attention in class”
• “I should have read the questions more carefully”
• “What are my parents going to say when they see this quiz?”
• “Oh well.”
• “#RATS”

Why do we do quizzes?

• so that the teacher can see what we know and what we don’t know, on specific classroom material
• so that you, the student can see what you know and what you don’t know, on specific classroom material
• so that students can see what the teacher hopes they know
• to help us learn how to focus on our material
• to help us develop our time management skills
• so that when we mark them in class, we get another chance at exposure to the material
• to give ourselves the opportunity to have more responsibility.

When you look at why we do quizzes, and what the bolded reactions above are, you can see that the value of the quizzes (and the value of you!) isn't being honoured if we just think from a deficit mindset.  So lets fail early and often, as Zimmerman says!

Homework:  What assessment do we do in Mme GZ's class?  Be ready to hand in your list to the TTOC tomorrow.

le 14 juin:  We took up the homework today by partnering up and practicing asking and answering the questions in the homework, then performing it for the class.  I made sure that everyone understood all of the vocabulary in the questions.  This vocabulary is very important.  Make sure that you are familiar with the vocab and can use it, for example in your project and in your test.

I gave you a list of countries, but we didn't have enough time to get to them.  We'll do them tomorrow.

Homework and quiz:  Make sure that you understand the first three  questions of Activity 2 that we did today, and can answer them as well as translate them.

le 13 juin:  Today I did our "travelin' to the airport" skit again (and I'll do it everyday!), then I gave you Activité #1 on page 262 in our booklet to do in class, and Activité #2 to do for homework.  No quiz.

le 12 juin:  Projects, test review, and tests took up our Thursday and Friday.  Today we began our new unit, "J'aime Voyager" (I love to travel).  I gave you a fat booklet that we'll use for the remainder of the unit.  I did a little skit to help you understand the vocabulary of packing, going to, arriving at, and entering into the airport, looking for the terminal and the airline counter, speaking to the agent, checking your bag, keeping your carry-on, having your passport, ticket, and boarding pass, looking for the information screen, going through the security gate, waiting at your departure gate, and watching the planes take off and land through the window.  Make sure you're familiar with that vocabulary (understand it, not memorize it at this point).

I gave you your project date (June 23) and your test date (June 26).  We talked about the possibility of each of you writing a script about traveling, which I would mark, then you memorizing just one person's lines from the script, and I perform the other person with you in front of the class.  We'll vote on that idea tomorrow.

Homework:  Please translate the following questions:

1.  I'm going to go to the airport.
2.  I just bought a ticket.
3.  I arrive at the airline counter.
4.  I speak to the agent.

​Quiz:  the above four sentences.

le 6 juin:  More grade 8s!  What a time drain!  Today we learned the indigenous territories Ts'msyen, Haida,  Gitxsan, and Nisga'a.  We also learned how to say "to/from" in French:

Homework:  Be able to use the prepositions above with all territories and provinces, and the verb aller.  I know it's a lot to learn, but do your best.  You'll have a quiz on it tomorrow.  Tomorrow, please bring all of you project materials with you so that you can work on your project in class.

le 5 juin:  Today we learned the provinces.  Homework:  using l'Ontario, l'Alberta (f), la Saskatchewan, le Manitoba, and le Québec, answer the question "Quelle est ta province préférée?" and answer with "j'aime' j'aime bien' j'aime mieux, and je préfère with adjectives, as well as answering the question "pourquoi?"  Your quiz will also be on this material.

le 2 juin:  Today we had a great day.  We took up the homework and practiced it quite a bit verbally.  I then taught you the comparatives plus and moins (more and less).  We used them in our conversations about which modes of transportation we like, really like, like better, and prefer.  We also practiced:

Quel mode de transport est-ce que tu préfères?

1. I prefer a « …. »
2. Why do you prefer a « … »?
3. Because a “...” is the most awesome mode of transportation in the world.

 

1. The fastest   le plus rapide
2. The least fast le moins rapide
3. The greenist le plus écolo
4. The least green le moins écolo
5. The most fun le plus amusant
6. The least fun le moins amusant
7. The most relaxing le plus relaxant
8. The least relaxing le moins relaxant

 
Un auto est le mode de transport le plus rapide...
 
      -du monde (in the world)
      -que je n’ai jamais vu (that I’ve ever seen)

Quiz:  make sure you can use the bolded adjectives below.

rapide – fast
confortable – comfortable
fiable – reliable
relaxant – relaxing
un bon marché – inexpensive
pas cher – inexpensive
chic – classy
spacieux – roomy
chouette – awesome
sexy – sexy
lent – slow
cher – expensive
amusant – fun
practique – convenient
climatisé – air conditioned
dangereux – dangerous
écolo - green

You need to be able to use the adjectives above with the following modes of transportation:

 -une voiture
-un avion
-un train
-un moto
-un traversier 

The quiz will have this structure:
 
"Un (mode) est le mode de transport le (plus) (moins) (one of the five adjectives) du monde"

Here are some examples for you:
 

1.  A plane is the most fun mode of transportation in the world.
2. A motorcycle is the least sexy mode of transportation in the world.
3. A train is the most classy mode of transportation in the world.

 

1. Un avion est le mode de transport le plus amusant du monde.
2. Un moto est le mode de transport le moins sexy du monde.

​Have a great weekend!

le 1 juin:  Today we had a lot of interruptions, which was actually a bit fun.  We did our self-satisfaction surveys, then had endless grade 8 groups come in to meet us.  We did our préférer quiz, then I gave you the following homework:

Ask the question "Comment est-ce que tu aimes voyager?"
Answer with aimer, aimer bien, aimer mieux, and préférer, using four transport methods (use un or une, not en or a).

Ask the question again, but with "il" as the subject pronoun, and answer using 4 new transport methods.
Ask the question again using "vous", and answering with "nous", and answer using 4 new transport methods.

le 31 mai:  Here's a copy of the quiz we  had today, if you'd like to reference it:

aller, je, futur proche
je vais aller

arriver, tu, passé récent
tu viens d’arriver

voyager, il, futur proche
il va voyager

prendre, elle, passé récent
elle vient de prendre

descendre, nous, futur proche
nous allons descendre

parler, vous, passé récent
vous venez de parler

aimer, ils, futur proche
ils vont aimer

manger, elles, passé récent
elles viennent de manger

After the quiz we took up the green sheet with all the different tenses on it, then I taught you the following two questions:

Comment est-ce que tu aimes voyager?  How do you like to travel?
Quel est ton mode de transport préféré?  Which mode of transportation do you prefer?

We'll be learning how to say:

J'aime un auto - I like a car
J'aime bien un motoneige - I really like a snowmobile
J'aime mieux un dos de chameau - I like a camel better
Mais je préfère un montgolfière - But I prefer a hot air balloon.

We can of course substitute in any transportation method we like in those sentences.  Tomorrow we'll learn how to indicate why we prefer those methods.

I also taught you the conjugations of the stem-changing verb "préférer":

je préfère                   nous préférons
tu préfères                 vous préférez
il préfère                    ils préfèrent
elle préfère                elles préfèrent

Quiz and homework tomorrow:  be able to conjugate préférer.

le 30 mai:  After having a TTOC for two days, you lucky students have Mme GZ back again.  I'm really pleased with the amount of work that got done.  Here's where you should be right now:

-you have all of the transport methods translated on your big sheet;
-you know what verbs are in the unit;
-you've finished your yellow verb booklet and have had it corrected;
-you have been given your project sheet and understand your project;
-you can put your verbs and transport methods together with questions, answers, and general statements to create little paragraphs.

That last bit is what we worked on today.  I gave you a green sheet to help you practice creating little scenarios with the verbs and the transport methods for présent, passé récent, futur proche, and all three forms of the impératif.  We didn't get very far, so please finish up the green worksheet for homework.

​Quiz tomorrow on futur proche and passé récent.

le 25 mai:  We started our new unit today, "Les modes de transport".  I gave you a large sheet of pictures of transport methods which I asked you to start translating, and a yellow booklet of verb conjugations which I want you to start in class with the TTOC tomorrow.

Quiz for tomorrow:  all the conjugations and tenses of arriver and aller, as well as the following modes of transportation:  à pied, en hélicoptère, en camion, à dos de chameau, en chaise roulante.​  No other homework.

le 23 mai:  Today we had our presentations.  Tomorrow, your test.  Good luck!

le 18 mai:  There were lots of people away today, so we played a game, then we practiced our emotions with our script.  Have a fantastic long weekend!  Project Tuesday, test Wednesday.  Make sure you know être in all its conjugations, including putting it into the negative, all your emotions in masculine, feminine, singular, and plural, how to use the impératif, passé récent, and futur proche, and the vocabulary from our conversation (both Personne 1 and Personne 2).

Le 16 mai:  Today we did a major present tense, imperative, futur proche, and passé récent review.  Homework:  take the following sentence fragments and put them into the impératif for tu, the present tense for je, the futur proche for je, and the passé récent for je:

-acheter des billets
-regarder la pièce
-parler français
-réaliser la pièce

Then, when you've finished that, do it again, but this time, instead of "tu" for the impératif,   use the "vous" form, and use the "nous" form for the other three tenses.

You'll have your quiz from today, tomorrow.

le 15 mai:  Today we reviewed the impératif (see our notes on the webpage from March 3) and the futur proche, then learned a new tense called "passé récent", which means recent past.  An example in English would be "I just drank a coffee" or "I just went to the store".  You form it by using the present tense of the verb venir (to come), the preposition "de", then the unconjugated form of the main verb.

Here are the present tense conjugations of the irregular verb venir:

Je viens      Nous venons
Tu viens      Vous venez
Il vient         Ils viennent
Elle vient     Elles viennent

Here are some examples of how to use the passé récent:

I just came - Je viens de venir
You just drank - Tu viens de boire
He just ate - Il vient de manger
She just bought - Elle vient d'acheter
We just went - Nous venons d'aller
You just ordered - Vous venez de commander
They just walked - Ils viennent de marcher
They just watched - Elles viennent de regarder

In class, we put together a little conversation that's designed to use all four tenses at once (present, impératif, passé récent, and futur proche);

Bob:  Claire, buy some tickets at the ticket window. (impératif)
Claire:  I’m going to buy the tickets now. (fp)
Bob:  I’m going to buy the tickets. (fp) (like he's exasperated)
Claire:  I’m buying the tickets, Bob. (prés) (she's getting angry!)
Bob:  Ha!  I just bought the tickets. (pr) (He beat her to it!)

Here's the translation:

Bob:  Claire, achète des billets au guichet.
Claire:  Je vais acheter les billets maintenant.
Bob:  Je vais acheter les billets.
Claire:  J'achète les billets, Bob.
Bob:  Ha!  Je viens d'acheter des billets.

Homework:  Just as we wrote the scenario above about buying tickets, please write two more scenarios between any two people that you like:

1)  a scenario about two people are going to the theatre.  (“We are going to the theatre”  “Are you going to the theatre?”  “Let’s go to the theatre” for example)

2)  a scenario about watching the play ("are you watching the play?  I'm going to watch the play.  I'm watching the play now.  Well, I just watched the play", for example)

Tomorrow's quiz will be on taking French sentences and putting them  into the impératif, passé récent, and futur proche.

As well, continue to memorize your next two lines.  By tomorrow, you should be finished memorizing your lines, and we can work on polishing up those emotions.  :)

le 11 mai:  Today we had our quiz on all conjugations of être in the affirmative and the negative, with the five emotions, then we took the following emotions and did the tells for them:

-en colère
-timide
-surprise

We learned a lot from practicing!  

Quiz tomorrow:

-culotté
-amoureux
-gêné (in all their forms:  masculine, feminine, singular, plural)
-plus all the conjugations of être in the affirmative and the negative.

Plus, please memorize your next two lines.

le 10 mai:  Mme GZ was NOT in good shape today, as she could barely speak from her disgusting virus.  UGH.  So we practiced using various conjugations of être with our five emotions today, then did our quiz.  After that, we performed our first four lines.

Quiz:  Be able to use être in the negative and affirmative with the following emotions:

coupable - guilty
heureux/heureuse - happy
confus(e) - confused
dégû(e) - disgusted
effrayé (e) - scared

Eg:

I'm not scared - Je ne suis pas effrayé
She's happy - elle est heureuse
He's not confused - Il n'est pas confus
They're (f) not disgusted - Elles ne sont pas dégûes

Homework:  Memorize your next two lines, for a total of six to perform tomorrow.

le 9 mai:  Today we continued with our emotions, and we got all of these identified.  Please note that in Period 1 we added the emotion "dégû" (disgusted) to the list.  "Dégû" is slang.

We also worked a bit at listening to your first two lines; for those of you who didn't have them memorized, remember that you promised me today that you would take at least 5 minutes of MINDFUL studying to get those lines memorized each night.  I'm going to hold you to that.

Homework:  Memorize your next two lines; you'll be performing your first four lines tomorrow.

Quiz:  all the conjugations of être, and the five emotions with the star beside them from the board (photo above).  I'll be putting them into little sentences such as:

She is angry:  elle est en colère
​We are shy:  Nous sommes timides

le 8 mai:  Between projects, tests, and the weekend, it seems like it's been ages since I updated the webpage.  But back we are at our new unit, "Au Théâtre"!  This is going to be a really fun unit, filled with acting and improv.

I handed out our script today (your verbal project is going to be this memorized conversation), and assigned half of you to be Personne #1, and the other half to be Personne #2.  We went over how to pronounce all the words, then you made sure that you understood the content based on context (with a little help from some vocab listed on the back of the conversation sheet).

For tomorrow, please have your first two lines memorized and ready to perform.

Period #2 was nice enough to put together some emotions for us to use as the basis for the "improv" for the conversation:

en colère - angry
heureux/heureuse - happy
triste - sad
coupable - guilty
timide - shy
excité - excited
surprise - surprised

This is as far as we got before the bell rang; Period 1, you can give us  5 more emotions tomorrow for all of the grade 9s to use.

le 2 mai:  We spent a lot of time taking up the homework today, and making sure that you understand how to say all the different things one can say about family members.  I then gave you a large (and authentic!) family tree with a worksheet of questions whereby you were to find the person who was "speaking" in each question.  Please finish that up for homework.

le 1 mai:  Today we learned how to talk about the people in your family in the following way:

As-tu des.... Do you have any....
Es-tu le/la... Are you the....

j'ai deux frères, pas de soeurs - I have two brothers, no sisters
Je n'ai pas de frère, ni de soeur - I have neither brother nor sister
Pas de frère, pas de soeur - no brother, no sister
Je suis un enfant unique - I'm an only child
Je suis une fille unique - I'm an only child (f)
Je suis un fils unique - I'm an only child (m)
Il est le benjamin - He's the youngest
Elle est la benjamine - She's the youngest
Il est le cadet - He's the middle child
Elle est la cadette - She's the middle child
Il est l'aîné - He's the oldest child
Elle est l'aînée - She's the oldest child

We made family trees to illustrate the sentences above, which was fun.

Homework:  Draw a family tree which illustrates everything that we learned, and write about it (making sure you use the proper introduction that we always use).  After you finish practicing all of the above vocab, write about one person in the tree (name, physical characteristics, personality, age, what they like to do).

le 27 avril:  Today we had our numbers test, then reviewed how to indicate people's names and ages on the family tree.  We determined that when you "write up" a family tree, you start with "here is (someone's) family tree.  How many people are in the family?  There are x people in the family."

To indicate age:  J'ai vingt ans; il a douze ans; elle a quarante-cinq ans.
To indicate names:  ​Je m'appelle Nancy, il s'appelle Bob, elel s'appelle Claire.

We then learned the vocabulary for foster family:

a foster family - une famille d'accueil
a foster mother - une mere adoptive
a foster father - un pere adoptif
a foster son - un fils adoptif
a foster daughter - une fille adoptive
some foster children - des enfants adoptifs

We then learned the following adjectives to describe people's appearance:

blond / blonde
brun / brune – brown-haired
grand/grande
gros/grosse
petit/petite
maigre - thin
potelé/potelée – chubby
 
les cheveux courts – short hair
les cheveux longs – long hair
les cheveux frisés – curly hair
les cheveux raides – straight hair
une frange – bangs
des taches de rousseur – freckles
les yeux bleus/marron/verts

Finally, we learned the following activities so that we could talk about what people like to do:

il aime... he likes... (elle aime...she likes... j'aime... I like, etc)

aller au cinéma - to go to the movies
allez chez les amis - to go to friends' homes
faire les magasins - to go shopping
faire du sport - to do sports
lire - to read
se promener - to go for a walk
tricoter - to knit

Examples:

my brother likes to go to the movies - mon frère aime aller au cinéma
I like to go to friends' homes:  J'aime aller chez les amis
my sister likes to go shopping - ma soeur aime faire les magasins
my aunt likes to do sports - ma tante aime faire du sport
my mother-in-law likes to read - ma belle-mère aime lire
I like to go for a walk - j'aime me promener
She/he likes to go for a walk - Il/elle aime se promener
They like to go for a walk - ils aiment se promener
My father likes to knit.  Mon père aime tricoter.

Homework:  Describe Bob's family tree, right from "here is Bob's family tree".  Give Bob two brothers, a sister, two parents, an aunt and uncle, a boy cousin, a grandmother and grandfather.  Describe each member of the family, including:

-their relationship to Bob
-their name
-their age
-their relationship to someone else in the tree, using de
-an adjective describing their personality
-a description of their appearance
-a sentence describing what they like to do.

This is a long assignment.  If you can do this easily, you can do your project.  Good luck!

le 22 avril:  I  taught you the verb "to call oneself", which is the verb the French use when they want to say what their (or someone's) name is.  We learned that a verb describes an action which often falls on something else, such as "I read the book" (the action is falling on the book), but when a reflexive pronoun is put in front, then the action falls back on the subject.  For example, "appeler" by itself means "to call", but "s'appeler" means "to call oneself", in other words, to be named.  Another example is "lever", which means "to lift", but when it becomes "se lever", it means "to get up" (like, lift yourself).  Cool.

je m'appelle
tu t'appelles
il s'appelle
elle s'appelle
nous nous appelons
vous vous appelez
ils s'appellent
elles s'appellent

We did a little sheet which helped us practice "s'appelle", and took it up in class.  I then showed you the patterns from numbers from 1-99.  

Homework:  spend as much time as you need to with the blog 
blogs.transparent.com/french/french-numbers-1-100/.  It has all the numbers written out for you plus .wav files for pronunciation.  You'll be responsible for all of these numbers by the end of the unit, but for tomorrow's quiz, please be able to translate and write out the French for:

-all numbers between 1 and 30
-the decade numbers after that (40, 50, 60, 70 80, and 90)

le 21 avril:  Sorry guys, Mme GZ was deathly ill today.  In fact, I'm time traveling in my head right now, to Sunday afternoon, when I went/will go to the hospital to find out I have/will have bacterial pneumonia.  Ok, full disclosure, I'm actually typing this on Monday the 24th, no time travel involved.

I apologize for those who had appointments with me during lunch today and I wasn't there.  I hope you assumed that your appointment would just be moved ahead until Tuesday.  Same goes for the homework that was due today; I'll check for completion on Tuesday, then we'll take it up then.

le 20 avril: Today we learned some positive and negative adjectives which we can use to describe people on our family tree: 

The ones that are underlined are the ones which you need to work with for your homework tonight:  

Write a family tree describing 6 different people:
 
“Here is my family tree.  How many people are in my family?  In my family there are x people.
 
Here’s my _______, she is <adjective>. Elle est
Il est, ils sont (they are); elles sont (they are)
 
ma mère
mon arrière-grand-mère
mon arrière-grand-fils
mon frère
ma sœur
mon cousin
ma tante

le 19 avril:  After taking up the homework and having our quiz, we learned the following vocabulary about grandparents, great grandparents, and offspring:

le grand-père - grandfather
la grand-mère - grandmother
les grands-parents - grandparents
la petite-fille - granddaughter
le petit-fils - grandson
les petits-enfants - grandchildren
l'arrière-grand-mère - great grandmother
l'arrière-grand-père - great grandfather
les arrière-grands-parents - great grandparents
l'arrière-petite-fille - great granddaughter
l'arrière-petit-garçon - great grandson
les arrière-petits-enfants - great grandchildren

Notice that "grand" doesn't take an e for feminine, but it takes an s for plural.  Also notice that "arrière" never adds an e or an s.

Homework:  write another fairy tale, this time starting with, "Hello, my name is <name>, and here is my family tree.  How many people are in my family?  There are x people in my family".  Use primarily the vocabulary above for the people in your family (don't put in a lot of aunts, cousins, uncles, etc).  Make sure you practice using c'est, il y a, voici, and j'ai when introducing people.  As well, make sure that you explain relationships not only in relation to yourself, but to others as well (eg:  "Here is my grandfather.  He is my great-grandfather's son".

There will be a quiz tomorrow on all of the vocabulary above, including using "de" to show relationships.

le 18 avril:  Welcome back from our Easter break.  Unfortunately, Mme GZ has gotten herself a nasty cold, but I'm pushing through it.  :).  We went over our marks in detail today; everything you've done for me is marked and in your portfolio.  I also gave you a detailed breakdown of all your marks for your tests and your projects, including the ones that you haven't handed in (you received an "abs" for those).  I put up a chart for appointments this week, if you are failing (and therefore receiving an "incomplete", or an "i'), please make an appointment with me so that we can work out what is best for you and your learning.

I checked the homework and we did our quiz.  After that, I put another family tree on the board, and this time I added "half-sister" and "half-brother".  We concentrated on saying that, for example, "my uncle is my father's brother."  Keeping in mind that there's no apostrophe "s" in French to show possession, the way that we would say that is "mon oncle est le frère de mon père."

Here is a picture of our board today:
​

Homework:  Using the vocabulary on the board, write 6-7 statements about family members, first saying what your relationship is with them, then saying their relationship with another person.  You'll have two family members per sentence.  Eg:  "Here is my father; my uncle is my father's brother."  In French, of course.  :)  I gave you a list of what is on your quiz tomorrow; sorry, but it's on my computer at school and I'm half-dead at home.  I'll give you five minutes to study before the quiz tomorrow... but it's probably a good idea to just use the vocab that's in the picture above.  The quiz won't stray far from that.  You'll have to know how to say "my <family relation> is the <relation> of my <relation>", such as "my aunt is my mother's sister" (ma tante est la soeur de ma mère.)

le 13 avril:  We started our new unit today:  La Famille.  I drew a large family tree on the board and we filled it in, including how to say "I have", "she has", "here is", etc.  We learned that we will begin our family tree presentation (on May 4) with:  "Voici mon arbre généalogique.  Combien de personne y a-t-il dans ma famille?  Dans ma famille il y a x  personnes".  (Here is my family tree.  How many people are in my family?  In my family, there's x people​".  Here's a picture of the board:

We learned that mon, ma, mes are possessive adjectives, which means they must agree in number and gender with the family member they're describing:  mon for masculine family, ma for females, and mes​ for all plurals.  We also learned how to say voici (here is), J'ai (I have), il y a (there is) and c'est (it's) which we can use when introducing family members.  Eg:

C'est mon frère - It's my brother
Voici ma mère - here's my mother
Il y a mon oncle:  There's my uncle
J'ai deux fils: - I have two sons.

Homework:  Translate the following into French:

“Here is my family tree.  How many people are in my family?  There are 8 people in my family.
 
Here is me, <name>.  I have a father and a mother.  Here are my brothers, Bob and Fred.  Here’s my sister Claire.  Claire has a husband.  I have cousins:  John and Frank.  Here’s my sister-in-law.  I have three nephews; here are my nephews.

There will be a quiz on Tuesday wherein I'll put a family tree on the board with some blanks underneath some of the people, and you'll write in the title with the possessive adjective on the blank.  Eg:  ma mère, mon fils, ma tante, mon neveu.​

le 5 avril:  I gave you some to study for and ask questions about your quiz today before we had it, then marked it.  I then reminded you that I'm away Thursday and Friday, and told you that you'll be going to the Lester Centre Thursday morning for a presentation.  I gave you a pink sheet which is a sample magazine page.

Have the sample magazine page translated and ready to hand in by the end of class on Friday.
Have your OWN magazine page ready to hand in at the beginning of class on Tuesday.
Be ready to perform your fashion show on Tuesday.
Be ready to hand in your index card describing an outfit from your fashion show on Tuesday.

​See you Monday!

le 4 avril:  After taking up the homework, we performed a few sentences about describing clothing and whether we feel that the clothing is trendy or not.  I then gave you the rest of the block to work on your presentations in your fashion groups.  Make sure that by tomorrow, you have a list of what everyone in your group is wearing, IN FRENCH PLEASE!

There's also a short quiz tomorrow on the following:

porter (all conjugations)
petit
beau/belle
laid
vague
serré
bleu
noir 
un pantalon, un tee-shirt, une robe, une cravate, des bottes.  Make sure you use all 4 forms of the adjectives (masculine, feminine, singular plural​.

le 3 avril:  We had adjective - a - palooza today:

petit(e)
small

grand(e)
big

vieux (m) (pl)
old

vieille (f)
old

vieilles (pl)
old

nouveau (m)
new

nouvelle (f)
new

nouveaux (m) (pl)
new

nouvelles (f) (pl)
new

beau (m)
good looking

belle (f)
good looking

beaux (m) (pl)
good looking

belles (f) (pl)
good looking

joli/jolie
​pretty

bon/bonne
good

mauvais/mauvaise
bad
écossais
plaid

de soie
silk

de coton
cotton

long (m)
long

longue (f)
long

court (m)
short

courte (f)
short

vague
loose

serré
tight

étroit
narrow

habillé
formal

simple
informal

déguillé
ragged

(ce pantalon) ne te va pas du tout
those pants don’t look good on you at all

ça me va comme un gant
this fits me like a glove

élégant
elegant

pas mal
not bad

sexy
sexy

cher
expensive

pas cher
inexpensive

(ce pantalon) te grossis
those pants make you look fat

(ce pantalon) t’amincit
those pants make you look thin


We learned how to figure out which adjectives go before the noun (BANGS:  Beauty, Age, Numbers, Goodness, and Size), and the difference between size and style (size is either big or small, and always goes before the noun, style can be long, short, tight, narrow, loose, etc and goes after the noun).

Homework:  Translate the following:

1. the good looking red pants.  le beau pantalon rouge.
2. the small checkered hat
3. the bad, tight skirt.
4. the ragged green jacket.
5. the informal plaid socks

​ When you're finished those sentences, write 4 sentences using lots of the vocab in the chart.  Eg:  “I’m wearing beautiful, black and white shoes.  They’re in fashion, don’t you think so?”

le 30 mars:  Today we went over what one wears to the beach, in rainy Prince Rupert, at the office, and to school.  We filled out a sheet of paper and chose clothing items from a list.  We then learned about French adjectives; how they have to agree with their subject in number and gender, and how some of them are placed before the noun, and some after.  We started off with some colours:  rouge, bleu, et noir (red, blue, and black).  We learned how to put them in the masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.  

Eg:  un chapeau noir - a black hat
des bottes noires - black boots
une cravate noire - a black tie
des tailleurs noirs - black (women's) suits

Homework:  Choose 3 masc sing clothing items, 3 fem sing items, 3 masc plural items, and 3 fem plural items, and choose colours to describe them.  Use the above examples as your guide.

le 29 mars:  We took up the homework by having you get into pairs and present a conversation whereby you ask if someone is going to a certain area (beach, office), and your partner answers yes or no depending upon what the person is wearing.  We then had a little quiz which tested you on whether you understand how to put sentences into the negative, or indicate what a person is wearing.  Many of us didn't do well on this test.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that if you can't translate the following sentences into French, that you take the time to learn your vocabulary and grammar concepts.  Use your notes, use Duolingo, or perhaps other sites online to help you:

Is Bob going to the office?
Yes, Bob is going to the office.
Why?
Because Bob is wearing a suit, a jacket, pants, a shirt, a tie, socks, and shoes.

Is Bob going to the beach?
No, Bob is not going to the beach.
Why not?
Because Bob isn't wearing any shorts, tshirt, sandals, or sunglasses.

 No specific homework tonight, but please study if you are not sure of sentences like the ones above.

le 28 mars:  I gave you some time at the beginning of the block to finish up your homework, then we performed an oral exercise whereby we discussed what someone is wearing and what they aren't.  We really stressed the idea that:

Je porte un pantalon = I'm wearing some pants
Je ne porte pas de pantalon - I'm not wearing any pants.

You can't use the following words after the negative (after the word "pas" in a sentence):

un
une
du
de la
des
de l'

If you feel you need to use those words (as in saying, "I'm not buying a hat"), you have to say "I'm not buying any hat".  

Eg:

J'achète un chapeau - I'm buying a hat - CORRECT
Je n'achète pas un chapeau - I'm not buying a hat - WRONG
Je n'achète pas de chapeau - I'm not buying any hat - CORRECT

We went over what a man wears to work, and what a woman wears to work.  Make sure you know that vocabulary for your quiz tomorrow.

le 27 mars:  Welcome back!  Today we put together our folders; thanks for your work on that.  We started our new unit, "Les Vêtements" (clothing); I started by telling you all about your project (due April 11).  Step 1:  Get into groups of 4-5.  Step 2:  Decide on your theme for your fashion show.  Step 3:  Figure out what everyone is wearing, and share that info in your group.  Step 4:  Meet up with another fashion group from the class and find out what they're wearing.  Step 5:  put together a magazine page which has three drawings:  two members of your own group, and one of the other group.  Write a wonderful paragraph about each of your two group members, and a paragraph criticizing the clothing of the other group member.  Step 5:  Get together with your group, and decide who is going to write about each member.  Write a paragraph on an index card describing the outfit that your friend is going to be wearing at the fashion show; you'll be reading that card as your friend walks around the room.  Decide on music, and any other details you need to work out to make a seamless, flowing fashion presentation.

We also learned the regular verb porter (to wear, to carry), and used it to describe Mme GZ's clothing as well as the clothing of others in the room.  We learned how to say "I am wearing..."  (Je porte...) and "I'm not wearing..." (Je ne porte pas de...)

Homework:  Ask the question, "What is ---- wearing today?" (put in a girl or boy's name), then describe four things that the person is wearing, and three that they aren't.

Eg:  What is Zimmerman wearing?  He's wearing socks, shoes, shorts, and a tshirt.  He isn't wearing a tie, jacket, or hat.  Wriote in French, please!

le 7 mars:  After taking up the homework, I let you do one of two things:  study for the quiz tomorrow, or work on your restaurant skit, which is due Friday.  Bonne chance demain!

le 6 mars:  Today we spent a moment or two going over the scripts I assigned over the weekend, and I did a sample script on the SmartBoard.  You then performed your scripts so that I could see where you are with the imperative.  Some of you understand it quite well and can demonstrate it, some of us need a bit more time; make sure you take the time to learn it!  Text me, check the webpage, go online to a French site, ask your friends, whatever works for you.

We then started the futur proche.  It's a very easy tense which allows you to indicate that you're going to do something.

"I'm going to leave"
"You're going to order"
"He's going to eat"
"She's going to drink"

In order to form the futur proche, simply:

-take the conjugated form of aller:

je vais                       nous allons
tu vas                       vous allez
il va                           ils vont
elle va                       elles vont

...and add the infinitive of the main verb.  For example:

Je vais sortir                 I'm going to leave
Tu vas commander      You're going to order
Il va manger                 He's going to eat
Elle va boire                  She's going to drink

We then did an exercise whereby I gave you a question:

"Est-ce que tu vas commander un entrée?  ("Are you ordering an entrée?")

The answer back would be:  No, but I'm going to order an appetizer later OR No, but I'm going to order an appetizer soon:

"Non, mais je vais commander une entrée plus tard."
"Non, mais je vais commander une entrée bientôt."
"Non, mais je vais commander une entrée maintenant" (on my, I included "now"!  What a bonus).

​
I gave you a green worksheet to practice that question and answer format with our restaurant vocab:

Please finish up the worksheet for homework.  As well, we're going to have a quiz on Wednesday. please look over your material.  The quiz will look something like this:

Translate into French:

Waiter:  Hello, something to eat, something to drink?  What are you having?
Claire:  Bob, order a drink.
Bob:  I am going to order an Orangina.
Waiter:  There isn't any more.  Order something else.
Bob:  What drinks do you have?
Waiter:  There's coffee, tea, and bottled beer.
Bob:  For me, a bottled beer.
Claire:  Bob, let's order a tea.
Bob:  Ok, a tea.

Make sure you can do the same with appetizers (des escargots), main courses (des batonets de poulet ) and desserts (une glace au chocolat).

le 3 mars:  After taking up the homework and giving you a few minutes to study, we had our quiz and took it up.  We then used our new knowledge about the impératif with our restaurant vocabulary, using our new verb commander (to order).

Bob:  Je command maintenant?
Claire:  Oui, commande!
Bob:  Tu command aussi?
Claire:  Oui, commandons.
Bob:  Serveur, je command?
Serveur:  Oui, commandez Madame et Monsieur.

I gave you all a chart which showed the impératif of many common verbs we're using now:

For your homework for the weekend, please write a small script between people that takes place at a restaurant and uses lots of impératif.  For example, it could look like this:

Claire:  Bob, order a drink
Bob:  Server, I am ordering a drink.
Server:  Yes sir, order some drinks.
Bob:  For me, a Coke.
Claire:  Bob, drink some Perrier.
Server:  What are you having?
Bob:    Choose a drink, Claire.
Claire:  Buy a Perrier, Bob!

​Etc.

---

le 2 mars:  Today we began the l'impératif, which is a tense (a mood really, but whatever), which expresses commands, suggestions, and instructions:

Go to bed!
Let's dance.
Speak French!
Don't speak English!

L'impératif can be in the affirmative (do something!) as well as in the negative (don't do that!)

To form l'impératif, just steal the tu, nous, and vous forms of the present tense, and MAKE SURE YOU DON'T USE THE SUBJECT PRONOUN!  If you use the subject pronoun, your sentence isn't impératif anymore, it's just the present tense:

Vous parlez français - You are speaking French.
Parlez français - Speak French

So, here are some examples:

Invite Jean - invite Jean  (notice for the "tu" form, you drop the "s")
Téléphonez à Bob - Call Bob
Allons au restaurant - Let's go to the restaurant.

Homework:  Do all of the green booklet.  There will be a quiz on putting verbs into the impératif tomorrow; it'll look something like this:

Inviter, vous - invitez!
Parler, nous - Parlons!

​Etc

le 1 mars:  Welcome to a snowy beginning to March!  Today we performed our scripts, then began Mme GZ's weird explanation of l'impératif (commands, suggestions, instructions).  I'll finish up the story tomorrow, and we'll practice.  No homework, no quiz.

le 28 février:  After our quiz, we put together a long list of the food and drinks we might like to see at a restaurant, and divided them according to the categories of Les Boisson, Les Entrées, Les Plats Principaux, and Les Desserts:

Homework:  write a script which covers everything from "Bonjour Monsieur" to the customer ordering dessert.  Be prepared to present it tomorrow (with your notes, not memorized).

le 27 février:  Mme GZ was away on Friday; hope you had fun without me!  Today we started our Au Restaurant unit, and learned a wide variety of drinks.  We also went over the things that a server might say, and things that a customer might say, and practiced them orally in front of the class.   We learned how to say:

un sandwich au jambon
un sandwich au pâté
un sandwich au fromage

...as well as "il n'y en a plus" ("there isn't any more").  We practiced some oral work.

There's a short quiz tomorrow on the following:

un café
un thé
un coke
un café crème
un jus d'orange

...and the following:

Qu'est-ce que vous prenez?
Je voudrais...

​:)

le 21 février:  Project day!  Remember that your test is tomorrow.  Here's is what's on it:

As far as "le café" goes, you need to know everything about it except for who works there.  

​If the store or the verb isn't on the board, it isn't on the test!  :)

le 20 février:  Project day!

le 17 février:  Today we did our little test about the four shops, items, and professions, then I taught you how to say "I exit from...".  There are two verbs that mean "to leave" in French; sortir is used when you are exiting an enclosed space such as a store, room, transport method such as a car, train, or plane.  Partir means "to leave" an unenclosed space, such as a city, country, etc... or if you want to say when a bus, plane, or whatever leaves.

We're using sortir in this unit to indicate that we're leaving stores, and you only need to know the "je" form for the time being.  Just like its cousin entrer, sortir needs to be used with a preposition.  When you are indicating you're exiting a place, you need to use the preposition "de":

Je sors de la charcuterie:     I'm leaving the deli.
Je sors du restaurant:           I'm leaving the restaurant.
Je sors de l'épicerie:              I'm leaving the grocery store.

We spent the rest of the class working on our projects, and you asked a lot of great questions.  I'm looking forward to seeing your presentations on Monday! 

Don't forget there's a test on the "La Ville" unit on Wednesday.

 le 16 février:  We took up the homework, then we went over all the professions that we need to know for this unit (see the list from le 15 février).  I then made a chart on the board as to how I might organize my thoughts for the project if I was a student: ​

Homework:  Make sure that you know the stores, items, and professions that have a dark square drawn around them for a quiz tomorrow.  I'll ask questions like:

Qui travaille à la laiterie?    Le laitier.
Où se trouve du lait?           à la laiterie.
Qu'est-ce que tu achète à la laiterie?    Du lait.

You'll need to be able to answer the above three questions for all four stores, all four items, and all four professions.

le 15 février:  Welcome back from our lovely long weekend!  Today we went over the homework by looking at a little "town sheet" that might look a bit like your project visual.  ;)  We practiced talking about going from store to store, then I added the following vocabulary:

D'abord:  First...
Puis:         Then...
Après ça:  After that...
Enfin:        Finally...

We practiced incorporating those adverbs of frequency into our oral "going around town" presentations.  Here's an example:

"D'abord, je vais au restaurant.  Où est le restaurant?  Ah, le voilà.  Puis, j'arrive au restaurant, et après ça j'entre dans le restaurant.  Enfin, j'ai un café."​

Then we learned the conjugations of the stem-changer "acheter" (to buy):

J'achète              nous achetons
tu achètes           vous achetez
il achète              ils achètent
elle achète          elles achètent

We also learned how to same "some":

du - for a masculine item
de la - for a feminine item
des - for plural items
de l' - for items that begin with a vowel (in the singluar; vowel items in the plural will take des

Eg:  J'achète du pain - I'm buying some bread.
       Tu achètes du la créme - You're buying some cream.
       Il achète des bonbons. - He's buying some candies.
       Elle achète de l'huile - She's buying some oil
       Nous achetons des oeufs - We're buying some eggs.
​
I gave you the following little exercise to translate:

1. I’m buying some cream.
2. You’re (s) buying some lamb.
3. He’s buying some salt.
4. She’s buying some meat.
5. We’re buying some bread.
6. You’re (pl) buying some whole wheat bread.
7. They’re (m) buying some oil.
8. They’re (f) buying some books.

Please finish them up for homework.



We learned some professions as well today.  We asked the question:

Qui travaille à...

l'épicerie?
la boulangerie?
la pâtisserie?
la charcuterie?

It was cool to find out that for the four stores above, it was really easy to figure out who works there:

L'épicier travaille à l'épicerie
Le boulanger travaille à la boulangerie. (This profession breaks the rule a bit; there's no "ier" at the end, just "er"
Le pâtissier travaille à la pâtisserie.
Le charcutier travaille à la charcuterie,

See the pattern?  

These four stores and professions will be on a quiz tomorrow.

For those of you who wanted to know all the professions a bit ahead of time, here they are:

Qui travaille à ...

-la pâtisserie?  Le pâtissier travaille à la pâtisserie.

-la charcuterie?  Le chacutier travaille à la charcuterie,

-l'épicerie?  L'épicier travaille à l'épicerie.

-la pharmacie?  Le pharmacien travaille à la pharmacie.

-la boulangerie?  Le boulanger travaille à la pharmacie.

-la boucherie?  Le boucher travaille à la boucherie.

la confiserie?  Le confisier travaille à la confiserie.

la laiterie?  Le laitier travaille à la laiterie.

la poissonnerie?  Le poissonnier travaille à la poissonnerie.

Look at the professions that I've underlined.  Can you find a pattern in how they're formed, in relation to their store name?

le 10 février:  Today we spent some time working on sentences with various subject pronouns and the verbs arriver, entrer, and regarder.  Here are some samples:

We also put together some items that you can buy in the stores:

I'm giving you a little bit of homework for the weekend:

Write out a little story about you going around town, to two different stores.  You should be able to write about a dozen sentences per store, including what food is there.  Use all of the vocab that we've learned this term.  Here's an example in English:

Where is the bakery?  I'm looking for the bakery.  I like the bakery.  Where does one find the bakery?  Ah, there it is.  There's the bakery.  I'm going to the bakery.  I arrive at the bakery.  I enter the bakery.  I like cake.  Where is the cake?  I'm looking for the cake.  Where can one find a cake?  Oh, there's the cake!  There it  is.

That would be an example of what you would write for one store.  Make sure you write about two stores.

le 9 février:  I reminded the class today that it's probably a good idea to check the webpage every day, as I might put in a little tidbit of information about whatever, then ask you about it the next day.  For example, my big news at the moment is that my son Adam, his girl Vanessa, Zimmerman, and myself are going to travel to Europe this summer.  What's funny is that we're not going to France!  Anyway, we went over how to conjugate a regular ER verb today; please make sure that you understand that process thoroughly; it's really important.  We did the verb "entrer", and then the verb "arriver" (to arrive).  Tomorrow we start learning items that we can buy!  Woot!  No homework.

le 8 février:  After our little quiz today, we did our first auto-évaluation.  I tried to make it clear that I want the evaluation to follow the following format:

What is your mark?
Tell me a story about why you got that mark.  If I can ask the question "why?" to your story, you haven't finished it.
What's next?  Be very specific.

I started teaching you the verb "entrer", and we discovered that we needed a review on how to conjugate regular "er" verbs.  I started the overview, then the bell rang.  Please take a look at this website to help you review:

www.frenchlearner.com/verbs/regular-er-verbs/

No homework!

le 7 février:  Today we learned the conjugations of the irregular verb aller:

je vais             nous allons
tu vas              Vous allez
il va                 Ils vont
elle va             Elles vont

We listened to Étienne's song about conjugating aller as well.

We then learned how to use aller with stores, learning how to say to the.

Masculine stores:  au
Feminine stores:  à la
Stores that begin with a vowel:  à l`


 Homework:  Finish up the sheet, and do it mindfully so that you're ready for the quiz tomorrow.  The quiz will be on constructing questions and sentences like we find on the worksheet, but limited to the following:

je vais                   la pharmacie
tu vas                   le cinéma
il va                       la boucherie
elle va                   la crémerie
 
Où est-ce que… (where is it that…)
à la / à l’ / au

Eg:  Where are you going?  I'm going to the pharmacy.
        Where is she going?  She's going to the dairy.

Here's a copy of the sheet:
​

le 6 février:  Today I showed you this webpage and the glorious Zimmerman, who apparently looks like Jason Statham, according to some of you... :).  I also showed you how to sign up for our class' section of Duolingo; please sign up with your first name and last initial by the end of the week.  We put together some sentences from our work last week, then presented them.  I think we figured out the relationship between not working very hard and not having much to perform.  :)  We then had our little quiz, where the effort/result relationship was reinforced again.  :D  No homework.

le 3 février:  Earlier this week we learned all about the things that a teacher might say, and the things that a student might say.  We did some exercises to practice that vocabulary, and had the written material in word charts on the board.  I moved the word charts to the side board, where they'll stay for at least another month; after that, I'll take them down.  Remember, I expect you to learn how to say basic classroom sentences and to be able to achieve a modest fluency with them in the next four weeks.

Yesterday I showed you a Powerpoint with pictures of stores, and we learned just a few of them.  I gave you a double-sided handout with a large number of stores on them for you to decode using the strategies of prior knowledge, cognates, and context.  You worked for awhile, and then we took them up as a class.

I then gave you the following "sentence starters":

Où est...?              Where is...?
Où se trouve...?    Where does one find...?
J'aime...                 I like...
Je cherche....         I'm looking for....
Je trouve....            I'm finding....

I gave you five stores:

la boucherie
la confiserie
le café
la librairie
le restaurant

We practiced making little sentences out of the shops and the sentence starters:

Où est la boucherie?  Je cherche le café. où se trouve le café?  J'aime la boulangerie!  Je trouve la librairie.  etc.

If you practiced them enough in class and feel comfortable constructing these sentences, there's no weekend homework.  If you need a bit more practice, then please take 5-10 minutes over the weekend and practice writing out and saying the sentences.  Other than that, no homework.  Faites un bon week-end!