Mirror mirror on the wall......

Start of the new school year and time to revisit the personal information questions and answers from previous years of language learning.

We have put in to place lots of games and activities over the last couple of years to make the revisiting of core language a challenge, a competition, a way to reflect on what we have learnt.

Here is another way that I think we can use at the start of the year to bring back in to focus the language we learnt last year etc to describe ourselves and ask questions of others.

The idea of the mirror on the wall allows us to practise first and second person singular questions and responses!

Each child needs an oval piece of paper:

Question and Answer Mirrors

On one side of the paper ask the children to write down the key information they think they can say about themselves in the target language.So for example a beginner learner from last year should be able to say  a name phrase/ a feeling/ where he/she lives/ his or her age and something he/ she likes (animal or colour or food).This is the "answer mirror"

On the other side of the paper (remember this is a mirror on the wall) ask the children to draw some symbol prompts for the questions: for example a beginner learner's symbols could be : a name tag / a house outline/ a birthday cake with candles/ a smiley face/ a heart shape.This is the "question mirror".

Play a game of spot the question and answer!

• Ask the children to have their oval shapes infront of them on the desk with the answer mirror face up. 
• Call out a question to elicit the information the children have put on their oval shapes.
• Ask the children to listen to your question and to point to the response they would give.
• Ask a child the specific question and ask them to read out their resonse.
• Ask the children to turn over their ovals and this time to listen to the question, identify the symbol they have drawn as the question prompt and whisper to a partner the question that you as the teacher have just said. 

Mirror Mirror on the Wall!

Working with a partner, ask the children to take it in turns to ask and answer the questions  on their mirror oval shapes.

One child places his /her mirror "question mirror" face up on the table or on the wall with blu-tac.

The other child must look at the question prompt symbols, point to the symbol  and ask a question.

Can the first child give the answer that he/she has written on the answer side of the mirror?

Mirrors on the Wall .

Create with the children card versions of mirrors - whichever shape the child wants to use.

Ask the children to draw a sketch of their own faces on the mirrors.They will need to use pastel colours for this

Over the top ask the children to write their favourite five questions and five answers about themselves that they can say on the targetr language.They will need to use a dark crayon or felt tip for this.

On the reverse side of the mirror ask the children to write in English two more details they would like to be able to use in their personal information questions and answers this year in the target language to describe themselves in more detail.

Hang the mirrors on the wall - as a mirror mobile!

Quiz Quiz Swap with a Listening and Responding Twist- Restaurant Style

We love Quiz Quiz Swap and can play the game from from a very early stage in our young language learners' target language acquisition journey. 
All you need are sets of cards with picture items on them and you can set up simple guessing activities or asking and answering questions activities too.
The activities below are for our UKS2 learners,linked to eating out at a seaside fish restaurant in Spain but could easily be altered for other languages too!


With our UKS2 learners I want to look at how well they listen and respond and how quickly they can hear differences.It's a fun activity based on simple cafe culture conversations and add a listening and responding twist that they will enjoy!

Quiz Quiz Swap with a Listening and Responding Twist

1. Practise the core language to create a simple cafe dialogue between a waiter and a customer.You may like to start  by using my Happy Meal dialogues.
2. Share the specific dishes with the children which you want to use in this activity.Below are my dishes for a Spanish meal.
3. Play two games of Quiz Quiz Swap.First game a guessing game where each child has to guess what card the other player is concealing from them and then they swap cards and move to new partners.Second game build in questions and answers to create a cafe dialogue,with a freeze ,stop and listen built in, where you call "Freeze" the children stop talking etc and you select a pair for the class to listen in to and hear their conversation.
4. Now you can add the listening and responding twist! It's simple really.You need a bag of the pictures that the children have as Quiz Quiz Swap cards.As the children are performing their Quiz quiz Swap dialogues,randomly select a picture and call out "I would like + the item you can see on your picture".The children need to be both focusing on their conversation and ready also to listen and respond if they have the picture on their cards you are looking for.Children with that picture must raise it in the air and shout out the name of the dish.The child you hear first,wins a point for their class group or table. 
5. Once the class are confident you can ask members of the class to be the "caller" and draw pictures from the bag and call out the request with the  name of the dish.    

Here are some of the Spanish dishes I am going to use .I took these photos during a meal at a seaside fish restaurant meal.I deliberately chose items that either could sound similar (e.g the children must decide what type of olives they hear called out or can they hear when it's bread and water or bread with tomatoes?) The items chosen,specifically address the fact that our Year 6 KS2 learners have already met foods ,drinks and simple meals in the JLN SOW  .Now we are taking them on a "Cafe culture" trip -at the end of their KS2 language learning journey.
So for our Spanish cafe culture here are a few of the dishes I selected :

aceitunas (con queso/pulpo/boqueron) 

gazpacho

pan con tomate

pescado con patatas

The Mad Hatters Tea Party! Creative "at table" conversations for UKS2

Next term we will be creating cafe culture conversations with Year 6.They have practised food,drink and key request phrases and polite at table language throughout their language learning career so far. It is all part of our SOW 

Janet Lloyd Network SOW

Summer Term for Year 6 is hectic and this is an opportunity to have a one off and creative lesson all based on the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.If you follow my blogs you will know that we have connections with Lewis Carroll here in the area and indeed in the centre of Warrington ,we have a stone sculpture of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Last term some of our Year 6 wrote some marvelous descriptive pieces based on Alice in Wonderland and linked to the  launch of the Royal Mail commemorative stamps 

Alice in Wonderland and describing people in speaking and writing

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A Mad Hatter's Tea Party suggests crazy food and lively conversation with unusual guests!

The first thing we need is our tea pot ...because in our tea pot are all the phrases we ar going to need to create our lively conversation- 

1.Preparing the table with an "At the Table" conversation framework

Create for yourself a large card tea pot! 

In the centre of your tea pot you need to blu-tac all the phrases that the children might need to build the framework of their lively conversation.Revisit the at table phrases from Y6 Autumn 2,the polite request phrases from Y3 Summer 1 and the picnic phrases from Y3 Summer 2.   

Can the children help you to identify and organise the phrases out of a crazy tea pot and in to a sensible order for  dialogue based on sharing food?

2.Laying out the food for our Tea Party

Ask the children to now complete their own table cloths for the picnic- this is a piece of paper really but make it table cloth style and like a checked cloth....

The children need to work in pairs or fours with one table cloth.

Can the children lay out their chosen food items on their table cloths and word squares- each square a different food item word in the target language.

(The children need to revisit prior learning and brainstorm foods and drinks they have practised and used in their work during the last three years - so in our case this could be Hungry Giant's breakfast (Y3) ,Going on a Picnic (Y3),buying an ice cream (Y4,the market (Y5),the Christmas meal in Y6 ,the authentic foods from the Cafe Culture focus  in Summer term Y6 etcetra).

3.Creating our Mad Hatter's Tea Party Menu

Each guest at the table needs to invent at least three fantastical food items using the food items written as words on their table cloths: 

For example in French:

un croissant bleu

une tarte multicolore au choufleur

une grande glace rouge et piquante 

Can each guest bring their item as a word card to the table with a picture of the item and place it in top of the table cloth.

4.Creating the table conversation

Now the guests at the table can build their conversation and select items they want to try.They must add opinions about the items they select - as if they have tasted them of course!

Sit back and watch your Mad Hatter's Tea Party performances! And maybe share them with another year group too!

Last week before Christmas simple language learning activities

For the week before Christmas ......here are some language learning activities that are easy to create and simple to use.

Starry Night and Counting Stars

Stars,colours, numbers and a link to Van Gogh "Starry Night"

Ring out those bells tonight

A target language song in French and Spanish to a familiar refrain to sing in the round,with a listening,speaking and reading element to the activity.

Ding dong Bell and the phonics of a simple Christmas song

Using the song above,but breaking it down in to the sounds and letter combinations to create a listen, respond and reconstruct activity, based upon the theme of  "bell ringing"

Rudolph and your nose so bright

"Knock! knock!Who's there?" activity/game with Rudolph pictures and a focus on the use of colours with ,masculine and feminine nouns. 

Christmas present open and reveal four corners guessing game

Using the simple open and reveal game to create "open and reveal "Christmas presents.

Take a look on this page too ,for the Christmas style open and reveal game 

Christmassy paper puppet conversations

One resource and three levels of Christmas character question and answer dialogues and conversations.

Christmassy questions,answers.engaging in conversations and puppet shows

This week during CPD there is a Christmassy feel!
Here is a really simple way to engage the children in purposeful language learning whether they are beginners,moving on or advanced language learners....adding that Christmassy touch .

First of all tomorrow at a CPD session we will be exploring ways to use my paper puppets with older learners- but the idea below can be as simple or as challenging as you like and can be used across KS1 and KS2.
If you haven't already seen the paper puppets blog - here you go!

Paper puppets with a purpose 
And below is a very old but well loved Madame souris made by a young learner years ago!

Here is my new and very simple model! It's a Father Christmas example , but you could have rudolph, a snowman, a Christmas fairy etc!

All I did was source a Father Christmas face template , print it out and once I had made the basic paper puppet template stick the Father Christmas face to the template.Of course children could make their own and customise them too!

How can we use these festive paper puppets?

Well we can meet the objective in the new DfE POS of : engaging in conversation , asking and answering questions

With beginners:

• hold simple greetings, name, feelings and farewell question and answer dialogues between Father Christmas and the other festive characters the children have chosen to create.
• play "knock knock who is there?" as a class question to a child hiding their paper puppet , who reveals the puppet and says the name of the character and a Christmas greeting e.g "joyeux noel/ feliz navidad/ frohe Weihnachten "

With moving on learners:

• Ask the children to think about the likes and dislikes of the festive characters (food/weather/music.......!) and to create a conversation with a partner between two festive characters. Ask them to practise and memorise their conversations and then perform for the class the "festive puppet show" 

With advanced learners:

• Ask the children to create a question and answer conversation between two festive characters that explores the daily routine of the characters on Christmas eve and Christmas Day- what time do they get up ,have breakfast , what do they wear (Rudolph will naturally wear his red nose ...!) etc.What do they do on the two days and how do they feel at the end of the day? Brainstorm and record ideas first and write up with the children's support key sentences and questions that will be useful in the task .Encourage children to find and use new language alongside the familiar language.The children will need to write out their dialogues in pairs and practise so they can perform the dialogues with the written text only for reference if necessary. Children will need bilingual dictionaries to compete this task.Again there is the chance to share with the class.

 

3D Art and the Art of verbs : Stage Two

3D Art , a technique to use at different stages of target language learning

Here we are considering 3D Art as a way to explore present verbs with primary age children  .
I may use the same technique to explore adjectives or a range of tenses with more advanced KS3  learners 

I have always loved to link language learning and drama and find the primary classroom a place where we can explore both these aspects and be really creative !
I love to use Art as stimulus for great drama and language explorations and find that I can bring Art from the target language country to life through simple activities .
I call this work "3D Art", taking a piece of Art and imagining and bringing the characters to life through performance and use of simple target language.

Simple rules 
Select Art that has conversation and interaction running throughout the storyline of the picture .
Make sure there are enough characters for a group of six children to be able to select characters that they want to investigate
Set the scene by investigating as a class possible phrases in the target language that characters could be saying 
Practise voices that the characters might have 
Add actions to the characters and ask the children to think of signature actions for the characters.
Divide your class into mixed ability groups of six children maximum and make sure in each group you have a strong linguist and strong performers 
As you progress through the stages described below increase the amount of reference sources the children can use , so they can access powerful verbs and adjectives etc.

First you need your picture 
Here is one of my favourites : the Boating Party by Renoir 

The Boating Party Renoir

Stage Two : A Virtual Gallery- asking and answering questions

You will need three or maybe four lessons to complete this properly 

I like to revisit the same picture with the children as they progress in their language learning and confidence . They can see how much more they are capable of achieving and also we are building a soap opera based on the characters we are getting to know in the picture . 

1.Children need to be in groups of 4 or 6 as every child needs a partner for these activities . Mix up the groups maybe and change who is in the group .
2. Revisit the painting and ask the children to remember who they were last time and can they remember the character they created . If you made the sugar paper painting book then take a look through - you could share on the IWB so it's more visible etc
3. The children are going to develop conversations in pairs between two characters in the picture. They can recreate their characters and do not necessarily have to use the same personal information as last time
4. As last time the children need to take the pose of one of the characters , use props to support their characterisation and create their painting in their picture frame 
5. Now they need to look around their painting and see who it is the characters are most likely to hold a conversation with. I encourage the children to let the artist guide them - e.g. where is the character and in which direction is the character looking etc .
6.In pairs, the children are to create their conversations .They can use rough paper to make notes if they need to and they should use as many questions and answers as they can e.g at this second stage of learning our Y4 children can ask names, age , where someone lives , how they are feeling ,birthdays , likes , dislikes of food / animals/ colours 
7.The pairs must step back into the picture frame and find a way to walk toward each other , greet each other - all as if they are in the painting so they may have to walk around an imaginary table that they can see in the painting or get up from a chair etc .Working in partnership thinking of their own characters voice , actions and props , the pairs develop their conversations and work out how to support each other to remember the conversation in the appropriate order and act out their characterisations at the same time! This is not just question answer , question answer etc. It needs to be dramatic and dynamic!
8. Once the teacher feels the class is ready to perform , the teacher should organise the children in their seats and the first group should come forward to the front of the class. This is the "picture frame area" in your virtual gallery classroom now  . Even better, if on your IWB you can bring up the picture and a picture frame too ! With an imaginary computer mouse the teacher will hover over a person and that person in the painting must move to meet their partner and start up their conversation . The class listens and watches the animated conversation of the two characters. The teacher will do this three times if there are three partnerships in the painting.
9. Swap groups and repeat point "8" with a new group . 
10 . You may like to film the groups and then play it back on the IWB at a later date for the class- perhaps prior to the written activity connected to stage two 
10 . Give each partnership a piece of plain paper and ask them to either draw a still life  of the two characters in conversation or a cartoon of the two characters in conversation
11. The children should write out their conversation and attach this to the picture they have drawn of their characters . It will be a piece of work using first and second person singular present tense questions and answers.
12. Scan the pictures and record the children speaking their conversations and now you have your own virtual gallery - where you can look at a picture and hear the sound file bring characters from the picture to life!