Past projects 3
A Reading Nook for Ms. A's French Class
Funded Sep 6, 2018I sincerely thank you for the generous donations you made to our reading nook. The students have been very excited to sit in the beanbag chair. We sometimes have up to 3 friends at a time sitting on the beanbag together for collaborative work. We have students who hurry to be the first to arrive in class in order to sit on the beanbag. It has helped with student focus as well. Students know that if they sit in the beanbag chair, they must continue to participate in class discussions, or return to their original chair.
Our book display rack is a beautiful addition to our classroom, and one of the first things people notice when they enter the classroom. I use it to display books about whatever theme we are currently working on. Currently, we have French-language graphic novels on display, as the French 3s are reading them for an assignment. The books look so enticing that students from other classes have requested to read them as well, and even take home to read in their spare time.
These additions to our classroom have made the space feel much more comfortable and homey, and I have noticed improvements in students' behavior when they come into this space.
We sincerely appreciate all the support that Donors Choose donors have given our class. As our school is struggling to meet even the basic costs of keeping the building in good working order, projects like our reading nook wouldn't be possible without your support. Merci infiniment!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ameduri
This classroom project was brought to life by Neukom Family Foundation and 12 other donors.DVD Superdrive For French Classes
Funded Aug 20, 2016Thank you for your generous donations, which purchased a DVD super drive for our French class. Using the external CD/DVD drive, we've watched some great films, like "Welcome to the Sticks," the most popular French comedy of all time that had my students laughing out loud. We practiced vocabulary, listening, and speaking using Cd's that go with each chapter in our textbook. We've just received some listening Cd's to practice listening comprehension in preparation for "The National French Competition" coming up in March, which will help our students see how their progress compares with other high school French students.
My students and I greatly appreciate your contribution to our classroom, and our students' foreign-language education, which opens many doors for educational and work opportunities, social interactions with a broader range of people, and travel.
One day, perhaps the public schools will have all the funding we need to bring the latest learning materials into the classroom. In the meantime, I am so grateful for Donors Choose and generous donors like you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ameduri
Headphones and Microphones
Funded Oct 19, 2015Thank you for your generous donations to our classroom. We are so excited each time we use our new headphones with microphones. I have 5 French classes this year, more than a hundred students in all. I've also invited the rest of the Foreign Language/ English as a Second Language Department to sign out the headsets when their classes need to use them, so your gifts are helping a large number of students.
My students love using technology, and anything related to electronics. They were excited to wear and use the headphones, which they felt made them look "official." These headphones work with Macs, PCs, and the students' phones, which is great, since sometimes we don't have enough computers in the lab for all of our students. The students who have smartphones are able to use the class headsets with them for the day's work, so that students who don't own a phone can use the lab computers. It's great to have headsets that work with everything! My students always want to know when the next time we are going back to the lab is.
A few of their favorite assignments so far have been making audio-recordings describing themselves in French, using Duolingo.com, and using Google Chrome's voice-typing feature on Google docs. One of the major advantages of speaking into a computer is that you don't have to feel shy, or worry about making mistakes. There's no one to be embarrassed in front of. Students who are often too shy to participate in speaking activities with partners were eagerly speaking to the computer.
When students were working on their audio-recordings, even students who are often reluctant to participate were recording their speech, listening to the recording, and re-recording until they felt their French sounded just right. Students were then able to share their recordings with their classmates on our class website, and feel proud of their work. One of my students who often chooses not to participate was working very hard and smiling and laughing that day. I said it was nice to see him smiling, and asked him if he was having a good time. He said, "Yes, ma'am!" and asked when we could come back to the lab again.
Students were able to take the placement test on Duolingo.com, so the website then gave them lessons in speaking, listening, reading, and writing that were tailored to their level. Students must be able to speak clearly with good pronunciation into the microphone so that they can move up to the next level.
The voice-typing feature on Google Docs is another fun and useful web-tool that we are now able to take advantage of. Students received 10 sentences that they read aloud into the microphone, and the computer typed up what they said. In the beginning, the sentences in response to their voice came out really funny and didn't make sense. That told the students which words they had not pronounced correctly, and they were able to keep repeating the sentences until they were able to say them clearly, and the computer typed them exactly as the students wanted them to. Up to 30 students at a time were able to get instant feedback on their pronunciation, which is something a teacher alone can't give them.
We look forward to discovering more ways we can use our new classroom technology and we thank you for giving and inspiring the next generation of young linguists.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ameduri