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Wendy Maxwell, who currently teaches at York House
in Vancouver and formerly taught at Bishop Strachan
in Toronto for 10 years, developed the program
after becoming frustrated with the current core
French programs. She found students rarely achieved
fluency even after years of instruction.
"The other teachers I spoke
with were struggling with their students," she
said. "There was a lack of motivation, minimal
fluency and increasing frustration on the part of
their students. As well, the parents of the
children I taught during the 1990s in Toronto were
not happy with their children's
progress."
So Maxwell set about creating
a more effective curriculum. After much research on
language acquisition techniques, she determined
that children remember words more easily through
hand gestures and can better contextualize new
words by acting them out in plays, songs and
dances. Maxwell has had remarkable success with her
own core French students in the last few years,
claiming they achieve fluency on par with French
immersion students.
During the workshop, Maxwell
demonstrates for about 60 Toronto teachers how hand
gestures can help comprehension of a second
language. She calls this the gesture approach, and
the rest of her AIM program is built around
it.
Basically, Maxwell has
created a defined set of gestures for a
comprehensive list of words that kids use the most
to interact. Maxwell makes various signs as she
talks in French to the students, who are in Grades
4, 5 and 6 at Crescent School. Their teacher,
Sylvia Duckworth, implemented the program last
September. They have no problem understanding
Maxwell, and immediately follow along happily with
the hand signs.
The gestures themselves are
pretty simple. The verb manger (to eat), for
example, is the motion of bringing food to one's
mouth; opening and closing your hand quickly means
dire (to say). The kids giggle as they mime and say
the words.
Maxwell, who won the 1999
Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence,
calls the introductory vocabulary Pared Down
Language, and emphasizes verbs. In core French
programs, the verb vouloir, which means "to want,"
is not usually introduced until the third
year.
"The word 'want' is the first
word a baby says," says Maxwell, who developed her
word list after carefully listening to children
chatter. "We are simulating how a baby learns. We
are all programmed to learn a language -- even
those who are weak academically learn a language.
This program is not about being the brightest in
the class."
After students have learned
the Pared Down Language, they can start adding more
complicated words and expressions. The idea is to
learn to communicate at a basic level. Their
grammar skills (such as learning the past tense)
will be refined as they get more proficient. Kids
are not allowed to resort to English during French
class.
"In this program, they start
by learning the words they need to know to
communicate and that have relevance," says
Duckworth, who says she hears the boys talking in
French in the halls after just one year. "In some
regular programs, they start by learning the names
of different insects. I don't even know those
words."
Studies have proven that the
use of gesture helps students remember the subject
matter. It also makes the teacher appear more
approachable, interested, caring and warm. Maxwell
says there is a sense of ease associated with
gesturing. She points out that children of deaf
parents sign words before children of hearing
parents begin to talk.
"Everyone uses gestures to
help them get a point across, but by using a
defined set of gestures, the use of gesture is
taken to a whole new level," says Maxwell. "For me,
this opened up doors to communication with my
students that I would not have thought
possible."
Unlike most contemporary
programs, AIM is based on familiar stories and
fairy tales rather than themes (like food, sports,
hobbies etc). The extensive use of drama and acting
is not only fun for the kids but allows for lots of
"pleasant repetition" of the same words.
At each grade level, kids
work with a fairy tale or play over an extended
period of time. After they memorize it, they do
various activities associated with the play to
reinforce the words they have learned. They might,
for example, be asked to paraphrase the story, tell
the story from the point of view of a different
character or write a journal about it. In this way,
the words are reviewed constantly and eventually
added to. Many of the plays written for the program
are based on songs from CDs recorded by Maxwell's
husband, Matt Maxwell, a musician who specializes
in French recordings and performances for
children.
"All the class activities are
based on the play and because they know it so well,
they are confident about the activities," says
Maxwell. "They learn because they are enjoying
themselves."
Edite Sammons, a French
teacher at Havergal College in Toronto, says she
was on her way to "teacher burn-out" before she
observed one of Maxwell's Grade 2 classes four
years ago. She describes the experience as a
"renaissance."
"The kids were speaking in
full sentences, not only with Wendy but with each
other. I had never seen or heard such well
developed oral fluency in a core French classroom,"
she says. "I could not believe it."
She spent a summer practising
the gestures in front of a small mirror, and
piloted the technique with her Grade 1 class in
1999. She said these kids are now more advanced in
French than their older siblings in senior levels,
and they are able to read and write stories
independently, as well as communicate
spontaneously.
"My pilot classes are now in
Grade 3 and converse with me and each other
exclusively in French during French class," she
says. "I do not need to gesture nearly as often to
ensure comprehension. It is undoubtedly the most
innovative, exciting and successful method of
teaching core French that I have encountered in 21
years as an elementary school teacher. I would say
every child in the class is successful, every child
understands what I'm saying. Even my weakest
student who would have been lost in a traditional
program is speaking and is able to communicate
ideas to me."
Likewise, Duckworth says she
was "blown away" when she sat in on one of
Maxwell's classes. She admits, however, she was a
little hesitant at first to try the program
herself.
"Her program seemed so
radical that I was afraid I was not going to pull
it off," she says. "And I was not sure the boys
could handle it. It is a very loud, dynamic way to
teach French. I had reservations about whether I
could keep them focused and under
control."
Instead, Duckworth says she
has found her students to be more focused, and
their French skills have improved dramatically. She
says, after 16 years of teaching core French, she
feels revitalized. "As a teacher, nothing could be
more exciting. There were almost immediate results
with the gestures. It is very
heartening."
© Copyright 2002
National Post
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