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The pros and cons of French Immersion programs and how French Immersion tutoring can help

The pros and cons of French Immersion programs and how French Immersion tutoring can help

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If you are considering whether or not to place your child into French Immersion the following post may be helpful to you.  There are a variety of positive outcomes of French Immersion programs as well as some challenges.  If you are concerned that your child will have difficulty keeping up in a French Immersion environment, French Immersion tutoring is also available and can be very helpful.

The benefits of French Immersion programs

Higher test scores:

In the year 2000 research done by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows that students in French Immersion programs have significantly higher reading test scores than students who were in non-immersion programs.

More diverse learners:

Students in French Immersion programs tend to have a more diverse approach to learning and a greater appreciation of different cultures.  This is especially beneficial for students living in Canada where both French and English are the official languages.

Higher employment rates:

According to the 2006 census the employment rates for bilingual Canadians who are proficient in both French and English is higher than the employment rates of Canadians who speak only one of the official languages.  This is significant, and is a major reason why parents choose to enroll their children in French Immersion programs.

Economic benefits:

Another noteworthy statistic from the 2006 census is that Canadians who achieve bilingual status have a higher average income than those who only speak English or French.  This is true not only in Quebec but in a total of 6 of the provinces.

The challenges of French Immersion programs

Lack of resources for students with special needs and learning disabilities

Ideally teachers should be using various teaching strategies to accommodate all of the students in French Immersion classrooms. However, the issue in most French Immersion classrooms is that there are not always the resources to address all of the students’ needs.  According to Dr. Callie Mady once we identify the barriers that prevent students with learning disabilities from getting the proper instruction, then we can address those issues “with the goal of moving forward to greater inclusion of students with learning disabilities.”

Lack of retention of the French language

Students tend to lose their French language skills within a few years of leaving the French Immersion programs due to lack of use.  Surveys have shown that the percentage of Canadians with the knowledge of a second language (French) drops from 18.3% for students ages 15-19 to 9.4% for adults ages 25-29.

Additional learning support and French Immersion Tutoring

Removing students from French Immersion programs isn’t always the best solution

Although the common concept is that if students are struggling academically in a French Immersion school then they should be switched into an English only classroom.  Research shows that this is not always the best solution and that students who are switched into an English only classroom will end up doing worse than if they had stayed in French Immersion. Research by Fred Genesee shows that students with learning difficulties end up doing about the same in English classrooms and French Immersion classrooms.

How can French Immersion Tutoring help students in French Immersion programs?

One way to address the need for additional learning support is to arrange for students to meet regularly with a French tutor.  There is French Immersion Tutoring available that supports what the student is learning in the classroom.  French tutors can provide students with additional instruction and activities geared specifically toward that student’s particular learning needs.  Students with learning disabilities will benefit from personal French tutoring regardless of if they are in a French immersion program or in a core French program in an English speaking school.

Since French is one of Canada’s official languages, even if your child is not in French Immersion, chances are they will still study French at some point.  Regardless of whether you decide to put your child into a French Immersion program or not you will still have to consider what you can do to facilitate your child’s language learning.  Extra language practice outside of school is important to becoming fluent in French, so anyway you can encourage language practice is helpful!

Make math fun and tasty with edible math manipulatives

Make math fun and tasty with edible math manipulatives

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Using edible math manipulatives gets students excited about learning.  If students are disinterested during math lessons in school and they are unmotivated to do their math assignments at home, there is a way to get them interested pretty quick!  Incorporating the use of snack foods and sweets into the lesson will get students interested in the activity and they can look forward to eating their treats once the lesson is completed!

Homemade play dough makes great edible math manipulatives

Hands on learning is crucial to development, and for young children that like to put things in their mouths sometimes this can be a problem.  Luckily there is a way to safely let kids play with molding dough that they can safely eat if they get the urge to see how it tastes! This video has a recipe for edible play dough that is simple and uses ingredients you probably already have at home!  Play dough doesn’t have to just be for playtime, children can also use it for learning activities.  They can use it to form geometric shapes and even create their own edible math manipulatives for counting and learning fractions.  The dough can be made into different colored balls for counting and even formed into a pizza and then cut into slices for fraction practice.

Doing math with Smarties!

Little colored candies like Smarties are perfect for counting and comparing numbers.  Students can count the number of yellow Smarties they have and compare that to the number of green, red, blue, orange and purple Smarties they have.  They can even create their own chart that uses the candies to graph the results of their findings so they can visually see how the numbers translate to a graph that they might see in their math or science books.  Students can also use their Smarties to practice fractions and percents by asking them questions like “if you have 20 Smarties and 5 of them are blue, can you write this in fraction form and determine what percent of the Smarties are blue?” Doing these kind of math activities with edible math manipulatives makes learning more interesting than filling out a worksheet that covers the same concepts.

Square crackers are the perfect math manipulatives for geometry

Teaching the concept of measuring the area and perimeter of shapes can be challenging.  Usually it involves drawing pictures with graph paper and using equations.  Using objects that can be moved around and manipulated are ideal for teaching this concept.  What is even better is using edible math manipulatives like Cheez-Its or other square crackers for these lessons.  Students can arrange the crackers into squares and rectangles and easily count the number of “squares” as the area and they can see the spaces between each cracker so they can count around the edge of the shape to find the perimeter.  Using math manipulatives teach the same concepts as paper worksheets, but being able to work with their hands helps students grasp the concept even better.

Adapting math lessons with edible math manipulatives

Just about any math lesson can be adapted to include some edible math manipulatives.  Kids can measure the length of gummy worms and pieces of licorice, or use a pizza to work with fractions.  The possibilities are endless!  Treats and snacks are great for classroom management and as rewards for good behavior but they can also be used to increase student interest in learning.  Edible math manipulatives can be used at home to aid students with their homework and can also be used by personal tutors during math tutoring sessions.  Make learning fun and tasty!

New Year’s Resolutions: 5 Helpful Tips on Goal Setting for Students

New Year’s Resolutions: 5 Helpful Tips on Goal Setting for Students

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The New Year is a time when people are encouraged to make New Years resolutions.  Instead of asking kids to make typical resolutions, they can be encouraged to set some learning goals that they would like to achieve in the coming year.  Goal setting for students is a great way to incorporate the New Year’s practice for kids in a way that will motivate their learning and set them up for success. 

Goal setting for students: SMART goals

In the work place goal setting is useful for motivating company members to have something to work toward.  Some companies have instituted “SMART” goals.  This is an acronym that stands for goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.  Students should also be helped to set SMART goals for themselves regarding their learning goals.

Guidelines for setting SMART goals for students

1. Student should set specific goals

Goals should be specific and not general.  For example if a student wants to improve their math skills they shouldn’t merely say “I want to do better in math” but instead they should set a specific goal like: “I will improve my test scores from a C average to a B average” or “I would like to receive a final grade of at least a B.”

2. Goal setting for students should be measurable

Setting goals for students is a bit tricky because often times student learning is hard to measure.  It is important for students to see their progress, and setting a goal that can be measured will allow them to determine whether or not their goal has been met.  Making a goal to read thirty minutes every day is a goal that can be measured and even documented on a chart so that the student can see their progress on a daily basis.

3. Student goals should be challenging yet attainable

Adults should help students to choose goals that are attainable within the time frame given.  Perhaps one of the reasons that people give up on their New Year’s resolutions is because they set goals that are unattainable, and so they get discouraged when the goal is not met.

4. Goal setting for students should include realistic goals

One of the ways that goal setting for students is beneficial is for students to be able to see some results, which means that their goals should be realistic.  The student should be able to clearly state whether or not they achieved their goals by the appointed time.  Setting a goal of learning to drive is not realistic for an 8 year old, however they could set a goal for learning how to ride a bike or learning how to ice skate backward.

5. All student goals should be time-bound

An important part of goal setting for students is to set goals that have a deadline.  This will give the students incentive to get started on their goal in order for it to be accomplished by a certain time.  If there is no designated end date for a goal some kids might never even get started on their goals.

Students should be helped to have a proper understanding of why they are setting learning goals and how they can get started to work toward their goals.  There are even SMART goal worksheets that students can complete to get them started on their goals this year.  Having the proper attitude and motivation to achieve their goals is healthy and will help to give them a push to get the year started right.

What can educators do to effectively motivate student learning?

What can educators do to effectively motivate student learning?

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Society seems to be telling us that standardized tests are what motivate student learning. Research and experience seems to be telling us exactly the opposite.  What really can motivate student learning? And how can we encourage students to enjoy learning rather than stifle their desire to learn?

 

Do difficult tests motivate student learning?

One teacher, James M. Lang realized that by creating difficult tests he was actually causing more cheating in the classroom.  In this case, setting high standards and expectations was not the best way to motivate student learning since the students resorted to cheating as the way to do well on the tests rather than even attempting to learn the material. Lang wrote a book called Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty.  It is based on his experiences in the classroom and how it is possible to reduce the amount of cheating by changing the way we teach.

 

Does making predictions motivate student learning?

Another educator, Annie Murphy Paul, proposed that students learn better when they make predictions.  Regardless of if the prediction was proven to be correct or incorrect it was the act of making the prediction that spiked the students’ curiosity and interest and therefore  motivated student learning as the outcome.  If students are asked to consider what might happen in the future,   then they are invested in finding out the answer and they actually want to be involved in finding out more.

 

Does making mistakes improve learning?

Along the same lines of making predictions, there is the common saying that we can learn more from our mistakes than our success.  Making mistakes can actually be a positive way to motivate student learning, and will help them learn more than if they never made any mistakes at all.  Educators should allow their students to make mistakes as part of the normal learning process.  If a student makes a mistake, teachers and tutors should avoid immediate correction.  Rather they can help guide the students through figuring out how to correct the mistake and in the process the student will learn from it.

 

How to take a step back but still facilitate and motivate student learning

Should we as educators take a more hands off approach when teaching?  If the hands off approach is a more effective way to motivate student learning, then it is surely something to consider.  Educators are still essential  in guiding the learning process.  However, when we  allow students to feel their way along without being corrected too soon we are giving them more opportunities to improve the quality of their learning.

 

Practically speaking Annie Murphy Paul wrote an article that gives 6 ways to motivate student learning that will make you want to re-think the way most traditional lesson plans are organized.  These are steps that can be easily implemented into the classroom or adopted by tutors during one-on-one tutoring sessions as a way to motivate student learning outside of the classroom.

 

Parents, teachers and tutors all want their students to be empowered and to achieve their full potential.   Why not start by considering how we can help motivate student learning with the students we have under our care.  If students can be helped to develop a desire to learn then they are on the right track!
Holiday math activities for kids to do when decorating the Christmas tree

Holiday math activities for kids to do when decorating the Christmas tree

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Decorating the Christmas tree means something a little different in all families.  Usually it involves picking out a tree, somehow getting it home and setting it up in the living room and then pulling out the dusty box of ornaments from the attic so you can begin to hang all of the ornaments on the tree.  Some of the ornaments are ones you’ve been collecting for years and there may even be some that have been passed down from previous generations.  Some families like to make new decorations for the tree every year, like popcorn garlands and handmade ornaments.  This year making decorations can be turned into some neat holiday math activities for kids that involve making new geometric Christmas ornaments.

Holiday math activities for making geometric ornaments

Making geometric Christmas ornaments is a fun project and it will get kids to participate in holiday math activities without even realizing that they are learning something!  There are some great online tutorials for geometric paper ornaments, folded paper polyhedrons, Himmeli ornaments made from straws and string and this more difficult wooden diamond ornament that you can refer to in order to make your own geometric ornaments. These holiday math activities can be adapted for various ages according to each child’s understanding of shapes and geometry.  You can also give your kids creative license to come up with their own ornament designs out of different geometric shapes.

Making decorations using patterns are simple holiday math activities for kids

Stringing colored beads with popcorn or other craft materials onto a string to make a garland is a simple activity that can be done by children of all ages.  It can be turned into a math lesson about making patterns.  You can help your child to make a pattern like “2 red beads, 3 popcorn pieces, 2 green beads, 3 popcorn pieces” that repeats over and over again. This will help them to practice their fine motor skills, counting skills and help them start to see simple patterns.

Holiday math activities to do with colored ball ornaments

You can do a number of holiday math activities when hanging basic colored ball ornaments on the tree.  For young children you can have them count the number of green balls, red balls, yellow balls etc. You can ask them if there are more green balls than red balls or vice versa.  For older children you can practice fractions by asking them what fraction of the colored balls are yellow? These are holiday math activities that can be casually incorporated into your Christmas tree decorating.

These holiday math activities are simple, but they will keep your kids’ brains active while they are out of school during the holidays.  If you have any other holiday math activities please share them in the comments! Happy holidays and happy decorating!

5 Educational Gifts That Spark Kids’ Creativity (Without More Screen Time)

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It’s no secret that creative activities can play a huge role in a child’s development, boosting their confidence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. In fact, according to Harvard’s Project Zero, nurturing creativity in children supports deeper learning across multiple subjects. That’s why choosing the right educational gifts for kids matters so much.

But let’s be honest: when it comes to gift-giving, most toys and gadgets are more about keeping kids busy than helping them grow. If you’re looking for a meaningful present that encourages creativity and learning, here are five educational gift ideas that will stand the test of time – and don’t require another screen.

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