When I was teaching French online with AMU, we used Rosetta Stone online language program in conjunction with our online classroom. I had a great time teaching French since I majored in French in college and lived in France for several years making my French as fluent as a native speaker.
The Rosetta Stone program taught foreign language by not focusing on grammar, but on teaching students through matching images to words in the target language.
Students learned the most common actions, I walk, He drinks, They sleep, first by being exposed to images of people eating, sleeping or drinking in the target language, so the students learn right away, Je me promene, Il boit and Nous dormons (I walk, He drinks, They sleep) right away.
To complement what students were learning in Rosetta Stone, the French Course Developer created forum exercises, assignments, readings to go along with the Rosetta Stone curriculum.
In the forums, I would ask students in French, Where do you walk each day? To accompany the common actions students learn in Rosetta Stone. Or What do you drink in the morning? Or What time do you sleep at night? to go along with the Je me promene (I walk), Il boit (He drinks) and Nous dormons (We sleep) images in Rosetta Stone.
In the French only Forums, students only had to write one or two sentences especially if this was their first time learning French and all they knew were the images they were being exposed to in Rosetta Stone. Sometimes, I made the questions silly like, Portez-vous des pyjamas au supermarche? (Do you wear pajamas to the supermarket? or we would have role play scenarios like, "What would you wear if you met the French President at a fancy French party in Paris?" or "What would you order at a fancy French restaurant in Paris?. Students would have to answer these questions in French based on what they were learning in Rosetta Stone.
Besides asking questions in forums, we also designed English forum topics where students discussed cultural topics about France and Francophone countries. Students loved these forums because they could express themselves fully in English and learn about another culture. We talked about French Art, French music, French historical heroes, French Literature, French Food, French movies and TV shows etc.. and other aspects of French culture. We also compared French culture to American culture which students enjoy and I got to share my travel stories of the times I traveled to and lived in Paris.
In the assignments, we had vocabulary building exercises, students could write about a paper about a cultural topic they discussed in the forums, and we had pronunciation practice exercises for students. We would have a native speaker of French record themselves asking a question and answering that question like, "Comment ca va? Je vais bien merci. Et vous?" (How are you doing? I am fine. And you?) Then students would repeat the question in French and then answer the question.
I created French videos using my linguistic background to teach students sounds they were having trouble with so that they could have better pronunciation in French. Mainly, American students had trouble with sounds in French that do not exist in English like the French way to say "r" which is between the English 'g' and the English 'k' but not quite.
We also had verb drill exercises where students would write out the conjugation of a certain number of common French verbs that they learned in Rosetta Stone so students practice how to conjugate verbs.
We gave French quizzes each week based on the grammar students were learning in the class. Since Rosetta Stone does not teach grammar rules, then we covered grammar rules in the class readings and tested students on these grammar rules in the French rules because students complained that Rosetta Stone did not have enough grammar for them since RS uses The Natural Approach where language is taught by exposing students to comprehensible input of the target language so that if a student is exposed to enough of the target language they will learn the language in the same way children learn their native language.
We also used Google map and had students look at Paris in real time and students would describe their favorite Paris scene or the scene from their favorite Francophone country. For me, I would show them the scene of the Champs Elysees filled with McDonalds and talk about how American junk food is everywhere around the world. Many students were surprised at how many hamburger restaurants there were in Paris. They loved seeing the way Paris looked in real time. And it was like taking a walk with my students using Google map.
What other French online activities do you have in your online French classroom? Do you have them read French newspapers? watch French movies?
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