Beginning with languages blog 3

Across our network we work with schools who are all at different stages of setting up and delivering primary language learning and each year we welcome new schools who want to set off on their own individual school's language learning journey.

This year these specific 

"Beginning with languages "

 blogs will try to offer "bite size chunks" of indirect help and support to schools, who are doing exactly that .... just setting off and implementing  a language learning curriculum 

.

In September this year I wrote : 

beginning with languages blog 1

 and in October 

beginning with languages blog 2

Your checklists so far have been:

Sept - Oct (first half term) Checklist

• It's all about establishing a whole school support system for all your staff
• It's about small steps and simple language learning
• It's about children and staff beginning to enjoy language learning

Mid October an additional new checklist bullet point!

• So how are you all getting on? How do you know that primary languages are being implemented in all the classes and are the teachers and children having fun in their learning? 

And now your new checklist bullet points for November are.........

• How can you build in "revisiting" opportunities to build the children and staff's confidence with the language you introduced last half term - probably greetings, numbers 0-11, simple questions and answers about names and feelings and perhaps some colours will be in this list from last half term? What about a game like Bingo or Splat or maybe a game of Quiz Quiz Swap (Quiz Quiz Trade) around the classroom where children ask questions and swap cards with someone else as they move around the room and greet/ ask names and feelings and say farewells.Or why not try out a simple colours and firework song and activity like this one Colours and rockets particularly with the younger learners in KS1 and Y3/4

• This half term you can focus on celebrations too .There is Saint Nicolas Day at the start of December on the 6th December (here is some wikipedia information ) and then there is Christmas of course!Why not select a simple Christmas song now and start to practise in your classes ready for a whole school target language performance in the school Christmas assembly?

Continuing to make progress and to upskill staff and children in the target language

• Make sure that teachers and children continue to make progress.
• Introduce a new focus for example n the month of November practise and develop their language learning skills.Take a look at months and days and practise with the children ways to remember the new words, looking for cognates and semi- cognates (words that look similar)
• Possible songs to support you are below :

French month

s

: 

les mois de l'annee

Spanish months

:       

los meses del ano

German months

:       

Monate

• Begin to look for ways to link language learning to another area of the curriculum to embed language learning as an integral part of learning for instance why not try out a "physical bar chart" based on months and birthdays. Take a look here Physical primary target languages maths

Looking for a Christmas song for all the school?

Here are three target language examples with sound files and words on the screen to support all staff to familiar tunes and which are international Christmas songs/carols 

Here is Jingle Bells in French:

and in spanish

or what about Stille Nacht (Silent Night) in German

Sound in the French word for numbers and colours : ladders and scaffold games

These activities are  quick to create and simple to develop and involve key sounds in numbers and colours for teachers just starting to work with French (or any language- but it really works well in French)  with their primary school children.The games  can easily be used as a revisiting activity at any time in a language learner's career.They can lead to puzzles and performance opportunities 

The games in the first instance involve numbers 1-11 and  simple colours (bleu,jaune,orange,vert,noir,blanc )

• As  the teacher think about the numbers and colours you have taught. 
• Practise with the children key sounds in the words 
• Create a chart of key sounds as letter combinations for sounds that are in both colours and numbers or just in the colours or just in the numbers.
• Take a look here: 

Can you see the key sounds and letter combinations in the numbers 1-11 and the colours:  bleu,jaune,orange,vert,marron,noir,blanc?

Take  quick look some of the sounds and letter combinations are in both the colours and the numbers.

Sound in the word ladders and scafffolds

• Ask your class first of all to create a "sound in the word ladder or scaffold " of the words they think that the key sounds come from- they may think of both a number and a colour for some of the boxes in the table
• Can they add performance (mime,actions and volume)  to their sound in the word  ladders and scaffolds. They can decide to work across the table in horizontal lines or run down one column and then the other column of the table. Maybe they want to start from the bottom and work upwards etc .They can decide!
• Can they perform their "sound in the word ladder or scaffold "for another group of children and can thwy trace the path that has been followed on the table of sounds?

Step Two !All shook up!

• Cut up the table in to individual sound cards and put them out on the table.One set per four children works best.

The groups of children  can now play several different games:

• Take it in turns to select a sound and say a number or colour
• Take it in turns and collect number cards only - who has the most when the sounds' cards  the children can use run out?
• Take it in turns to create a run of cards of all the colours or all the numbers 
• Take it in turns to create a run of cards of all the colours but in French alphabetical order/ try this with numbers but in numerical order or in reverse order 

Primary Physical Target Language Maths

This week at a local primary school,where the staff are working together to establish a pattern of language learning delivered by the class teacher I wanted to look at some simple Maths activities to help the teachers see how language learning can be both useful and easy to link across the curriculum.

Physical Maths

Last week I was reminded by my colleague Emilie in her

bonjour madame blogpost

 how much the children love "physical maths in the target language".  

This tried and tested activity led to discussion amongst the staff about how this would make a good simple AfL activity both in the target language and listening /responding and also if we then thought about how this could become a Maths pen and paper activity.Here are a few of these very simple and easy to manage ideas..... 

• You could  ask the children to write on their whiteboards the mathematical sentences that they have just watched in the physical target language maths
• You could give out mathematical sentences and ask children to create the physical French/ Spanish/German etc maths performance for other children to then say in the target language  
• You could give out a written French/Spanish /German maths sentences and ask pairs to create the physical performance which then the class need to write on their whiteboards as mathematical sentences and compare against the original card instructions.

Months and Physical Bar Charts

We then went on to consider months of the year as this is part of our

SOW

 next half term Year 3.The teachers were all very comfortable with the idea of physical bar charts and counting up children to see who had a birthday in which month etc. We added a twist - because the months of the year labels were randomly placed around the room and the teachers had to first find their birthday month, reading and recognising their month of the year in French.

Once the teachers had gathered around the correct month, they had to put themselves into calendar order.This meant that each birthday month group  called out its month in French and one volunteer listened and organised the groups into calendar order and then into a bar chart formation.

All they had to do then was count up the number of birthdays in each month and create a written target language record - month and number!

Months,physical bar charts and dates 

With Year 4 onwards I have added a challenge to this physical bar chart in the past. With children who knew numbers 1-31 or with children who can form the date in the target language then the individual month groups can share with each other their birthdays e.g "10 August" and put themselves as a birthday month in to numerical order within their bar chart line!  

This allows you now to  handle data - by asking children to say their birthdate in French/ Spanish and German etc and asking a volunteer to spot the same date but different month - so let's put all the children who have a birthday on the second of a month for example together etc!

KS1 Rockets and Colours Firework Song

Today I am working with a school getting ready for next half term French language learning in KS2. the KS1 staff are keen to be involved and as our first focus will be Bonfire night I am going to introduce them to the simplest of songs using colours that they can practise and perform with their KS1 classes!

It allows teachers to practise four colours in the target language with the children: blue,red.orange and yellow 

Each colour is a rocket firework - so we have made them sound like they are zooming off in to the sky . If you are a network member or coming along to DfE CPD then there is a simple sound file too to help - but really it's probably not needed here.

We have used the song "The Farmers in his Den" to fit the French and Spanish words to  a familiar tune 

You could decide to add more too and the children could think of the sounds for these colours too!

You will need coloured rocket cards like these:

• Practise the colours of the rockets with the children, play familiar games like hot and cold hide and seek and detectives in the room- who is hiding the colour.
• Practise the sounds of the colours zooming off in to the sky on Bonfire Night
• Sit the children on the carpet in front of you and play the tune of "The Farmers in his Den" and pass the coloured rocket cards around the children .When the music stops- can the children holding the cards tell you the colour? Start the song again and continue the game.
• Now you are ready to practise the key phrase : les feux d'artifice ( in French) and los fuegos artificiales (in Spanish) and die Feuerwerke (in German). Practise and add clapping for each syllable and the rhythm . 
• Make the clapping and the spoken words sound like pretty fireworks in the sky etc!
• Practise the target language Firework Song below (to the tune of The Farmer's in his Den" with the children and ask them to make the colour repetition sound like fireworks disappearing in to the sky.
• Now your class is ready to perform the song. 
• Ask the children to stand in a circle and give the coloured rocket cards to four children.Can they remember the colours in the target language. As a class sing the song and when the children hear the colour of the firework if they are holding the card they can either pass the card on to the next child and the next child and the next child until the  song moves on or the child holding the card can make the firework rocket move and dart up in to the sky. 
• You may even have a class assembly song and performance here too!

Firework Songs in French and Spanish

French

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Rouge, rouge, rouge, rouge!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Bleu, bleu, bleu, bleu!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Vert, vert, vert, vert!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Jaune, jaune, jaune, jaune!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Orange, orange, orange, orange!

Les Feux d’artifices

Spanish

Los Fuegos Artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İRojo, rojo, rojo , rojo!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İAzul  azul azul azul!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İVerde, verde, verde, verde!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İAmarillo, rillo,rillo!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İNaranja, ranja, ranja, ranja!

Fuegos artificiales

German

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Blau,blau,blau,blau 

~Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Rot,rot,rot,rot 

die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Gelb,gelb,gelb,gelb

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Orange,range,range,range

Die Feuerwerke

Numbers and activities to get all staff on board

Getting on board with primary languages can seem really challenging and especially when you want everyone on the staff to grow in confidence. This week Emilie, Ana and I are out and about ,delivering staff CPD to every member of staff within a school,practising language and encouraging staff to try out some transferable activities using simple language.

Remember these are start up activities and they will also become favourite activities that can be played for five minutes when teachers have time outside of the language learning allotted time.

Below are some short activities which can help to build staff confidence and also engage young learners using target language numbers.

Numbers

We love this song and its clip as a way of practising numbers.

It exists in French,Spanish and German. 

• You can sing it in correct order 1-10 and in reverse order 10-1 . 
• You can pause and ask the children the next number
• You can ask children only to sing odd numbers or even numbers 
• You can use the four clips on European Languages Day to look for similarities and differences in the sound of numbers 1-10 in five languages and include English of course!
• You can play a game of Lotto (Bingo) or a version of the circle maths game "elevenses" but if the teacher doesn't know eleven in the target language then why not make it "nineses" and just play to nine. You don't want to have to say the number nine or you are out!

Now the class and the teacher can 

• count items, 
• perform a number song for assembly ,
• link numbers and colours (have a look here at colours and ways to practise simple colours)- where a colour is called and the children have to remember which number they have seen in the colour, 
• play Splat with two teams and numbers. 

Spanish KS1 ,Going Bear Hunting Rhyme and Game

Spanish KS1  ,Going Bear Hunting Rhyme and Game

1,2,3

Suish suash, glo glo glorogló

4,5,6

Plochi plochi plop

7,8

Túpiti túpiti tap , suu, uuuu

9,10

Tipi tip tipi tip

İAhhhhhhhh!  İEs un oso!

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

        The children are going normally going to listen to the story vamos a cazar un oso when we play this Going on a bear hunt rhyme and game .

But they love it so much that we often play it just for fun!

2.    

      Our children practise their numbers first .

3.       We set up a path of numbers across the classroom and the children step carefully across the path of numbers in a line. The numbers are repeated so we have three paths of numbers of  1-10 .the children sing / chant the numbers as they walk until the teacher calls stop!  The teacher calls out a number and if a child is stood on that number then they are out of the game and caught by the imaginary bear ! The teacher can call put more than one number.

4.       How many bear hunters will we have left after we have played the game three times

5.       Once we feel the children know their numbers well enough, we ask them to put on their bear hunter kit ( imaginary hat , binoculars , wellington boots) and we pretend to go out to see what the terrain is like .

6.        For each of the terrains – as in the book – we have a sound to represent  the terrain

Suish suash glo glo glorogló = river

Plochi plochi plop= mud

Túpiti túpiti tap= forest and owls

Suu, uuuu= snow storm

Tipi tip tipi tip = inside a cave

7.       We need to become good explorers , so we practise the sounds and add actions

8.       We ask the children to close their eyes and come with us on an imaginary journey through the different terrains .The teacher  tells the  story in English of their journey and the children join in  with sounds that “colour” in the terrain that is described . they are the sound effects.

9.       Now they are finally ready to become” Bear explorers “! They need to practise the rhyme , remember their actions and their numbers  too …..but when they get to the end of the rhyme they need to listen out for you to shout out / whisper / say very quickly etc the final line İAhhhhhhhh!  İEs un oso!

10.   When they hear you say the final line, they must freeze frame and stay very still until you have counted backwards very slowly from 10-1. If they move then the bear will catch them!