Like my previous post, “Beginning French Readings for Student Success – 3 Teacher Tips”, I feel like strategies to improve the writing skills of my beginning French students is typically part of my annual professional growth plan at school. My administrators might wonder if I am just copying my goal from one year to the next. But I’m not – writing in French is a process for my students and isn’t achieved or perfected after one level. There’s always room for growth – on my part and on their part.
The goal remains the same year after year: improve students’ French writing across all levels. Success lies in the sweet intersection of my teaching techniques and what my French students need at that moment.
Teachers struggle with student use of ChatGPT, AI, and Google Translate in our World Language classrooms – check out my series of ideas to deal with AI, ChatGPT, and Google Translate. This blog post poses 2 questions about the process of writing in French or Spanish for our beginning World Language students and ways you might structure and encourage their growth and progress.
How often should students write?
It depends on the type of writing. Different types of writing in a French class might include: quick writes, content writes, and formal writes.
Quick writes are usually less than 10 minutes and might happen 1-2 times per week. They are not edited or graded but rather inform a teacher of where a student is at with the concept. Examples might include: lists of words or phrases, categorizing, or labeling pictures or graphs.
In French 1, if the unit includes family and adjectives, the quick write might include two columns with family members: Dad – tall, old, boring, tv | Me – tall, young, funny, active. This quick write gives me a glance at a student’s ability to organize vocabulary to compare / contrast.
Content writing in French 1 might happen once every two weeks and has more simple sentences or strings of simple sentences. Students might take the previous quick write and change the words into sentences using the comparative: I am as tall as my dad. My dad is older than me. The length and complexity of their sentences will depend on their level of proficiency. These sentences could be graded or revised, if you would like. For me, these types of sentences are started and finished in class. Students receive credit for the sentences.
Formal writing in French 1 usually only happens once every two or three months. We might have just learned “ER” verbs in the present tense. In this case, when students write a long paragraph to compare / contrast two family members, we might go back a few months to when they learned to say birthdays, ages, and adjectives as well as present tense “ER” verbs. This type of writing can take up to three or more days of class time while students revise and are graded on the final product.
What is the process of writing for beginning French students?
For me, writing is more about communicating a message to an audience and less about perfect grammar. Therefore, my steps for a formal writing assignment might be different than someone else’s steps. Grammar and spelling is part of my grading but maybe only 15-20% at best.
My four steps are: think, brainstorm or plan, write, edit and this sequence can take up to 3 weeks.
The think part of the process is all about speaking in French. Can my students spontaneously use the vocabulary and structures in a speaking activity? I explain that I need them to “puke” the French out of their mouths without thinking. We practice and hone the accuracy of their French puke but spontaneous speaking – and vomit – is not always perfectly placed. My philosophy is that when students can puke the French out, there is a better chance of them being able to write it later on.
The brainstorm or plan part of the process happens in bits and pieces over time and we organize little quick writes or content writes to compare / contrast, describe or categorize (for example, family members) using the new vocabulary and structures. If needed, we pull in ideas and content from previous units.
The actual writing and editing part only happens during class time for me. I know my students are ready to begin a formal writing piece when they can orally compare / contrast, categorize, or describe their family members. Now, I spend 3-4 class periods (50 minutes each) to go through the whole process again: think, brainstorm or plan, write, and edit. They might re-organize their previous quick writes and have some sentences written out as examples. Too many notes in front of them is overwhelming so we pare it down to previously completed work and maybe one page of vocabulary notes.
Sometimes I have to explicitly show the structure of a paragraph (topic sentence, supporting details, closing sentence). Often, we write 3-4 topic sentences together as a class and students can choose one to use. Writing in French 1 is heavily scaffolded with language and supports because I do not want them to resort to thinking in English and translating with Google.
How writing plays out in your classroom is reflective of your teaching style and your students. In any case, we strive to have writing happen on a routine basis so that students see there is a process to write in French. My goal is to reduce their worry and increase their thoughts in French before we begin to write. It is a process for sure and I continually adapt my steps and strategies from year to year to fit my students. In the end, my goal remains the same – and my administrators have stopped asking me why.
My name is Lisa and it’s a pleasure being your new French colleague. How can I help you tomorrow?
