Category: languages

My two minute presentation is about Postcrossing. I have mentioned it before but it’s worth mentioning again as it’s always so popular when I do!

In its simplest terms, you “send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!”

Really easy! Writing a postcard is a short focussed activity that can be done anytime there’s a spare five minutes – even the most reluctant writer can manage a few lines. Pop it in the postbox and off it goes. Then you wait – and you receive a postcard from somewhere in the world! It’s a surprise!

We made an actual display of all the postcards with pins on a world map – but as we have 3 buildings at our school this was a bit ‘exclusive’ so we made a virtual map too on Google Maps.

And the postcards themselves are artefacts that we have used for all sorts of activities to enhance international awareness and ICU. One example is year 6 making fact files based on the cards with famous people from tht country, language, music and so on, plus an impression.

And I LOVE the motto!

A lovely song / rhyme about a little bear playing hide and seek. Not the best singer ever but a sweet song!
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/19335416 w=400&h=300]

Thanks to a lovely FLA (foreign language assistant) who attended my course yesterday I’ve discovered Semillitas de Aprendizaje. And I love it!

Semillitas de aprendizaje (little seeds of learning) is part of RiF (Reading is Fundamental), a non profit organisation with the aim of nurturing a love of books and a rise in literacy across America.

OUR VISION:
Our vision is a literate America in which all children have access to books and discover the joys and value of reading.

OUR MISSION:
To motivate young children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8.

 

Semillitas de aprendizaje is a bilingual site – in English and Spanish – aimed at children 0-5 years old and their parents. It’s full of games, stories, songs, rhymes and activities in two sections – 0-36 meses and 3-5 años.

Favourites so far include

Explorar where you can find out about animals in short clips with simple notes down the side

Juegos digitales which doesn’t mean digital games but finger rhymes! Particularly like the fact that the girl presenting them isn’t a’professional’ singer – much more appealing. My favourite is Las ruedas en el bus.

Cuentos – some very simple stories – particularly like La mascota perfecta (link to Querido Zoo?) and No me quiero bañar – a common cry in many homes!

Rimas infantiles is also a great section with lots of rhymes – and they’re read to you so you get the right rhythm which can be a bit of a problem.

Some lovely things to see and do on the site – also has pictures to download and colour (love the animals!)

And the adults section gives advice on good books, activities that you can do with your children and also general advice.

So, thanks for the tip off! I love it when other people share things with me!

This week sees the launch of a really lovely offering on the CBeebies website aimed at 4-6s – and I’m very excited that I’ve been involved in it (along with many others!)

As the blurb from the BBC says –

‘The Lingo Show’ introduces different languages to a pre-school audience, sprinkled with a bit of culture.  Play fun games and learn new words whilst helping ‘Lingo’ the ultimate show bug and his performing bug friends prepare for the ‘Big Bug Show’. Featuring French, Spanish, Mandarin, Welsh, Urdu, Punjabi, Somali and Polish. It’s a bug-lingual adventure!’

This week the site is launched with French, Spanish and Mandarin to be followed by Welsh on St David’s Day, Urdu and Punjabi on 14th March and Somali and Polish on 28th March.

I am really excited that the site is finally live and hope that it is enjoyed as much by the users as it was by the four children in Reception on whom I tested it in its early stages. And I look forward to seeing what may happen to Lingo, Queso, Jargonaise, Wei and the other bugs in the future!

bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/lingoshow

I had a lovely time with some delegates this morning talking about storytelling using ICT – ‘digital storytelling’

Here’s my presentation – possibly won’t make much sense until it has the sound added, but you’ll have to wait a bit for that until I get the file back from Joe Dale’s iRiver.

Also, there is a document containing all the notes from the session.

Tell me a story session notes

Tell me a story presentation

Links that I missed off the list – MFL animation themed!

Catherine Elliot – www.twitter.com/catherinelliott

http://ssclc.wordpress.com

http://bit.ly/efSmim – Joe Dale interviews Catherine

Oscar Stringer – www.twitter.com/ostringer

http://www.animationforeducation.co.uk/ – go to Film examples – MFL

Any questions or queries, feel free to contact me

The third of the tools I may or may not have time to mention at ICT Links into Languages conference in Southampton is DomoAnimate.

Below is an example in French, German and Spanish of how this tool has been used in other languages. Note lack of accents :o(

DomoNation.com: Mes Prochaines Vacances by Alex Olds

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It’s free and fun!

DomoNation.com: Schule by Sheridaan

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It’s free and fun!

DomoNation.com: Las Aventuras de Domo:El encuentro con los aliens1 by AlejoCortes

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It’s free and fun!

Today I’m presenting a session at ICT Links into Languages Conference in Southampton entitled Tell me a story. As part of the session, i’ll be showing delegates how to use Zooburst and have therefore been having a look at some of the books already on the site.
Here are a few examples of how it’s been used in MFL.

A story in French about the consequences of kicking your ball through someone else’s window!

An Italian Zooburst – a recipe!

Another French one here – where are Dracula’s teeth?

A Spanish story about a Prince.

And here’s a variation on the Prince story.

A brilliant Zooburst here packed with information about El reciclaje

And finally, a German ‘story’ of someone’s sporting activities for the week.

A lovely app for iPad from Kumquat in Argentina, featuring Christmas carols in Spanish.  Beautifully and quirkily illustrated, you can choose whether you want them sung to you, or if you’d rather sing them yourself! Although it’s possible to access many of these tunes on the web, I think it’s well worth £1.79 as you get everything in one place – lyrics (which highlight as they are sung), sound files and illustration!

Shame I discovered it too late to use in school, but I know it’ll be a hit as my ‘testing panel’ love it!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Screenshots from the app.

Perhaps this one will prove more useful at the moment!

A very catchy Christmas carol about the Wise Men arriving at the stable in Bethlehem.

Click the image to access the song with subtitles, or go here for the lyrics.

What are your hopes for Primary Languages in 2011 and onwards?

Would you like to make your voice heard by ‘important people’?  By that I mean people who make policy and decide what the really important people ie the pupils get to experience at school.

In response to the White Paper released last week which more or less fails to mention Primary Languages, a number of people started a discussion about how we should respond to the invitation to comment.  One of those people was Catherine Cheater who sent a list of her hopes for the future of Primary Languages.  So well did she express the views that many held, she was urged to make an ecard that we could send to Michael Gove et al.

Here’s her message to us –

Dear colleague,
If you feel that our children in the UK deserve access to language and cultural learning during their primary school years, you might wish to send a message to:
•    Michael Gove (see www.michaelgove.com/contact)
•    Nick Gibb, Schools Minister (see www.parliament.uk/biographies/nick-gibb/25544)
•    your local MP (see www.parliament.uk/about/contacting/mp/)

Please write a message from your heart.
Please say in the message why this is important to you.
Please say how you contribute to this already (e.g. teacher, trainee, LTA, parent, publisher, LA adviser, organisation).

You may wish to include the following link in your message:

http://www.4d-studios.co.uk/primary_languages/card.html

Best wishes,
Catherine Cheater.
(With thanks to Richard Tallaron for designing the e-card)

So if you want to add your voice, the ecard link is above.