My Digital Story (finally!) - "La Cuisine Française"

Alleluia, praise the Lord - IT'S DONE! As much fun as I did have putting this together, I did not anticipate how time-consuming it would be to get the timing, narration, music, transitions, etc just right. It's also my own fault for being a bit of a perfectionist.

Let me warn you that my video is a bit long. I know we had a 3-minute limit, but mine is 4 minutes. I felt that since I actually intend to use this with my students, I needed to include all the necessary info pertinent to their unit on food, which makes it a bit longer than originally planned. However (if I do say so myself) I think it's pretty engaging and doesn't drag too much ;)

Here it is - enjoy! Hope you're not too hungry after watching!

My Animoto - "Expressions Avec Faire"

My Animoto will be used with my 8th grade classes when we learn the verb "faire." "Faire" is the verb "to do" or "to make" and it used in a TON of expressions in French. Sometimes it is difficult for students to understand why expressions that use "faire" in French do not always translate word for word. For example, in English we say "go on a picnic" or "have a picnic," but in French they say "faire un pique-nique" (do a picnic). Therefore, I get questions like "I want to write that I'm going on a picnic this weekend. How do you say 'go?'" I have to explain that it is not worded the same way. This is a good way to introduce the verb and how it's used. After we watch the Animoto, students can answer the question at the end about what they noticed about the expressions and their meanings - HOPEFULLY they will pick up on the fact that the translations in English did not always use the word "do" or "make!"