Duration- 1:12:27
Session Activity- Review word list so far
Item Produced- Translation of "You are my Sunshine"
*revised 7/4/15* Summary- Once again, the weather talk turned into the most useful part of the session. The prepared activity was eclipsed when I mentioned I had just received a bunch of records that day (in French). He seemed interested so I asked if he wanted any (in french). He started naming off singer's and bands that he enjoyed, that I should keep an eye out for. He liked Jimmy Davis, and began singing "You are my sunshine." we then decided to translate it into french. It was great!
Linguistic Effective- In translating the song, I said the verse in English, then he came up with the exact translation in french, which I then wrote. This was a great way for me to hear a sentence in English, then observe grammatical differences when the same sentence is communicated in french. Another great outcome was how we tried to make it rhyme. We would look at the last word, and try to think if the there was another word that meant the same thing that had better rhyming consonants. For me, this was challenging and perfect for my level of vocabulary. At the end, I had a song translation that rhymed and meant the same thing. I looked over this alot in the following days, singing it, and slowly learning it in my free time. The impact of this repetition positively impacted my pronunciation and accessibility to the language. The rhythm and joy of the song made me want to sing it often. This made any passive moment a french learning moment as my brain made more connections to that language in different situations. the words used in the song, as it rhymed, carried alot of pronunciation anomalies. repeating these often helped with pronunciation as the rhythm helped carry me through these pronunciation difficulties until they became second nature.
Linguistic Ineffective- The list worked well, but was eclipsed by the success of the song.
Linguistic Provisional Improvements- Put this fantastic accident in the book! This song really helped me. Also, put a section on giving the words back to your speaker in the book
Cultural Effective- Even though the song was not "cultural" the song did bring us closer together as we problem solved and made art together.
Cultural Ineffective- When the second speaker showed up, there was that clamming up again. However, once we sang the song it seemed to melt a bit I enjoy having both of them there as they are both great people. I also find that I learn more listening skills, and more complex words and stories when they are around. However, the first speaker clams up and seems not to enjoy the lessons as much when they are around. is this a jealousy issue? a private information issue? a personality issue? Why does this happen? is there any way to make it better?
Cultural Provisional Improvements - This second speaker thing needs to be rectified.
Tomorrow- I have put the song to a tune, and I hope to surprise my speaker with an accompanied version of the song in our next lesson. Also, we did not take enough time with the word list. I am going to reprint the word list (in a bigger font also as per speakers request) and go over it next time
Further Comments- This was a lot of fun. I feel like our translation, weather right or wrong, is still very special to us.
