Snapshot of learning : Easter Poem with Year 1 at Palacefield’s Primary School

Hello,

Today I went to visit Sarah Gibbons and the lovely Year 1 at Palacefield’s Primary School in Runcorn. As it is nearly Easter the focused of the lesson was an Easter Poem (in the Seasonal Specials folder on the PLN VLE) including colours, numbers and Easter vocabulary.

As the children came in and settled down, Sarah asked the children to help her display the weather on their ‘homemade’ weather chart – what a lovely idea!

Sarah started by recapping numbers to 10 using number flashcards that selected children became in charge of, then using a number song the children practiced counting up and down to 10 in Spanish. Children had to listen carefully for their number.

They, then, moved on to colours using the native speaker voice on the ‘Simply Colour’ powerpoint. The children had to first say the colour in English and then tried to remember the colour in Spanish, they were able to check if they were right by clicking on the colour. If they remembered correctly they received the matching coloured flashcard.

Finally they were ready to listen and join in the Easter Poem – they had already practiced it the week before so they were able to remember quite a lot. The children were also presented with the written word on the video clip so they were also practicing reading skills and the phoneme/grapheme link.

After a quick recap of the actions they were ready to act out the poem.

Finally after quite a long ‘carpet’ time the children went back to their table to make ‘Felices Pascuas’ cards to take home – Sarah encouraged them to think about the vocabulary from the poem and the colour work they did at the start. Whilst they were working independently Sarah walked around the class and asked children what colours (in Spanish) they had chosen

Well done Year 1 and Felices Pascuas a todos !

Let's Read in Practice (Spanish)

Along with my colleagues Emilie and Ana we are developing a series of reading and exploring cullture lesson and activity packs to help teachers to explore the skills required to develop independent reading skills in KS2 primary language learning. The packs are called Active Reading and the first Spanish sequence based on Epiphany is ready to share! The French version has already been shared.

Working alongside myself ,the "Active Reading" packs  contain the resources.lesson activity guides, teacher notes  and sound files to deliver specific reading skill activities -from sound spelling, looking for clues to reading comprehension tasks.We have tried to generate activities for beginner,mpoving on and advanced KS2 target language learners.

The sequence of activities is based on the Let's Read CPD that we offered colleagues here in the North West funded via the DFE WTSA/JLN Language Learning for Everyone project.

To access the resources you will need to click on the link  below here, register as an online delegate and then use the username and password to access the Active Reading folders.These are located on the left handside of the page .Look for the Active Reading folder and icon.Once you have registered then you will not need to register a second time to access these resources.Use the right hand online delegate link and input your username and password.

Active Reading link

Assessment in Primary Languages: Principles and Practice

Over the last 18 months as part of the DFE funded WTSA/JLN Language Learning for Everyone we have been helping colleagues to understand and implement the requirements of the DFE KS2 MFL POS.In this teacher tutorial we introduce you to the national and international guidelines to support your own understanding and develoment of best practice assessment in your school.This is part one of a two part CPD

.In the second part of the CPD we share with you our network assessment in practice. 

You can access both of the assessment CPD teacher tutorials online here. Assessment CPD

To access the CPD and the resources you will need to click on the link above and register as an online delegate and then use the username and password to access the folders.These are located on the left handside of the page .Look for the Assessment CPD folder and icon.Once you have registered then you will not need to register a second time to access these resources.Use the right hand online delegate link and input your username and password. 

You may like to listen to the Teacher Tutorials  too .These are accessible in the folders and also below here: 

Ensuring progress in primary language learning

Over the last 18 months as part of the DFE funded WTSA/JLN Language Learning for Everyone we have been helping colleagues to understand and implement the requirements of the DFE KS2 MFL POS.In this teacher  tutorial you can consider how we are "ensuring progress in primary language learning" across KS2 and use this to support yoour own developing practice in your school. This tuturial follows on from the "Understanding thje DFE KS2 MFL POS" teacher tutorial mentioned in a previous  blog post.

We are now sharing this CPD online.. Here is an online teacher tutorial  :Ensuring Progress   .

To access the CPD and the resources you can also  click on the link  below , register as an online delegate and then use the username and password to access the folders.These are located on the lefthandside of the page .Look for the Ensuring Progress folder and icon.Once you have registered then you will not need to register a second time to access these resources.Use the right hand online delegate link and input your username and password.

Ensuring primary progress

You may like to listen to the Teacher Tutorial too .This is accessible in the folders and also below here: 

Understanding the DFE KS2 MFL POS

Over the last 18 months as part of the DFE funded WTSA/JLN Language Learning for Everyone we have been helping colleagues to understand and implement the requirements of the DFE KS2 MFL POS.

We are now sharing this CPD online.. Here is an online teacher tutorial "Understanding the DFE KS2 MFL POS" .

To access the CPD and the resources you will need to click on the link  below , register as an online delegate and then use the username and password to access the folders.These are located on the lefthandside of the page .Look for the DFE KS2 MFL POS folder and icon.Once you have registered then you will not need to register a second time to access these resources.Use the right hand online delegate link and input your username and password.

Understanding the DFE KS2 MFL POS CPD link

You may like to listen to the Teacher Tutorial too .This accessible in the folders and also below here: 

Let's Read in Practice

Along with my colleagues Emilie and Ana we are developing a series of reading and exploring cullture lesson and activity packs to help teachers to explore the skills required to develop independent reading skills in KS2 primary language learning. The packs are called Active Reading and the first French sequence based on Epiphany is ready to share!

Working alongside myself ,the "Active Reading" packs are being designed by Emilie in French and contain the resources.lesson activity guides, teacher notes  and sound files to deliver specific reading skill activities -from sound spelling, looking for clues to reading comprehension tasks.We have tried to generate activities for beginner,mpoving on and advanced KS2 target language learners.

The first pack about Epiphany in France is being created by Ana in Spanish too and will be available shortly.The sequence of activities is based on the Let's Read CPD that we offered colleagues here in the North West funded via the DFE WTSA/JLN Language Learning for Everyone project.

To access the resources you will need to click on the link  below here, register as an online delegate and then use the username and password to access the Active Reading folders.These are located on the lefthandside of the page .Look for the Actve Reading folder and icon.Once you have registered then you will not need to register a second time to access these resources.Use the right hand online delegate link and input your username and password.

Active Reading link

Let's Read CPD DFE POS

"Let's Read CPD"  WTSA/JLN MFL KS2 DFE POS project "Language Learning for Everyone" presentation,power point and resources are now online and available for everyone to access.!If you were unable to attend the presentation and workshop you can access the all the folders and find out more! Here is a "talk through"of the online resources,intended to help you access and use the resources effectively so that you can both develop your own knowledge of reading skills development in primary language learning and access resources for real primary lessons.

To access the resources you will need to click on the link  below here, register as an online delegate and then use the username and password to access the Let's Read CPD folders.These are located on the lefthandside of the page .Look for the Let's Read CPD label and icon.The access and registration instructions are also explained on the talk through clip too. (Once you have registered then you will not need to register a second time to access these resources.Use the right hand online delegate link and input your username and password.)

Let's Read CPD and Resources online delegate registration

Books primary language teachers really enjoy!

You may have read  my previous posts Let's Read CPD and Let's Read (book  blog pots compilation) or you may have seen the tweets prior to the CPD on my twitter feed all about books and their possible role and purpose in primary language learning! 

At the Let's Read CPD yesterday I asked my colleagues to pop down on a slip of paper the name of their favourite target language story book and also why they like to use this partilcular book with their primary language learners.("Oo only one book !" was the general reaction!!) Here are some of the results......what ilike about the comments below are that these are real teacher commnets with their own experiences whilst using the books.Thank you to everyone! 

It is really important as well to understand that the teachers represented a broad range of primary language teachers - classroom primary non-specialist teachers and TAs, secondary now primary language teachers, specialist primary language teachers and PPA teachers.

El nabo gigante- because it's very repetitive and the children can join in really well whilst I am reading it,adding actions.It's easy for the children to act out too! 

Le loup qui veut changer de couleur (several teachers selected this book) - great for days and colours with a lovey message at the end! Can be used for listening activities too.Le loup books are always a hit with the children! 

The very hungry caterpillar- lots of people picked this one!  Here are some of the  teachers' comments -  Days of the week , fruits, numbers, caterpillar life cycle.Can even lead to role plays with a visit to the doctor abd an upset tummy .too! Children love it already so they are excited about it! Good way of recapping and learning lots of new language1

Los 3 cerditos - lots of opportunities for  children to participate, repeat  and to do some drama! 

Va-t-en grand monstre vert!(Several treacher selected this book)  Children always love it and you can create monsters afterwards too! Book was used very recently with Y2/3 and they loved it! Practise parts of the body ,colours abd adjectives too! 

Going on a Bear Hunt (with KS1) - the sounds in the language are fun to explore, also opportunties to create own dramatic learning e.g counting up and downstairs to safety, hiding from the bear etc!

La petite sirene - read today in class! The children were worried about not understanding but found they knew most of the vocabulary and liked comparing the story to the film! 

Una Rica Merienda- It is an hilarious take on Red Ridning hood.I teach it at the end of the toic food.It also works as a crosss curricular text ,as a fun explanation of healthy eating!   

De la cabeza a los pies- it has exciting animals doing actions the children love! Lots of first person singular verbs ,colours,parts of the body and a nice intro to the Jungle Animals unit on the JLN SOW !

Toutes les couleurs (several teachers chose this) - good for teaching colours and anticipation of vocabulary .Lovely simple story with clear illustrations.Good for colours,body parts and acting out too!

Bonjour Berthe - the children find it funny with short sentences that are easy to follow and repeat! 

La surpise de Handa - full of vivid,colourful pictures that can be used for colours,numbers,animals at a simple, moving on and advanced level.. 

Mama - because it is immediately readable and has a great last page! You can even read it to reception.You can use it for lots of counting,colours,animals ,rooms etc, etc

Cher Zoo- children know the story.They like learning the animals and from the actions we add to the story they can work out the meaning of the adjectives.

Hombre de color- challenges, thinking, perceptions.Cross curricukar links with PHSE.Accessibkle vocabulary.

The Gruffalo (was selected by several teachers) -the children enjoyed reading a familar text they love.Lots of repetitve language .Animals and actions

Chapeau- fun using lots of different characters and hats to bring children into the story! 

Le petit prince - you can use the visuals and there is a film that has a translation for the children to read.

Cher Zoo. -the children are already familiar with the story.they like learning the target language nouns for the animals.From actions they can work out the meaning of the words.

Let's Read CPD

Creating current and creative language learning

We really enjoy creating current and creative ways forward with language learning. Thanks to Joanne Hornby, who works with me and suggested we take a look at the Sainsburys' 2015 Christmas advertisement I feel we have done just that recently! Creating language learning focuses from current topical resources makes a big difference to the way the children perceive their language learnning and yet we can still hit appropriate learning objectives.

We have put the wonderful story "Mog at Christmas" by Judith Kerr into French and Spanish and  we can share this story  with our younger learners.

With our more advanced UKS2 language learners in all languages we can generate a creative fun and also language focused series of activities.Additional materials and resources will be shared in a special Mog at Christmas folder on the VLE for network members too! 

The two posts I am sharing below consider: recognising familiar words,broadening vocabulary, describing people,objects and places in full sentences (speaking and writing), understanding basic grammar ( nouns,verbs and adjectives) .Plus we have been able to re-use familiar techniques which aid the delivery of the activities for both teachers and children.We have also been able to create creative outcomes that our UKS2 children will enjoy.

Take look here! I have added the link to the blog post and explained why this is a useful  lesson packed with activities that explore the structure of language and also have a Christmas theme.

Mog, negatives and positives at Christmas Sainsburys' advert 2015 

• nouns, adjectives, verbs
• reading and identifying familiar words
• broadening vocabulary
• linking to our Y6 SOW Autumn 2 focus of house and home
• use of the negative
• creating negative and positive statements
• reading, writing, speaking and a touch of performance and drama too! 

Christmas heroes - Mog the cat Rudolph. Father Christmas, Christmas elf, Christmas fairy 

• The verb "to be" 
• a paradigm
• Third person singular (possibly plural with elves)
• Adjectives
• Agreement of adjectives with masculine and feminine nouns and subject pronouns
• Familiar and unfamiliar language/ cognates,semi cognates and false friends
• Writing a description in the third person singular
• Creating people pillar poems and a 3D creative activity

Let's Read

This week we welcome Vicky Cooke to the North West to speak at one of CPD pedagogy sessions as part of our DFE POS project "Language Learning for Everyone". Her session is called "Let's Read" and it is all about reading skills! 

Here is a compilation of all the blog posts that I have shared in the last two years about primary language target language books - French,Spanish and German.Hope that you find this useful! 

Why "reading in the target language is a great way!" to practise language with young learners.Range of French,Spanish and German favourites mentioned here! 

Toujours rien?!  Spring time story, performanc and drama

Reading and understanding book titles to stimulate creative speaking and writing.

Non fiction French books to explore and inspire young learners 

Celebrating international literacy day in early September each year and exploring target language books and links between languages.

German and Spanish books to inspire dialogue. Gute Nacht Gorilla and Buenos noches gorila

A French and German book "Heute bin ich/Aujourd'hui je suis ..."  to explore feelinhgs and get creative with emotions.

Drawing sketches of animals using the target language Kritzelbuch book in German

Carnival, the book Au carnaval des animaux in several languages and a series of activities 

World Book Day and a celebration of target language books! 

Spanish books - found in Spanish book shops  and immediately loved as additions to our SOW! 

More Spanish books we love and want to use! 

Describing people and future aspiriations in Spanish and roles (great with UKS2)

French book haul 2015 - my new favourite books and reasons to buy and use them! 

Assessment - Put flesh on the skeleton in the corner!

Yesterday eight of the thirteen associate primary language teaching colleagues and I met for our regular twilight CPD. One of the key points was to consider how we are tackling the challenges of assessment.Hope you have  spotted also the skeleton in the corner too!!

You can find out more about how we are developing assessment and tracking tools here in these blog posts: Assessment within our network and  also how we are exploring ways to share and to gather evidence of progress and success..

The associates work in 40 schools delivering languages weekly. Their experience ranges from primary classroom and language specialist teachers to  "secondary now primary" language teachers. Their work  is shared via the VLE with the  160 schools in the network. This year the associates and I are continuing to trial assessment approaches, materials and processes. We have identified already that one size does not fit all and are looking at a variety of approaches to find "best fits" for different schools in the network . It is a broad picture but we are seeing commonalities and ways forward:

• The key focus of the assessment is to look at development of language learning skills
• We use content from within the body of the SOW to populate key skill benchmark descriptors.
• Some schools select different content but keep to the same skill descriptors.
• The assessment criteria is linked to the DFE POS learning objectives and cross referenced with the KS2 Framework objectives and the CEFR A! descriptors
• We have identified opportunities where we are pushing beyond A1 and in to the early stages of  A2 in the CEFR with the children who have been learning a language for more than the four years of KS2. 
• We have schools that are committing fully to a roll out of assessment and schools that as yet still have to engage with assessment.
• This year we are looking for ways to make the assessment procedure an integral part of the creative and rich primary language learning enviornment. We are feeding this back via the VLE to our SOW Plus and MFL Coordinator folders.

At the CPD twilight we reviewed progress so far. Here are the bullet points I noted down from the contributions to the discussion by the associates. 

Assessment update

• Some of our schools want the assessment process to start this year and dovetail as best as possible  with the school  assessment processes.
• In some schools we are assessing all children in KS2 every half term.
• This half term colleagues are looking for ways to  steer assessment toward becoming small chunks within sequences of language teaching and learning and not to be perceived as one whole lesson of assessment.
• We are becoming clearer and more confident in our understanding that although content may be specific it is the skills and the development of the skills that we are tracking
• Some schools are providing TA cover to allow for focused speaking assessment
• We are in to the second half term of this academic year and feel that it is important to keep on reminding ourselves and also encouraging class teachers and SLT that assessment in languages  must not lead the learning but must help us to consider what skills have been further strengthened and enhanced.Content is interchangeable but the skill level to meet a descriptor remains constant..
• We are looking for effective ways to track and share knowledge with class teachers, coordinators and SLT. The data spread sheet which allows SLT to see term on term progress for individual children and for year groups is effective. Some SLT are now happy to use this  as a dialogue tool with staff, governors and outside parties. There is a need to explain the assessment criteria  and how we  are measuring progress. We are identifying with SLT how and why the skill descriptors have been created (nb DFE POS, KS2 Framework, CEFR).  
• Schools are generating wonderful ways to celebrate and record success and progress n.b. “Sparkling Spanish” books in Wigan are still going strong!
• Schools are asking about and creating "Pupil Record Books" and these  are being passed up year on year.We are encouraging the children to  put in to these books a  record  which may contain writing, smiley faces and comments, post its , photos, pictures, memorabilia .We feel the need to challenge the expectation that the book should be full!
• AfL clouds for the children have been created this year and are being used  to allow the children  to record if they feel they are secure, not quite secure or masters of certain language and language learning skills.These AfL clouds are proving to be useful dialogue tools between a visiting language teacher, coordinator and class teacher and pupils. 
• In some schools we are working with sample groups of children on assessment (6 pupils per class- across the ability range).This was our original model and we have found that we have needed to adapt this for schools where they wish to assess every child's progress.This year we are understanding better that a top literacy child may not be one of the best linguists and are finding ways to identify children more accurately than last year.
• In some schools the sample group children changes term by term to build a broader picture of the class progress in language learning skills
• We are working towards the least onerous system of assessment and our Puzzle It Out sheets contain guidance for the teacher and can be used as individual activities or just templates for a teacher's own preferred activities. 
• Asking children to peer assess speaking – responding to key questions for example and enables the teacher to work with a sample control group.This is helping the teacher to spend more focused time with a group and therefore explore what they children can really say etc.
• We are finding primary ways to assess progress and we discussed for example how the new blog post on Saint Nicholas shoes,  or performances at Christmas, the Come Dine with Me sketch in Y6 (songs, conversaations, short plays), our SOW Y5 messages in a bottle and Y6 draft tweets make excellent assessment  opportunities 

As the year progresses we will be: 

• Working out ways to support other schools start to engage with assessment and make it meaningful in other individual schools.
• Associates will be able to continue  learning from each other’s successes and failures this year.We will then be able to share valuable experience at our annual conference here in Warrington on 30 June 2016.
• Plus we are beginning to consider how we can share hard and soft  data with KS3 via our five KS2- KS3 transition groups.

I will blog and share more after our next associate twilight in Spring 1 on this challenging area of language learning!  

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