A Year in F7 – Week 18

On By aolimpiIn Uncategorized

Monday – December 10th, Day 80

  1. Calendar Talk
  2. Ludus/Discussion – Saturnalia vs. Christmas

NB: My teaching context is a private, Christian school, so this is the dominate holiday.  It would probably be a more interesting discussion to include students who celebrate other December/Winter holidays.

I created this survey to help facilitate the conversation.

  1. Listen and Draw activity – Saturnus et Iuppiter – Pars II

It ended up taking quite a long time to get through this particular part of the story because of the other the other activities ended up being engaging enough with the students that some days I didn’t actually get to the story at all.  Listen and Draw is a good way to present a short story in a structured way and almost instantly see student comprehension (based on the pictures that they draw).  Sometime I have them draw on paper (or in their notebooks), while other times I have them draw on white boards (so that they can erase and add to the picture more easily).

 

Tuesday, December 11th, Day 81

  1. Picture Talk – (Saturnus et Iuppiter – Pars II, based on the students’ whiteboard drawings from Monday)
  2. Reader’s Theater – Saturnus et Iuppiter – Pars III

This is the section of their story where Saturnus vomits up his kids, starting the war between the Gods and the Titans.   The gross-out factor alone makes this one fun to act out, and kept the students’ attention.  I do feel that my version was a bit long, as the students’ interest in the story seemed to wane by the time this final part came around.  I had to work a bit harder than usual to “sell” the story to the students. Also everyone–including me!–is beginning to get restless as the end of the semester is in sight . . .

 

Wednesday, December 12th, Day 82

  1. Quick quiz – quis diceret? Saturnus an Rhea an Iuppiter an infans?
  2. Watch and Discuss – “Magister Craft – Saturnalia”

I had the students watch the video independently and use this sheet to follow along with the video.  It was a nice change of pace as the pressure was not on me the entire time to interact (as with a MovieTalk/Watch and Discuss activity).

3. Class Discussion/Write and Discuss: Quomodo Romani Saturnalia celebrant?

 

Thursday, December 13th, Day 83

  1. Chartulae Felices/The Lucky Number Game

(using the transcript of the “Saturnalia” video found on Magister Craft’s site)

  1. Quizlet “Saturnus et Iuppiter” (using the Diagram mode)
  2. Write and Discuss: Traditiones/Mores Festi

The students wanted to talk more about holidays, so I dedicated some time (about ten minutes at the end of each class) to discuss holiday traditions.

NB: I am doing a lot of writing and structured activities the week in order to maintain student focus.

Friday, December 14th, Day 84

  1. Write and Discuss (continued) – “Quomodo Romani Saturnalia celebrant.”
  2. Final Exam – Pars Prima: Timed Write
  3. Final Exam – Pars Secunda: Timed Write Analysis

I used this sheet.  I didn’t really give a traditional exam this year.  I just used their Timed Writes as a way to get insight into how they are acquiring the language.  It’s not really perfect, but it’s a good way to see what a student is doing and how a student is feeling about their progress at a glance.

And that’s it for the first semester!

 

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