Major Project - Summary of Learning

So, here we are.  At the end...what did  I learn from this major project?

To start, I did actually learn some French.  What a surprise. 👍As I was translating Complainte de la Butte, it became clear to me that I actually understand sentence structure.  I knew luna was moon and that it was a noun.  As I was translating, it became clear to me what were proper names and should be left untranslated.  However, I obviously still struggle with understanding the spoken word.  As my post on the Daffy Duck cartoon illustrates, I am only able to pick out a few phrases here and there.

However, I did learn more than just French.  I enjoyed facing challenges and then figuring out how to use technology to solve them.  I wanted to translate a song and found a tool that allowed me to embed a translation into the Youtube video of the song.  I wanted to provide side by side translations and Google documents allowed me to do that.  A project like this allows you to see how technology can provide opportunities to help solve problems.  Once you have a tool belt of online goodies, you can choose the ones that fit in a situation.

"Always the mobile" by Uitleg & tekst licensed under CC BY 2.0

I also enjoyed the more authentic learning tasks that I undertook.  Though Duolingo provided a great foundation, it is not really what I wanted.  I am not necessarily concerned about being able to be fluent in French.  However, it was a hoot to watch a Daffy Duck cartoon in French.  My Moliere project demonstrated how Wilbur's translation mimics the actual rhyme scheme of the original French.  That was something I was not aware of, but my time in translation made very clear.  Finally, to take a song that I already loved and learn about its imagery was such fun.  This is a great reminder to keep authentic assignments and assessments in the classroom.

In the end, I enjoyed this project.  I certainly know more French now that I did when I started.  However, I would consider redesigning the project, slightly.  To keep me engaged, I would have thought of a few more authentic translation assignments.  I seemed to get the most out of those types of assignments.  I also would have liked to have built a few assignments about learning French culture.  What do I know of modern France?  What do I know of its geography?  I would have loved to have baked some French bread and enjoyed French cheese and wine with it.  Hopefully, though, this is just a first step to becoming a bona fide Francophile.

"Paris" by Moyan Brenn licensed under CC BY 2.0

Vive la France!  💕