European Day of Languages Ideas

If you are thinking of some ideas to celebrate EDL (26 September) here are some I have come across.

Use Wallwisher to creat a message board like this one
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/EurDayLangs

And here is a list from teachers
http://edl2009ideas.wikispaces.com/

CfE news

Newly published today Principles and Practice and updated Outcomes and Experiences Click here

French Sound System

This is the sound file to go with the handout from yesterday's session.

You can also find the text  if you go to "visit this podcast on podomatic" There's a few seconds pause before I get going!

The whole thing lasts about 9 minutes!

It was recorded some years ago with French assistant Pauline and Julien.

Pronunciation

How confident are your pupils when speaking French? There is an insight into pupils' attitudes to speaking French here along with teaching French phonics. 

Not only should teachers have an understanding of the rules but they should have some skills to pass this knowledge on to their pupils. 

The new CfE outcomes emphasise being able to explore the sounds of the language and have fun with them.

KAL

• I can make comparisons and explore connections between spelling patterns in English and the language I am learning.
  

Listening and Talking

• I have explored the patterns and sound of language through songs and rhymes and shown understanding and enjoyment by listening, joining in and responding.
  
• I have explored comparisons and connections between sound patterns in different languages through play, discussion and experimentation.
  
• I can use my knowledge about language and pronunciation to ensure that others can understand me when I read aloud or say familiar words, phrases
  

Phonics

Teach the pupils how to decode words - spend time on this

Display words, group words

Discuss how they will remember the meaning

In this session we will try out some ideas on sounds and rhymes. 

The alphabet is a way in to sounds.

The way you say the letters is the way they are pronounced (unlike the alphabet in English).

Practise spelling out words: your name and words as they are learnt

Sparklebox letter cards (scroll down to sb612) are useful for a physical activity. Give each child a letter and call out words (make sure all the letters are used or remove them first eg w k) 

Make up sentences or phrases to practise a sound eg 

a comme abricot

quatre chats 

tictac for examples

Have the letters of alphabet along the wall or floor. Have lots of mini picture cards for pupils to put on/beside the correct first letter. Sounds easy, but what about quatre, chat, un, cinq, huit, gilet! Pupils could work as teams - colloboration!

Be creative with rhymes

à Paris, à Paris sur un petit cheval gris - find more rhymes

or c'était Pâques - find more egg colours

food rhymes - make up a song 

Songs
name song: j’ai un nom on-sound (nom, prénom, menton, chanson)
6 au lit i- sound (lit, petit, dit) and ou-sound (poussez-vous)
dans la foret lointaine ou- (coucou hibou and u-sound du)
une poule sur un mur ou- (poule) and u-sound (mur, dur)
pluie et pluie et parapluie rhyme ui-sound (pluie, parapluie, nuit)

Jokes

Because French has so many homonyms there are lots of wordplay jokes and puns. 

Quelle est la différence entre un paquet de nouilles et un ver de terre? 



(between a packet of noodles and an earthworm)
Réponse : L'un a des pâtes (pattes), l'autre n'en a pas.

Tongue twisters

U and O sounds

pruneau cru, pruneau cuit, pruneau cru, pruneau cuit (raw prune, cooked prune)

listen here

OU sound

Poupou la poule rouge déboule l'escalier et échappe l'ampoule

Poupou the red hen rolls down the stairs and escapes the lightbulb

listen here

Lots more here

or challenge pupils to make up their own!

Talking

if pupils are unwilling to speak French get them to make their own puppet

value their contributions, however short

get them to record themselves

don't always correct every last detail - only today's teaching point

it is OK to make mistakes!

If you are unsure of the pronunciation of any word you can hear it said in this huge data base of French words

Talktime products from TTS

More links in my delicious

Active Learning

Definition of active learning?

Activities to suit kinaesthetic learners?

or activities to involve pupils in their learning, to develop thinking skills?

Interactive whiteboards are great for getting pupils involved but most of today's suggestions are low tech!

Listening

Non-verbal responses, reacting to a word or phrase with a physical action

eg for a story or a song, jump up when you hear your word or 

hands up whenever you hear a colour or 

a certain phoneme eg words with ou in song dans la forêt lointaine

more examples in French songs blog

mime items of vocab eg weather phrases

or perform a non-related action for a different colour, say 2 colours

eg jaune  levez les bras

rouge sautez trois fois

vert vous êtes fatigués, bâillez

bleu frappez des mains

bleu et jaune!

Brain gym

colour words written in wrong colour

colours

Ordering, sequencing

Each team/table has a set of letter cards (or magnetic letters or mini whiteboard)

Teacher says a word pupils must spell out words each holding a letter and stand in correct order

Can do the same for words and sentences

Or the lines of a song, or times of the day

Sparklebox letters scroll down to sb612

Matching pairs

Either face up or face down (random)

picture to word

half sentences on different coloured card (daft combinations are fun)

sound to word or picture using Talktime products from TTS catalogue

KAL knowledge about language, links L1 and L2

sorting words: by topic, vowel sounds, parts of speech (Grammar Ninja)

seeing patterns, collecting word families (eg le boulanger, la boulangère, la boulangerie or le coiffeur la coiffeuse, se coiffer)

seeing patterns

playing with rhymes - eg make up a food words song, or à Paris, à Paris sur un petit cheval gris

riddles (devinettes - there  are hundreds in French)

eg quel fleuve français n'a pas d'eau? which great French river has no water -

(you have to say it aloud)

M et Mme Versaire ont une fille. Comment s'appelle-t-elle?

answers at the bottom

Talking

Reluctant talkers can be inspired to talk if they have their own puppet. Keep their puppet in their drawer. 

Lisa Stevens talks about using puppets in this webcam video The video quality is not good but content excellent! She mentions an idea from Jo Rhys Jones of rewarding good talking in French with accessories for a sock puppet - fancy pipe cleaners for hair. Best talkers have the most hair!

Chain questions - done as a warm up. Great revision. This is where a set of questions are printed and cut out so that each pupil has an answer and the next question. Pupils have to listen carefully to work out the right order.

Pass the parcel. Sitting in groups pass round objects or flashcard pics and when the music stops have to say something appropriate to what they are holding eg j'ai un crayon; voici une pomme

Games requiring some space

Giant steps baby steps (H/O)

si vous avez une grande sœur, faites quatre petits pas

Walkie Talkie

Each pupil has a piece of paper. They have to find someone who likes cats, has an older brother. and go round asking  till they find someone

… aime les chats

… a un grand frère

Walking Dictation

is done in teams. text is on sheet a bit away from group. one at a time reads a section and runs back to dictate to the group. can  take as many visits as needed to complete.

Reading

Work in pairs (collaborative) to gather information from a text. 

You don't need to understand everything.

Skills:-
Prediction: what do you know already about the subject. need to check it is actually in the text
Identifying known words, spotting cognates. Use a highlighter to mark off known.
Working out what part of speech the unknown word is eg noun or verb

More ideas from 

Talkabout primary MFL 

Lisa Stevens' blog

Answers 

riddle la Seine (le Rhône, la Loire, La Garonne ont tous un O)

Annie Versaire

Easter

In Pinwherry Primary School,we have a French GLOW Group for P6 and P7. I have uploaded a Word Document with links and tasks for the pupils to do a Webquest on Easter.

http://www.euroclubschools.org/page36.htm

http://www.fete-enfants.com/paques-enfants/paques-enfants.htm

We'll complete the Quiz before the Easter holidays.

We'll make an Easter card and send an Easter message.We hope to sing this Easter comptine

Last year,the P6 class in Gardenrose PS learnt and illustrated an Easter rhyme "C'etait Paques".

I would be happy to send you the Powerpoint I made then.

Red nose day

I found the following idea posted on the NACELL forum. A language teacher is suggesting this lovely "comptine":  J'ai un gros nez rouge for children to sing and mime on the day; as a good "opportunity to incorporate a little language into everyday classroom routines". You can find other songs on http://ram.de.la.charabiole.free.fr/comptines/sommaire.html

you can also print an illustrated version on http://www.teteamodeler.com/vip2/nouveaux/expression/fiche195.asp.

Here is the link to a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YLr43CLKWc

A little late for this year but well worth saving!