Every community has its rituals that highlight, reinforce, and celebrate what it most values. Some of these are events and acknowledgements, special occasions on which we can celebrate and congratulate; others are more mundane, just repeated procedures that carry small meaning in our everyday lives. In our community, I expect our rituals to revolve around language usage, accomplishments in language, exploration and appreciation of language and culture, and community contribution.
Strategy: Creating or Capitalizing on Everyday Rituals
In addition to our affirmations that we will use to begin class or start a new activity, I consider there to be an element of ritual around my reactions to certain actions or behaviors. For instance, as a language teacher and a sensitive soul, I find great power in the words we utter. For me as a teacher, the "sh" word is none other than "shut up" and it's the only "sh" word I know; my reaction to hearing it in my classroom is consistent and exaggerated, always an expression of astonished dismay accompanied by a slow, expressive Oh là là! so that the offending student has time to register the problem, apologize, and rephrase the "request" before I finish. The "s" word (stupid) evokes a similar response. While my students certainly think that I am ridiculous and overly preoccupied with these words that flow so freely from their mouths, they do in fact respect my wishes, and over time, they seem to understand the benefits of speaking kind and uplifting words, even when few other people are bothered by what is so often the status quo. Although not a ritual in the typical sense, I find ritualistic reactions to behaviors to be effective in getting points across, especially perhaps for younger students.
I like the idea of having the ritual of themed days, like Wacky Wednesday or Fun Friday. Some of these you might want to have every week, but others you might want to have more on a pop-up basis. Basically, think of things you want to happen in class or skills you want to emphasize, and try to make a fun-sounding name out of it! Like sometimes Monday could become Lundi de Langage and students could spend time looking up chosen vocabulary or experimenting with language; or every Wednesday can become Mercredi Merveilleux, where everyone tries to say positive or complimentary things all class long, culminating with a moment of complimenting each other before class is over. Also, you can use the same idea but apply it to small chunks of time within a class period, akin to spots or features on a talk or variety show, and introduce them in a fun way, with a silly voice or some kind of instrument sound or other consistent but notable way.
My school already has an established system of acknowledging students by how they show or support Respect, Integrity, Safety, and Excellence in school; each week, teachers can nominate students for Shout Outs that occur during lunch waves. There is a group picture that is taken and students get a certificate. I also give my own certificate that gives a little more detail about the reason for the Shout Out. I have a poster on my wall for students to sign, and I ask them to write any French sentence they would like, along with the date. Shout Outs occur on Fridays, and I can ritualize this more by making it a part of every Friday or Monday class (depending on when class falls in relation to lunch.)
Strategy: Milestones and Memories - Ritualizing and Celebrating the Good Stuff
Think of what matters most to you and to your students, and how you can make an event out of it. I want students to have fun with language and really engage with it. So a few years back I helped create an event at my school called Rhymefest, where language students sing and dance or recite poems that they have learned or created. It is optional and after school, but all language students get involved by helping to prepare and giving support to performers as they prepare. It is a wonderful celebration of language, culture, and creativity, and students look forward to the opportunity to show what they can do! To bring some of this to the rest of the year, I will add a quarterly performance celebration event involving invitations, perhaps some French food, and dressing for the occasion.
My school is an arts magnet school, so after two marking periods of sampling all the arts modalities in rotation, 5
th
graders select their emphasis (like their major.) I will create a ceremony of acknowledgment around this, where each student will declare his or her emphasis, get a picture taken, and we will then create a mural of these new community affiliations (which will also be added to student ID cards.)
Less formal, but still special, would be the integration of community spotlight days, where students share what they can about themselves in French, using pictures to help communicate what they don't yet know how to say. We could also post these on a class bulletin board and incorporate video as available to students.
