My Genius Hour Blog!

 Hi everyone! So this week Zach and I have been working on his Basic French badge! Throughout the week, whenever we would Facetime, or see each other, we would only start the conversation in French! This allowed Zach to familiarize himself with different expressions and words, in a real-world context! He has been doing awesome!  At the beginning of the week, I was a little nervous because he needed a lot of support. Once I went over some common phrases, and had him repeat after me, he has been doing SO much better! I can actually start off a conversation, and he understands and can respond to me! How cool is that? Using the research from last week, it was important that Zach and I went over some of the basic phrases. I would say them, and also translate them into English, so that he could start making connections between the translations. What seemed to work really well is working on this every day this week. He is killing it (in a good way).  For badge 4... be able to sa...

 Hi everyone! This week, Zach and I are working on badge #3! To complete this badge, Zach needs to be able to count 1 to 20 (from French-English and English-French), in order and out of order! Before we started using the strategies, I tested Zach to see where he was at, and what he already knew! Those results can be seen in the table below! After seeing that Zach still needs some work, we started with his favourite strategy- a song! The song can be found here ! For your entertainment, here is a video of Zach signing along to the song as he is learning his French numbers! Other strategies we used: Finding objects around the house, and counting how many he saw Flash cards Counting game (we played "dix", instructions can be found here ) What we found: Songs: Zach really enjoys songs because it is easy for him to remember rhythms and tunes.  Dix (counting game): Zach really enjoyed this and it was useful because he would have to pay attention to the number before and after, so wo...

 Hi everyone! So this week, Zach and I have been working on completing his badge #2 (which is for knowing the days of the week).  To start this, Zach and I listened to a song to help him get familiar with the words! You can check it out below!   Zach absolutely loves this song, and keeps singing it! I'm gonna be honest, it's pretty catchy and stuck in my head as well!  The research I did showed how using songs can be very helpful. For Zach, he remembers thing by using tools like songs and rhymes, so I've determined this will help him with learning French! Before/after we went into learning, I tested what Zach knew, and the results are below: Below is a video of Zach signing the song: He has been having so much with this project, and I am so glad this is something that we get to do together and to see that he is actually learning! After using the song, Zach was able to identify the days of the week in order and out of order. I also tested his knowledge from French-Eng...

Welcome back! This week Zach and I worked on learning the months of the year, in French. To do this, I referred back to my research, and knowing Zach, he loves learning through song.  This week, we looked at this song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUqVhf9oUqQ Before we started learning, I tested to see what Zach new. He was able to get 4 out of 12, which is not bad. Below is a video of how he did after practicing with the song! I had said them, and also had him repeat them back to me! After about 4 days, he got all of them! That means he has earned his first badge!   He has also been using duolingo (the language learning app), and has been working on it 20 minutes a day! I am already seeing progress in his ability to say things in French, so I know it will only get better as we continue on this journey! For next week, Zach and I will be working on days of the week. So, I have been researching the best way to do that! Here is what I've found! This resource (https://www...