The Guardian is having a ‘Language learning in focus’  week  and the Teacher Network has been publishing articles related to news ideas and resources for language learning.

There have been articles about why people started teaching languages, an interesting article on where we are and where we need to be in relation to language learning, ideas about how best to teach languages, references to resources in the Guardian Teacher Network and ‘my best language lesson’ too.

Today the article is about Primary teachers’ best tips for language lessons. I was asked to contribute and along with others including Clare Seccombe, have shared some ideas that have worked in my experience.

And there’s also an article on how primary schools are getting ready for 2014 from which I’d pick out two paragraphs that highlights a couple of concerns I have – and I know others share them!

“A lot of teachers would appreciate a bit more guidance and practical help, whether it’s schemes of work or things they might be able to read,” adds Board. (Kathryn Board of CfBT)”That’s obviously not what the government wants to do – they want to provide big headlines and how you get there is up to you. But it’s quite tricky because we must not forget this is a new subject, it’s never been compulsory at key stage two before.”

Driscoll (Patricia Driscoll, reader in education at Canterbury Christchurch University) fears the draft curriculum does not place enough emphasis on developing children’s cultural understanding. “In ‘purpose of study’ the draft curriculum says: ‘Learning a foreign language is liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures.’ But then when you come to the ‘curriculum aims’ and ‘subject content’ there’s nothing about culture.”

“Languages are taught through interactive methods but also through cultural identity and understanding,” she says.

I wonder what’ll be up tomorrow? There’s certainly a web chat planned so if you’re free between 6 and 8pm tomorrow evening (Thursday 16th) join in with your ideas about creative lessons and teaching tips!

I’ve recently started a Pinterest of Spanish resources and came across some lovely maps as I was pinning. None of them would actually serve to guide your way so no good for directions really, but they sparked a few ideas!

This map is a composite of a number of graphics used in an article on Spain. I like the stylised topography and selection of places of interest in various towns.

Possible activities

Name the monuments on the map of Spain.

Assign each group a monument to research.

Identify the mountain ranges. Which is tallest? What activities can be done in the mountains?

Give learners their own blank map of Spain and ask them to select places of interest, features such as rivers or lakes etc to mark on their own infographic map.

This isn’t an infographic, rather a site that is packed with interactive maps looking at the geography of Spain. You can try to name the rivers, mountains, autonomous regions, provinces and so on. I particularly like the provincias one above as the shapes give you a clue – they’re quite tricky puzzles!

This map of Barcelona gives the vague geographical layout of several monuments and places of interest.

Possible activities 

Find the date that each of the monuments was built (practice of large numbers!)

Challenge learners to plan a visit that includes all or a selection of the places on the map using public transport. 

Draw a map of their town or a large city in the same style.

And this map of Madrid has even less geographical information but also includes some phrases that you might hear / use, and some ideas of things to do as well. There’s a similar map of Paris.

Possible activities

Design a similar map for your local area; which places would you recommend? what would you do? which phrases might sum up your area?

Compare the above with a plan of Madrid. Is it accurate? Discuss the differences using Group Talk phrases of opinions and agreement/disagreement.

And then there are maps of Spanish speaking countries. This one of the Dominican Republic is possibly the nearest to an accurate map here.

Possible activities

Where is the Dominican Republic? How did it get its name?

There are ‘doodles’ all over the map. What are they?

The maps above and below come from a site with lots of map /infographic images of Spanish speaking countries.

I like the use of colour in these maps.

Possible activities

Use the Mexico map to recommend activities to -a wildlife lover -a history buff -a thrill seeker

Make your own tourist map in the style of either map – off the beaten track activities, food you mustn’t miss, insider knowledge of the best coffee and so on.

Devise a slogan for your area like ‘Pura Vida’

And if you don’t want to do activities with the maps, they makes lovely displays!

I have a feeling that I’ll be coming back to other infographics soon with more ideas …

Cómo hacer  un Árbol de Pascuas

httpv://youtu.be/YOcd1M6oXl4

Cómo hacer un Pollito dulcero

httpv://youtu.be/s80TiWuckyU

Aquí está la plantilla para hacer los pollitos.

También se puede hacer una Gallina de Pascua

Cómo hacer un Huevo de Pascua de Chocolate – paso a paso

httpv://youtu.be/xJexlxFw0Fk

Algo un poco diferente – cómo hacer Angry Birds para Pascaus

httpv://youtu.be/0cY2Wb7B7w8

Cómo hacer Huevos de Pascuas

httpv://youtu.be/4f9fzlTZYgc

y después, una canasta para los huevos de Pascua!

httpv://youtu.be/sJtp2JvDmQM

Cómo hacer Conejitos con huevos de Pascua

httpv://youtu.be/tSdaomBU9NE

Y por los ‘más avanzados’, dos maneras de hacer una Corona de Pascua – con la técnica de Patchwork sin agujas o con agujas y costura.

My second presentation at ILILC3 was called Let out for good behaviour.

The blurb said

Let out for good behaviour? refers to leaving the classroom being (often) seen as a treat. There are many ways to ‘break free’ of the walls of your classroom, both physical and virtual, and this session will involve both. Participation is required as we explore activities and games, that will enhance teaching and learning whilst bringing a breath of free air to a stuffy classroom. Technology will be involved but you don’t need anything but your imagination and sense of adventure to enjoy the activities.

Although my presentation was somewhat spoilt by the weather meaning we couldn’t get outside and make a mess with chalk, there was much giggling as we played Punto de contacto, went on a QR quest to solve animal riddles, went Placespotting and tried to win chocolate by solving dominoes. And much more of course! It’s great to know that some of the ideas I shared have already been used in classrooms!

Below are my slides from the session.

[slideshare id=16644981&style=border: 1px solid #CCC; border-width: 1px 1px 0; margin-bottom: 5px;&sc=no]

Inspired by ideas from Jan Lewandowski and Sandra Longden on the CFBT Primary forum for snow related songs, I was reminded of a previous post in which I shared a song about Un muñeco de nieve that I had subtitled using Amara (previously called Universal Subtitles.)

Below is the unsubtitled version – subtitled version is available here (can’t embed it on my WP blog)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gb-KU3awXw

Then there’s this simple song to the tune of Frosty the Snowman – Mi hombre de nieve

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sESUMaLl2o

I particularly like this song too about winter becoming spring – Es invierno

httpv://youtu.be/ACvLQL0WqTk

La letra –

ES INVIERNO Y HACE FRÍO.
EN INVIERNO, NO CALIENTA EL SOL.
ES INVIERNO Y CAE LA LLUVIA
Y EL PAISAJE PIERDE SU COLOR.

EL INVIERNO
EMPIEZA EN DICIEMBRE
EN MARZO SE TIENE QUE IR.
EL SOL CALIENTA,
LAS FLORES YA SALEN.
ES PRIMAVERA POR FIN.

And finally, here’s a simple story about a sad snowman- El Muñeco de Nieve está triste.

httpv://youtu.be/UuhuJJKKBCU

I also wrote a post back in 2008 about using The Snowman by Raymond Briggs using resources from HGFL.

Finally, it reminded me of this post from way back about snow!

Just like @msmfl, I’m so excited and just can’t hide it, so I’m going to

BREAKOUT! 

httpv://youtu.be/nnivOKYyWLY

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ll be in the UK in February to attend ILILC3 or to give its full name, the ICT Link into Language conference taking place at the University of Southampton on 9th and 10th February.

The theme of the conference is Jailbreaking the MFL classroom and there are sessions on

Mobile technologies  
Social Media
Making the most of Web 2.0 Technologies  
The Global classroom  
Developing Speaking
Closing the gap  (SEN, SOLO, supporting learning etc)

There are many many excellent practitioners participating – I’m particularly looking forward to sessions from Clare Seccombe, John Connor, Jo Rhys-Jones, Dom McGladdery, Jen Turner and Amanda Salt (to name but a few!)  and keynotes by Joe and Isabelle,  and I’m really pleased that I’ve been asked to present.

I’ll be delivering two sessions –

In I want to break free  we’ll be looking at ways to break away from ‘chalk and talk’ and involve learners, encouraging them to interact with and demonstrate their understanding as they learn using (mobile) technology. We’ll investigate some ways of doing this using tools such as Nearpod, Socrative and Memrise and whilst I’ll be using my iPad and Mac to present, that doesn’t mean you need a fruity device to join in as some tools are web based and others are both Android and iOS. And on top of that, we’re a friendly bunch so I’m sure people will share!

Let out for good behaviour? refers to leaving the classroom being (often) seen as a treat. There are many ways to ‘break free’ of the walls of your classroom, both physical and virtual, and this session will involve both. Participation is required as we explore activities and games, that will enhance teaching and learning whilst bringing a breath of free air to a stuffy classroom. Technology will be involved but you don’t need anything but your imagination and sense of adventure to enjoy the activities.

On top of the conference, there’s the Show and Tell on Saturday night at which ANYONE is encouraged to share a snippet sized piece of good practice, song or activity. Everyone has a good idea and has something to say so it’s great to hear from new people each year. You can sign up for it here.

Why should you attend?

• it’s excellent value CPD
• the speakers are excellent
• you’ll learn so much
• it’s the friendliest funn-est conference you are ever likely to attend
• you’ll learn as much from conversations as from the sessions
• your batteries need recharging
• if you don’t, you’ll miss @bellaale ‘s sequel to Academy Copout!
• I want to meet you!

And, back to the song at the start. Whilst I’m sure not everyone is at the end of their tether (at least I hope not!),  it’s good sometimes to ‘breakout’ from things that are just not working for you, or your learners, look at things from another perspective and find a new ‘way’. Come to ILILC3 and you might just find the inspiration, support and encouragement that you need!

Thanks to @AliceAyel on Twitter for flagging up a great post on a blog called Teaching Spanish w/ Comprehensible Input by Cynthia Hitz. The post is entitled Using videos of children’s stories and lo and behold, there was my son’s favourite story as a child, playing to me in Spanish.

Entitled Click Clack Muu, Vacas escritoras (Click Clack moo, Cows that type) the story is set on a farm where the cows get hold of a typewriter and start sending letters to Farmer Brown demanding electric blankets. And then the ducks get involved… Isaac is now 14 and can still recite it verbatim. And so can I! So it’s great to see this post with so many ideas of how you might use it in the classroom. If only I had a class with whom to share it.

httpv://youtu.be/MQS-_5_MP-Q

I found these Resources from PBS  – they’re in English but there are some great ideas that could be translated into Spanish.

Gracias @sonrisadelcampo and thanks Isaac for the memories ;o)

I wholeheartedly believe that learning a language shouldn’t be a ‘bolt on’ but part of the curriculum as a whole, and I am therefore always on the look out for new ideas.

I found this short video clip on Youtube earlier and it started me thinking. Again! httpv://youtu.be/58IoBEoNyWQ

Whilst I’m not sure that this is something that could be done at the moment given the weather reports I’m seeing, it’s certainly an interesting idea and it could be completed using the second clip. Just use a stopwatch and count for 10 or 60 seconds then complete the sum to find out how hot it was when that film was recorded.

httpv://youtu.be/CQFEY9RIRJA

I’ve blogged before about teaching Maths in Spanish and I also taught Maths in Spanish during my last observation at WCPS. I can’t believe I didn’t blog it but I’ve uploaded the plan and resources below.

table names (2D shapes in Spanish)

Ratio definition

Proportion definition

Lesson plan – Razones y proporciones

Worksheet for círculos y triángulos

Worksheet – pentágonos y cuadrados

Worksheet – hexágonos

Since then I’ve found a few more things that look quite useful.

¿Quién quiere pizza? is a series of lessons by Cynthis Lanius on fractions. It’s also available in English. Each ‘lesson’ gives a short explanation then poses four or five multiple choice questions. Answer the questions and then receive your score at the bottom of the page including the correct answers.

Cynthia also offers some counting activities in Spanish that you could easily use with much younger learners, counting things, saying which is more, and completing sequences. And finally, a more advanced type of Maths linked to Science – in La tina caliente learners work on interpreting graphs

Then there’s  Maggie’s Earth Adventures. These activities from Scholastic are also offered in both English and Spanish.

In El Dilema de Dude you must rescue Dude the dog from the roof by solving sums in Spanish. Every sum solved takes your helicopter closer to Dude. You can choose which operation you wish to practice – or you can choose a mix – and also the level at which you play.

In a similar vein, in ¡Alrededor del Mundo en 80 segundos! you travel around the world by solving sums. You must do it quickly or you’ll not make it home!

And then there’s a brilliant Science activity that involves labelling. In Diagramando a la ciencia  learners see a diagram and then have to label it for themselves. Included are things like parts of a plant, the layers of the earth and parts of a fish.  Good resources to use to reinforce learning.

There are others activities here too worth investigating – code breaking, a Spanish vocabulary game and a grammar game too.

Other links –

a Maths terms worksheet 

Maths glossary (far more information than you’d need in a primary classroom!)

much more simple maths terms

Logic puzzles for Year 7 from the inimitable Rachel Hawkes

On the Juegos Educ.ar site, Cuenta con cuentos and Cuentos y leyendas are both word puzzles. Figuras geométricas is a simple matching activity.

And how about the Matemáticas section here for some simple fun activities, or the site of Colegio Público San José de Calasanz for some Maths appropriate for KS2.

And finally, lots of activities here on RinconMaestro plus some good word puzzles – Problemas – on Aprendiendomates.

How’s that to keep you going? Need to find more science links now…

I had a bit of time today as my youngest was ill so decided to make some simple resources to go with my previous post about Nubeluz and their song Quiero ser…

I used Tools for educators, a great online worksheet/puzzle/resource maker about which I have previously written.

So, here you have –

vocabulary sheet    jobs vocabulary

a labelling worksheet   job labelling

a set of bingo cards (10 different cards in total)  Jobs bingo

a boardgame 

A very versatile site which is really useful to a pretty average drawer like me! And resources such as the board game and the bongo cards can be used for multiple languages so could be used in literacy as well as Spanosh/French/German etc.

My one issue is that there is a distinct lack of women in the library of job images!

You can make wordsearches which are fun but not my favourite activity in the classroom as well as crosswords and mazes. ANd there’s a new ‘guest tool’ which I will be investigating called Comic Strip Maker that allows you to make dialogues between the Anime style people on the pages.

Thanks to Pat Sweeney on the Yahoo MFL Resources group for pointing out this group.

If you like Hi5, and you love a bit of 90s “cheese”, you’ll love Nubeluz.

As Pat writes –

“Many of Nubeluz’s songs seem to be innocent good fun and definitely have catchy tunes that make you want to dance and sing along.
However, some “carry a message “. For example “Papi, deja de fumar!”
( Daddy, give up smoking!) or “Cuidado ” ( Be careful!) which warns of being mislead by friends to get involved in things that are not right or good.”

She goes on to pose a question –

“I would be very interested to know what people think of the songs and whether they would deem them suitable for using as teaching aids..and if so..with which groups..how?”

So…here are some ideas for how to use  Yo quiero ser

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm1ZqJel8-c

I think this would fit well with the topics People who help us or Jobs people do that are part of EYFS and KS1. I think that the chorus is the most useful part.

Activities you might do:

• ask learners to identify the jobs they hear in the chorus. They are repeated at the very end so there are 2 chances to catch them. You might provide a tick sheet with pictures for younger learners or the names in Spanish for older ones.
• make a pelmanism game with job images and names in Spanish for matching first then for playing.
• cut the lyrics (chorus) into strips. Ask learners firstly to see if they can match the jobs with the description of what they do. This uses their LLS as they will look for cognates, make connections between the word for the job and words in the description and so on. Then they can check their answers by listening and watching again.
• I might use Amara (was UniversalSubtitles) http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/ to put Spanish subtitles on the video too. (See this example and also this post about how and why)

• I might use other video clip such as Los oficios which features a famous song, or this version with the words.
• This clip Cuando sea grande would be a good step onto using the future tense. Seré dentista/artista etc. I also like the final lines – “Cuando sea grande, haré mil cosas/Porque estoy seguro que podré. Y mientras tanto llega la hora/Solamente niño quiero ser”
• There is a whole unit of work on Udicom on Los oficios. These resources are intended for ‘alumnos de compensatoria’ or learners needing extra help in Spain so many are very simple exercises on copywriting, phonics, matching and writing words and short phrases. I particularly like the phonics sections and the use of little rhymes too.
• This interactive site is useful for learning the names of jobs by hovering over the people, and clicking to see/hear a short sentence about what they do. Further forward (click on arrow bottom right) it talks about “profesiones” – professions as opposed to “oficios” – jobs.
• Here’s a free poster that you can download – I believe you need to purchase the other posters tagged Los oficios but you can look at them for ideas!
• I also found this blog with an image and short descriptions for 6 jobs/professions.
• And this is a wonderful site with lots of ideas and materials for a wide age range. There are a number of stories at a variety of levels (primary and secondary) as well as comics and ‘information books’, all presented online. As this resource is aimed at social studies for Spanish learners, so you need to bear that in mind e.g. Look at the complexity of language rather than going by the age indicated. I looked at a few stories – Alejandro el canguro pintor (basic) is a lovely tale about a kangaroo that draws all the time, and Maria auxiliar de ayuda a domicilio is more complex and a home help who makes Grandma’s life better. There’s a teachers guide that includes ideas and some activity sheets. Well worth an explore if you’re looking to work cross curricularly at primary or secondary level!

So, Pat. Does that answer your question? 🙂