Heather Gauthier

J W Gerth P.S., WRDSB

hb_gauthier@hotmail.com

OUR LEARNING GOALS FOR TODAY

1. Define action-oriented tasks
2. Review examples of such tasks
3. Collaboratively plan a task that can be
adapted to either a primary or junior core
French learning environment
4. Share our tasks to create a bank of activities
to use in the future

ACTION-ORIENTED TASKS START WITH

a meaningful context.

Without context, our

learning doesnt
make sense.

SO

Its the first day in your new French class. Youre sitting
beside someone who you have never met or spoken to
before. Introduce yourself and have a conversation in
French with a new classmate!

Allez-y!

Congratulations! You just completed an

action-oriented task!

THE ACTION-ORIENTED APPROACH

The action-oriented approach to language acquisition views communication as
a social activity designed to accomplish specific tasks. The Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) advocates going beyond the
communicative approach to emphasize active language use that develops five language
skills spoken production, spoken interaction, listening, reading, and writing which
includes the skills required for writing to interact. It recognizes students as active
participants in the learning process.
(A Guide to Reflective Practice for Core French Teachers,
The Action-Oriented Approach module, p.3)

SO WHAT MAKES AN ACTION-ORIENTED TASK?

- Authentic situation
- Task to be completed
- Open-ended
- Requires interaction (meaningful communication)

A FEW EXAMPLES
In your presentation handouts

LETS WATCH SOME STUDENTS IN ACTION

What do you think the task was?

How could we improve this task?

QUESTIONS?

LETS GET TO IT!

In partners/small groups
Use the graphic organizer and sample pages included in your
presentation handout, and grab a curriculum grade booklet to:

LETS GET TO IT!

In partners/small groups
Use the graphic organizer and sample pages included in your
presentation handout, and grab a curriculum grade booklet to:
-

Choose an Overall Curriculum Expectation as your focus

Establish a learning goal and an authentic situation/context for

learning

Come up with an action-oriented task that can be modified to

work in both a primary and junior core French context

Fill in additional tasks you will use to support students

completion of your action-oriented task

List what structures or functional language students will need to

be successful during this task (i.e. what will need to be pretaught)

AS WE WRAP UP
About 5 minutes left to finish planning
If you are done and you would like to share your
activity with the rest of our participants, Ill take a
photo of your plan and post it on the following blog:
http://lets-take-action.weebly.com/

Thank you for your time and participation!

I hope that this has been a productive session for you
and that you will use the tasks that were created to
make the revised curriculum a little less daunting
The tasks will be uploaded in the next couple of days
http://lets-take-action.weebly.com/

E-mail: hb_gauthier@hotmail.com