I am getting ready for the first of several local network meetings where we will look at some of the new POS learning objectives and put these in to real language teaching and learning contexts.

Our theme is "Celebrating Carnival" and our learning objectives look at how a young learners develops the skills of communication in the target language.We are considering how we move from

asking and answering questions

engaging in conversations
and

describing people places and things orally and in writing

The activities described below will allow children who are moving on in their language learning - so in their late second,third or fourth year of learning to practise their use of questions and answers and to move on to possibly develop conversations accurately.

We are basing these activities on our "Aliens at Carnival" power point where we will investigated the language required to share some simple facts about a target language carnival -(the sounds , the sights, the fun , the fancy dress etc).

We are going to create stage sets and put our "aliens on the stage" as puppets/ actors, which the teacher and the children can decide to make "live" ( spoken) performances between alien characters or "freeze frames" (written speech bubble) frozen conversations between two characters.

Here is a step by step guide top how I made my "stage set"

I printed off the stage set ,using a slide from our alien ppt.I think you just need to find a similar background colourful picture if you can't access the ppt

I cut the picture down to a square shape,folded the picture to make the Triarama and inserted a cut from the bottom right hand corner to the centre of the square

With blu -tac(or with glue ) I crossed over the bottom left and right triangle to create the stage in my triarama.

I now printed off the ppt slide a second time, but this time on card and cut out two alien characters that I wanted to talk to each other on my stage set.I made sure that there was a small strip of empty card below their feet , so that I could fold this over and stand the characters upright on set and secure the characters to the set with blu-tac.Blu-tac so that I can change the characters and therefore move from questions and answers to a conversation and maybe introduce other characters too and asides and and additional opinions!

And now I thought of the text I wanted to write on two card speech bubbles.These are secured with blu-tac to the characters om the reverse of their heads so that I can change the questions and answers and again create a sequence of questions and answers that would in turn create a dialogue which could lead to a conversation .

Why do I like this and how might I take this further in KS2 learning?

Well this strikes me a s a learning device that can be used with children in KS2 who know basic questions and answers based around likes and dislikes.
It's a physical way of developing role plays that can be dynamic and can be changed and questions and answers altered,adapted or given to other characters
It can also be an opportunity to offer more independent speaking and writing opportunities to children to describe people,places and thing and to add opinions
There is the opportunity here to set the scene, so one pair writes the speech bubbles and gives these to a second pair.The second pair reconstructs the dialogue using the characters they have and creates the dynamic conversation using their characters and their triarama stage set.

And in to KS3?

This could be an opportunity in Y7 to revisit the carnival and look again at the alien story of the carnival , but this time to write a past tense dialogues, asking what was seen, heard, eaten , likes, dislikes etc or a near future dialogue about what the characters are looking forward to seeing etc!

Totem Pole Prompt Sticks

Why totem pole? The pictures carved into totem poles tell the reader information and I see the link between this and a "pow wow" - having a conversation.
To develop and promote conversation : asking and answering questions leading to preparing and practising a simple conversation using familiar vocabulary and structures in new contexts
Each box on the totem pole prompt stick is a visual prompt for the children to develop their simple spoken conversation.
The totem pole prompts start off as horizontal strips - questions prompted by pictures to prompt responses . It reads from left to right just like following a story for young language learners

These are card strips made from one A4 template of seven or eight identical strips or they could be computer generated and drag and drop pictures that the children can reorder and create their own "pow wow" totem poles for more advanced activities - see below.

Set the scene with this simple You Tube clip , which practises colours and numbers but extend this by asking the children when you pause the clip to decide what incidental greetings or questions might these two characters the cow boy and the squaw ask each other. Brainstorm possible answers. The responses expected from the children will depend on the stage they are at in their target language learning.

Simple conversation asking and answering questions- Y4 LKS2 activity

1. Revisit and practise with the children how people from different countries physically greet each other or say farewell ?
Introduce each prompt picture on the totem pole and discuss with the children possible greetings / farewells and questions that the very simple picture clues suggest ( in this order the prompts require a greeting / a name question and response /a where do you live question with a true or imaginary response / an open question –what do you like ? or a closed question – do you like + animals etc/ a farewell .
Children should spend a few minutes practising with a partner how to ask the individual questions – remind the children to listen out for good pronunciation and the use of intonation when asking a question.
Children should then spend a few minutes practising their true responses as themselves
Children should then work with a partner to create simple questions and responses using the pictures on their totem pole sticks as their prompts and the order they should work in.
Can the children re-run their questions and answers and add physical responses etc
Pairs to practise their dialogues – taking it in turns to be the questioner or the responder(themselves)
Invite pairs to perform their dialogues for the class .

Extend this activity by revisiting and creating new characters with the questions and answers

Using APPS such as the String APP where children can generate a picture of a cartoon character sitting in their own classrooms , you could ask the children to use the same totem pole prompt stick to create an imaginary conversation between themselves and the strange visitor from the “String APP” . Check out Mr Parkinson’s blog here to find out more about the String APP. Here is an example used in Literacy with Mr Parkinson's class at Davyhulme CP School Augmented reality clip

Extending conversations and creating an interesting performance using familiar language in a new context- possibly an activity to develop as a revisit activity in Year 5 and Year 6 UKS2

Here we want to encourage the children to move from a simple question- answer dialogue to a more engaging conversation that flows .

Give out the vertical totem poles this time

A. Revisit the simple dialogues the children made using their prompt sticks in Year 4

B If the children created their own character videos etc then share some of these with the class as a memory jogger

C. How much more can they say now? Explore this with the class. Now ask the children to take the basic building block prompts from their totem pole prompts and cut these up and rearrange them as the scaffold upon which to develop a new dialogue

D. Can they add new picture prompts or create a new totem pole prompt stick of their own so that they can share the new questions and answers they have practised ?

E. Introduce simple phrases such as “and you ?” or “pardon” or “can you repeat that? or “me too “ etc – see highlighted text below which gives you a simple example of this .Encourage the children to generate a conversation based upon a simple question and answer dialogue that will to flow e.g.

Hello ! How are you ?

I am fine and you?

Me too! I am called ...... What are you called?

I am called ..............Where do you live ?

I live in ........ And you? Where do you live ?

I live in ..............I like ..........What do you like ?

I like ............. Do you like ..........?

No I prefer ............

Nice to meet you !

Bye for now

See you soon!

F. Allow the children time now to create a conversation with the new language with a partner .

G. Challenge some of the children to participate in a three or four way conversation once they have completed task E successfully .

H. Either perform or film the conversations on IPads or Chrome Books and share on class IWB as an “Our Class Conversations “ film clips .