KS1 Rockets and Colours Firework Song

Today I am working with a school getting ready for next half term French language learning in KS2. the KS1 staff are keen to be involved and as our first focus will be Bonfire night I am going to introduce them to the simplest of songs using colours that they can practise and perform with their KS1 classes!

It allows teachers to practise four colours in the target language with the children: blue,red.orange and yellow 
Each colour is a rocket firework - so we have made them sound like they are zooming off in to the sky . If you are a network member or coming along to DfE CPD then there is a simple sound file too to help - but really it's probably not needed here.
We have used the song "The Farmers in his Den" to fit the French and Spanish words to  a familiar tune 
You could decide to add more too and the children could think of the sounds for these colours too!

You will need coloured rocket cards like these:

• Practise the colours of the rockets with the children, play familiar games like hot and cold hide and seek and detectives in the room- who is hiding the colour.
• Practise the sounds of the colours zooming off in to the sky on Bonfire Night
• Sit the children on the carpet in front of you and play the tune of "The Farmers in his Den" and pass the coloured rocket cards around the children .When the music stops- can the children holding the cards tell you the colour? Start the song again and continue the game.
• Now you are ready to practise the key phrase : les feux d'artifice ( in French) and los fuegos artificiales (in Spanish) and die Feuerwerke (in German). Practise and add clapping for each syllable and the rhythm . 
• Make the clapping and the spoken words sound like pretty fireworks in the sky etc!
• Practise the target language Firework Song below (to the tune of The Farmer's in his Den" with the children and ask them to make the colour repetition sound like fireworks disappearing in to the sky.
• Now your class is ready to perform the song. 
• Ask the children to stand in a circle and give the coloured rocket cards to four children.Can they remember the colours in the target language. As a class sing the song and when the children hear the colour of the firework if they are holding the card they can either pass the card on to the next child and the next child and the next child until the  song moves on or the child holding the card can make the firework rocket move and dart up in to the sky. 
• You may even have a class assembly song and performance here too!

 Firework Songs in French and Spanish

French

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Rouge, rouge, rouge, rouge!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Bleu, bleu, bleu, bleu!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Vert, vert, vert, vert!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Jaune, jaune, jaune, jaune!

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Les Feux d’artifices

Orange, orange, orange, orange!

Les Feux d’artifices

Spanish

Los Fuegos Artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İRojo, rojo, rojo , rojo!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İAzul  azul azul azul!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İVerde, verde, verde, verde!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İAmarillo, rillo,rillo!

Fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

Los fuegos artificiales

İNaranja, ranja, ranja, ranja!

Fuegos artificiales

German

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Blau,blau,blau,blau 

~Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Rot,rot,rot,rot 

die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Gelb,gelb,gelb,gelb

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Die Feuerwerke

Orange,range,range,range

Die Feuerwerke

The progress we are making,an account from the teachers.

We are drawing toward the end of another busy year for our network .It’s time to review progress and see how our children are developing as young language learners. Of the 90 school within the network 32 of the schools are supported by either a visiting teacher or a language assistant teaching from our SOW . It seems pertinent to ask these colleagues what progress looks like to them in their schools across both key stages.

 I have the great pleasure of working with these enthusiastic, passionate and highly committed colleagues every academic week of the year.I asked some of my colleagues to write several sentences on progression they have seen this year ,all with a specific focus across three languages (French, German and Spanish

We meet on a very regular basis to discuss and practise language activities and as a unit of colleagues we have established a sharing and networking community....often pushing each other on!

What is very important here is that the progress described is a true simple reflection of what the children are demonstrating and achieving  at different learning stages.The comments are those of  practitioners who take ideas and put them in to primary practice.

We are certain that many of you will be able to say and identify very similar points.That’s reassuring isn’t it? 

What I identify as I read these comments is that we have gone past simple words and repetition and the learners are becoming interested young linguists,confident that they can listen, speak read and write and therefore communicate in another language! Hurrah! 

Key Stage One Learners: Spanish

Ana (Native Spanish speaker, QTS Primary with Early Years’ specialism). Here's her end of year report on the  specific noticeable progress she sees in KS1 this year. Ana teachers KS1 in 5 of the 6 schools where she also teachers KS2) . 

Greetings in Reception

In KS1 the main progress I can see is in the children, who  have learned Spanish for a couple of years- so Year 1 and 2 .

• They are confident.
• They link and use previous knowledge in new topics.
• Their minds are open and receptive, they enjoy and don’t feel shy to try.
• Some of my children in Reception after doing Spanish previously in nursery, can independently say their names, how they feel ,their favourite colour, the weather, days of the week, animals, numbers up to 20, body parts and follow a lesson where I mostly only speak Spanish.
• These children show how important is to start teaching a foreign language in early years as their little minds are more than ready! 

Year 3 Spanish Beginners 

Joanne (PGCE QTS Primary Teacher with a primary language specialism ,teaches both Spanish and French) Joanne considered  the specific  progress she has seen in her Spanish Year 3 beginner class .She teaches from Year 1 to Year 6 in a local school. This is her end of year report.

Year 3 Superheroes Autumn Display

The Year 3s are just a joy to teach and the progress they have made this year has been impressive.

In their first year of learning Spanish, “my little Language Detectives “have wholeheartedly thrown themselves into their Language learning and have had lots of fun trying out new sound patterns and words.  

They respond to mimes and gestures and they amaze me with the amount of vocabulary they retain and recall and the inquisitive questions they ask. ('If Spanish has an upside down question mark at the start of a question and an upside down exclamation mark at the start, does all punctuation go upside down?' I ran with a flurry to grab a handful of Spanish stories and books so we could put our Detective sombreros on and investigate.)

Silly songs are immensely popular with my Year 3s (particular the fruit song) and the children even ask me for links so they can practice the songs at home. They have been known to come in the following week with an accompanying full on dance routine!

Year 4 Moving on on German

Barbara Foerster ,Year 4 German (native speaker German , TA and language assistant) Barbara works in a local school as a class TA and also as the teacher of German across KS1 and KS2. Barbara’s focus is upon Year 4 children who are moving on from being “beginner” learners.

My current Year 4 class are really good at German. They are very interested in the language and pick up new phrases very easily. 
I am very pleased with the progress they have made over the last few months - moving from simple sentences, e.g. my name is ... I am feeling good, to more complex sentences and phrases, recalling already known language fairly easily.
They are now able to have a  simple conversation and tell the other person about themselves and also ask questions.

Some of the things they are able to say are: their favourite colour,( and what I really like is that using the same phrase for “my favourite” ... they can translate that knowledge to say other favourite things, e.g. favourite pop group, singer, football star or number), where they live, when their birthday is and how old they are.
My aim for next year is to make them become even more independent !

Progress across LKS2 and UKS2 

Catherine (PGCE QTS Primary teacher with a languages specialism).She teaches four schools, French in two schools and Spanish in two schools. I asked her to suggest one specific noticeable skill step forward in each year group from Year 3 to Year 6  in both languages. This is what she has identified:

Across Key Stage 2, I have seen children become more independent learners. 

• In Y3, children have progressed from repeating words and phrases to holding a conversation with questions and answers. 

• In Y4, I have seen children become able and confident to write simple sentences in the target language.

• In Y5, children are becoming confident in using bilingual dictionaries. 

• In Y6, children have progressed from being able to read sentences in the target language to reading full scripts in the language. 

In general, I have seen children become more engaged and proactive in their own language learning.

What does UKS2 look like this year?

Emilie (native speaker QTS Secondary and Primary French Teacher). She works in 6 schools and across both Key Stages. Emilie was asked to consider the type of progress she is seeing in UKS2 as a platform that can be built upon into Year 7.Here is her report on progress in Years 5/6:

• In Years 5 and 6 children are beginning to understand and read longer sentences/paragraphs made up of familiar language.
• They are producing in writing and speaking longer sentences using simple connectives.
• They have acquired language learning skills such as looking for cognates and strategies to work out new language (i.e using clues, context, etc.)
• They are familiar with a range of structures including talking about likes, dislikes and preferences.
• They are becoming more and more confident in speaking and have become very fluent in talking about themselves (name, age, where they live, etc.)

A view from the bridge between Year 6 and Year 7 

Jayne (Secondary and Primary French teacher) teaching French and Spanish in 6 different schools from KS1 to Year 6.Jayne has considered Year 6 children she teaches now and what they can do that she feels does now need to be acknowledged as they enter Year 7

• Year 6 can remember so much of what they have done before!
• They are keen to reapply knowledge and show what they can do.
• In Year 6 they are beginning to extend their knowledge of sentence structure and  are keen to know more about language and grammar and how to use this to communicate.
• Even in a new context it’s amazing what they can describe and how much new language they can add to their descriptions accurately.
• They want to plan, prepare and use dictionaries to find what they really want to say!

• In Year 7 maybe we should n’t hold the children back but let them explore language more independently and apply their language skills even if it’s in a new language rather than spending a long time re-explaining what they have done or what they can learn quite quickly .

So now we are ready to move on to next year and to enjoy working with our schools and young learners and to see where we get to next year ....??!

Language Learning and Drama

Language Learning and Drama

Why do I think they link so well together?

I was trained as an English / Drama and MFL teacher in the 1980s. An unusual combination at the time that I have never regretted. My personal passion for theatre comes from my love of literature in all languages and my wonderful AS Level in Theatre Studies many moons ago! I always remember the power of the texts and performances. My A Levels (German, French and English Literature ) were made all the more vibrant by Theatre Studies and a clear message that Antigone wasn’t written in English , that Mother Courage didn’t speak English and that pantomime had its modern day European origins in Italian satire! I wanted to read the texts in their original language to find out more about how they should be interpreted!

Theatre, the Arts and communicating ideas to others through performance and setting up an emotional dialogue have always been a passion of mine. 

As a modern foreign languages’ NQT many years ago I had the good fortune to work with a Performing Arts Department in an inner city  secondary school.The exploration of text and film through performance and the challenge to link language learning to the sequences of learning activities developed was an amazing opportunity. I remember how we focused on a five minute introduction to a film and took it frame by frame…asking the children to describe, anticipate  , translate into dance , Art , music , drama and target language  communication what they could feel and see! The pupils had limited language skills and often in class didn’t see the relevance or point of French and German , but put in this new context they rose to the challenges set them and explored and produced creative performances with language elements. This steep learning curve has informed my language teaching ever since!  

You can probably realise from the statement above that I love to explore theatre and drama on an intellectual level but that through my love of teaching and learning I have seen how “Performing  Arts “ are such a powerful tool to harness in the realms of language learning

Performing Arts embraces Art, Dance, Music, Theatre, mime, Opera, Ballet etc.

We are set the challenge to introduce children to “great” literature so in my opinion we need to provide the children with the tools to explore and bring to life this literature.Drama and dramatic devices and the use of these as parts of language learning can help us provide both a support and a springboard for the children as we do this!   

As a Primary Languages AST sponsored by my secondary school’s Performing Arts Department I was allowed the freedom to explore the beneficial links between drama and language learning- and it’s not all “lovey dovey” as some people may fear! My findings were reinforced when in 2004 I became a Primary Strategy Consultant and worked alongside the primary literacy team to promote the use of role-play and drama in exploring texts with young children.

Drama and dramatic devices promote in language learning:

• Better and more confident communication skills
• Deeper and more reactive understanding of text
•  A purposeful reason to explore how to memorise and recall language
• An understanding of why intonation and pronunciation matter and how these can enhance character
• Importance of dialogue and actions
•  Inclusive participation
• Platforms upon which to develop independent creative writing
• Dialogue reinforcement 

In Key Stage One we are already promoting listening and joining in, participating and using actions to convey meaning. Take a look at these blogs (bear explorers, growing sunflowers with numbers  and pirates). The bogs may give you your ideas of ways to use drama and dramatic devices to explore language content.

In Key Stage Two we are looking at ways that we can develop links between drama and grammar to make the learning of grammar creative and physical and to engage the learners in such a way that the application of grammar is a memorable process.(Making a drama out of basic grammar can explain more!).The ideas are easily transportable to KS3 too.Work with a drama teacher can help KS3 MFL colleagues develop some creative reinforcement and performances of grammar points in the target language.

We work with Art (take a look at Matisse and the Cut Outs ) (3D Art Renoir) to explore language content and contexts and generate opportunities to develop creative performances that enhance the children’s language and context understanding.

We encourage children to explore language learning through the use of their bodies to generate creative performances (Here are two examples:  colour mimes and word association  and body parts and movement)

We have created a sequence of simple plays for the children to explore as both reading comprehensions where they need to add the stage directions once they have understood the text and where they also now need to add the performance to communicate the humorous meaning.

We are exploring the use of drama to engage with poetry. Take a look at the blog of a verse from a famous poem by Jacques Prévert to link with our UKS2  café theme drama and mystery in the cafe

Sometimes we take it much further and the use of dramatic devices linked with other ways of exploring the performing arts can generate a whole creative performance using target language text. Take a look here Physical Pop Up Poems

In Key Stage Three and beyond

In Key Stage 3 MFL teachers are required to explore authentic texts …once again drama and the use of dramatic devices can be ways to bring this to life for all learners. Some of the techniques promoted above n the KS2 blogs may help with this. From 1985 to 2002 as a secondary  MFL teacher dramatic devices such as freeze frames, conscience alley, mime, hot seating  all allowed the pupils to explore language learning and content purposefully.

Sketches and the use of drama allow language learning  to be exclusive from an enthusiastic performance of numbers ,names and feelings by Year 7 in a whole year group performance to a  Come Dine With Me sketch with Year 9 disillusioned low ability boys , drama was a means by which everyone could engage.

Finally at the start of this blog post I mentioned Mother Courage and still in my memory is the way my lower sixth were able to engage with Leben des Galilei because of the way we performed key dialogues and monologues….The preparation and though behind the performances led to improved use of German , questions about grammar that cleared up sticky points and an observation and accuracy of pronunciation and intonation…because just like my Drama teacher taught me , they wanted to convey their understanding of the  true meaning of the text!

Hope you enjoy finding your own links between language learning and drama and that you find them really useful effective motivators of young language learners!

Pirates Ahoy with Year 2

This half term with Year 2 we are exploring the theme of pirates ....linking this to the children's work on the coast and/or the seaside.
It's all going to be about "acting" and being "dramatic" and we are going to use simple well loved games and activities to do this:

Hide and Seek

Hot and Cold

Simon says (Pirate says..)

Beetle Drive

Splat

Joining in with songs

In Spanish we will learn the chorus to el pirata Barbaroja ....with actions of course!

In French we will listen and join in with "Voilà les pirates" !We will be listening out for the phrase "Voilà les pirates"...joining in and freeze framing as we hear it marching around the classroom and singing the chorus!

We will be describing pirates in games of Simon says (Pirate says), acting out the pirate's equipment and playing a good old fashioned Pirate Beetle drive. We will use this song el pirate valiente to help us with this in Spanish plus this wonderful poster of a " real " pirate from e-ducativa.catedu.es. Find out more here

In French we will use the tête à modeler website pirate fancy dress picture and instructions here

We will listen to le petit matelot and listen out very carefully for the pirate's clothes and equipment on the rhyme! As we hear the items we will pretend to put them on or hold them etc! And we will use this lovely rhyme with actions (see the PDF based on the story from  la petite boule blanche si j'etais un pirate ... to become real pirates!

Once we are pirates then we need to hunt gold and collect our gold in our pirates' sacks! How will we do this ...?

Well we can hunt sounds and words.

We will hunt key nouns we have learned during the year by playing hot and cold or hide and seek ,looking for pictures on coins hidden around the classroom that represent the key words we know.And sometimes we will make this even more challenging for our pirates by hunting key sounds in the words represented by the pictures! 

Transition in a suitcase between year groups

This half term we are at the end of the year's academic study of the target language across both KS1 and KS2. 
The new DfE POS requires that substantial progress is made ..... we also need to take stock and enjoy what the children have learned and the games, songs, stories and language knowledge they have explored.
In a previous blog I shared how I was supporting a school to put together a cohesive start up programme so that KS1 can enjoy learning alongside KS2 and so that staff have shared strategies and learning tools.Here's the blog 

Ready! Steady! Go!

Transition  happens between all year groups. How effective this transition is supports how effective and successful progression for all the children will be.

As you head back to school for the final Summer half term ...it's time to start packing those target language suitcases and sharing the strategies , learning tools and activities the children have enjoyed with the next class teacher!

Designer Suitcases

Ask the children to help you decide what your target language suitcase for the year's learning should look like?What have they learned this year?What content and contexts have you explored. Create the labels for your suitcase from this content and contexts. Your suitcase may be a folder with notes from the class to the next teacher , a virtual suitcase or a folder kept on the school VLE ...but it needs to look like you have all travelled on a language learning journey together this year- hence the labels!

Packing the suitcase!

Ask the children to share with you the games, songs and stories that have enjoyed this year.Revisit and use again some of the activities and resources and take a class vote on which to put in your class suitcase ready to set off for the next year of language learning.

Maybe it's your.....

 Plant pot story

Easter Movie

Shape sentence jungles

and remember the books you have enjoyed reading too!

Don't forget those always useful items!

Discuss with the children the grammar that you may have explored. Add a noun treasure chest (facts about nouns and some key nouns from different content) and an adjective atlas (a picture on which the children can stick or add key adjectives they have met e.g colours/sizes/characteristics).Pop in a listening stick or two - so that the children with their new teacher can play some very familiar listening games and then build on these and move on!

Listening sticks

Have you packed your phrase book?

What can the children now ask and say about themselves that means they are moving more toward independence in simple basic dialogue and conversation. Pack an example totem pole -if you made them- or create a cartoon strip or recording of a typical dialogue.

What's a totem pole? Take a look here!

Totem Poles 

Hurrah off we go! 

Celebrate with the children their success this year.Why not put on a class language exhibition to share with another class or parents what you have done this year?

Now it's time to check what's in the suitcase and pass it on to the next class teacher...so they can unpack the suitcase with the class next year.

When are we there?

Once September arrives then the next class teacher has a reference point that can act as a prompt with the children and the whole class can have great fun unpacking their suitcase and explaining what they already have learned. The suitcase can come out throughout the year when content or contexts are supported by the prior learning.

What does this look like in practise?

Well the wonderful @EWoodruffe has been packing her classes suitcases this July and here is her blog all about this Let's pack our suitcases

Plant pot story actions and song

Plant pot story , actions and song 

Last year as part of a JLN  network project during the Spring term I created a series of simple activities to link to KS1 growing things science focus we developed a these materials and the activities below . 

Thanks to Ana Garcia Lavado who drew the pictures and Emilie Woodruffe @EWoodruffe, Barbara and Flora who  provided the target language phrases and Joanne who created the simplest of plant growing songs based on the familiar refrain of Frère Jacques.

Our Learning Objectives 

To understand how a plant grows and the conditions it requires 

To listen and respond to commands in a target language

To practise performing a simple sequence of actions in the target language

To learn a song in the target language 

(As some of our schools have now developed their own vegetable gardens and plots we found real examples from the target  language countries to share with the children .

Here is a project at a school in Limoges , where you can find a chart explaining what they planted and in which month and pictures of the young gardeners planting their vegetable seeds

Limoges ProjetJardinPotager.pdf

The Simple Lesson Activities

The activities below are based on  five simple pictures made in to a story that describes how we grow a plant from seed .Here's a plant pot pictures downloadable zip file 

Here is the   French plant pot story

.......and here are the PDF power point plant pot stories  in the other target languages : 

 French plant pot story

German plant pot story

Mandarin plant pot story

Spanish plant pot story

1. Discuss with the children the conditions required to grow a seed or a plant .

2. Look at crops from the target language country . We selected sunflowers in France, water melons in spain , Kohlrabi in Germany and rice in China. Share with the children pictures of these crops and compare the pictures of real crops with art work linked to the crops :  

And shared with them art work that depicted crops as paintings .Here is a goauche after Rufino Tamayo 

And don't forget the all time favourite Van Gogh's  Sunflowers

3. Read the story power point slides to the children . 

Here is a sound file of the reading of the story in Mandarin Chinese Mandarin plant pot story

Give out the pictures from the plant pot picture zip file to five children and ask the class  to help you to reorganise the pictures into the order that you saw them on the ppt story .Move the children holding the pictures into the correct order and then retell the story a second time . 

4. Order the plant pot pictures on the flip chart in the correct order . Ask the children to help you tell the  story this time .Can they help you to create actions for each story slide .

5 . We then shared with the children the simple song to the refrain of Frère Jacques in the target language .It's made up of the sentences on the power point.  For example in French we sang : 

Plante les graines

Arrose les graine 

Brille soleil brille 

Brille soleil brille 

Regarde comme elles poussent 

Regarde comme elles poussent 

Voilà vos fleurs 

Voilà vos fleurs 

Here's the sound file of the Mandarin version Mandarin plant pot song

We asked the children to stand up and listen and join in with the correct actions .

Then we encouraged the children to practise the song with us and try to sing along and join in with the actions

Finally the children were able to perform the song on their own!

You could go on to link this work with previous blogposts 

Growing sunflower numbers

Springtime ,story , drama and performance