Final Strategies

Strategies

R A F T

Raft stands for Role – Audience – Format – Topic. With this strategy, students get several choices on how to direct their writing. First, they have to look for their Role – who are they, what is their perspective. In this way, they can take the point of view of someone different from themselves. Next they choose their Audience. They determine who they are trying to reach or persuade. Then they choose their Format, from letter to brochure, to journal entry or speech. The have several possibilities to choose from so that they can make their paper the most effective. Finally they have a Topic and determine what they know and what they want to share.

I think that this can work effectively in a French class. Students can use it to explore French culture, or it would work with literature or other texts that we read. We could even write from the perspective of a verb, or a subject convincing the verb why it should be in the plusque parfait instead of parfait, or something of that sort.

Vocabulary Trees

Students draw a tree and down by the roots, put a root word with its definition. On the trunk, write a key word with its definition. Then on the branches, students put as many words they can find that use the same root. Students define those words also, and use it in a sentence. Then on twigs on the branches, they put where they heard the word.

This is a great way to help students organize their vocabulary. Just like in English, French has many words that share a root. A vocabulary tree will help the students remember the words and hopefully keep them from getting confused by them.