Snapshot 2016-17:Robots and Commands

Meet Carol.

Today she was teaching a class of Year 5 children who have only just begin to learn a foriegn language - Spanish.She was working from the PLN SoW and adapting and building upon this to take in to consideration the age of the learners.  

Last half term the children  learnt greetings, colours, numbers and some simple personal information questions and answers.This half term they are focusing upon the Y4 aut 2 PLN Ready Made Spanish focus "robots and commands".Ultimately this half term Carol intends theat the children in Y5 will make Y3 a board game with commands - so there will be a celebration of the learning and the more mature pupils will share their learning with the younger KS2 pupils even though they are all learning similar language.

As the children walked in from play , she held out a magician's hat and each child took out a strip of paper. The children were going to play a speed challenge game to find their own teams.

First of all as soon as all children where in the room there was a song. Carol engages the children with familiar refrain songs and today she revisited greetings and how to say names in songs. And then it was the speed challenge.I really liked tbis game.It wa challenging for beginner learners who are actually Year 5 and involved reading and speaking sentences , listening to oethers, finding the whole team of sentences that either answered a question or built a simple conversation.Last week apparently the winning teasm took 1 minute 27 but today it was done in 34.7 seconds!!  The most challenging was the written "sums" which involved the numbers and the instructions, the question "what's the answer" and key words for simple mathematical functions.

The key focus today was on commands - classroom commands.Carol was linking back to basic language learning but she also trying to add in  a little more maturity and challenge , asking children to be teacher.Asking children to listen, join in and repeat in the style that the child as teacher demonstrated.As the children are learning the commands to create robots , there were some lovely "robot style " commands.

Then came one of those unanticipated special moments.If you look at the picture above you will see that the children had the text to one of our simple songs on the screen behind them as they came to the front or be "teachers" of the class.One of the children in the class said :

Reminded me actually that no matter how old the beginner learner is, the same connections need to be made to move on.

As Carol is now preparing to create and programme pretend class robots and to design the board game for Year 3, the class then looked in more detail at "commands"  and the pattern they could see emerging in the spelling of the commands in the song. This was challenging for some because as beginner language learners and as you may expect some of the class wanted the challenge of finding unfamiliar verbs and trying out the patterns, others felt more secure working with the commands they had been practising in class.   All of the class became "detectives" ,working with commands ...which Carol did refer to as "imperatives".

Xmas in a "giphy"

On Twitter yesterday this tweet below caught my eye from @MFLKnibworth.I thought immediately about how this would be a great way for our young learners to write their own short sentences about the weather..... and then......I thought what about Christmas greetings.

The clips you can see are GIFs from the  (GIPHY.com) So I challenged a couple of the associate language teachers to see what we could do. Here is what @BetsyBelleteach created step by step .Thought that some of you may want to do something similar with your classes over the next couple of weeks.

Now it is over to you and the children to see what you can create .

 

 

Grand designs

The Design Museum in London has just opened.Great way for us to celebrate your work on prepositions, nouns, adjectives and present tense verbs with UKS2.

Ask your class to design an object you find on a room in the house but for the future(maybe 50 years in the future) which could be exhibited in the Design Museum. Create your own Design Museum board or book and take a class vote and select the best five  that the class think could be put in a Design Museum of the future.

First set the scene: take a look around the Design Museum opened yeserday.Share this with the children.There is a link from the tweet below that I saw on Twitter yesterday.

Brainstorm the types of objects you may find in the museum .Look up unfamilar objects in bilingual dictionaries. Create a "Class Curator's Checklist"

  • Ask the children to select three items from the "Class Curator's Checklist"
  • The children  should now draw three large inventor's thought bubbles - one for each item and write the each object's target language noun at the left hand side of a bubble. .  
  • To the right of each thought bubble ,the children need to draw a large speech bubble. 
  • Can the children add adjectives to their thought bubbles which they want to use to describe their objects of the future?
  • Now,using the verb "to be" and the verb "to have", ask the children write a series of sentences to describe their new household object in the speech bubble to the right of the thought bubble. 
  • Ask the children to proof read their speech bubble text (adjective agreement , correct part of verb, use of definite or indefinite articles and plurals)
  • Time to create the object.Using an APP such as Chatterpix or Yakit 4Kids ask the children to drw their object, take photo of it , upload the photo to the APP and record their speech bubble text description.
  • Bring the object to life with the speaking mouth option of the Chatterpix or Yakit4kids APP.
  • Ask the children now to create a written description with diagram to go in or on your Design Museum's board or book, ready for the class vote.

Colour celebration flags

Why not:  create your own paper flags with cut out designs in the colours the children have been practising.?

  • Share with the children the picture in the tweet above.

  • Give each child a choice of season, of month and then a colour that they associate with the month they have chosen

  • Ask each child to draw in draft a simple pattern that they associate with the month they have chosen e.g a sunshine for July or a snowflake for January.

  • Ask the children to now select the piece of coloured card or paper that they associate with the month.

  • Ask the children to share with the class their designs and the choice of colour. The children can either hold up their designs and say the target language month it represents and the colour of card or paper they have chosen or walk around the room and show each other.

  • Ask the children to draw on to their paper or card the design they have created.

  • Ask the children to add the target language for the colour and the month to their coloured card.

  • Now create strings of colour celebration flags in your class.

Voices in the city

Thinking of ways to celebrate the Year 5's language work this half term exploring the city and city life, I saw this tweet last week.It made me think about how we could create "Voices in the City" scenarios with the children that they could perform for the class.

And here below is the youtube clip....

My suggestions are:

  • Watch the clip and discuss  with the children how "welcoming" this clip is to a stranger in town .
  • Explore and brainstorm the various modes of transport,shops and amenities in  a city near you.
  • Explore with the children the voices you can hear around the city and the phrases you will hear again and again- somoen selling something , asking for the price, buying a ticket, explaining the way etcetra. Discuss the rich variety of languages that you can hear being spoken too.
  • Set the children the task to create a "welcome clip" to your local city in the target language that  you are learning as a class
  • Ask the children to select three items from the list of types of transport, shops and amenities
  • Ask the children to think of a phrase they would hear in each of the above places or transport
  • Can the children create a scenario for each of their selected places and phrases.The performance must have visual target language props (signage), mime (actions associated with the place or on the transport) and a  phrase associated with the specific place or transport. 
  • Put the children in to groups of six.Ask each child to shate his /her scenarios with the group.
  • Ask the group  to create a "continuous" performance of all their phrases and places called "Voices in the city".
  • The children should think of ways to split up each individual child's three scenarios so that they create a "group" performance, one child after another child acting out a scenario in the city and saying a phrase  
  • The children can add music, rhythm , repeated actions to link one place and phrase to the next.
  • Time to perform to the class!
  • What about filming the performances and  adding introductory music to create a class "Voices in the City"  clip?

Artists' Studios

To celebrate our Y6 theme of "My house, your house" with Year 6 why not create your own "artists' studios" display?

Twitter offers me the chance to take a look at language learning from different angles and I am often inspired by the pictures and tweets that appear in my Twitter feed.

Above you can see Mondrian's room from the Tate Gallery exhibition I visited a few years ago in Liverpool and below you can see the tweet that got ,me thinking last week ...

Share with the children picures of famous target language artists' studios - hence the picture of Mondrian's studio.Jo's work in the tweet above with her year 7 was inspired by this wonderful youtube clip of the artists' rooms produced  by Year 7 art students at Norton College. share this clip with your classes for added inspiration! (Thanks to @LouiseClazey)

 

You could ask the children to look at at  specific artists e.g Banksy ,Salvador Dali,Monet, Matisse, Picasso,Juan Miro,Klee and to draw sketch of the artist's  studio .

Now ask the children to generate the following keeping in the style of the artist: :

  • an inventory of items in the artist of choice's room (using indefinite articles, nouns, adjecrives, agreeement of adjectives and placement of adjectives). The inventories need to be created in the style of the artist and the focus is on the understanding of basic grammar based on the core language of house and home.
  • a short description of these items and how the room feels - its atmosphere, written either as a text or perhaps a non-rhyming poem
  • a 3D model of the artist's room  with taget language information - labels and descriptive sentences  

Add a touch of music and reate your own target language artists' studio youtube tour of the rooms your class has created.

 

Snapshots 2016-17:My house,your house

The second snapshot of a 2016-17 lesson observation I am sharing with you, had this resource at the centre of the Y6 children's work in French at St Luke's in Prescot Knowsley today. .Created by one of our associate teachers ,Michelle, and used to great effect to encourage careful listening to text level target language and then independent extended sentence writing. (DfE ATs: ·"listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding"  and also "describe people, places, things and actions orally* and in writing ").

Michelle is a former secondary languages teacher, learning as she works with us how to plan and deliver primary language learning.She brings her knowledge of KS3 and KS4 target language learning and is now looking with a primary mind at how to make learning relevant to KS2 and also KS1. A pleasure to witness this happening too.

More than two thirds of the class are boys.The TAs and the class teacher stay in the class and work alongside the children and learn alongside the children too.They are three and a half years in to learning a language.The resource you can see above, was just right.It had the children keen to listen and find out about a footballer's mansion and then think what they would like to put in their own dream houses.The clip used the FunnyFacesAPP and the children are going to create their own clips to "sell" their own dream houses. Michelle's twitter feed is @BetsyBelleTeach and we are absolutely delighted that she has joined us .I think the resource sums up how I felt during this lesson.I was observing how teachers are making language learning so relevant to the young learners of the 21st Century. Effective language learning using APPs and up to date twists. Here is the resource link from her Twitter account.

 

 It wasn't all technology - dare I say this Michelle shared flashcards to revisit basic language - nouns about the rooms in the house,but made them in to "read aloud nouns both to think of connections with English and also to . focus on pronunciation".She added simple silly scenario moments to get the pronunciation right - e.g. "Cuisine - be careful how you cook, you don't want to feel "queasy".Can we all say "cui...cui...cuisine" (DfE ATs develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases)

There was a game of "Nemo  and Dory" , involving two volunteers, who were blindfolded and a third volunteer who the first two couldn't see being selected.It was yet again in this lesson an up to date version of a good language learning game :"Cabbages" ,where the first volunteer referred to as "Nemo" had to guess who the third volunteer  was  by listening to his/her voice.The third volunteer had to read aloud items (in this case rooms in the house).The second volunteer, "Dory" had to listen carefully and then explain in English the language she/he heard.Remember these children are Year 6 - but they just loved the game! (DfE AT: listen attentively to spoken language......./develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases )

Last lesson the children had added nouns for rooms in the house to their own paper models."We did this , beacuse we are going to build our own dream houses and this folds up into a house and we will write our descriptions first around the outside" one boy explained to me.The children understand that they have to go back to word level to develop sentence level language to build texts in both speaking and writing (DfE AT: describe people, places, things and actions orally* and in writing Language).

And then the class listened to Pogba.They were fascinated and truly believed he was describing his house for them.They listened several times and watched the clip.The children were given the brief that they must listen and spot the extra language that Pogba used in his sentences with the house nouns to create a description of his house.They then had "partner talking time" to discuss what they had heard and to  analyse what phrases in the target language they had heard that they thought might be useful in their own descriptions. Michelle took feedback of structures  in English such as "there is , there are, I have, and , also, ...."  and discussed the French with the childeen, asking them to recall known language.She then asked the children to work with her on a large sentence jigsaw.- again a favourite of many us , a card ordering sentenc game :dominos en chaine, but as a jigsaw. Volunteers helped her to piece together a domino sentence and had to observe the punctuation in the sentence - capital letters, commas, full stops. (DfE AT: read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writin)

It was when she explained that to the children that they were going to make their own"estate agents' clips of their dream houses" just like the Pogba clip , that the children understood how important their written descriptions of their own dream houses on their paper models were going to become.......

The children were set the challenge to write from memory if possible their own descriptions of their houses, to use conjunctions (e.g. and,also) and to challenge themselves if they had time and confidence to say what isn't in their dream house. (DfE ATs write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly). 

Finally, whilst the children were busy with their writing activities, three secret spies were selected by Michelle.How? Well, she put on the music "Mission Impossible" asked the children to put their heads down and close their eyes and she went round the room with three "Blues Boys" style sunglasses and gave them to three volunteers.The volunteers had to conceal the sunglasses.Only at the end of the writing activity could the three volunteers on three different tables in the room, put on their sunglasses  and name someone on their table who had "worked excellently" during the activity. A fun twist with a purpose ....and everyone took this very seriously too and tried their very best, just in case they were sat next to a secret spy. 

 

 

  

 

Snapshots 2016-17:Daily routine

Delighted it's time to start our annual snapshots of lessons delivered by associate PLN teachers, working with the VLE Ready Made French or Spanish as their guide and starting point .We hope that these snapshots help you all as you plan practical ,achievable and succesful language learning in your classrooms and schools. I have added in brackets DfE ATs that can be evidenced by the activities taking place in the classroom and lesson.

Joanne (in the picture above) is working with a Year 6 Spanish class in Warrington, who have three and a half years of Spanish language learning behind them. Joanne bases her lessons on the PLN SoW and the VLE and adds in her own touches and resources too.The lesson lasts approximately  55 minutes.

Last week the children practised time - o'clocks in Spanish and looked briefly at quarter to ,quarter past and half past. This week the class are looking at daily routine and building spoken and draft written sentences for a team performance about daily routine. 

Joanne spoke Spanish for the majority of this lesson,using familiar classroom instructions with support where necessary (actions and some English reinforcement) .(DfE ATs :listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding

She always starts her lessons with a familiar song, (She runs the school choir too).Today the children sang the simple greetings song "hola,hola" in a  round.They played one round of "go for 4  questions and answers" with personal info questions. The children could respond to open questions with extended sentences and reasons accurately or could self correct for example when they responded with emotions and feelings and had to add agreements to adjectives e.g." estoy cansada/cansado porque ....". Children  gave reasons in Spanish "tengo calor / hambre ..." etcetra. (DfE ATs : speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures / engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help) 

Joanne expected the children to lead the exploration of the learning .Joanne asked them "so just what will we be exploring today?" Children were given "talking time in English" - 60 seconds with a partner- to explore the focus on the slide,ready to feedback. (DfE ATs: read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing) 

The activity above was a great springboard to check and practise knowledge of very basic language - days of the week- that the children practised for the first time in Year 3. Joanne explained that during the lesson the children would be "recalling " language they met previously to help them solve new language mysteries.They were "los detectives". With Joanne they recalled language that may be useful to talk about daily routine - numbers, days, use of verbs....  

First they played a speaking game from last week, but all instructions were given in Spanish and the children had that valuable "60 seconds English talk time" just to check they had understood. The children played "digital time bomb"- a great way to practise times with the class.It is part of the Y6 lesson planning and resources by the way .The countdown clock, as a digital time bomb, added to the game and the children were all engaged in trying to ask time questions and give answers and avoiding the "digital time bomb "cards. (DfE ATs: speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures).

Time to explore unfamiliar language and sentences that would help them to describe their daily routine.The class discussed in English with Joanne firstly ways that they knew you could use to explore unfamiliar text: (DfE ATs broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary ).The children love their bilingual dictionaries, ready in a pile on each table, and could explain to Joanne how they would use these to explore the unfamiliar language in sentences.

Working on their tables,individually or in pairs and jotting down their explorations on white boards they unpacked the sentences.

Here are just a few of their observations, which in my opinion demonstrate how competent as young language learners and explorers they are becoming.I also really loved the fact that the children could think of points in prior learning where they had met language and could now place it in a new context. (DfE ATs broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary) 

All the exploration, recall and practise of language came together in the preparation of simple spoken performances about their own daily routine.The children were asked what they felt they were going to be expected to do with the language they had explored and recalled.They came to the conclusion that it would be a presentation about daily routine.Joanne organised differentiated ability groups and set extra challenges for children to consider - e.g. moving away from basic o'clock times, adapting sentences and adding actions and performance.....(DfE ATs :present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences).

At the end of the lesson, a group was asked to share the work in progress.(Props were of course evident -rucksacks, pens and pencils as knives and forks, books as plates coats as duvets etcetra). Everyone in the group performed, because as Joanne had reminded them at the start of the activity: "Drama means everyone takes part and speaks and has an equal role"

Finally take a look at this wonderful comment from one of the pupils: 

 

 

 

  

Keeping the PRIMARY in language learning

We have just changed our Primary Languages Network Twitter feed @JanetLloydnet and our  associate teachers' Facebook Primary Languages Network page cover pictures to the picture you can see in the tweet above. The strap line is "Keeping the PRIMARY in language learning" because this is at the heart of all we do.

Today I start my "snapshot observations" and I am really looking forward to this because in schools around the North West I am going to see new and familiar ideas, primary approaches, classroom primary resources all being combined to achieve effective learning that is creative and relevant to young learners across KS1 and KS2. Our network VLE and membership has proven to be an effective and successful way to allow us to share this between network schools. (A cooperative of good and outstanding classroom practice!)

Here is a taste of just what we do on a regular weekly basis in our network schools ,whether delivered by PLN associate teachers, PPA teachers in network schools ,class teachers and HLTA non-specialist teachers.In my opinion it needs celebrating and we need to thank the teachers and the children too!   

 

You will be able to follow the snapshot lessons on this blog from later today .

Search for "Snapshots 2016-2017" on the blog or on Twitter search with the hashtag #youcantoo

Bring it to life!

November in Primary Languages Network has been a step in to physical language learning .If you read my blogs you will know that I am passionate about creative learning  and children exploring language learning in a wide range of ways. Above you can see Yoga with French.. more later in the blog post.

Within the resources we provide for the Ready Made French and Spanish and our German KS2 SoW we explore how to link languages and drama, languages and music, languages and creative speaking and writing. Sometimes it is about offering teachers time to explore simple physical learning themselves too , to see how this could work with the children.

 

We are trying to empower primary teachers to explore primary approaches to language learning. Yesterday I was delighted to receive this:

We are now producing simple learning plans and resources to link languages to  PE, Gymnastics and Dance. The focus is on PE with languages and using language as the vehicle to develop each physical activity. The lesson planning that all teachers can use ,is designed by a qualified PE teacher and the sound files and resources are created by our native speaker associates. 

Our Dance in the Community lessons are being trialled by St Barnabas CE and will lead to an end of term dance.Emma, the current MFL coordinator will share with us the results at the end of the term .I went in to school last week and was really pleased to hear how well the lessons are going .She is using our planning, the native speaker rresources, the music clips we have suggested and she is going to develop her own extensions to some of the activities.Great! 

Physical Fireworks is a Gym lesson for either KS1/LKS2 or KS2 .We produced the planning and the resources in time for Bonfire Night and were thrilled to hear how schools had used these lessons.Teachers felt that they could deliver these lessons whether or not they were confident target language speakers. 

What was most remarkable about the lesson you see above, is that Tom is a PE coach and was suppoirted by the lead on Spanish, Gwyneth,  at the school . She was delighted to see language learning being taken out of the classroom and successfully being delivered by a non-specialist colleague in school.I am sure Gwyneth will be working with Tom on our new resources for the Christmas PE with languages lesson.

Yoga with languages seemed to me a very sensible move. I am delighted with the response and interest.

Children are learning relaxation techniques, strengthening their bodies,exploring shapes and movements and at the same time listening and respondng to target language. The French/English relaxation story worked on so many levels at the end of the session too.

Bringing language learning to life works on so many levels, empowers teachers, puts languages centre stage in the primary learning curriculum and gives children  memories and activities they want to keep and share.

Faces of the poppies and the cornflowers

  • I found this video clip a few years ago.It is a way of taking a look back at the people and soldiers in WW1.
  • I suggest you share a small part of the clip with you class and just ask them to watch and feedback to you in English the types of peoe and the scenes they see.
  • Ask the children to think of a person they have scene in the clip , a man , woman, child and  to create the character of the person behind the picture.
  • Can they give the person an age, a name, a town where he/she lives, likes and dislikes and maybe a role in the family (e.g mum,dad etc).Perhaps some of the children can also add  a profession if the person is an adult and can they decide if the person is a soldier.
  • Ask each child to write in draft sentences or utterances about and by the character they have created  e.g"Je m'appelle Jeanne.J'ai vingt ans.J'habite....."
  • Ask each child to drama flower with an empty centr- either a poppy or a cornflower. In the centre of the flower ask the children to generate a face of the person they have created.This is the centre of the flower
  • Around the centre they must draw atleast four flower petals and in each petal in the link colour (so poppies red and cornflowers blue pen) ask the children to write one of the sentences they wrote in draft. 
  • The children can either stick these flowers in their language record books or create a class display, a wreath of flowers that tell the story of the people your class has created from France in WW1.

Sparkling Sound Spelling

Last week Emilie and I shared two of our favourite sound -spelling link activities for Year 3 or 4 prinary language learners.

Our stretchy balloon and colours:  Stretchy balloons and letter strings

Numbers,colours and sound ladders which focuses on looking for shared sounds and letters strings in colours and numbers.

These two activities are well received evry time, so it made me think about what we are doing on a regular basis in the classroom .I asked the associate teachers to share their favourite sound -spelling activities this term. To help you to add a little more "sparkle" to the language learning games you already use in the run up to Christmas. Hope these ideas are useful and a huge thank you to each associat teacher who has shared an activity.

Tracy:"The children love playing hangman to practise spelling. We have used it this week to practise spelling numbers"

Steph S "I've just done the 'colour word choir' from y3 sow. Children firstly found their colour friends by whispering their colour words by grouping together as they walked around the classroom. They then practised their colour word echo and we discussed the sounds of the words. I then 'conducted' the echo choir by pointing at each group on turn

Sally "I have a set of Spanish phonic sounds in a plastic wallet. They are written on stars. We practise the sounds and we play a game where we think of a word that has the sound in. Individuals or teams. It can be played different ways. The teacher can say a word and the children have to find the star on the board that has the correct sound to match. If you have time you can try to use the letter patterns to write words on whiteboards.".

Michelle "We link the words up to the English wherever possible and think of clever or silly ways of remembering how each word sounds. The next step is playing 'Finding Nemo and Dory' where two pupils come to re front and put in a Nemo and and a Dory sleeping mask. A third pupil then stands up and says 3 of the new words. Dory's job is to guess who is speaking, Nemo's job is to recognise the 3 words. The whole class has to be engaged because if Nemo gets it wrong they have to correct him."

Kate S :"Fishing for phonemes using magnetic fishing rods and flashcards behind a sea scene and matching them to the correct pictures on the floor.  For example 'oi' in poisson would match with the picture of a fish amongst several pictures laid out on the floor".

Emilie: " I like playing sound families where children have a sound and they go round the classroom whispering it to one another to find the rest of their 'family', then find and stand next to the corresponding grapheme."

Carol:"We often write the word on the board without vowels. A boy and girl come up, whoever finishes the word gets a point and they get to add a feature onto a face. (Six features in total) They get an extra feature for correct accents."

Robert: "A phonics game  I am enjoying is like musical corners.Iplace different words around the room with different sounds in like the ll (y) in amarillo. Then children have to go to the word with the sound in, that I have written up on the board. I also love written words in invisible ink and with sparklers and partner writes the letters they can identify and "see" to guess the Word.Works really with with colours and numbers for example."

Kate K:"I find the 'spot the trickster' game with envelopes  works really well. You can adapt this to suit any vocab items. Simply write the correct spellings on the front of each envelope and put a picture of the word / number inside. Then add a few more misspelt words to the front of some other envelopes. Choose common mistakes (athul / amareeyo etc) and display all envelopes at once. The idea is to spot the trickster and find the envelope with the picture inside".

 Carmelina:"The children love to use the Petit Pots Phoniques by TTS that I was lucky enough to win at the Languages Conference last year. If we have come across a particular sound in our earlier work or are focusing on a sound we get out the relevant pots. I go through the objects, write up how the word is spelt and challenge the children to pronounce the word correctly. Points are awarded to the class if they get it right!"

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Two years ago we were fortunate to receive phonics in languages CPD from Julie Prince too, and here is a link to the CPD report I wrote.It is packed with great ideas! 

Phonics and Literacy with Julie Prince