Beginners birthday celebration activities

Birthday celebrations for beginners

Here is a simple beginners’” birthday celebration lesson”in French and Spanish!

Either download pictures of French/Spanish birthday cards or show the children real French birthday cards. Discuss in English similarities and any differences with our own birthday cards.

The activities below involve numbers 0-11 , a birthday greeting and how to ask and answer age 

Numbers pass the parcel 

Play  pass the parcel/sack as a circle activity to revise numbers 0-11.In the sack there should be number cards from 0-11  

Play French/Spanish birthday music just like the two suggested clips below.

Inside the sack are number cards from 0-11.When the music stops ask the child who has the bag to pick out a number card and show the class. Can the class say the number in French?

Play a second game and this time can the child who picks out the number card – conceal it and can the class guess the number on the card? You could ask the class to sing along with the “happy birthday” phrase from the birthday sound clip too 

Blowing out the candles 

Teach the children the rhyme in French or Spanish below for counting candles –start with all the class holding up their closed fists ,then children should hold up a new finger for each additional candle from 1-10 ,and when you reach eleven,they should blow out all the candles and wave both hands up in the air!

Spanish

Contad las velas

1,2,3

Contad las velas

4,5,

Contad las velas

6,7,8

Contad las velas

9,10

Y

11!

French

Comptez les bougies

1,2,3

Comptez les bougies

4,5,

Comptez les bougies

6,7,8

Comptez les bougies

9,10

Y

11

• Pass round a box with candles inside. 
• Encourage the children to say the counting rhyme “Comptez les bougies 1,2,3” /contad las velas  with you .
• At the end of the rhyme , take out a certain number of candles and show them in your hand .
• Can the children remember the number in French or Spanish for the quantity they can see. 
• Check with them by blu-tacking the candles to the top of the box as it was a pretend cake .Were they correct? 
• Play the game again.

What age are you? 

• Ask the children which number in French/Spanish would be the right number to give for their current age. 
• Ask children to put up hand if they are 7 and to put up hand if they are 8 for example.

Age packages

• Teach the children in the target language the phrases for “How old are you? and “I  am …. years old”.

• Ask the children to work out how many syllables there are in the question and to stand like a wrapped up present as they start their question phrased and the to break out of the wrapping syllable by syllable until they have said the whole question . 
• Repeat several times and watch good examples of performance .
• Repeat with the response to the question in a similar way.

Circle party game 

(Circles within circles)

• Stand the children in a circle and go round and number the children alternately 1 and 2.
• All the number 1 children must ask the question of the number 2 children “how old are you?” in the target language and all the number 2 children must respond truthfully. 
• Swap over and repeat the activity
• Now make an inner and outer circle of number one children and number two children. It’s speed birthday greetings! 
• Number one circle  must ask the child opposite them in umber two circle their age and say happy birthday and then the number one circle one move one step to their left so they have a new partner. After five goes swap roles so number two circle children are asking the questions etc

A musical game

• All children to stand in a circle and sing with the teacher “J’ai 7 ans” to the tune of frère jacques”. 
• When the music stops children who are 7 sit down.
• Sing again and this time change the age from 7 to 8.
• This time all the children who are 8 sit down

The sounds of a "positioning rhyme" in French

A positioning rhyme in French

Why is this necessary?

Last week Emilie and I delivered CPD where the teachers had to listen to words that describe the position of an object in French.

• The two words sous- under and sur - on caused challenges , as said quickly they sounded quite similar to the untrained ear.
• En haut (above )was also interesting because of the aspirated sound for "h" and the close connection of "en" and "au" remembering too that the "t" is a silent last letter.
• Another teacher pointed put that you can't anticipate whether the action required is in front or behind until you hear the second syllable of the words devant (in front) and derrière (behind)

So below are activities that I have been using for many years to practise these key words and the sounds contained within them. 

The positional words and the rhyme

Teach the children the positional language below. Some of the words are similar sounds in the target language and the children will need to listen very carefully .

En haut,devant,derrière

Devant et sous et sur.

Sous,sur,sous,

Devant, derrière.

En haut , en haut , en haut!

Pass the parcel sous and sur

• Sit the children in a circle and  play music whilst the children pass an object around the circle. 
• Pause the music and the child holding the object must listen to you carefully as you ask them to put the object “sous” or “sur” an upturned box that is in the centre of the circle.
• Each time encourage the rest of the class to show thumbs up or thumbs down as the child places the object on or under the box.
• Play the game a second time and this time allow the child to the left or right of the child holding the object when the music stops to determine if the object goes “sous” or “sur” the box.
• 
  

A question of concentration

• Practise all the key position words
• Ask the children to stand up and add actions – slowly and carefully as if they were Tai Chi actions.
• Now put together the rhyme and the actions as a Tai Chi performance.
• Ask the children to close their eyes and just listen (they can’t then rely on anyone else) and ask them to perform the rhyme.
• Now muddle up the order of the words- can the children listen and concentrate and perform the correct actions in the correct order.

What’s the sound ?

• Break the words down into key sounds:

Sous (ou)

Sur  (u)

Devant (ant)

Derrière (ère)

en haut  (en/au)

• Call a sound .Can the children think of the word and perform the correct action.
• Place the key sounds as written sounds on the floor as a path of stepping stones- you need six paths so all children can work at the same time.
• Ask the children to divide themselves into groups of six and to form a line. 
• Ask the children to move across the stepping stones to read the written sound on each stepping stone and as they step on the stepping stone they must perform the action they associate with the sound e.g ou = sous

The secret treasure hiding journey

You will need space for this activity- the hall or the playground would be best.

• Ask the children to think of something very precious to put in to a special casket that they can imagine holding.

• Ask the children to place their precious object in their casket and lock the casket.
• The teacher should explain that they are going to hear the rhyme several times and they need to go on a secret treasure hiding journey in their imaginations to hide their caskets.
• Ask the children to move around the room- reaching high, looking under or going under something or climbing on top or placing the casket on top of something imaginary as they make their secret treasure hiding journey in unison with the rhyme.

Something old ,something new

I have called this blog "something old, something new" because the new DfE POS certainly has elements of the previous approach to primary language learning and also has laid down a requirement that there is joined up thinking between KS2 and KS3
There are few new tools but there are new challenges 
There is little new direct advice but there are documents and measures we can use to see how the development of this new seven year language learning continuum develops in individual schools.Below is one possible solution to getting the message out there loud and clear and supporting/ being able then to offer strategic support to local colleagues who need to grapple the new challenges. 

A few months ago one of our local schools shared with me a grid of subject self evaluation descriptors for foreign languages.
The grids were taken from the descriptors that some of us were already familiar with from the subject specific grade criteria on the OfSted website.
What I found interesting was that the school wanted to consider their own progress in primary language learning against this grid . It was probably the first time that the school had been made aware of self evaluation descriptors for primary language learning and the subject coordinator wanted to use these to monitor her own strategic progress and how well the school was addressing the requirements of language learning in the school.
At first I was concerned - concerned for those who haven't started and concerned for those who may find some of the descriptors challenging .
So I contacted Elaine Taylor, HMI,National Lead for Modern Languages,  and asked her for her advice. Should I share these descriptors with my local network schools? Below is her initial response.

This document is nothing new. It is the subject specific grade criteria that have been around for years, but they have been presented differently - in a grid. They are free on the Ofsted website.

The statements are aspirational, but they have the health-warning that they be used as ‘appropriate to the age of the pupils concerned’. They are emphatically NOT to be used in inspections, so the interpretation of ‘appropriate’ is up to the school. The accompanying notes state: ‘It is important to note that this guidance is intended only to inform the judgements made by specialist inspectors carrying out subject survey visits. It is not for use on section 5 whole-school inspections.’ There are not likely to be any subject inspections in foundation subjects for the foreseeable future.

After reading her advice I decided that schools did need to be aware or reminded of these descriptors and that the primary colleagues I work with would want to have or be aware of strategic guidance.
What I didn't want to do was over egg or frighten schools as they grappled with first steps or next steps in primary language learning.

Below is a check list questionnaire I generated from some of the descriptors to help schools to consider whereabouts they would put themselves using OfSted criteria in the development of primary language learning.I have found that this has become a useful document to develop dialogue with SLT and coordinators and to support and guide colleagues to determine next steps.It works best where contact already exists and a good working relationship  has been established. 
I always share with them Elaine's comment above and make it clear that these are descriptors to be used as guidelines taken from a much larger document and should not currently be used in an inspection.It is also really important that as Elaine points out the descriptors are considered in an age appropriate context , which in my opinion means also a stage appropriate context too.

SLT are not daunted or frightened if you ask them to identify where they are currently and what their own next three or four steps from the questionnaire. 
They welcome the fact that they have something on which to build their own individual school's strategic language  learning development and feel that the descriptors allow for profitable exchanges,conversations and next steps  between SLT and subject coordinators and then also between subject coordinators and staff.What is very important is that the school considers the points as appropriate to the school itself.We can offer solutions ,support,networking and we share the good practice we find so the document becomes a two way conversation and not purely a focus on what still needs to be done.In every school there are SLT,teachers, teaching assistants and governors- non specialist and specialist language teachers alike- who bring language knowledge, great ideas and good pedagogical approaches to language learning.In every school there are instances where guidance and support from in house,within the network or beyond is required.  

Here are the main points and statements I selected.Certain points needed adaptation for example "inter" cultural understanding as the new DfE POS talks about culture rather than inter-cultural understanding.

Teachers communicate the value of modern languages to pupils very effectively.

Planning is informed by a good level of subject expertise.

Teachers routinely use the target language for classroom communication and generally insist on pupils responding in the language.

Pupils willingly participate in activities that require them to use the language to communicate orally and in writing as a result of good teaching.

Text is used well to improve pupils’ pronunciation and as a ‘cue’ for speaking and writing. Imaginative use is made of a breadth of listening materials to develop pupils’ understanding of the spoken word.

Reading is used to develop (inter)cultural understanding and pupils read for pleasure.

Curriculum planning is responsive to pupils’ prior learning, including for pupils transferring from primary to secondary schools.

The curriculum is broad, balanced and well informed by current initiatives in modern languages .

Curriculum planning ensures pupils have opportunities to develop all four skills equally. All pupils are provided with first-hand experience of the culture of the country where the language is spoken through visits or visitors or through the use of ICT.

Pupils’ learning is enhanced through productive links with other subjects.

Leadership is well-informed by current developments in the subject.

Subject leaders encourage other stakeholders to make a positive contribution to the promotion of language learning.

The subject makes a good contribution to whole-school priorities, including literacy and numeracy policies.

The descriptors in yellow create purposeful discussion from the outset:

• Are SLT aware of the new DfE POS and the demands of the new curriculum?
• How can we make all staff  aware of the importance of learning an language. How can we support staff to find ways to celebrate what their children are learning in a language even if they themselves are the not the deliverer of the language teaching and learning?  
• How can all staff promote language learning and be aware of the activities and progress the children make?(This can be in the way they watch, listen or ask the children to share an activity they have practised with a language teacher or because they themselves are teaching the language learning).
• How an the learning environment in the classrooms promote languages? Perhaps this will be appropriate for the age ,stage and teacher's approach through display, reading corner access to text,use of songs and games as five minute follow up activities, revisiting spoken language with sound files, class assembly focuses etc.This is important in my opinion  particularly if the school opts for a visiting teacher to deliver primary languages.
• Are the teachers of language learning in  school aware that children need to make equal progress in speaking and writing in the new DfE POS.Do the teachers feel confident to explain and teach grammar in an age and stage appropriate manner.What will progress look like in language learning and how will children , teachers and SLT be made aware of progress?
• What does substantial progress should look like in pupils' learning?
• Both primary and high schools need to take stock.What has happened before?What languages might they meet in KS3 and KS4 ?Are schools aware at KS2 and KS3 that in primary language learning is asked to lay foundations of language learning and at KS3 colleagues should build upon the foundations even if there is a change to another language?
• What skill development is taking place ? Do schools have guidance to support the development of skills in a language learner and where can support be accessed and utilised? 

This is dialogue document I am finding generates purposeful discussion and allows primary schools ownership of next steps.Used properly and strategically it can allow the school to move forward with their implementation of language learning.It's a document which  needs to be shared with staff and with visiting teachers and language assistants to enable a clear  path in language teaching and learning to develop.
It's about using what exists to support schools to find ways forward and in lots of cases to celebrate  what they are already striving to achieve.

So how do we work together to address or enhance descriptors above? Take a look here

PE games in French and Spanish

Yesterday evening with a group of coordinators and SLT who are looking for simple ways to develop staff confidence in primary language teaching and learning we took a look at a couple of simple PE games. 

Traffic light colours and numbers 
We watched a clip of local children playing a very simple French traffic light game in the playground where colours prompted physical activities. Red meant stop, orange meant walk and vert meant the children had to run. when the teacher called jaune ,the children jumped in start shapes counting up to ten and then when she called bleu they jumped in star shapes all the way down to zero. These were Year 2 children and they were having fun!

Very easy to facilitate and the teacher and the children were revisiting colours and numbers.The light bulb independent moment here must be to then allow the children to create their own rules with the colours and Lightbulb mocreate their own warm up games in groups. These activities will work well across KS2 too!

Reaction times!Ball!

Our children and teachers love this game!It's a five minute sitting down at the desk activity or a five minute running and seeking/retrieving activity in PE or a pair activity sitting cross legged in the hall at the end or start of a PE lesson.

We call it ball because initially it can be played with a ball . Teachers could then add other items/ objects/ a choice of the same items but in different colours or sizes.

Place the "ball" (any object) in between a pair of students or place the ball/item in one of the corners of the room etc.

Students must respond to teacher instruction by touching what is called out. 

When teacher shouts BALL, the first student that grabs the ball is the winner

Make it a simple reaction game with the words to the song of heads ,shoulders ,knees and toes- first to touch "head" when the teacher or a child calls a body part from the song!

Light bulb moment! Make it an  ongoing team challenge and ask the children to make the descriptions of items ever more challenging e.g have three balls all the same colour but different sizes or three pictures of an animal but with a slight;y different feature e.g blue eyes/brown eye/ green eyes.

North East South West-

This is a game we are sure you already play with the children in PE.

Label each wall of the hall North, East, South and West in the target language.

Generate a warm up activity ,where the children standing on the spot stretch toward each compass point as it is called and hold each stretch for a number of counted seconds (in the target language of course!)

Now it's a speed challenge!

When teacher calls out wall label e.g. ‘North’, students must run to the wall without being last to arrive.

(The labels can be changed to whatever your learning focus is - so they could be clothes items/ foods/ days of the week/ months of the year/ a group of nouns on one corner/ verbs in anther and adjectives and adverbs in the other corners)

Progress the game by incorporating rules such as ‘freeze’ where if "freeze" is shouted, pupils must freeze immediately. 

Incorporate mini –forfeits for the losing pupil e.g. Name 5 colours in French

Spanish words to help you ....

North	Norte
East	Este
South	Sur
West	Oeste
Freeze	Quietos

French words to help you......

North	Nord
East	Est
South	Sud
West	Ouest
Freeze	Gèle

Light bulb moment would be to ask the children to take turns in being the teacher from the initial warm up to the playing of the different games. Children could also decide what language to put in each corner of the room.

Red light/ green light

Again we think this will be a game you already play with your classes.However here we have added a target language touch!

Students line up, touching one wall in the hall or room.

Aim is to get to the opposite side of the hall and back first

When teacher shouts ‘green light’ they can go, when teacher shouts ‘red light’ they must stop

If pupils fail to stop, or move when red light is called they must return to the start.

The teacher chooses the method of travel for pupils for example ‘come back to the start hopping’, skipping, jumping , swimming , sliding,

Spanish words to help you ....

Red light	Luz roja
Green light	Luz verde
Stop	Para
Return to the start	Vuelve a la salida
Hopping	Saltando a pata coja
Skipping	Saltando a la cuerda
Jumping	Saltando
Swimming	Nadando
sliding	Deslizando

French words to help you ......

Red light	Feu rouge
Green light	Feu vert
Stop	Arrêtez
Return to the start	Retourne au départ
Hopping	En sautant à cloche pied
Skipping	En sautillant
Jumping	En sautant
Swimming	En nageant
sliding	En glissant

Light bulb moment! Ring the changes and give the children three different types of movements they need to make to get back to their starting position or change the movement command mid activity or add the word "Freeze"! Let children take the role of teacher and call the actions etc.

Role Tag Game

2 players selected  as ‘the person’

The ‘the person “’ players have a list of skills cards

If a pupil gets tagged by the ‘the person" they are provided with a task to complete to free themselves.

Tasks could be ask a question , tell me your name  or an activity such as :count to 10 , greet me ,

The tagged pupil has to move to the side and complete the task before they are free to move on.

You could add children who are the ‘referees’, and stand at the side of the hall and decide whether the children who are tagged have completed the task 

You will need task cards.

Light bulb moment will be to ask the children to create their own task cards and decide what spoken target language challenges they want to ask other classmates to do before they are freed. 

  

Abstract art and beginners target language learning.

Sometimes the simplest things inspire! Take  a look at this simple but wonderful book that I have just bought  myself ! I love "Art" and particularly abstract art. 

Simple ideas that many of us already consider and ways that many of us already plan for and use to generate additional language learning.These ideas work just as well where the class teacher delivers the language learning or where the class teacher engages with the languages teacher, be it a visiting teacher or a PPA swap.In these instances there is definitely the scope to add five and ten minute "class teacher ownership " learning opportunities.Why not go cross curricular?

So how do the book at the top of this blog and the article about time allocation link together? Well this book is just one example of how we can create effective cross curricular links with language learning ,.... (and possibly use authentic target language literature as well)

Take a look inside! Go to Amazon.co.uk here

30 cercles

 and get a taste for this very simple book which could be used in target language learning for five minute additional activities to 

• practise numbers, (Maths)

• colours, size, (Maths)

• commands like "find","touch","draw" (classroom communication skills)

• explore famous Art and artists. (Art)

For example why not google the paintings mentioned here

Vassily Kandinsky cercles concentriques 1913 (concentric circles)

Kasimir Malevitch cercle noir vers 1923 (black circles)

I am certain that primary minds are now buzzing... why not create your own abstract art books with colours or squares or lines?????

Mondrian comes to mine and Kandinsky once again....

Nouns, definite and indefinite articles and colour card magic tricks

This last week @EWoodruffe and I have been busy training groups of staff at individual school CPD sessions. We worked in one school where the children in Year 4 to Year 6 are moving on in their language learning and the staff were keen to find ways to support their growing inquisitiveness about the grammar of the French language.

As part of the CPD we looked at nouns and how to practise knowledge ,recognition and application of definite and indefinite articles. Here are the games, step by step. You will be able to revisit these games over and over again as the children learn more language and hopefully this will increase the children’s growing confidence in how to use articles before nouns.

All you need  for the games in French are six coloured paper squares to represent le ,la ,un,une, les and des. (If you apply these games to other languages then you will need n amount of different coloured cards to represent the amount of definite and indefinite articles you are practising in that specific target language)

You can reduce the number of coloured cards and still play the games if you r focus is just on definitie and indefinite singular articles or definite and indefinite plural articles.

Each child will need their own sets of these coloured squares too.  

We are making the assumption here that the children already know a series of nouns within a context such as animals. The children also already are aware that in French there are two singular definite articles and a plural definite article and they have had exposure to the indefinite articles too . You can play the games below and go through the steps just to practise definite articles in the singular and plural or to practise the change between definite and indefinite singular articles . It's a mix and match opportunity to practise a grammatical structure :the use of definite articles "the " and indefinite articles "a/some " with nouns in the target language.

Step One

Discuss clearly with the class the noun magic trick the class have become aware of- whether this is different words for" THE"/ how to change "THE to A" in the target language or plural words for "THE and SOME" we have become aware of ….

Reveal an empty table on the flip chart.This table below has four rows and three columns…. because we are looking at the big picture and assuming that the children are ready to practise changing between singular and plural definite and indefinite articles .But why are there four rows?

Well all will be revealed!

First we ask the class to go on a noun class hunt .In this instance we are looking for animal nouns and for three specific animal picture cards concealed on the room . You can  pretend to be explorers with language hunting binoculars and look carefully around the classroom for cards that have been concealed e.g.

“Cherchez le serpent/la souris/les poissons” 

Place the animal pictures in the second row of the table and then remove and replace the cards when you have collected them all with the correct definite article when the class are confident to tell the teacher  the noun  with the correct definite article.

Remember we were playing these games as part of staff CPD and the great thing is to have Emilie our native speaker teacher supporting too. The teachers  loved hearing how Emilie is teaching her own little boy to speak French and always says the noun with the definite article in French when they meet new nouns together.This came about from a question by a teacher about “Well how do children in France learn if it’s le or la?” Thanks Emilie – it’s great to have native  hands on knowledge like that! We thought you may also like to know this and share with your children too.

So in the second row write the definite articles in French after removing the pictures of nouns (le serpent/la souris/les poissons)

le	la	les

In the fourth row place the indefinite articles after  discussing  how you are now looking  “a snake/a mouse/some horses”.

Go on your animal hunt   using our imaginary binoculars…talk about how this time  you aren't  specifically looking for a specific snake etc. 

As we  are no longer looking for a very speicifc snake etc one of the teachers on CPD suggested that we should therefore have more than one picture card of “le serpent” etc so that children could make a random choice not an exact definite choice. Good idea!

Once again place your pictures on the chart,but this time in the third row. 

Remove the pictures and replace the pictures with the correct written indefinite articles 

le	la	les
un	une	des

So why have we got additional rows?

Well now we need to add our magic trick colour coded guide! Take a look!

le	la	les
un	une	des

The colour blocks represent the article below them, green is le , blue is la etc …..

Step Two

Practice your magic trick by checking that if “the teacher” holds up a coloured piece of card the children can respond  by calling out the correct definite or indefinite article

Step Three

Look at a list of known nouns (e.g here our focus has been animals in French) with definite articles, written as a list for the children. 

Call a colour  and the children have to select a noun that they can use to say the correct definite/indefinite article with that noun

e.g. If “blue “ is called in the target language , then the response from children must be a feminine noun ( noun preceded by “la”) but if brown is called in the target language then the children’s response must be a noun in the  plural with the indefinite plural article “ a plural noun of the animal preceded by “des”

Step Four 

Make this a pair game 

Call a colour pair game. Simply ask the children to practise as a game "step three" but this time in pairs.

Step Five  

Show a colour, say a colour and can a child give you a full sentence with a correct article and noun?

Step Six  

Make this a pair or group game 

Simply play step five as a pair or group game .

Step Seven

Ask the children to order their coloured paper squares in any order they wish and to challenge a partner to say animals with the correct definite/ indefinite article in the order that has been arranged with the coloured squares for them by their partner.

Step Eight

Ask the children to play last article standing.

They just select a coloured square and stand up holding the square clearly in front of them. The teacher selects one of his/her coloured cards from a bag and says a noun which has a corresponding definite or indefinite article before it .

If the children are holding the coloured square that corresponds to the definite /indefinite article that the teacher has used,they must sit down. Who will be the last children standing?

Step Nine

Play the game above as a table game.

Make this a pair or group game 

Teachers at the CPD session felt that over time they could confidently grow n their own competent use of definite and indefinite articles by playing and practising the games and steps with their classes- not necessarily all the steps at one time or all the definite and indefinite articles singular and plural at one time.

We felt that over and over again we can come back to these simple games and play some or all of them to reinforce children and teacher knowledge of definite and indefinite articles with nouns. 

Hope you find these steps and simple games useful too!

Bi-lingual dictionary wizards- a simple guide

The bi-lingual dictionary:an important key to the target language door!

Help your children to become "bilingual dictionary wizards!

I think it's a really great way to introduce grammar if you liken basic grammar and the tools to support non-native speakers to access target language as "keys to the door" or "magic tricks"

Here's the first really important "key to the door":the bi-lingual dictionary.

Children love bilingual dictionaries as they see them as special and treasure troves of words .

All we need to do is teach them the magic tricks of how to access and use then and then they can become a really                                             useful learning tool in the language classroom.

Magic tricks to know about and try out!

Stage by stage take your class through how to use a bilingual dictionary.The stages here are explained in  black and then the magic tricks are written in red.

Children love exploring bilingual dictionaries and once they see them as important learning tools then they will have the freedom to find the nouns etc they want to say and use rather than use the language you provide them with.

Do the magic tricks work when your children try to prove the stage descriptions?

You are going to need a class set of bilingual dictionaries- preferably one between two to make your "magic tricks" work best! 

• Stage One

English words are in alphabetical order in the second half of a bi-lingual dictionary.Ask the children to turn to the middle of the book and see where the English words start. Can they tell you the first English word they can find . What letter does it start with? How can they prove it's the start of a list of English words in alphabetical order?

• Stage Two

Target language words are at the front of the bi-lingual dictionary appear in the alphabetical order of the target language.Ask the children to turn to the front of the book and see where the target language word list starts. Can they tell you the first target language word they can find in this list. What letter does it start with? How can they prove it's the start of a list of target language words in alphabetical order?

• Stage Three 

If you look up an English word in the bilingual dictionary,the target language word is written next to it.Can they check this for you with some common words you may have already practised in the target language (e.g nouns for animals - cat,dog, horse etc)?

• Stage Four

If you want to check that the nouns you have found in the target language is correct , then you need to "cross reference" it by looking for the word in the front of the dictionary. Remind the children that these words are in target language alphabetical order- so it may be cat in English but it's gato in Spanish.Can they prove that this is the case, looking up nouns in the English first target language second section and then cross referencing them in the front of the book in the target language- English section and finding the target language word first?

• Stage Five 

Next to the noun on the right hand side it will indicate whether the word is a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition . In easy learning and child friendly dictionaries it may well say the actual word “noun” etc on the right hand side. In most bi-lingual dictionaries in brackets on the right hand side there will be an abbreviation which tells you that the word you looked up is a noun etc (e.g a noun is indicated by a "n" in brackets) .Can the children check that this works every time. Select some nouns they already know, write them up on the flip chart and ask them to find them in the target language first- English second section of the dictionary and see if they can see the word "noun" or in brackets an "n" after the noun?

• Stage Six

Take the children on a similar learning journey to find familiar adjectives and verbs See how they can access them from English or access them from the target language section or cross reference the words they find and also find proof that they are verbs and adjectives.

• Stage Seven

Bilingual dictionaries help us to know more about the words. We want the children to feel confident that they can look up a noun and know whether it's "le chat" or "la souris" in French etc. How do you know whether a noun is in French le or la and in Spanish el or la or in German der,die or das? In easy learning dictionaries the nouns are often written with the correct word for "the" preceding the noun. However there is a simple magic trick! If the dictionary has in brackets after the word an (n..) it's also going to have the letter "m" or "f" in French and Spanish and "m","f" or n" in German.The lettesr represent - masculine,feminine and neuter ....these are not sexual genders, see them as tags /codes that tell the person using the noun if it's masculine we say "le" , if it's feminine we say "la " in French. In Spanish masculine is "el" and feminine is "la" and in German masculine is "der", feminine is "die" and neuter is "das". Can the children find nouns in the dictionary for you and if the word for the is already written next to it can they tell you wherther it's masculine , feminine etc and if the noun has a the abbreviation  for example (nm) or (nf) after it , can the children tell you the noun with the correct le/la ( French) or el/la (Spanish)etc.

How to create bilingual dictionary wizards of your children!

• Play games with the stages described above.
• Make sure the games are age and stage of learning the language appropriate
• Take time out to access bilingual dictionaries and prove and then revisit and prove again the rules . 
• Create team challenges 
• Encourage children to explore new nouns and use them in the spoken and written work and not just to rely on the list of animals/ clothes etc you have given them.

This is one of the key ways to help the children to see the importance of the bilingual dictionary as a language learning tool.

Primary Teachers and Bilingual Dictionaries at the ready!

This is a second way to help the children to see the importance of the bilingual dictionary as a language learning tool

I would suggest that in your classroom you should have a class bilingual dictionary for everyone's reference including your own.

As primary teachers remember that you are the facilitators and you are helping the children to try out the magic tricks for themselves. 

You can cross reference words too to make sure that the word you find in Spanish/ French etc really does have the meaning you want to convey and that there isn’t another word that would be better.

When a child asks for a word you don't know or aren't sure about let them see you access a bilingual dictionary to find it out and ask the class to remind you of the rules you have practised. 

Summer celebration messages based upon Bloemenwinkel tradition

Thanks to Carmel @OHaganCarmel !Carmel shared with us this blog post called Traveling with Kids Belgian seaside and a very special Belgian seaside tradition for children.If you have been following some of my recent blog posts you will see that I have been focusing on the beach and the seaside.It's a big part of our Summer SOW. The blog posts so far have been about:

• French poem writing at the seaside,
• creating a sandcastle building rhyme,
• designing fantastical sandcastles,
• seashell sounds and sand treasure hunts
• Pirates ahoy!,
• French,fishy and fun game,songs and rhymes

The tradition I love from the article about Belgian seaside is "Bloemenwinkel "

You can read about the tradition in the article linked to the picture to above  in the blog article I referred to at the top of this blog.I love the fact that children pay for the flowers with shells and also that these are made from tissue paper or crepe paper and are sold on the beach to the children who visit.
I think we can  make a wonderful final lesson for Year 3 and Year 4 just before Summer with this idea. 

We will firstly go shell counting.
Simply using shell shaped card templates with numbers on the reverse side and in lots of different colours we will hunt numbers.
Use eight different card colours and divide the cards into groups of eight (eight different colours and random ordered numbers written on the reverse side)

We need as many shell cards and numbers as there are children in the class and we need to use eight different colours of card each time.
We will play the game in groups of eight cards at a time in a random order or selection.
Can the children guess the shell number and if they can they win the shell and if they can't the shell is put back on the board.The children need to say the colour of the shell that they want the teacher to turn over  and guess the number.

 Bloemenwinkel 
Explain the Belgian seaside tradition to the children and share the pictures from the blog article with the children 
Locate the seaside resorts on the Belgian coast.Did the children realise that there was so much seaside in Belgium?Do they know where Belgium is and what languages are spoken there?
Can the children now help you to create your own Bloemenwinkel (flower corner shop)?

Creating the Bloemen

My "bloemen" will be like fortune cookies.There will be one each for every child with a celebration written message chosen and written by another classmate on the flower head,which is  made of a rolled coloured paper strip.

Each child needs a strip of coloured paper and a straw and some selotape.
Each child selects a strip of coloured card that is wide enough to write on and long enough to roll ,so it will fit on one end of a straw- just like miniature versions of the flowers you can see in the picture.
Provide the children with a range of phrases they can select from to write on their strips of coloured card in the target language.
For example:

Have a great holiday !

See you in September

Enjoy the school holidays

Have a good rest!

Enjoy playing in the park!

Enjoy playing with your friends!

Look forward to seeing you at school in September 

It's the school holidays ! Hurrah!

Summer is here!

No school in August 

Make sure your class can understand the phrases.You could practise them as "celebration sayings" with cheers and happy voices - celebrating the fact it's nearly the holidays 

Here are some Bloemenwinkel made by my colleague Joanne Hornby with her Year 4 class.They went outside and put them in a flower bed and drew lots to pick a flower from the bloemenwinkel.Joanne says that the children loved the whole activity and the fact they had something to take home at the end of the year 

Here are the phrases in French:

Passez de bonnes vacances !

Au mois de septembre!

Profitez bien des grandes vacances!

Reposez vous bien!

Amusez vous bien au parc!

Amusez vous bien avec vos amis!

J'ai hâte d'être en septembre!

C'est les grandes vacances! Youpi!

L'été est là !

Pas d'école au mois d'août!

And in German

Schöne Ferien!

 Bis September                      

Genießt die Sommerferien

Erholt euch gut!

Viel Spaß auf dem Spielplatz!

 Viel Spaß mit eueren Freunden!

Ich freue mich schon, wenn ich euch im September wieder sehe.

Es sind Sommerferien! Hurra!

Der Sommer ist da!

Keine Schule im August

And in Spanish

Que tengáis unas buenas vacaciones

Nos vemos en septiembre

disfruta de las vacaciones

que descanséis

disfruta jugando en el parque

disfruta jugando con tus amigos

nos vemos en el colegio en septiembre

son las vacaciones

 hurra el verano ya llegó

no hay colegio en agosto

Ask the children to select two messages and to write them on one side of the coloured paper strip.They need to write it clearly and carefully in the target language so another child can read the message clearly.

• Now they need to roll the coloured card strips and attach one end to one end of  straw.
• Collect in the flowers and attach one of the shell cards with the number showing to the base of each flower.
• Now hand round a bag which has numbered shell cards inside .
• Each child takes a shell and must say the number and then find the flower with that numbered shell card attached to it .This is his/her flower and s/he can unravel the coloured paper strip and see what his/her celebration saying written message is. 

French Poem writing about a day at the seaside

In my previous blog post  I shared with you how we can paint a picture of a Summers Day using an authentic poem. This is based on a poem abut a quiet Summer's Day . I also suggested that hopefully lots of children will have lively , loud, active Summer's Days perhaps by the seaside and that we could use the original poem about a quiet Summer's Day below to create our own alter-ego poems about a lively Summer's  day at the seaside.

So here we go!

L’été

Silence

silence

l’ été

se balance

où l’oiseau

se tait.

L’herbe

séchée

tremble

dans l’air

brûlé.

Silence

silence

l’ été

chante

dans

les blés.

(Anne Marie Chapouton)

Step One 
Revisit the poem that as a class you have analysed and used to paint a picture of a peaceful Summer's Day Ask the children to read the poem with you again and to perform the poem as described in the previous blog ...here is the activity again: 

Read the poem for the children again.

The class and yourself are now going to try and create a spoken picture of the poet's descriptions.

• Ask the children to help you put a backing track to the poem. All the children need to do is repeat over and over again in a whisper the first two lines of the poem "Silence,silence" like it was the breeze wafting through trees. 
• Read the poem for the class with the children's backing track (whispered quietly) accompanying you as you read aloud.
• Divide the class in to three. Each third of the class is responsible for the reading of one of the verses of the poem with you , whilst the rest of the class are the backing track.

Step Two 

Ask the class to help you to re-identify the key words in the text and remind yourselves of the pictures that have been painted by the words of the author.

Explain that the children are going to create the "alter-ego" poem to this original poem. Instead of a quiet Summer's day it's going to be a fun , lively ,loud day at the seaside

• Using bi-lingual dictionaries and working in pairs can the children come up with new verbs that they would like to use in their poem ..if the poem was about children playing at the beach on  a warm Summer's day/ the way the sea moves at the seaside/ the noise people make at the seaside  
• Ask each pair to share with a second pair the verbs they have found
• Ask the pairs as they share their verbs to give the English meaning too. 

Step Three 

Give each pair  a version of the table  below.

On the left is the original poem

on the right is the skeleton of their Summer's day at the beach poem.

Can the children working with a partner or in larger groups generate a poem picture of the day at the beach.

Ask them to add verbs to describe :

• what the  children are doing in the first verse
• how the sea moves/behaves in the second verse
• the sound/noise of Summer  at the beach

The children should use the template on the write of the chart to create their own three verse/sentences to describe a day at the beach.

Practise writing the correct verb forms(using verbs they have suggested) with the children so that they feel comfortable with third person singular and plural form of the present tense. You may want to create a temporary post it working wall so children can go to the wall locate the verb they want to use and if necessary take t back to their tables so they can refer to it .

L’été Silence silence l’ été se balance où l’oiseau se tait. L’herbe séchée tremble dans l’air brûlé. Silence silence l’ été chante dans les blés. (Anne Marie Chapouton)

L’ été Bruit bruit l’ été se reveille où les enfants …………………….. La mer bleue ………………… sur le sable d'or Bruit Bruit l’ été ……………………. au bord de  la mer.

Step Four 

Now the children can write up their new poems and either perform them for the class or create a picture background to their own  handwritten poems  about a Summer's day at the beach .

• 
  

French Poem Painting of a Summer's Day

I have been looking for a beautiful Summer poem in French for a few weeks  and have decided upon this poem below as the starting point from which to create a picture depiction of the poem, a text in which to identify nouns, adjectives and verbs and a platform from which to build an "alter-ego" children's version of a poem about Summer. You can see how I use this poem below and the activities to then support children to create their own Summer's day at the seaside poems.

The work hinges upon the fact that Summer for adults- especially teachers - is a time for peace and quiet but for children let's hope it's a time when they can get outside, run around and go to the seaside!

Here is the original poem,which paints a picture of a calm Summer's day in the countryside.
Here is a picture to set the scene for the children before you read the poem with them.

Here are the initial steps to understand the original poem and in my next blog I will explain how you can then use this poem as a platform to create your noisy day at the beach poem.

L’été

Silence

silence

l’ été

se balance

où l’oiseau

se tait.

L’herbe

séchée

tremble

dans l’air

brûlé.

Silence

silence

l’ été

chante

dans

les blés.

(Anne Marie Chapouton)

Step by step we can take the poem above and create our own Summer's day poem  painting .Here is how it works!

Step One

Explain to the children that this is a poem about a quiet peaceful Summer's Day .

Can they spot the cognates in the text of the poem that tell us this?(silence)

Read the poem for the children and ask them just to enjoy the sound of a peaceful Summer's Day in French with you .

Step Two 

Tell the children that in the text  five nouns are mentioned (Summer,bird,grass,air and wheat). Can they use their "language detective" skills to identify these nouns?Ask the children what we might expect to see written before a noun in French to represent the word "the" and explain this may be the first easiest way in this poem to locate the nouns in this text. Ask them to find the nouns and work out their meaning by a process of elimination:

• nouns we already know
• nouns that look like English words
• which nouns that are left in our list of five nouns
• any nouns we need t look up in a bi-lingual dictionary?

Step Three

Can we paint our Summer's Day ?

Give each child the text and coloured pencils. 

Agree on colours for the five nouns. Colours that the children associate with the nouns (perhaps yellow for Summer/brown for a bird/ pale green for the grass/blue for the air and golden orange for the fields)

Ask the children to highlight the nouns in the correct colours .

Step Four

Let's zoom in:on adjectives 

First let's zoom in on adjectives in the second verse!

Can the children tell you what type of word helps us to learn more about a noun and adds description (adjectives)?

Ask the class to identify and  then look up the adjectives in the second verse of the text using bi-lingual dictionaries Are any of the adjectives challenging to understand ?Can they find them if they look for the verbs the adjectives originate from ?Remind them that this is a poem and therefore we need to remember the poet is using adjectives creatively to paint a picture.

Take feedback about the  descriptions of the nouns the children think the poet is creating with the use of adjectives.

Step Five

Let's zoom in:on verbs

Have the children noticed that the poem is made up of three sentences? Each sentence is a verse of the poem and paints a picture of an aspect of a quiet peaceful Summer's Day.Now let's look for the verbs in these sentences .Either reveal or write each verse as a long sentence.Can the children find the words they now know in each sentence. Can the identify the verbs. 

• First verse/sentence In Year 5 and Year 6 we may have looked at daily routine reflexive verbs - so can the children use this knowledge to identify two reflexive verbs in the first verse/sentence? Use  prior knowledge (e.g taisez vous!) and cognates (e.g balance) to try to work out what the poet's first verse/sentence is telling us. 
• Second verse/sentence can the class spot the verb. How easy is it to understand his verb "tremble" and why? What picture is the poet painting in the second verse/sentence?
• Third verse/sentence can the children spot the verb and can they use prior knowledge to understand the verb (e.g chantez!). Again what is the picture the poet is painting with the use of words in this sentence?

Step Six 

Read the poem for the children again.

The class and yourself are now going to try and create a spoken picture of the poet's descriptions.

• Ask the children to help you put a backing track to the poem. All the children need to do is repeat over and over again in a whisper the first two lines of the poem "Silence,silence" like it was the breeze wafting through trees. 
• Read the poem for the class with the children's backing track (whispered quietly) accompanying you as you read aloud.
• Divide the class in to three. Each third of the class is responsible for the reading of one of the verses of the poem with you , whilst the rest of the class are the backing track.

 Step Seven 

Give each child one of the sentences from the poem and ask them to create a coloured drawing of their sentence, depicting in their opinion the picture the poet's words describe.

With the finished pictures create a display of the poem - each child's picture is a component of one of three "snapshots" of either verse one/two or three.

Add the text to each of the "snapshots" of your "quiet Summer's Day" 

Sentence and Calligram Suitcases for the Summer holidays

Take a look at this wonderful Summertime calligram based on a sun hat!It's from the wonderful  site www.ac.-nancy-metz.fr. This activity works in any language - you just need to create your own calligram example of the sun hat in the other languages before starting the activities .

We are getting very Summery in our schools at the moment and are beginning to look for calm and sunshine filled activities to take us through to the end of the year.This calligram has made me think of how we can fill our sentence suitcases ready for the Summer holidays

In Year 5 we pack our beach bags for the beach project so the children know words in target languages for sunglasses,flip flops,sun hats,swimming costumes, sun cream, beach ball. We have also practised earlier in the year clothes items  so again we can recall items of clothing for a sunny Summer holiday .

I have added a grammar focus too but if your children are not yet competent with grammar identification of nouns, adjectives and verbs , you could limit the grammar colour coding or omit this altogether. A lot of our Year 5 children can do this or can identify some nouns,adjectives and verbs though.

Step One 

Let's make our holiday list of suitcase nouns. What do we need to pack?

Step Two 

Let's add an adjective to describe each item 

Step Three

Let's take a closer look at the calligram above and colour it in! How?

Each colour should represent a different component of the hat:

• Red for the indefinite article
• Green for any adjectives
• Blue for the nouns
• Yellow for the verbs

Step Four

Let's zoom in on the reason for packing the item by looking for this information written in the example sun hat calligram.

"pour nous cacher du soleil! 

Let's create reasons for the items we are packing.Why are we packing......? (The first two items below follow a similar pattern and use the same phrase as the sun hat - so that's easy,Can the children help you to identify a pattern and create the reasons why we are taking our flip flops , beach ball and swimming costume? :

• sunglasses
• sun cream
• flip flops
• beach ball
• swimming costume

You could reduce the challenge here and et the children match items with reasons,which have been written already on cards (or even add a symbol too to help with comprehension of the reason)

Step Five

Now all we need to do is pack those sentence/calligram suitcases.

• Create card folder suitcases with the children or create a large display suitcase for all the written work the children produce.
• Ask the children to write clear sentences  about each of the items above or to select two or three of the items they really want to take with them.
• Now ask them to colour code their sentences too and add summer time colour to their suitcase sentence packing.
• Can they now create their own calligrams of the items following the example of the hat above... and don't forget the summertime colour too!

They can now pack their own calligram suitcases! Maybe they can add an item of their own (e.g a book, a CD, a camera ....) 

Sept couleurs magiques

I have been looking for a French poem about Summer for a while. a poem we can use at KS2 to celebrate the end of the school year and the start of adventures outside of school. Well here it is ,thanks to mes petits bonheurs poesie comptines chansons.

Here are some calm ,summery activities that you may like to try with your KS2 children who are learning French.

I like this poem because it's about  colours, luxurious and exotic items and takes us on a global journey!It celebrates the colours of the rainbow!

Sept couleurs magiques

(Mymi Doinet)

Rouge comme un fruit du Mexique

Orange comme le sable d’Afrique

Jaune comme les girafes chics

Vert  comme un sorbet  Jamaïque

Bleu comme les vagues de Pacifique

Indigo comme un papillon de tropiques

Violet comme les volcans de Martinique

Qui donc est aussi fantastique?

Est-ce un rêve ou est-ce véridique?

C’est dans le ciel magnifique

L’arc aux sept couleurs magique

My sequence of activities is as follows:

Map work

Take a look at a map of the world in the target language....

• Share with the class a child-friendly map of the World .I like the map here carte du monde. Why ?Well the map contains images that share wit the children objects, animals , items associated with the different countries around the World.
• Take time to look at some of the items and to  ask the children to help you place some key target language nouns next to the correct items. Can they use their "language detective skills" to do this? (Cognates, semi-cognates, elimination,sounds like ....)

Now investigate and find the areas mentioned in the poem are on the map. You may need to refer to your class atlases (Mexique/Afrique/Jamaïque/Pacifique/tropiques/Martinique).

Reading and investigating the poem

Introduce the children to the poem . Ask them to read it with you and try to decide what the poem is about.

• Can the children help you to read in the target language the poem
• Can they spot the rhymes?
• Can they spot the colours?
• Can they spot the number?
• Can they decide what the objects are that are written in the first seven lines of the poem?
• Can they create an action for each item (un fruit/le sable/les girafes/un sorbet/les vagues/un papillion/les volcans)

Read the poem for the children a second time and ask them to try and remember which item is linked with which colour as you read the poem.

• Call a colour and can the children show you the action for the item they associate with that colour in the poem.
• Say an item and perform the action and can the children say the colour they associate with the item.

What's the poem about?

Have the children been able to work out that the poem is about a rainbow? 

Ask the children to look for the word clues in the poem that are the proof of this (couleurs/sept/rouge/orange/jaune/ vert/bleu/indigo/violet).

Pictorial portrayal of the poem

Can the children generate their own pictorial version of the first seven lines of the poem? 

They will need to re-read the poem on their own and make sure their colours and the objects they draw are accurate and match the lines of the poem.

Calligram poem
And look what I found thanks to www.ac-nancy-metz.fr , a child's handwritten rainbow calligram poem based on the poem above! So now perhaps we can also have a go at your own rainbow calligram poems!