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As part of the annual congress of the Quebec Association of Elementary Teachers, which was held in Quebec City in early December, Infobourg attended two workshops on French teaching activities.
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Lina Sylvain left a permanent job a few years ago to devote herself to her dream: to launch the Jnavigue software! The latter allows children at the beginning of elementary school to decode letters while making the keyboard their own. Jnavigue brings together different levels of games devoted to the letters located on the central line of the keyboard: association of images, hanging figure, fingering on the keyboard and use of arrows. The researcher for the organization La Cour d'école wants students and teachers to have fun while learning with Jnavigue.
For Lina Sylvain, nothing is more important than the democratization of education. She is therefore keen on ensuring that her software is free and royalty-free in order to be in line with Wikipedia and the sharing of knowledge. Jnavigue works equally well on Macintosh, Linux or Windows. It is also possible to download it to a USB stick and use it without an Internet connection.
The teachers present at the workshop seemed interested in the possibility of modifying the word bank of the games, but most were afraid to touch the programming of the script. Lina Sylvain reassured them: “If the“ techno noodle ”that I am is able to modify the script, then everyone can do it! The script will be commented on in the new version of the software to make it easier for teachers.
Disappointed at not being able to present the new version of Jnavigue to the AQEP congress, Lina Sylvain hopes to be able to launch the new software in the spring. The new version will include exercises on all the keys of the keyboard as well as technical improvements. It is therefore on the old version that the twenty participants practiced during the workshop, unfortunately slowed down by many technical problems.
Scrabble in the classroom
Who has never played Scrabble? However, this crossword puzzle can seem difficult for young people in the third cycle of elementary school. Absolutely not, nevertheless believes Lucie Dion, director of the Youth Commission of the Quebec Federation of Francophone Scrabble Clubs.
The Federation presented a workshop and a simulation of Duplicate Scrabble, easy to use in the classroom. In this type of game, all participants play with the same letters, the goal being to find the word and the most profitable location. To the development of vocabulary is therefore added the practice of mathematics.
During the simulation, the facilitators gave the teachers several tips: start by familiarizing the students with the game grid, identifying the letters to use with the names of countries, making think of the extensions of words (example: film, films, film or film) and use alphanumeric references (eg: box G-5).
Each school that becomes a member of the Federation (50 $ plus taxes) receives a large scrabble grid, 20 games for three months and an educational guide including parts written in advance. Software for playing on the computer is also available. FQCSF volunteers can also lead Scrabble activities in the classroom.
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