Sunday Scoop!

♪ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ♫ ♫

I only have one more week of school and cannot wait for my very long 4 WEEK holiday break!!!

YES...4...WHOLE...WEEKS!!!

Christmas is the hottest time here in Kenya so this means beach holidays, warm weather and outdoor living!!! Although it doesn't look quite like that yet, but I'm hoping the rainy season will be over soon!

 

Anyway, I'm linking again with the Teaching Trio for this week's Sunday Scoop. Here's my scoop for this coming week:

 

 

I know...to dos could be worse! Don't forget to go back to check out what other bloggers are up to by clicking on the image below:

 

 

Have a wonderful week :D

Sunday Scoop!

It's already time to link up with the Teaching Trio for their fun Sunday Scoop! Here's what I'm up to today and this coming week:

Click on the image below to check out other bloggers' scoops:

Tech Thursday: How to Add a Floating Facebook Tab to your Blog!

Today I am linking with the fabulous Teaching Trio for their Technology Thursday linky!

I have just added a floating Facebook tab to my blog and thought some of you may want to know how to do this :)

1. Log into your blogger account

2. Go to Layout --> Add a Gadget (ensure you add a gadget to your right sidebar)

3. Select HTML/Javascript

4. Copy the following code, replacing the facebook address highlighted in pink with your own:

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript">

</script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- $(document).ready(function() {$(".floatinglikebox").hover(function() {$(this).stop().animate({right: "0"}, "medium");}, function() {$(this).stop().animate({right: "-250"}, "medium");}, 500);}); //--> </script> <style type="text/css"> .floatinglikebox{background: url("http:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjizeK9c6R1Dt7JjAvoUipjzUPBMZVfiLhtbmc8VRNxSQdXTDDGiTFzR-QIsK2GpgHRymfE1UDYAme4TgS5kDxS9afWZUQkFQO8mq_cZUNLGTX9j1VFcj8PnoOjOjBjhojA1LIRTdnd-1o/s1600/floatingfb.png") no-repeat scroll left center transparent !important;display: block;float: right;height: 270px;padding: 0 5px 0 40px;width: 245px;z-index: 99999;position:fixed;right:-250px;top:10%;} .floatinglikebox div{border:none;position:relative;display:block;} .floatinglikebox span{bottom: 10px;font: 10px tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;position: absolute;right: 6px;text-align: right;z-index: 99999;} .floatinglikebox span a{color: #808080;text-decoration:none;} .floatinglikebox span a:hover{text-decoration:underline;} </style><div class="floatinglikebox" style=""> <div> <iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php? href=https://www.facebook.com/mmegauthiersfrenchclass&amp;width=251&amp;height=270&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;show_faces=true&amp;border_color=%23cccccc&amp;stream=false&amp;header=false&amp;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:251px; height:270px; background:#fff;" allowtransparency="true"> </iframe></div></div>

The standard tab comes with a blue background. However, you can create your own tab (41x136px), save your image on photobucket or similar and replace the above image link highlighted in blue with your own image link :)

Enjoy your floating facebook tab and don't forget to check out other bloggers' tech tips by clicking on the button below:

Sunday Scoop!

Here I am linking with the Teaching Trio for their Sunday Scoop. So here's my scoop for today and this coming week:

I cannot wait til next weekend to spend some quality time as a family! It will be our first weekend off in 3 weeks and it's my birthday :) I am looking forward to some lazy time by the pool, the best breakfast EVER and a bit of city life!

Don't forget to visit the Teaching Trio to see what other bloggers are up to this week (click on the image below!)

Tech Thursday: Birds Dessinés

I am linking again with the Teaching Trio for their weekly Technology Thursday linky.

Today, I am sharing a FREE website called Birds Dessinés where you can create bird comic strips like this one:

Ericiel Dubois

It is incredibly easy to use: simply drag the bird(s) you want to use, add speech bubbles and enter your text! Once you're done, you can download your comic as a picture.

Although it is a French website, you can create your bird comic strip in any language :)

Click on the image below to start creating your first bird comic strip:

 Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out other bloggers' tech tips by clicking on the button below:

Sunday Scoop!

Today, I am linking with the Teaching Trio for their Sunday Scoop. So here's my scoop for today and this coming week:

Don't forget to visit the Teaching Trio to see what other bloggers are up to this week (click on the image below!)

Daily Routine Unit

My Daily Routine Unit has everything you need to teach this topic to your pupils. It contains flashcards, games & activities for fun & lively lessons!

This pack includes:
17 half-size fashcards
1 set of 18 dominoes
6 speaking dice with accompanying worksheets
J'ai...Qui a? game
Sentence builders
7 page mini book
1 reading & writing task
1 writing task

Take a peek:

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Click on the image below to view this product on my TpT store

Paris ZiZag

I love everything about Paris: the big boulevards, the beautiful buildings, the chic boutiques, the boat rides on the river Seine, the best croissants EVER... Needless to say that every time I see something interesting about Paris, I have to share it with my pupils!

 

ZigZag is a great website about bars, restaurants, hotels, culture and secret parts of Paris to discover. This latter section is really captivating and can be used in a multitude of ways. The posts are usually quite short, perfect for comprehension work. There is also a smaller English section, which is great for less advanced learners. Children will discover hidden, 'insolite' parts of Paris they (and even you) have never heard of!

 

Click on the picture to access the site

 

*FREEBIE*: The Big 5 in French

Today I am sharing a FREE set of 5 posters to help children use present, past, future, opinions & justifications in their writing. 'The Big 5' refer to the top 5 animals to see on safari and, as my school is in Kenya, the children love naming these writing elements 'The Big 5 in French' and think it's a great way for them to remember what they should include in a good written piece. I fell in love with the beautiful set of animal print paper from Prettygrafik and, of course, I had to buy them! These posters also go really well with my Classroom Language Posters :)

I hope you can bring a bit of wild life into your classroom with these bright posters :)

Click on the image below to download your freebie :)

  

Have a great weekend!



MYLO: A New Way to Learn Languages?

I am linking with the Teaching Trio for their Technology Thursday linky to share a FREE website to learn French, Spanish, German or Chinese.

 

 

This site is called MYLO and, although it is based on the British curriculum (the site was developed for UK's Department of Education), it is suitable for any young language learner. Tasks & activities are levelled from 1 being the easiest to 8 being the most challenging. The characters are cute geometric shapes:

 

The site has 2 main sections: I need the basics, which introduces vocabulary and provides plenty of practice, and I'd like a challenge, which gives children a fun project to work through such as designing a Football Kit or putting together a look for Paris Fashion Week :)

 

How it can be improved: I think it is a shame that the site does not provide any authentic materials apart from the audios. Although the graphics are cute, the characters could have been placed into more authentic looking settings... This said, I really like the I'd like a challenge section, which puts the language children have learnt into context.

Remember to check out other bloggers' posts by clicking on the button below:

 

Classroom Tour!

On my earlier post, I mentioned that I was going to write a separate post about my classroom and, I know, it's a bit late for a classroom tour, but I never get tired of checking out other people's rooms, do you?!

Last year, I managed to persuade my school to build two brand new French classrooms & was allowed to choose all the furniture :) I actually designed my new desk & furniture along the back wall on the computer! As I moved in half way through the year, I didn't really have much in the room at first & didn't have time to make it my own either, so I spent some of the Summer holidays creating new displays and getting it ready for the new year... 

This is what my old classroom looked like:

And this is my new classroom:

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I love my magazine shelf. Children enjoy flicking through the magazines & books I display and will notice straight away when I change the magazines and add new ones! Needless to say that, when the new magazine came with a Hunger Games cover, the children all got attracted to the back of the classroom like magnets!

I found the lovely labels on TpT. They're from Chalk & Apples. I'm such a font addict, I looked for the font until I found it! If you like this font, I got it from Kevin & Amanda's website and it's called Baby Boston :) As you can see, I adapted the original labels and made them a lot bigger... I like to be able to read all my labels from the front of the classroom!

The bright circles above my whiteboards are from my colourful Language Classroom Flashcards set. Click on the image below to find this set on my TpT store:

Close Ups:

My listening centre & writing displays

The hexagonal tables make it really easy to organise group activities & I always include my listening centre when I want my classes to work in groups. I usually have speaking, reading & simple writing activities going on and the 5th table plays a game on my iPad. I have to admit that I already had the headphones in my old classroom, but they stayed in the cupboard for months, unused, simply because I had no room and no sockets to create a listening centre... 

I love my Big 5 display and, if you like it too, you can grab it for FREE by clicking on the image below!

In the French exams my students sit, they need to be able to use present, past, future, opinions & justifications. So I came up with the Big 5 idea one lesson as I was trying to find a catchy way for my kids to remember the 5 elements. They loved the Big 5 idea and, when I saw the animal print papers from Prettygrafik, I just couldn't resist ;)

The 'words to include in my writing' pencil display was hugely inspired by the very popular freebie called 'What do Writers Write?' from The Teacher Wife. I adapted it and, as I didn't have a pencil clip art, I actually drew this one myself :)

Thanks for reading!

Currently November

November... Really??!

I am linking for the first time with Farley's Currently linky!

Listening:

Since my older daughter got a keyboard for her birthday, she doesn't spend a day without practising! Not that I'm complaining of course!

Loving:

I'm loving my classroom so much that I'm spending way too much time in there! I have decided to write a separate blog post about it as I was going on for way too long!!!

Thinking:

Am I the only one who gets seriously depressed in November?!! I don't really like rain, mud, wind, cold, red noses or root vegetables!!! And as much as I love the autumnal colours (on photos), I don't enjoy this type of weather at all. Sorry to all the fall lovers! For me, there is only one thing to look forward to: my birthday!!!

My favourite season has to be late spring, I love blossoming cherry trees, birds singing, flowers and sunny days without it being too hot :)

Wanting:

I love creating products for my TpT store, but it takes me SO long to get something done and ready to sell. I have SO many clip arts waiting for resources to be created...

Needing:

I really need to spend less time marking and I've been looking for marking stickers. I have found these really cute, time-saving and FREE stickers on Twinkl and I'm so excited about using them!

Click on the image to go straight to the download page :)

 

All I need now is to buy the blank Avery speech bubble sticker sheets which they sell on their site. Twinkl currently only ships to the UK but I've got a colleague who's going there at Christmas and she's offered to bring the stickers back to Kenya for me!

 

Twinkl is such a cute website which has tons of resources, a lot of which are FREE. They also have a small French section :) Although they are UK based, they also have a smaller selection of products which they sell on their TpT store.

Reading:

I am supposed to be reading Le Cas Eduard Einstein by Laurent Seksik at the moment, but I've been reading blogs far too much lately. It's so much fun!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out other bloggers' currently posts! Click on the image below to join the linky!

Sunday Scoop & a New Product!

I am linking again with the Teaching Trio for their very popular Sunday Scoop. So here's what I'm up to this coming week:

Last week was so ridiculously busy, I'm glad to have a lighter week to look forward to :)

Have to do:

q I work for a full boarding school so weekends are just as busy as week days! Next weekend is my class's chapel service. My pupils need to choose a theme and create scripts, etc. Any brilliant ideas???

q Now that the exam marking and report writing are out of the way, I have to catch up on the book marking I have had to postpone all week :(

q I haven't slept much this week, so I really need to spend more time in bed. I'm just so much more efficient when I've had a good night sleep!

Hope to do:

q I have neglected my family lately and haven't spoken to them much at all, so I'm hoping to call, skype or email my parents and sisters!

q I have stopped counting the numbers of hours I've spent on the computer these past two weeks, typing and checking reports. So I am looking forward to feeling human again and spend less time on iSAMS!

Happy to do:

I'm really happy that we'll have more quality time to spend as a family this week. We're loving this game called Pasha at the moment:

We bought it in France last Summer. It's a game where children play with or against the parents and it contains lots of challenges. The winner of the game becomes gets a family treat!

Don't forget to visit the Teaching Trio to see what other bloggers are up to this week (click on the image below!)

I have also just added a new product to my TpT Store! It's a really cute set of popcorn-themed punctuation posters to display in your classroom! Feel free to click on the images below to take a look :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!