creative thinking

Twizzle Stick Opposites!

Being in the target language country allows you to look for marvellous books - just to give you new inspiration!
In Spain last week I found this simple infant book and this led mt to think of a  creative idea.....that could be really useful to practise opposites with LKS2!  

 The book in itself is a marvellous joining in text to practise opposites.The children can swivel the objects in the middle of the hard card page, can anticipate the opposite phrase used with  the next page.You can revisit the book  and play anticpation or memory games  too.

 This made me think of "twizzle stick opposites"!
All we are going to need are lolly sticks,firm card, glue and seloptape,oh and some scissors!



First a little bit about the book!
The book shows  a picture of an item on each page and and a key word.It's opposite word and the same picture( but drawn to convey the new meaning) are shown on the reverse side of the page.The picture inbetween can be swivelled to match the key word .For example there is a smiley face with "contento" above it and when you swivel the face it is a sad face on the other side and reads "triste"

The pictures can be turned over or swizzled around! Just like this tortoise it can be "derecha" or can be flipped around and on the next page "izquierda"


Twizzle Stick Opposites Game 

  • This is my way of creating an interactive game to practise opposites using a physical activity.
  • Year 3 or 4 could create the twizzle sticks and share with KS1.
  • It will also help the Y3/4 children have a better understanding of the concept of "opposites" plus a physcial and visual memory of key words to describe or place objects.
  • I anticipate that each child should make 5 swizzle sticks and therefore explore the meaning of 10 words in 5 pairs of opposites.
  • The twizzle sticks can just have opposites written on them or could also have the nouns of ther objects the children have used too, hidden under a lift and reveal flap.


Making Twizzle Sticks

  • Ask the children to think of 5 pairs of opposites in English
  • Can they now find these woirds in the bilingual dictionary and cross reference their meaning in the front of the bilingual dictionary to check its meaning.(This could be a pair activity where the partner cross reference words and feeds back what they find)
  • The children need to write each word out in the target language on a separate small strip of firm card.
  • The children can now put the words with their opposite word in to 5 piles of opposite words e.g contento/triste or izquierda/derecha
  • For each pair of opposite words the children now need to think of an object that they can draw and use to explain both of the opposite words.For example with contente/triste - this will probably be the face of a child/person/animal etc or maybe with directions it could be a vehicle.
  • The children should draw the objects (twice per twizzle stick) so that the images of the objects conveys the meaning of the opposite words .
  • The drawings needs to be attached with glue or selotape to the top third of the lollipop stick and the correct opposite word card that they have chosen and written out needs to be glued or selotaped below the correct image of the object.





The Twizzle Stick Year 3 or Year 4 Game!

  • Each child shares with a partner all the twizzle sticks they have made and say the opposite word as they show each of the images.They will need to twizzle their sticks to share all the images and the opposite words
  • the first child lays out their sticks on the table with one side of the twizzle stick showing.
  • The second child  selects a twizzle stick , picks it up says the word that is face up on the stick, anticpates and says the opposite word and then twizzles the stick to see if he/she was correct.
  • If he/she is correct then the stick now belongs to the second child.
  • Which child wins the most sticks from am partner? 
  • Add extra challenge by giving each child a strip of coloured paper long enough to place across the five twizzle sticks of one player.The strip of paper should not conceal the picture but should conceal the face up word.
  • Who can now remember the face up word and the opposite word written on the face down side of the stick? 
  

Sandcastle Sentence Building

One of our focus themes this next term is "Seaside" and synonymous with the seaside must be building sandcastles! As teachers of young language learners we are endeavouring to develop children's understanding of basic grammar and sentence construction.



Seems to me that "building sandcastle sentences" could be  a great way to enable our moving on and advanced language learning KS2 children to reflect  upon and apply their  growing knowledge of how language works!  
As the class teacher you can decide on the appropriate context,content and the structures (nouns,personal pronouns,parts of verbs, adjectives, conjunctions etc).

 We can build simple sentences, sentences made of two clauses, sentences requiring conjunctions to make their more complex and apply word order rules and build our own new sentences with words and structures we select and  want to use .Just like we will fond lots of sandcastle building competitions on war m teachers in target language countries such as France and Spain then we can hold our own sandcastle sentence building competitions and set challenges that match the level of our language learners!

 The "Sandcastle Sentence Building Challenges below are based on: 

  • context - describing what we eat at the seaside
  • content- ice creams
  • grammar focuses- identifying and constructing simple present tense sentences using the personal pronouns and the verb " to eat"
In developing the following activities with your class, you must consider the language and word order of target language sentences, consider the punctuation of the sentences as signposts to the construction of the more complex sentences and select a context and content base that fits with your own class' target language knowledge.



Sandcastle Sentence Building 

Share with the children the building blocks of an empty simple sentence.
Can the children discuss with you how many parts the think are going to be in your sandcastle sentence (five in this sandcastle).Set the scene- if we are describing eating an ice cream ,do they think with a partner they can discuss what might words and phrases  be in the sandcastle?(Encourage them to think of words like je / manger/ glace/ flavours of ice creams)


Explain that every good sandcastle needs a flag to mark the spot and to go on top of the sandcastle.
In our sentences explain that this is going to be a personal pronoun.
Share with them the blue flag shape with the personal pronoun you want to use,written on it.I have chosen "Je" in French in this case.
Can they tell you the meaning of the word and explain its function in the sentence?
Give them pair talking and thinking time to do this. 


Now share with the class the building blocks of the first "sandcastle sentence".Can they decide in which order the sandcastle, starting with the personal pronoun flag at the top, should be built?
Why do they think that the word "mange" is written on an orange piece of card? 
Discuss with the class what this word represents as a structure ( verb) and why is it important  in the construction of a good sandcastle SENTENCE? 

In their heads can they "virtually" build your sandcastle?
Who wants to come out and build the sandcastle? 
Does everyone agree with the construction? 
What is the the sandcastle message?   


Share with the children a second personal pronoun flag.What does this allow us to do as sandcastle sentence builders? (We can build a new sentence).On mini whiteboards can the children try to build a new sandcastle sentence about a different flavour of ice cream?

Remind them of the importance of the orange building block in the sandcastle to make certain that they are building a SENTENCE .

Listen, look and share as a class some of the sandcastle sentences they have constructed and drawn .


Now share your new building blocks for the sentence that you would like a volunteer to construct as your new  "two tower sandcastle" made up of two clauses, so this time it will have "two tower sandcastle".
How does the class know which personal prononun to start with (capital letter on "Je")
How does the class know which flavour goes with the first ice cream here ( comma after "au chocolat,") 
How does the class know which is the final word of the two tower sentence and why? (Well it is the correct word order but also it has a full stop "vanille.")


Invite a  volunteer up to build what is now the "two tower two clause sandcastle sentence"!  
Can they cut out and write in pairs a "two tower two clause sandcastle sentence" as a challenge for another pair?


Sandcastles often have bridges and become more elaborate.We can introduce the use of conjunctions in this way too to our "Sandcastle Sentence Building" challenges.
Here are two conjunction bridges in French below.

Discuss with the children what role these two red bridges play on the sentence and identify that they have target language conjunctions written in them. Make sure that the conjunctions are familiar words for the children.

Can they change and improve the  "two tower two clause sandcastle sentence"above with one of these conjunction bridges ?
Which conjunction would they like to use?


For my example  below , I selected the conjunction bridge "et" in French to join my two clauses.
Can the class design and build their own "two clause conjunction sandcastle tower sentences" to share with the rest of the class?Their designs must also be based on the content you have been practising.


With more advanced language learners set up a "Sandcastle building challenge".
Give each pair a set of sandcastle building blocks in random order as below, to construct a "three tower,two conjunction sandcastle complex sentence". 

Here the children need to select the correct part of the verb to match the personal pronouns and to identify which flavour can not be at the end of the sentence(because of the comma) but also to decide which of the other two flavours will be at the end and make sure that they remember to add that full stop!


They need to decide where and how they want to use the two conjunction bridges- maybe they want to use two new conjunctions.....


........and then they can construct their "three tower,two conjunction sandcastle complex sentence".


Now it is time for the class to get on their construction thinking hats and build new sandcastle tower challenges for the rest of the class!

The class can now hold their own "Grand Class Sandcastle Sentence Building Competition!"


Carnival conversations in speaking and writing with triaramas used as stage sets

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
to 
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! 


Getting ready for carnival,being creative and exploring a story based upon le carnaval des animaux

Every year we love carnival! Last year we celebrated with a theme based upon:

"carnaval des animaux-camille st saens"





The theme linked so well with our Y3 focus on animals and teachers found ways to create masks, perform dances linked to the music and to investigate Art and DT - all based on this theme.Truthfully this was a theme and a focus that whole schools took as an opportunity to use as creative shared learning across Music,Dance.Art,DT and Language Learning

We were able too to look at nouns in the singular and plural , to investigate unfamiliar animal nouns using bi-lingual dictionaries and to generate simple question and answer role-plays about animals and descriptions of animals: "What is it? What colour is it? how many can you see? Do you like.....? "
(Teachers decided upon the most appropriate questions and answers for their learners and the prior knowledge of the learners).

i knew about this book "Au carnaval des animaux" by Marianne Dubuc based upon the music by Saint saens and so as a carnival activity, mask making and fancy dress followed quite easily.The book is available in several languages.
We used the book in French and Spanish:



The blog link here gives you a flavour of the book in French Litterature de jeunesse .Simple repetitive story which allows the children to invent their own animal characters. We used  simple cut out cards such as these below, to create our own fantastical fancy dress animal costumes and the cards where ideal for simple "Guess who I am ?" games- where one child holds a card and the other children /or another child has to guess which animals are on the card the first child is holding.



Leads to the children being able to make up the most amazing animal names - combining all the names of the animals they have know in one fancy dress mixed up animal written or spoken description.

And hot off the press just found this brilliant primary unit of work guide for a whole unit of work based around la danse des animaux- useful if you are a French speaker! 
Brilliant ideas

And don't forget the possibilities of a wonderful dance to this famous song! Le livre de la jungle!



Here are some ways that we have in the past developed very simple beginners language learning based on carnival celebrations and the story of au carnaval des animaux  

Colourful French creativity

Just found this rhyme 

here on nounoud56.centerblog

You can listen to and sing along with the song

here

 on this page too! 

Thought this would be a great way to develop reading and dictionary skills with our LKS2 Y4 French learners during Spring term. It will enable is to extend their knowledge of colours and reinforce our knowledge of nouns ....and maybe look for verbs in the text.

I love the idea that the crayons play whilst the children are outside on their playtime break and I love the fact the poem starts with a question....just what do the crayons do when there are no children in the classroom?

Step One

Highlight or underline each sentence of the poem in the correct colour.

Spot the two sentences that contain no colours.

Step Two

Make the poem a picture in a picture frame .

  • Children should use the words in the question of the first sentence as the header of the frame and the words in the final statement at the end of the poem as the footer of the frame.
  • The sides of the frame are pencil calligrams:the colouring pencils mentioned written as word calligrams of the different colours.For example I might put red ,yellow and blue on one side and the black and grey on the other side.
  • Now ask the children to investigate the sentences in the poem that explain what the different coloured pencils have drawn.Ask the children to circle the nouns in the sentences and check or find the meaning of the nouns in a bi-lingual dictionary.
  • Have they spotted the unusual colours for the objects- let them share with you what they have found out! (e.g the mouse is red....or is it?)
  • Can the look at the picture evidence around the outside the written text and spot the anomalies? For example the "green" crayon has drawn a yellow sunshine etc 
  • Now all they have to do is create the drawing as described in the text!

Step Three

Make sense of the poem...

  • Ask the children to explain the meaning of the word "dessine" - you may encourage them to think of English words that are similar (e.g design)
  • Can they explain the role this word plays in the sentences in the text?
  • Ask the children to create a more sensible set of sentences for the poem completing the sentences below: 

le rouge dessine .............

le vert dessine ...............

le bleu dessine ...............

le gris dessine ................

le noir dessine................

  • Now they can become artists themselves and draw the objects they have decided are more sensible and match the colours and describe what is happening in French to a partner using the key sentences above.

And finally here is the You tube clip of the text above!

Flights of imagination with language learning

I really love to think out of the box and hope that some of the activities I create allow children tom explore the world of their imagination in another language and learning arena. It works for me because it helps me to allow learners to make the link that language is language and is a vehicle to explore the World! 


Over the last year I have posted the following blog posts  which demand that language learners explore their own imaginations through target language learning with a practical language learning purpose. Hope that the list below helps somebody out there to do something similar with their learners! 

APPs and links between KS2 and KS3: first achievable steps

I am not an expert with IT and would never suggest that I was, but I do love my ipad and the fun you can have with all sorts of APPs to use in language learning! So yesterday was exciting CPD opportunity for myself as well as others because yesterday Joe Dale visited us here in Warrington for a twilight linked to our DfE project Language Learning for everyone


We had 55 teachers in the room ,six high schools were represented plus we had primary WSTA SCITT students too.
There were teachers from St Helens,Halton,Knowsley,Warrington.Wigan ,St Helens and Cheshire who ranged from novices and beginners with ipads to more experienced ipad and APP users.It was fast and furious but there was plenty of food for thought and ideas, plus I think every teacher went away with next steps to try out in the world of APPs!
Words such as AfL ,understanding of prior learning, shared learning,continuity,transition activities again spring to mind!



I have had an ipad for a year now and love it.I enjoy looking at the ways we can use the APPs often recommended on Twitter to create learning opportunities for the language learning primary school children we work with.
We have had great success with Yakit , Pic Collage and Sock Puppets plus colleagues have tried out Tellagami and Zondle. We also love a programme from www.smule.com (Autorap) to record children and create raps of their simple recordings.

 This Christmas we are using Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with both Yakit for Kids with younger children and Autorap with the older children  Most of my colleagues have to work with one Ipad in class their own and a VGA cable to connect to the main system and share via the screen in their classrooms. 



One of the main intentions of the CPD twilight was to bring primary and secondary teachers together at the same training event to meet and to consider links through technology between KS2 and KS3. 
So now I am putting on my KS3 hat and looking at the possible links between the APPs Joe shared with us and how we can create purposeful learning opportunities between Y6 and and KS3. Thanks to Joe for the answers to my questions during CPD about possible ways to do this.......

 Google Drive 
Setting up a shared folder on Google Drive between KS2 and KS3 language teaching colleagues seems to me the first step! 
Teachers can see what children are doing and share good practice plus shared activities can be accessed from these folders.These can be across all 4 skills and look at grammar too! Words such as AfL,quality assurance, support,creativity, continuity , transition activities spring to mind!

  Yakit for Kids 
Joe showed us how to create the characters and then add voice recordings with this APP.I asked Joe if one person could create the characters and then if this was shared in Google Drive could another person add the voice recordings and I was delighted to hear the answer was yes!  Well there is potential here for a Year 6 challenge . 

  • One Yakit for Kids clip with characters  (it takes about 5 minutes maximum to source and make) 
  • Shared on Google Drive by a KS3 teacher,downloaded by the KS2 Y6 teacher for the Y6 children to add the voice recordings .
  • What do they think the characters are saying? 
  • I can see this being a termly challenge based on a theme or focus that is pertinent to Y7 term 1- revisiting personal information, talking about objects and describing them etc.
  • There is limited time of 15 seconds but then Joe showed us a clever technique to stitch Yakit clips together so children who can or want to  say more can stitch together the identical clips but with continued question and answer dialogues! Words such as AfL ,understanding of prior learning, shared learning,continuity ,transition activities again spring to mind!


 I-nigma
Ever since I found out about QRs I have really liked them. I can see links between drama, music and QRs and performance ! In a primary language learning context I have suggested using QRs on display to share good language work with parents and carers or sending QRs home to parents to see the work they have done. 
A teacher  in the audience did ask the question yesterday about what happens if parents don't have the correct equipment to read the QR and Joe does know a way to do this but maybe you need to ask him this....
And yesterday I realised once again what an easy way this would be to:

  •  set up question and answer treasure hunts for Y6 children 
  • created by either language assistants in high school or older pupils.
  • Simply create a set of recordings (either visual and spoken or just spoken), 
  • load on Google Drive in a "treasure hunt" folder and share with Y6 teachers.
  • Can the Y6 children piece the  QRs together so that they make sense and flow as one piece of information text or dialogue.......  Words such as AfL ,understanding of prior learning, shared learning,continuity ,transition activities again spring to mind! 


 Book Creator
I have tried out Book Creator as a class activity with one class at KS2. I would say that the children are more adept than myself at using this and enjoyed showing me how to add, insert , put in sound clips.
Joe showed us how to add sound clips though that become transparent icons on the pictures and again it occurred to me that this could be a Y7 - Y6 activity:

  • Simply take photos of objects in a Y7 classroom and school.
  • Ask your Y7 to record a description of some of the items in the pictures
  • Conceal the sound files and then pop in to a book creator  template.
  • Share via Google Drive with Y6 teachers and the children in Y6 can have a virtual tour of the high school in the target language.
  • All the class needs to do is hover over each object and listen to what has been recorded. 
  • It works the other way round too - allowing Y7 language teachers to meet the class of Y6 at a specific school in a specific year via a photograph.
  • Simply take a photo of the class and ask each child to introduce themselves in the target language (personal information,likes,dislikes etc) Words such as AfL ,understanding of prior learning, shared learning,continuity ,transition activities again spring to mind!


 Book Creator can allow the children to share writing,to annotate work and to add pictures of events that have taken place or performances the class have taken part in- not necessarily one book per child,but one "special 2 book per class over the course of KS2 or throughout Y6 would enable KS3 teachers to look and see and be able to refer to prior learning activities and events with their new Y7 intake.

 Using Book Creator KS3 colleagues could set up activities based on nouns, adjectives and verbs by simply sharing on Google Drive via the Book Creator APP.Accessed and used by the classes in Y6 as one off revisiting and practising activities and the results recorded in Book Creator and shared back to KS3 teachers via Google Drive.  Words such as AfL ,understanding of prior learning, shared learning,continuity ,transition activities again spring to mind!

 As with all CPD events, a health warning needs to be applied here.

  • Small  and achievable steps are best .One simple trial project with a small and willing group of schools or with one link primary school.
  • Careful and clearly planned activities and expectations
  • Carefully selected APPs that all staff and children understand and can use
  • Realistic time limits 
  • Activities that can be achieved with one ipad in the room or with a class of children with access to ipads
But what a way to build transition links ... AfL, shared learning, quality assurance and support, continuity and creativity.

A triarama with speaking and writing attitude!

Tomorrow I will be working with teachers on linking drama and language learning and I will be considering the new DfE POS learning objectives for KS2 and also how we can lay the foundations in our learning for KS3 languages.
We will look at all sorts of activities from beginners to advanced KS2 language learning.The following activities are targeted at learners who are either moving on or are advanced learners.
My activities hopefully will allow teachers to offer children opportunities to progress and work with the following objectives from the new DfE POS:


  • speak in sentences using familiar vocabulary
  • broaden their vocabulary
  • read carefully and show understanding of words,phrases and simple writing
  • write phrases from memory


 I was introduced to Triaramas by Clare Seccombe here  and have decided that triaramas are a way to  link all four skill (L.S.R.W) and drama! 


  • First you need to create a sketch for the children. (We will base ours on Christmas and family- maybe presents or a meal).There needs to be a dramatic or funny ending to the sketch.Use familiar language with some new language that they will need to understand and offer the children tools such as bilingual dictionaries to find meanings etc
  • Then you need to write out the sketch without stage directions for the class.
  • Give each child a script and organise the class into differentiated ability groups with the right number of children in the group for the roles in the sketch. 
  • Can the children read the sketch out in the target language around the table?
  • Can the children tell each other what has happened in the sketch? Have they understood the ending of the sketch?
  • Ask the children to read the sketch a second time and allocate roles and decide upon actions and voices of the characters
  • What props will they need?
  • Now can the children decide what the stage directions should be?
It's time to be a set designer and sketch director!
Each child must decide which moment in the sketch they want to depict in a snap shot set.

It's blank set time.
Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to create a triarama following instructions.


This is there opportunity to create the set for the sketch and to record how they perceive the sketch that their group has been working on.






Now they need to add information to their triarama so that they create a dynamic record of the reading of the sketch.Each character in the foreground needs their name/role  and an adjective that help other people understand what the character is like e.g.  tired /excited/ friendly/ angry /surprised/ confused etc .First the children need to make cut outs and write in the target language on them - the role/ the adjective:

The children can now place the characters as they want them on set?

....And the children can add key phrases from the sketch and additional objects and other characters.Can they write the phrases from memory.


Do they want to add any other characters too? What are these characters saying or thinking at that exact moment?

I have blu-tacked my characters to the set so that they can be moved and have blu-tacked their phrases too to the characters so the dialogue can be changed.

 Now it's time to share their set with the sets of the other children - firstly in their group and then in the class.
Have they chosen the same moment in the sketch?
How do they imagine their characters sound when they speak.Can they bring their snap- shot set to life?

Power and dynamics of poetry in a target language

Last term I spent time considering ways to introduce and use poetry in language learning. It's an area that I have always enjoyed with young learners (and as an English and Drama  teacher in a former life) I am always delighted when children realise the power of poetry!

 This academic year I am keen to focus on the "power of poetry " to bring words to life! Not just to look for images or to play matching and rhyming games but to engage the young learners with the power and sound scapes behind a poet's words.

 Let's look for the dynamics of the poetry!
The  cadence, the pictures created by the sound- scapes ,the beat and rhythm of the syllables and the words chosen and the mysterious world that the poet has encapsulated in a confined use of language.


How do I think we can achieve this during a year of primary language learning...?
Well ...nursery rhymes and songs enable us to encourage young language learners to join in, participate, create actions, move around .... so let's look at poetry in KS2 in a similar way.

Build opportunities to explore poetry across KS2, where you engage the children with:
  • listening for the beat, 
  • the rhythm, 
  • drawing the shape of the sounds they hear in the air or on white boards,
  • creating actions that interpret the story of the poem or song,
  • creating physical performances of the poems 
  • taking an original text and making it up to date and modern e.g. generating a rap
  • using APPS to add dynamics such as drumbeats and music to a class recording of thew spoken poem.


Let's consider what opportunities already exist in the work I know is being planned for within the network this Autumn term. 
We will be working with the children on Autumn poems in October  - based on the sounds and the smells and surprises of an Autumn walk.We will create Halloween poems and explore authentic poetry and songs about witches such as la sorciere grabouilla. Here's a You tube clip of the French song...  



In November we work on firework poems both  as reading and writing activities and we explore the shapes, sounds and colours of a firework display. In UKS2 some teachers will be generating wizard's potion poems after exploring a written simple potion to create a wizard. In December we will be getting ready for our Christmas activities and with KS2 children we might be preparing the poem and now song  le bonhomme de neige by Jacques Prévert.

Inspired ?
Well then why not get started in September with one of this back to school theme poem blog for both French and Spanish called Physical Pop Up Poems Daily Routine and Back to School,where you will find that I have suggested activities that will allow you to explore the dynamics of the poems hopefully to enable you to generate memorable learning occasions for the children and yourself!

 You may also find some of my blogs on poetry from last year useful too. I have included opportunities for you children to explore the role of the poet and use limited language to great effect in creating their own poetry too! Hope the blogs,the ideas are useful and the possible transfer of activities to poetry in other languages is useful too!  

 Spanish  KS1 rhyme based on the bear hunt Bear Hunt Rhyme
French, Spanish, German : The verb to have and a wizard's potion
French : simple Easter movie based on un petit lapin rhyme
All languages : Creating our own simple past tense mood swing poems
All languages : Using video clips  to generate poems Eye in the sky
 French and Spanish writing our own sandcastle poems to perform
French :using an authentic comptine to explore the skills of  listening,speaking,reading,writing , drama and phonics Dame tartine
French sept couleurs magiques
French painting a poem of a Summer's Day
French writing our own poems about the seaside based on authentic poetry
French emotions and doodle sense poems based on authentic poem mon cartable
French Drama and mystery in the cafe dejeuner du matin






What's behind a book title?

Yesterday I explained how I had been sorting a book shelf and found some non- fiction books in French and considered how I could use these to develop reading and writing in the target language with young learners and make links across the curriculum. Here's the blog post non fiction in the target language and it wonderful links across the curriculum

Well I also found  a whole host of fiction books too that my friend had given me - far too detailed in most instances for  young beginner language learners , but again well loved authentic  story books in the target language.
So I decided that there had to be a way to use these books to inspire our young learners and hence I came upon the idea of "What's behind a book title?"


We will trial this with UKS2 language learners who are Stage 3 or Stage 4 learners (so have been learning languages for a least 2 years or a little more). It will give us chance to encourage them to use bi-lingual dictionaries to independently access languages . 
It will give us chance: 
  • to reinforce nouns and the use of definite and indefinite articles when they then write their own sentences with the nouns they find. 
  • to allow the children the chance to practise and use adjectives after nouns
  • to begin to write full sentences in a short text using verbs in the present  tense .

We will be focusing on using the tiles as stimulus to create descriptions of the key characters or objects mentioned in the titles.I have selected from the group of books I found on my bookshelf - three books that we can use to create descriptions in the first or third person plural or singular.The children will be encourage to use the picture on the title page as visual stimulus  for their preparatory work .

These are the books I am going to use:


This story book's title page will fit in well Autumn term Year 5 or Year 6 and writing a description of a character who is frightened by other monsters.What is the baby minster like? What are the monsters like that he is frightened of ? We will ask the children to write the short text for a Year 4 audience as the texts the year five children write,can then be read with Year 4 ,when Year 4 create their own class  monsters or aliens.To take this full circle ,Year 4 can then look forward  to writing their own descriptions of a frightened monster.


This story's title page fits in well when we look at "all about me " in Year 6 . We can use this to look at characteristics and adjectives to describe types of people. We can create the alter-egos of these two children and  create a two verse poem or rhyme about two naughty characters and two well behaved characters.These poems can then be acted out for a younger KS2  audience before the end of the Summer term.We will be able to look at verbs in the third person plural and there is the potential to use negatives with verbs too. 



This story book title will be a stimulus for a description of exactly what it says on the the page "le plus bel oeuf du monde".When can I see us creating this bullet point list or requirements to be "le plus bel"? ....Just before  Easter in Year 5 as a class display of wanted posters for- yes you guessed it..... "le plus bel oeuf du monde" for the King! There is potential here too for a simple performance as a dialogue between the King and a servant looking for "le plus bel oeuf" ,using questions word phrases such as "where is ...?" "what is ...?"  and giving simple responses with nouns and adjectives.

A framework to work with and support the children for all the books above 

How can we support the children to access and achieve the sentences required to create these outcomes . Well it's simple.
  • Provide the children in groups of three or four with the picture of the title page.  
  • Glue this to the centre of a piece of paper with four thought bubbles around the outside. 
  • Give the children time to collect and record the relevant information in the target language either recalling familiar language or looking up required nouns , adjectives and verbs.
  • Ask the children to work together to compose their own short texts, poems, posters etc as  required for the creative learning outcome!



Seaside special two: Design brief for fantastical sandcastles

Design brief for a fantastical sandcastle
A very simple activity but one our children always love is to set up a competition to design their own sandcastles!
Explain to the children how many sandcastle beach competitions you will find on beaches across Europe in the Summer



There is a slight twist though because as we all know the sea washes away the sandcastles from the day before .
Can a second group or pair take the design brief and recreate the sandcastle design that a first group or pair has written?
How similar are the two designs when the drawings are compared?

What’s very important is that the children can write clear sentences to describe the features of their sandcastles in the target language. This means that the teacher can determine the degree of difficulty – 
  • beginner writers in a target language we would suggest - noun, verb and adjective  and quantity. 
  • moving on writers in a target language  we would expect  adjectives that agree with nouns as well as simple well constructed sentences
  • advanced writers n the basic target language we would expect more detailed information – nouns, quantity, adjectives that agree, prepositions and possibly directional language.




Let's talk about it .Moving talk on

As a network we work with children in KS2 who have as yet limited spoken language skills but also we work with children who have been learning the target language for 3,4 or 5 years and even more.As a network we need to get our children talking creatively and independently!Our current target with the more advanced learners are that :
We want our children to progress in their independent use of language!
We want the children to be able to say more than just limited responses!



The intention of the first sequence of activities below – which  should be developed over a series of lessons – is   to begin to enable the class to explore pictures  , photographs and stories in more detail. The activities are transferable so that over the course of the next academic year we can revisit the languages, set up the investigations and hold interesting discussion across a range of content and contexts. The intention is that the children become empowered  to extend what they can say and to allow them to access what they want to say.

You need to first take a look at Teacher French or Spanish  Talk Prompts to deliver the activities below.You can download the PDFs below

French Talk Prompts

Spanish Talk Prompts

The activities are based in the first instance around looking at famous picture and using these pictures as a stimulus for group talk.
Here are some famous works of art to explore and the content and contexts for which they could be useful  

 Possible pictures



Famous Art we like to use. Possible focuses for discussion are listed in brackets after the title of the piece of Art and the name of the artist)

·         The Boating Party  , Renoir (people, clothes , food , activities, animals)
·         Surprised : Henri Rousseau (jungle, colours, weather, actions, animals, emotions)
·         The Poet Reclining , Marc Chagall (people, countryside, animals, weather, actions, emotions)
·         The Starry Night, Van Gogh (weather , objects , town at night , colours, emotions)
·         Las Meninas, Velázquez (people, families, clothes, colours, emotions, actions , house and home)
·         La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat (parties, activities, weather , clothes , emotions, people)
·         La historia de José, Antonio di Biagio (animals, actions , clothes, colours, )
·         July , the Seaside , LS Lowry ( weather, objects , activities, actions, colours, clothes , people, family

Artcyclopedia can help you to locate the pictures you want to use.

Below are the sequence of activities which can support your young learners to practise and explore becoming more creative and independent in their use of the target language.

 A.      Word Warm up activities

To ensure that all the children can contribute to the Talk Prompt activities, start with some Word Warm Ups. Ask the children to:
  1. Name / show / find certain categories of words e.g. colours, weather phrases   , animals, clothes
  2. Give the children   talking time to complete this with a partner or a group.
  3. Take feedback   .

Ask the children to :
  1. Check the language they have found by cross referencing this language in bi-lingual dictionaries .
  2. Consolidate the knowledge through a game of charades/ an alphabetical challenge (60 seconds to say five of the words in alphabetical order etc)


B.      Class consideration
Either give out the picture to the class or show a large version of the picture on the IWB screen or flipchart.

Ask the children in their pairs or on their tables to :
  • Familiarise themselves with the picture.Spot any items from the Word Warm Up activity above.
  • Give each table a blank piece of paper and ask the children to  create “word graffiti” art of  the picture.They must write down the key items / emotions/ descriptive phrases  they have identified in the picture and the words or phrases should be positioned in a similar place on the blank piece of paper to where the item/ emotion etc is depicted or found in the picture
  • Take feedback from the groups .Which words /phrases have they been able to locate and place in their replica “word graffiti “   pictures? As the children give you their feedback , either write up or invite a child to help you write up the key language that is being suggested by each pair/ table  on a flip chart
  • Table experts .Each table becomes an expert table  . This means that each table has a theme e.g. weather phrases, animals, colours, emotions, objects, clothes, food – the categories will depend upon the picture you have chosen to use . The expert tables must firstly decide as a group which of the brainstormed words and phrases written on the flip chart are phrases that fit in their category- sometimes a phrase might match two categories e.g. a colour and an item of clothing. You should call out a phrase or word from the feedback and the expert tables must listen and if they think it’s from their category they should put up their hands. Increase the speed and quantity of language used to make the activity more challenging. Ask for volunteers to take the teacher’s role in the activity.

C.      Talk Prompt Activities, matching questions and answers
  • Give out the “Children’s stem responses “(from the Talk Prompt PDF above)  either as separate cards – one card per pair , or as groups of three stem responses to pairs . The children’s stem responses  are located on the “Teacher Talk Prompt Sheet”
  • Ask the children to read and apply their knowledge of the language to  decide how to pronounce the stem responses correctly and also the meaning of the stem response.
  • Can the children match their stem responses to the possible questions you show them and you say from your “Questions for children” on the “Teacher Talk Prompt  Sheet”
  • Swap stem responses between pairs and re-run the activity so that children familiarise themselves with a variety of stem responses and the link questions

D.      Talk time
  • Children working in pairs or groups,possibly with the support of a TA or teacher , should now investigate the picture and be encouraged to actually "be in the picture" – even if there are limited characters that they can locate.
  • They should use their imaginations to step into the picture .Guide the children into this target language activity with the key phrases from the “Let’s imagine setting up the activity” phrases on the “Teacher Talk Prompt Sheet”
  • Hold “Listen ins” and ask children to feedback the language they are developing to describe what they see and what they are doing.
  • The children may use notes to prompt them if they have jotted down information.
  • Ask one pair to share with another pair their imaginary conversations and creative descriptions that they have generated inside the picture.what they have created- as spoken inside the picture” activity.


E.      Let’s imagine
As a whole class step back into the whole picture and now ask the specific questions   from the “Questions for children” on the “Teacher Talk Prompt  Sheet”. Take responses from several groups for each  question.
Ask the children to listen carefully and to imagine the scene they are creating as a class.



F. Return to the picture
In a following lesson , return to the picture and see if the children can respond appropriately to the simple questions from “Looking at pictures together” section  on  the “Teacher Talk Prompt Sheet” and can they remember their responses to the  “Questions for children” on the “Teacher Talk Prompt  Sheet” from the previous lesson?



You will now be able to use some of these activities to explore pictures , photographs and stories in more detail with the children over the course of the year , to extend what they can say and to allow them to access what they want to say .