Observation and teaching practice in French and Romance languages and literature [ LROM9005 ]

To take the course on teaching French as a first language (LROM2950) in parallel.

The 25 hours of practice are divided into two parts :
a. observation and analysis of teaching (5 hours) : this encourages the students to think about taking their own classes by observing their future pupils and supervisors in class.
b. teaching : this enables the future teachers to try out the different points from the course under the guidance of supervisors authorised by UCL.
These two-part practice periods reflect the two different locations and two different supervisors:
- two person practice (10 hours) : done by two people taking it in turns to speak (either within the hour, or changing every hour, each taking at least 4 hours of class on their own). There is special emphasis here on the communicational and relational aspects of teaching.
- solo teaching (10 hours) : this can either take the form of a 'teaching sequence' in a single class or can be divided between different classes.

By the end of these periods of practice, students will have demonstrated their ability to :
- design, plan and give classes in French, Spanish or Latin in higher secondary education,
- consider their teaching methods and adjust them,
- adapt to different professional situations within a variety of educational environments by interacting with their supervisors.

Each practice period is assessed continuously in the light of the remarks and daily advice of the supervisor; when it has finished, it is formally assessed by means of a three page grid which the supervisor shows the student at a feedback session.

All of these practice periods count towards the final formal assessment which takes the form of a public lesson taught in the presence of an examining board made up of lecturers from the Master's degree programme in Romance languages and literatures.

Possible exemptions : students who have already been teaching the subject for at least a year may be exempted for 10 hours of the two-part practice periods.

Type d'enseignement : the practice periods for each individual students should be spread as far as possible between general, transition, qualification and vocational teaching. Alternation of the practice periods and teaching : the practice periods are closely connected to the lectures  and organised to alternate with them.

At the beginning of the year, students must give their supervisor their list of preferences from the list of possible institutions and supervisors for each phase of practice. They must be sure to request at least two different kinds of educational institutions (general, transition, qualification, vocational). Once the allocation has been made, students must agree with each of their supervisors the arrangements for the observation sessions and the active lesson sessions. They should also agree the topics and the timings with their supervisors.  Before starting a period of practice, they must submit their preparatory project to the supervisor who will discuss with them any changes to be made.

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Support : a folder containing observation and assessment tables, all necessary information and helpful documents is available for students. Under the terms of Article 76 paragraph 3 of the Decree of 31 March 2004 defining higher education, promoting its integration into the European space for higher education and refinancing the universities, public lessons will no longer be organized in the September examination period. Should they fail, students will have to retake the whole year.