Coordinators' November Checklist

You may also find useful ......: First week back checklist , Coordinators October checklist.....

Below is your November checklist to keep primary languages up ,running and thriving in your school with the suppport of our PLN VLE and services.

  • The new Start Up VLE phone call .We are offering all network school coordinators the opportunity to spend 15 minutes on a phone guided tour of the tools and folders of the VLE.Just email us if you would be interested in this.Contact us here   
  • Have you booked your free 1 to 1 consultancy yet? Here's an article sharing the hot topics at 1 to 1 consultancy meetings in the first half term. 1 to 1 consultancy hot topics
  • As network member schools you can attend this half term the free coordinators' CPD afternoon or twilight with Janet Lloyd at Chapelford CP,Warrington (just off the M62). Coordinators have the opportunity at the CPD session to discuss and consider  the DfE PoS Attainment Targets,PFL progress,use of the Primary Languages VLE and our new Primary Languages Development Award. To register for either the afternoon or the twilight CPD session click here. Coordinators' CPD
  • If you work in Knowlsey or Halton you may be interested in the Knowsley free twilight LNM on 17 November.Details here: Knowsley LNM 17 November
  • If you work in Leigh,Wigan,Bolton and surrounding areas you may be interested in the Leigh free twilight LNM on 24 November .Details here: Leigh LNM 24 November
  • Key updates to the PLN VLE .There is anow a slimline and easier to access Tracking and Assessment folder situated in Teaching Resources on the VLE .Plus there are now optional reading texts pre-prepared to support all teachers with the Reading tasks with the Puzzle It Out assessment sheets in both French and Spanish( from Y3 Autumn 1 to Y6 Summer 1).
  • Take a look at the support resources that caught my eye at the London Language Show Live in October? 
  • Has school considered applying for the Primary Languages Development Award? You can start this at any time of the school year.
  • Share with your staff the opportunities to add a touch of language learning or culture to the many festivals and celebrations during this half term (Bonfire night,Amistice,Sankt Martinstag,Dia de los muertos, Halloween, Nativity,St Nicholas Day, Christmas).Our seasonal special folders (one per half term) can help all your staff with simple resources, clips and ideas that can be used by all your staff in their own classes.Take a look here at the folders in the Seasonal Specials Autumn 2 folder.
  • Ask staff to add a phonics focus to their language teaching and learning , using either our Let's Read Y3 and Y4 materials (in KS2 SoW Plus),our Phonics Focus ideas ( in Teaching Resources)  or our Y3- Y6 very simple to manage Phonics Tracker activities (with direct links from Ready Made French and Spanish lesson planning) , 
  • Continue to track progression in language learning with our Tracking Sheets (one per class) completed by the PPA or class teacher and shared with you the coordinator at the end of the half term.Just photocopy them and hand them back to staff ready for the next half term.
  • Continue to upload evidence and data to the User Files on your school's VLE- a secure, unique area for your school
  • Why not plan to celebrate primary language learning in your schools assemblies with a simple Christmas carol or song? Ask all staff and classes to participate in practising and performing some or all of the carol or song and begin to share and organise this now.We have songs and sound files on the VLE to support all staff. 
  • Each KS2 year group will have their own Christmas focus if your school is following the PLN SoW/Ready Made resources too .
  • Keep an eye on the network blog posts on the VLE this next half term for updates to support school in the run up to Christmas , as we create new resources or share sites and materials. 

 

  • Have you seen the "Dance in the Community" lessons ,linking PE and Dance with simple language learning in French,Spanish and German? Will fit beautifully with the PLN Y4 Autumn 2 and Y5 Autumn 2 focus on the town and the city .The lessons can be used as "one off" PE lessons or as a sequence of lessons leading to a performance for a class or school assembly.The activities can be delivered in any language and we have provided the sound files for the target language components in French,Spanish and German.
  • We are also offering afternoon taster sessions (charge per afternoon ) in French with Yoga and PE in Spanish or French.Once again contact us if school is interested in participating in this project.Great way to take languages across the curriculum.Contact us here

 

Finally our Local Network Meeting resources from the Autumn LNMs are available to all network members in the Network Resources area of the VLE- Lights,sparkle, celebrations! Activities focus upon nouns, adjectives, verbs and cultural celebrations. Some of us are thinking of using the Stars and Feelings ideas for a KS1 performance at Christmas, others are thinking of using verses from the "Sparkle Poem " in French,Spanish and German as spoken Christmas cards using sound files and APPs..... 

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"One to One" hot topics

Each Primary Languages Network member school is entitled to a free 1 to 1 consultancy with one of the designated associate primary language teachers or myself. The school year has only just started and so far this year we have met with over 40 colleagues in their own primary learning environments. Network members - you can book your school's free 1 to 1 consultancy here or also straight from the home page of the VLE ( top right hand corner).Feedback has been really pleasing....

“just a quick note to say thanks for a really useful meeting with you on Tuesday. You were brimming with ideas and they were very helpful.”
“I had a very helpful consultancy meeting with Steph last night and we discussed our need for further training, as we have a couple of new members of staff delivering Spanish.”
“It was great to see Robert today and find out more about assessments and he has made me feel more confident about my new role as mfl co-ordinator. Please thank him for me”

The hot topics discussed in individual 1 to 1s  this half term have been...

  • Using the PLN VLE (virtual learning environment) as a live learning community
  • How to best use the secure User Files  on the PLN virtual learning environment to build an individual school's effective primary language learning programme
  • How to gather evidence of progress in the four skills and upload to user files
  • How to use the Ready Made French / Spanish effectively with both specialist and non-specialist teachers.
  • Ways to upskill and support staff.
  • How to access and use the KS2 German SoW Plus
  • Building effective language learning in KS1 ,using the packages of learning in the KS1 area of the VLE
  • How to use the Tracking Sheets to keep an up to date record of language teaching and learning across KS2.
  • How each school can best use and tailor the assessment tools and resources on the VLE to suit the individual school's assessment requirements
  • Celebrating languages on special event school days. 

We look forward to our 1 to 1 consultancy meetings next half term.

 

Caught my eye at LLS (European Commission stand)

This last Friday I spent the day at the Language Show Live in London,attending the STF Symposium and taking a look around the exhibition. Below are resources that caught my eye that you may like to investigate.....

First stop the European Commission stand which always has lots of freebies.Many of you already order these freebies as class sets for your school. Their picture challenge caught my eye - labels for milk from lots of  different European languages .What a great idea to collect with your children labels from food packaging to make a puzzle of languages from around the World about a food we all like to eat e.g rice, potatoes etc...

 

I love the door hangers (see below) and just think this would be a great way to engage a child every week to hang the out the door hanger as you language lesson starts. A different child coul dbe selected every week and everyone in school will be able to see that your class is busy right at that moment learning a language. Get a door hanger for every class and ask teachers to make this part of their language learning routine.

Busy learning languages.JPG

In some of our network schools we have teachers who can speak Welsh and children who may have relatives who speak Welsh or speak Welsh themselves.Why not order some of these free booklets below from the European Commission for your school library or UKS2 book corner? (See below) 

On the stand I was reminded too about how we can all access languages take you further online listening tool so that children can hear and read basic key words and phrases in varous european languages.There is an opportunity here to spot languages spoken in your own school community or new languages the children might like to investigate.Indivudally or as a class you can practise accurate listening and spoken repetition skills of familiar and unfamiliar languages.

Our VLE and example snapshots of learning

"VLE" stands for virtual learning environment and we love it!

The VLE allows Primary Languages Network to offer schools their own access point to teaching plans, resources,local and virtual network resources, MFL coordination tools, tracking and assessment, cross curricular and seasonal planning and resources Schools can build a learning programme to match their needs and  individual learning environments.

It is curently being used by 190 schools to enable them or help them to deliver primary French/Spanish or German in school every week of the year across KS2 ,using our KS2 SoW Plus. We also offer a comprehensive package of KS1 learning in French and Spanish based upon the experience of our 17 associate teachers who work currently in 49 network schools on a weekly basis. Schools have decided to become members of our network and not only access and use the materials on the VLE but in their own ways contribute and benefit from the ever growing community of knwoledge and experience.  

Ready Made French and Spanish is a new KS2 service which offers support to non-specialist and specialist teachers as they begin to deliver primary foreign languages. For every half term from Y3 Autumn 1 to Y6 Summer 2 teachers can access easy to follow lesson planning, bullet point activities, required resources, native speaker sound files and key words and phrases. Every activity has identifiedspecific DfE KS2 MFL ATs and the language skills across thee four years of KS2 skills progression are levelled against KS2 Framework descriptors .The activities address progression in the understanding of phonics of the target language and explore and develop a basic understanding of grammar .

The activities have been devised to offer maximum primary flexibility and creativity whether the teacher delivering the language has expertise or no expertise in the target language.Many schools use the resources as framework or scaffold as they upskill themselves not only in the language but also in the pedagogy and /or coordination of PFL. 

The VLE allows the team of associate teachers and myself to create and update bespoke and current resources,teaching plans and MFL coordinator tracking , assesssment and cross curricular learning tools etc.

The individual schools user files area allows schools to store securely appropriate planning , to share this with current and new staff and to add to this as they progress with PFL. Schools  ensure therefore that  the teaching and learning meets the needs of the children in the individual schools. Schools are able to capture and store securely evidence of children's activities and outcomes across all four core skills and keep a record of progress being made..  

We are able to pro-actively support individual schools via the VLE tools such as  school lockers, network blog posts, face to face and virtual 1 to 1 consultancy meetings and local and virtual network meetings. 

Below are example snapshot lessons across KS2 from Spring/Summer  2016, based upon lesson plans and resources from the KS2 SoW Plus .........

You can contact us here for more information and a tour of the VLE

Creating fantastical animals - nouns and adjectives with Year 3 

Colours ,parts of the body and adjective agreement with Year 4

At the market, questions and answers , roleplay and performance with Year 5

Cafe contradiction conversations, extending sentences and adding opinions and arguing about favourite sports  with Year 6

Carnival time and conversations in the crowd with Year 3

Designing our aliens with Year 4 

 

 

 

 

 

PE and languages

PE and languages sit comfortably together. I think many of us realise this already. Children  and teachers, whether the teachers are specialists or non-specialists in languages can engage with simple listening and responding or simple communicative activities in target languages whilst exploring and participating in sa variety of sports.

With the return of the Olympians from Brazil we are launching our PE and Language Learning section to the network VLE . The parades in Manchester and London at the end of October will celebrate the sporting success of Olympians and Paralympians. We think it is an ideal opportunity to launch possible PE and language learning opportunities in school.

We are offering you the choice of four taster lessons of Olympic/Paralympic sports : Boccia, Handball ,Volleyball and Fencing/bib tag. These four taster lesson  make ideal cross phase teaching and learning lessons too - think Y9 PE volunteers working with KS2 pupils, focusing on both PE and simple target language learning! 

  • The lessons follow the normal PLN Ready Made format of three activities, the DfE KS2 MFL PoS AT and we have added relevant DfE KS2 PE ATs alongside these.
  • The lessons have been created by a PE specialist with primary PE experience 
  • The lessons can be delivered by non-specialists in both or either subject and there are sound files to support teachers and children in the target language learning.   
  • The target language and sound files have been provided by native speakers in the three languages

And following shortly we are creating complimentary sequences of lessons to combine your regular PLN SoW language learning with a PE option.Our first sequence will be up on the VLE in the next couple of weeks ,ready to trial with Y4 or Y5 Autmn 2 as they explore the town or city and community around them. Could be a possible way to extend and combine language learning and PE time in the very busy primary school timetable! 

Assessment steps in October

As you approach the end of the first half term of primary language learning, some of you will be about to assess the progress your young language learners are making , using our network assessment tools.Each school and each set of circumstances are different and we can see that one size does not fit all .Here are the points to consider if you are using some or all of our network assessment and AfL / tracking resources and to take on board if they are appropriate to your school's requirements: 

  1. Assessment tools can be found in the Subject Coordinators folder of the KS2 SoW Plus in the Teaching Resources area of the VLE or in the MFL Coordinators' Tool Kit in the Subject Planning Area of the VLE
  2. All resources can be clipboarded (select the three dots below the resource and select clipboard) in to your own school's user files and then into the year group folders as appropriate.
  3. The Puzzle It Out sheets contain one activity per core skill at the right level for learners from  beginners through to advanced learners (after four years of KS2 learning). Some Year 6 groups will be using Y3 , Y4 or Y5 Puzzle It Out sheets.There are no Puzzle It Out activities for KS1.
  4. Teachers can decide if they are going to do the activities on the Puzzle It Out sheets for all four core sklls or just listening, just listening and speaking etc. 
  5. Listening files with transcripts are in the Puzzle It Out Year group folders contained within the in the Assessment area of the Subject Coordinators folder in the KS2 SoW Plus.They can be clipboarded in to your user files as appropriate for class teachers etc.
  6. With limited time it is advisable to set up peer marking and also peer assessment in speaking with the teacher working with a sample group of 6 children on the speaking element.You can change the sample group next half term etc. 
  7. Puzzle It Out activities can be stuck in to children's record books and sound files can be made of sample children's speaking and loaded straight from your desk top in to the school user files.
  8. You can change content but not the expected skill level for each core skill assessment to suit the content you have been using ,The Puzzle It Out sheets are word documents for this reason.
  9. The assessment spreadsheet (in Assessment folder in either subject coordinators folder or MFL coordinators' Toolkit) should be downloaded and one of three categories of progress selected from the drop down box for each child. You can track the progress of the cohort and the individual child over the year and share progress graphs with SLT in the 4 core language learning skills.This half term, as it is the first half term, you will need to load up children's names too, and save the data .Store the partially completed  spread sheet in your user files and then download next time to add new data. We need to see children achieve the "meeting" level three times in each core skill across the year to say that they are making the progress we expect for the stage of learner they are.
  10. If you are using the AfL clouds these can be found in both the Subject coordinators folders (KS2 SoW Plus) and in the MFL coordinators toolkit (Subject Planning) .We think that most schools will want to make each term's clouds A4 documents for easy reading by the children.  Children can tick, colour or star the AfL statements to denote how they feel they have achieved the AfL statements linked to their half term's learning .These should be kept by the children in their record books.
  11. Finally, the associates find the Tracking Sheets Y3 to Y6 really useful .There are new updated tracking sheets this year that we think give more detail.The tracking sheets allow you as class teacher to keep a record of the progress in learning and see where there are gaps in areas of learning.Plus they enable you to record specific times when you can evidence the fact that the children have focused on one of the 12 DfE KS2 MFL PoS ATs and at what skill level this was. The tracking sheets are to be kept one per class per class teacher( and PPA or associate teacher) and shared with the language coordinator as evidence.
  12. Finally of you have any more questions - don't forget we are at the end of the email or the phone.Contact us here

KS1 Primary Languages

Yesterday we met for our regular associate teacher CPD twilight.We spent an amount of time discussing KS1 language learning. Amongst us are 4 teachers working with KS1 from nursery upwards and a former EYFS teacher. Here are some brief notes from our discussions which we hope may help others too as you establish effective and fun learning with KS1.

  1. Routine and regular activities work well
  2. Always start with a song.
  3. Repeat famillar songs and actions.Add a simple surprise e.g a new action, missing out  a word, standing up to sing ....
  4. Have a brilliant stickers and reward system and really "big it up".So Sally has her very ,very speical Spanish tin and her very ,very special French tin with colours and flags and a map and a picture from the country on the outside. Inside are her very very special stickers to give out to someone who has been extra special in an activity. Jayne loves her pirates' gold coins and the class treasure chest to keep the gold coins (circles of yellow card), as the class gains more and more reward treasure.
  5. Praise ,praise .praise!
  6. Enjoy and repeat familar games - hide and seek,Simon says, hot and cold, thumbs up and thumbs down, whispers, statues,  circle games
  7.  Have a friendly target language puppet and bit by bit get to know more about the puppet. Give the puppet a personality "Happy today!" or "Shy today! " or wants to "Sing today!  etcetra.
  8. Find story books with interesting pictures, simple one line per page target language stories with repeated phrases that the children can join in with .Read again and again over a series of lessons
  9. Establish the setting for the learning.So for example discuss the farm in English first before you look at farm animals.Count in English first or find the coours in the room in English before you count up or introduce colours in French etc
  10. Create your own class songs to familiar refrains.
  11. For group games if possible allocate a TA to a group.
  12. Keep language learning short- 10-15 minutes for YR (20 miunutes maximum.)
  13. If you teach for longer than this with YR add in a video such as Pocoyo and the lovely stories you can find in French and spanish on the internet are an absolute boon. 
  14. Find out what the class thematic focus is - so Sally suggested that if the class is thinking about pirates, then create a scenario where the children are the pirates and you are the captain of the ship .Play your games, count your numbers , sing your songs and expect the children to do and act as the captain of the ship expects ...because they are the pirates! 
  15. Base your learning with nursery YR and Y1 on "education of the ear." Potentially expect Y2 to be able to read or identify some words with you.
  16. Add a a surprise book in the target language to the class library and change this every half term .Some children will just enjoy looking at the target language writing.
  17. Think culture and celebrate special events from Autumn,Halloween,Bonfire Night,Sankt Martinstag, St Nicholas, Christmas,Epiphany, Carnival ,Mothers Day ,Easter etcetra etcetra...............
  18. Teach the class playground games and practise and revisit and add more and remind the children to play the games at play time with their friends.
  19. Finally what about taking snap shots of songs and gamesd and playing these back for the children at the end of a lesson later in the year , so they can remind themselves of what they have been learning. 

Poetry in language learning

National poetry day is this Thursday.Great opportunity in language learning to "read aloud" ,"perform simple communicative tasks" "speak in full sentences" "present....." 

Here are some poems/rhymes in French and Spanish  and blog posts with ideas and activities you may like to use ....

Poems about Elmer in French and Spanish

Dame Tartine 

Les feuilles mortes 

Sept couleurs magiques 

Mon,ma,mes ansd a little poem about chocolate

Our own Spanish bear hunt rhyme for beginners and KS1 

Tengo dos manitas

Our performance ideas for daily routine and return to school in French and Spanish.

 

Cuckoo clock counting

Cuckoo clocks! I had forgotten how fascinating these objects can be for young children. Kitsch maybe but great for teaching target language time. Take a look at the photo I took outside a "cuckoo clock shop!" So how can we use this ideas to make target language time learning fun?

Firstly you may like to share this video of a cuckoo clock , the cuckoo and the characters that appear after the cuckoo and the music too.

  1. Now share the photo at the top of this blog post with the children.
  2. Count the clocks and revisit numbers.
  3. Count the miniature people we can see on or around the clocks etcetra.
  4. Ask the children to help you hunt the clocks that have a clock face where the hands show an "o'clock" (e.g. 4 o'clock )
  5. Practise how to say this time in the target language with the children
  6. Play a game of whisper "Cuckoo Counting Time".Simply whisper (quietly enough so children have to listen, but loud enough so that children can hear) a quantity of "cuckoo" sounds between 1 and 12. Can the children tell you in the target language the "cuckoo time"? So for example five whispered cuckoos means it is 5 o'clock.
  7. Write these simple times on the board and invite the children to read the times and then play a game of silent cuckoo clock time, demonstrating that they can understand the written target language time. Working with a partner ,one partner uses their hands to look like a bird's beak and opens and shuts his/her imaginary "beak" as many times as is on the target language written phrase and theother partner counts the actions and verifies that the number of cuckoos is correct. Partners swap roles. This can be a read aloud , listen and respond activity too if you hand out to pairs or tables sets of written target language times' cards too,
  8. Share with the children the photo below and ask the children in pairs, thinking about the video you have watched of the cuckoo clock, to create their own cuckoo clock.To do this may must design a traditional cuckoo clock or an up to date cuckoo clock in the colours of the flag perhaps of the target language country and add two card cartoon or film star characters they like at the bottom of the clock and add a card flap (large enough to write on) at the top under which is a cuckoo. The children need to add the face of the clock with the hands showing an o'clock time.  On the card flap at the top the children can add the written target language oclcok time to match the time shown on the face of the clock.
  9. Some classes will then be able to bring these clocks to life using sound effects  and APPs such as Yakit4 Kids or Chatterpix.   

Autumn adjective artists

Autumn is around the corner.This week I have been in South Germany and as you drive along you  find stalls by the road side selling pumpkins and squashes.This made me think  about how we could be creative with culture, seasons and language and at the same time develop recognition, comprehenison,reading and recall skills. You can use this activity in any language.

Share a picture of an Autumn market / fayre or display of fruits and vegetables (because I saw this in Germany and I have selected pumpkins and squashes). The activities below probably works best with a picture of one  typeof fruit or vegetables but with lots of different shapes, sizes and colours.

Step One : anticipate meaning.Share key adjectives and colours which describe what you can see in the picture (long,small, round, big, fat, thin,stripey,orange, green etc).Can the children use the picture and prior knowledge plus sensible guesses to decide what the words mean in the target language? Take time to check this in bilingual dictionaries.

Step Two: link pictures,objects and sounds, spellings and words. Ask  volunteers amongst the children to help you write the target language words from activity one on "post its" and stick these on  to the pictures of the pumpkins and squashes. Read aloud the words as a class and emphasise vowels and letter strings in the style of the adjective - so long , thin , fat, hard etc sounds etc.Give the children talking time with a partner, to read aloud the "post it" target language adjectives, to have fun with the sounds and to share and check  the meaning of the words in English with their partners.

Step Three: read, recall and recreate.Conceal the picture and just keep the post its in place on the screen. Give each child a piece of A4 paper and coloured pens.Can the children read and recognise the target language words and recreate the picture you shared with them by drawing shapes and adding colours to represent the meaning of the words? Each shape must be in the correct position for the object it represents in the original Autumn picture. 

Compare the children's pictures with the original Autumn picture and create a class display with the targtet words, the original picture and the pictures created by the children.

Our shared communication wall

I have been trying to think of a way that all the children in KS2 can share their written progression in the skill of writing in the target language.

You could decide to create this board at any time of year or maybe three times a year - once per term or once at the start and once at the finish of the year.

After the first half term of language learning this academic year using our VLE SoW for example, it is likely that:  

  • Y3 children are just beginning to experiment with the writing of simple words
  • Y4 children can write independently (if not always accurately) key statements about themselves.
  • Y5 and Y6 children are revisiting and practising the use of adjectives to create interesting descriptive sentences or can write extended sentences about themselves and, their likes and dislikes with opinions (again not always completely accurately but independently communicating their intended message).

The idea I have come up with, will allow teachers and their classes to participate in the creation of a communication wall display which can share the written target language progress and success described above in the bullet points.

If you look at the picture at the top of the blog post, then this should help you to visualise how I see the communication wall taking shape .A colourful , shape filled communication board with Y3 writing at the bottom of the board,leading up to Y6 writing at the top of the board.

Every child contributing a word or a sentence or an extended sentence.

  1. Each Y3 child could write a greeting in a jigsaw shape, which creates a complete bottom line of jigsaw pieces for the shared communication wall.
  2. Each child in Y4  could write an important sentence about him/herself (name, age or a like or dislike). Each sentence will start with a capital letter and end with a full stop of course so you could form one continuous wiggly line(s) of joined up sentences- one per child.
  3. Each child in Y5 could write extended sentences- a like or dislike  about a subject with an opinion clause using the conjunction "because".
  4. Each child in Y6  could write an extended sentence ( subjects, favourite stars, music, books) and an opinion after a choice of conjunctions.

Take a photo of the completed board and share on your school interactive notice board and keep a copy of the photo in your user file on the VLE as evidence of progression over time in writing across the  four KS2 year groups. 

Coordinators' October check list

Moving in to the second academic month of primary language learning,you have hopefully put in to place the suggestions from the "First week back coordinators' checklist " blog post.

Now it's time for us all to get that little bit creative and in many of our schools to produce pieces of spoken and written work that celebrate our first half term's teaching and learning of primary languages. Here are some next steps for October.....

  1. Take time to talk with staff about activities they have seen the children enjoy in their learning of a primary language in September.
  2. Celebrate the learning of a primary language in your school newsletter this month, with a picture and a short text about your European Day of Languages celebrations or some of the activities the staff have shared with you.
  3. Consider a "welcome board" on a school corridor  in school that celebrates all the languages spoken already in your school. "In our school we speak ......" and greetings in the different languages labelled with the name of the language.
  4. Ask teachers to keep a record of a spoken piece of work (a class song/ rhyme/ a selection of spoken phrases by a range of children on class) recorded as sound files and then uploaded to the class /year group folder in the Userfiles on the VLE.
  5. Ask staff responsible, to complete the tracking sheet for the half term .Remember one tracking sheet per class for the whole year , updated half termly and photocpied and popped in your pigeon hole to keep you updated as the coordinator. You can find these in the Subject Planning area of the VLE in the  MFL coordinators' tools folder in the assessment subfolder.  
  6. If staff are using the Puzzle It Out activities- start of October is a good time to remind staff to complete the Puzzle It Out activities you have decided to do this half term .It may just be the listening or just the speaking or all four core skill activities. (There are now native speaker listening sound files for the activities in the MFL coordinators' assessment folder in the Subject Planning area of the VLE ).
  7. Celebrate Autumn in the target language as it lends itself beautifully to colours, directions, songs and allows you to take steps toward cross curricular language learning. You will find songs in our Cross Curricular area of the VLE in the Geography folder  and in the "Seasons" sub folder. Plus here are some  blog post ideas we have used in the past - Autumn celebrations and a touch of creativity, Autumn and a walk in the park .You will also find that the lesson plans in Y3 and Y4 lead staff to practise target language with an Autumn theme too at the start of next half term.
  8. Looking for a creative way to gather written evidence of progress, you may like our "Autumn" themed idea : Writing and reviewing a half term's progress with Autumn leaves
  9. Prepare for Bonfire Night and ask for 5 minutes in a staff meeting before the end of half term to share the "Fantastic Fireworks" resources on the VLE .You can find these in French,Spanish and German in the Network Resources area of the VLE in the local network meetings folder. Materials in "Fantastic Fireworks" include a simple rhyme for KS1 and our ever popular fireworks poem for KS2 plus additional games and activities for KS2. We shared some of these ideas here in blog posts:  KS1 rockets and colours fireworks song   ,Physical sentence prompts and fantastical fireworks for UKS2  This will make a great first week back after half term and perhaps lead to a  whole school assembly with class performances and/or a whole school display.
  10. And finally time to start considering that Christmas poem or song .Take a look in Teaching Resources area of the VLE in Seasonal Specials Autumn 2 as there are lots of authentic French,Spanish and German songs and poems to inspire you here .