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 was really interested to read the following press release this week  –

Education Scotland publishes new online resource for modern languages called ‘Passeport pour la Francophonie’ at the Scottish Learning Festival on 19 September 2012.

Passeport pour la Francophonie will support primary teachers to provide stimulating and exciting learning experiences at second level, developing skills for reading, writing, listening and talking. The website provides suggestions for exploring the other curriculum areas such as religious and moral education or maths and numeracy through the medium of French language and culture.

Below you can hear Fhiona Fisher of Education Scotland speaking about just that – ‘widening out’ the idea of French as European to go on a voyage in their imaginations to see it as a worldwide language, and how language learning can be done cross-curricularly.

Another part I really like is the Links between languages page, looking at language in general, and also the Using this resource section which gives helpful information to the teacher on using the resource and also some CPD videos on Primary Language learning (MLPS in Scotland) Lovely to see some familiar faces from Le Français en Ecossewho were so instrumental in helping me love French again (merci Richard et Elise)

Whilst reviewing resources on The TES resources website, I came across some that referenced Tools for Educators – Board Game maker  so I thought I’d investigate.

As is often the case, this site is not a language specific but it allows you to input your own language elements.

Whilst reviewing resources onThe TES resources website, I came across some that referenced Tools for Educators – Board Game maker  so I thought I’d investigate.

As is often the case, this site is not a language specific but it allows you to input your own language elements.

From a bank of images, you can choose to make a board game on a wide variety of subjects, using just images as in the fruit example, or incorporating instructions as in the mini beasts. These examples use the Galactic Challenge theme but there are three others from which to choose (it defaults to Galactic Challenge but all you need to do is go to the bottom of the list of topics and click on the board you’d like) The third and fourth examples show other board games.

These games can be printed and laminated for future use, then used for a variety of exercises.

For example, take the fruit one. It could be used for-

a)vocabulary rehearsal – everytime a learner lands on a fruit, they say the name of it in Spanish

b)giving opinions – learners give their opinion of the fruit on which they land

c)asking questions – learners ask one another if they like the fruit

d)shopping – learners must travel the board buying fruit – perhaps give them a list of fruit and they must keep going until they have all their fruit?

e)pronouns – ask and answer ¿Hay uvas? and response could be Sí las hay or No no las hay

f)colours/adjectival endings – learners say what colour the fruit is eg La manzana es verde or Hay una manzana verde; Los plátanos son amarillos / Hay plátanos amarillos

And that’s off the top of my head. I’m sure with a bit more thought I could come up with more ideas. If you have any, post them in the comments!

There are also Printable board games so that learners can design their own games. what about using the Loveheart game board for likes and dislikes – or for Valentine’s Day? The question cards can be edited to include your own images or questions. Or perhaps use the Bubbles theme for wishes or wants!

SaveSave

Image by ninette_luz

This week is My Money Week in many schools across the country including my own.

For the first time this year, I’ve been asked to contribute some ideas for Spanish activities. I’ve done them in the past but it’s a sign of the increasing willingness – and excitement – on the part of some of my colleagues that I was specifically asked this time.

So off I popped to do some research and found a site called MamutMatemáticas where I found some resources for all sorts of mathematics in Spanish!

There are free resources for each topic as a sample – there are five for Dinero (see below) and I could have just used those. However, for £2 I downloaded a 52 page PDF offering ideas and worksheets on recognising coins, adding up, giving change, c to € and vice versa, prices and solving word puzzles.

So, in conjunction with the euro coins that are lying in the Maths cupboard, year4 are next week going to do some Spanish maths. Again. (I need to tell you about my excursion into CLIL but that’s for another day…)

The instructions won’t make much sense without the PDF but I’ll share them if anyone buys it!

I also found a number of sites that might help with the week –

facts about currencies  – http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/world-factbook/currency
online activity on currencies – http://www.pitara.com/activities/quiz/online.asp?qname=currencies

making amounts of money in euros http://www.teachingmoney.co.uk/eurosite/wb/makemeEURO.html

a VERY challenging game that involves buying items to an exact amount of money http://www.teachingmoney.co.uk/eurosite/games/picknmixEURO.html

this one’s about giving change http://www.teachingmoney.co.uk/eurosite/games/changeEURO.html

I’m sure there are plenty of other sites too that offer similar activities. I’d be interested to know if you’d like to share some!

PS here are the sample sheets on money from Mamutmatematicas –

http://www.mamutmatematicas.com/muestras/Dinero_Europeo_Contar_monedas_uno_dos_cinco_centimos.pdf

http://www.mamutmatematicas.com/muestras/Dinero_Europeo_Practica_comprar.pdf

http://www.mamutmatematicas.com/muestras/Dinero_Europeo_Repaso_de_contar_monedas.pdf

http://www.mamutmatematicas.com/muestras/Dinero_Europeo_Euros_parte_2.pdf

http://www.mamutmatematicas.com/muestras/Dinero_Europeo_Problemas_dinero_matematicas_mental.pdf