Passionate French, Philosophy and TOK Tutor, Holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy with 5+ Years of Teaching Experience; Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Consciousness Studies/ Philosophy of Mind From France.
Passionate French, Philosophy and TOK Tutor, Holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy with 5+ Years of Teaching Experience; Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Consciousness Studies/ Philosophy of Mind From France.
Teach metaphysics, Analytical Philosophy and African Philosophy.
Taught IB French Language B SL/HL & Theory of Knowledge.
Helped students communicate in the french language in familiar and unfamiliar contexts and studied literary works written in the french language. Taught French reading and writing, literature, grammar, and essay structure from 8th to 11th grade. I Helped students plan and prepare for their TOK essays and introduced them to the ToK course on the nature and structure of knowledge. I also Helped students to structure, plan-out their ideas to write college-level research papers for applications.
• Assisted in class planning and preparation. • Organised and taught tutorial sessions for Levels 100 and 300. • Graded and offer personalized feedback on student essays and tests. • Participated in college staff meetings and various other programs.
Teaching English and French as second languages.
Pursuing a Doctoral Program in Philosophy
Master in History of Philosophy
Bachelor in Philosophy & Classics and French
My teaching philosophy, much like the IB philosophy, is to help students by equipping them with tools to own their learning. I work with my students to acquire the needed skills for IB Diploma and lifelong learning.
Listening/Reading comprehension: One of my effective icebreakers is a short audio or reading text that is easy to understand and remember. I will ask guiding questions to identify students’ strengths and areas that need extra attention. I will share specific techniques to help students build confidence in their oral expression, reading comprehension, and grammar. Writing: If students are willing, they can share their written assignments with me, based on which I will give them feedback on how to improve their work and commend them on aspects of their writing that they should keep. ToK: For most of my ToK students, we will discuss the essay assessment and key concepts around past TOK essay questions.
To become an independent learner requires, in my opinion, a goal, a plan, and honest self-assessment. I can help my students achieve this through constant encouragement and allowing them to take the initiative in their learning process by determining what they believe they need to improve. Again, I would encourage them to work in groups, if they can, to put their strengths to use and find ways to overcome and manage their learning difficulties. I will encourage my students to set goals and targets to allow their learning to evolve by achieving them. As a teacher, I would constantly remind their dreams and how they intend to achieve them.
Most students are often motivated at the start of a new learning journey. However, over the years in my experience as a teacher and as a student, I have noticed that the subsequent loss of motivation comes from a lack of precise achievable aims. When initial goals are broken down into smaller time-bound targets, students can easily see their progress, keeping their eye on the ball. I would encourage student-teacher journalling with frequent evaluations to help students see their progress and project themselves into future goals.
It often depends on what I am teaching. I have realized that concrete relatable examples help my students a lot. I would try some models that are relatable to aid my explanation in further detail. If that doesn’t work, I would ask the student to explain their problem with the particular content. Subsequently, with varied examples, I would ensure that the question becomes as familiar to the student as possible that it no longer poses a threat.
As a learner, I have noticed that various methods work for various topics, even as individuals. As a teacher, I have tried and tested this truth. A difficulty with a particular area of learning allows for different ways to be explored, such as audios, videos, etc., in place of reading comprehension. I will address reading comprehension difficulties by identifying the precise problem and adapting my strategies to suit those needs.
I have realized that oral comprehension and expression have accounted for a huge proportion of student successes in language teaching and learning. However, I believe these successes are relative and stem from a more fundamental reason: confidence. What I have found to be most effective is establishing a clear path from a confident start towards achieving goals. Constant encouragement and constructive criticism often yield remarkable results.
I am a good listener and a conversationalist, so I will engage in conversations with my students over anything that is current news, age-appropriate, and attractive to them. To engage students, I will try to make my class as interactive as possible by asking open-ended questions that engage student faculties. I have learned to read students’ emotions and moods to adjust teaching plans for maximum output.
I often use examples, questions, and a recap of points to help students memorize and understand the lesson’s key points. I also give practical problems that require a little more than the basics to ensure that the student has completely grasped the concept.
I set tasks and targets for each lesson and activity from the most basic tasks to the highest achieved. Based on these criteria set before the study, the student is aware that there is always something to be commended for once a task is attempted. I do not hesitate to reiterate all the tasks that they have completed and why their work is commendable because of these.
One of my first questions to my students is their expectations and how they align with their current and future needs. We will rank them together on a scale from the most pertinent to the least pertinent based on sight goals. I also evaluate their reading, listening, and oral comprehension and expression during the first few sessions, and I adjust the plan accordingly.
As I stated earlier, student needs are varied; every need requires a tailored strategy to suit the student in question. I have generally noticed that having clear goals and aims makes the learning progression more tangible and allows for easy adaptation when the need arises. Being sensitive to students’ growth in the learning process also influences the teaching plan. I will be conscious of this fact and ensure that the defined needs factor in time and achievability at all times.
For 1-1 tutoring, I often like to work with Google Docs or any other software that allows easy editing and commenting. I also want to have Screen-sharing with audio sharing options to facilitate listening comprehension activities. I also like to use interactive applications that help with oral expression to offer students other forms of evaluation that help boost their confidence and reinforce the need for improvements in extra work areas.
My daughter enjoyed Mrs Adzogble class. It was a great intellectual enrichment.
Roseline is very knowledgeable about the subject. She takes her time and is very patient with the students. She is such a pleasure to have as a teacher. There is a huge improvement in my child’s French speaking and writing.
Great teacher and a great listener who provides useful advice!
About the Author: Roseline A.
How to Ace Your French IA
The IB curriculum for language B is structurally the same for all levels (AB, SL, HL ) however the assessments differ. The curriculum is structured around specific themes that allow students to engage with the target language through reading written texts, audio -visual stimuli, written and oral expressions.
Why is your French IA important? Aside the obvious reason that it constitutes 25% of your final IB grade for the language, it is an important indicator of your proficiency level in the language needed to make informed choices about further studies and/ or career prospects.
1. Prepare!
It may sound like the usual advice you get from everyone else but give me a moment to explain. Ideally, your preparation should start from the very moment you choose to pursue a second language (maybe even before, but that’s stretching it a bit). Depending on how much time you have to prepare, emerge yourself in the language as often as possible during your leisure like music, movies, videos, etc.
If you have received images from your teacher on each of the themes, classify them according to which theme and guiding principle they fall under. You could also take the liberty to google random themes and find images that evoke one or two of the optional recommended topics. For example, when you google images on peace and conflict it falls under the theme of sharing the planet. Ideally, your teacher should give you 3 or 4 themes to help you narrow your search.
(Please refer to your IB syllabus for the list of themes)
2. What next?
Take one theme and one of the optional recommended images (you either found on google or received from your teacher). What do you see at first glance?
• Describe the general nature of the photo prompt: Number of people, colors, gender, activities, etc. Use expressions like : « il s’agit de », « Dans cette photo je vois », « C’est une photo de », etc.
You may also highlight specific features of the image like color, size, etc. which you deem relevant to the theme. To introduce these specific features, you can use expressions: « Plus précisément », « En plus je remarque »
• What does the image represent?
What social question does the image prompt raise? You may use expressions like : « cette image représente », « Cette image parle de », « Aujourd’hui / dans nos jours, il est question de »
Keep in mind that the social question should be linked to the prompt so if the image you pick is about air pollution, the social question could be as follows: what are the causes of air pollution, what are the effects? How do we save our planet?
• Give at least 3 points in response to your social question. Make sure that you know how to express reason, cause, and effect. You may practice by preparing social, educational and economic points. For example, for the prompt on pollution, if you choose the causes of pollution, you could give social reasons why pollution is increasing as well as economic and educational reasons. The same works for effects and solutions as well.
• What is your opinion?
Learn to express your opinion in French! A key feature of communication is the expression of one’s preferences, tastes, opinions, etc. Learn expressions like « Je préfère », instead of using « j’aime » all the time which when used in social discussions may appear too subjective. You may also use « à mon avis », « je pense que », « selon moi », etc. to express your opinion on the subject.
• End with an open- ended question
This is often a tricky thing to do and since it is optional you may skip it. An open-ended question allows the discussion to continue in the “minds of people”. This means after you have offered your opinion assess it by finding a counter question. For example, again about pollution and global warming, you may end your presentation with the question: Is there an urgent need to save the planet? Is global warming a world threat? Why do people claim global warming is false? Is saving the planet more important than living on it?
3. Conclusion
After you have done the same for all the themes, you would have prepared for your oral presentation. Finally, on the day of your exam, once you receive the image prompt write down all the key verbs and expressions you have mastered for each of the steps I enumerated before (general description, detailed description, social question, responses to the question and the open-ended question. This will help guide you while you describe your image. Pay attention to verb tenses and subject-verb agreements because they will be evaluated.
Lastly, do not write down full sentences because they tend to be difficult to read under exam conditions and do not show the mark of an evolved speaker. Limit your ideas to points in the form of key words.
Closing
If you can, form study groups with friends and share your ideas! This lessens the work load and allows you to experience, in a friendly environment what it is like to engage fully in the language. After all, language should be spoken!
Bonne chance!