The teacher created an online Moodle assignment on the Tour de France for their Year 8 French class to accommodate changes to the language program that reduced lessons and removed classes from the language area. Students accessed information and quizzes through links on the Moodle. While in class, the teacher explained the assignment and students did an initial quiz. However, most students did not take the assignment seriously and failed to maintain regular work on it at home. The few students interested in continuing French language study completed all aspects of the assignment. The teacher learned that students saw the language lessons as a lower priority and fill-in time between long gaps in lessons.

2. HEATHER CIROVIC School: Catholic College Wodonga Language: French Year Level: 8

3. Context In 2008, the Year 8 LOTE lessons had been reduced from 3 x 47 minute lessons per week to only 2 x 47 minute lessons per week. Another change to the teaching of Year 8 LOTE this year involved the removal of Year 8 LOTE classes from the LOTE area of the school. LOTE lessons were timetabled to take place in the same classroom where the students were taught English, SOSE and Religion. Each year the Year 8 French classes undertake an assignment on the Tour de France. The changes introduced to the Year 8 LOTE program, coupled with the fact that we had undertaken several PD days on Moodles and had been asked to attempt to implement them into our teaching, prompted me to make this year’s assignment on the Tour de France an online Moodle investigation.

4. What did you do? I chose to make the Tour de France assignment for this year a Moodle-based assignment which would allow the students to undertake the work at home as well as at school. The necessary information was available from websites which were linked to the Moodle. These websites also meant that the students were not limited to watching the TV broadcast at a set time to gather the information required to complete the assignment. I made computers available to the students for their 2 timetabled lessons in the last week of Term 2. (The Tour de France was due to commence during the school holidays.) During these two periods, I went through the assignment with the students, discusing the instructions and clarifying what was required. The students were also able to undertake the initial task which was one designed to test what they already knew about the Tour de France. This was done in class time and submitted via the Moodle which gave them instant feedback by supplying a score for their correct answers.

5. What did you do? (2) The students were then required to complete the assignment at home. They were able to submit the quizzes on the Moodle but all other work had to be placed in my dropbox – a task which had to be done at school using the school server.

6. What did you learn? Students did not take the task seriously which was a reflection of the attitude demonstrated during French lessons. The students see their LOTE lessons as more of a fill in and, those who are keen LOTE students, find the time between lessons to be too long to recall the grammar and vocabulary taught. Invariably students do not have the correct books in class and are reluctant to participate in the activities with any great enthusiasm. They are easily distracted from their work and need constant reminding to stay focussed on the task at hand. Students were not interested enough to maintain a regular practice of doing the assignment and gather the daily results. The students whom I would regard as potential senior students of the subject presented their work on time and completed all aspects of the assignment whether it was online or written.

7. Showcase Presentation Instructions Please bring this Powerpoint to Day 4 saved on a USB stick If possible, please bring your own laptop Customise the pages to reflect your investigation – maybe try some photos from www.flickrcc.bluemountains.net The presentation only needs to be 5 minutes long to allow 5 minutes for questions