Christmas Cracker Content!

Christmas Crackers have always entertained my friends from other countries! They love them! This year I thought we could make a simple UKS2 lesson on similarities and differences in Christmas traditions and add a focus on sentence structure and grammar too.



We are going to create a box set of christmas crackers - each containing a full sentence made up of a part of the verb "to have", a noun and an adjective.The noun and the adjective are the surprise content of the cracker and the children are going to be able to determine the content! 

In this activity children will be practising

• nouns, 
• adjectives and adjectival agreement 
• and the verb "to have"

You may want to practise the verb "to have" before you attempt the activities below.Here is a festive approach to practising the verb "to have"Christmas Cracker and Christmas Carol style !
Christmas Carol Verb Singers






You will need Christmas crackers made as follows for this activity:

Plain card tempates - two per cracker.

First template is the base, 

Second template is cut in to three sections - two ends and a middle.

On the left hand end write part of the verb to have.

Gather all the right hand templates together and also make a pile of the centre sections you put to one side.

On each of the right end templates you are going to write adjectives that agree with the nouns you will write on the centre sections .

The activity

The children are going to be able to select a noun and an adjective that agrees with the noun to complete the class "Christmas Crackers" .

Each noun should be a festive object and you should aim to have examples of masculine and feminine singular nouns and plural nouns too.

Randomly place the christmas crackers with the parts of the verb on the board 

Can the children help you to create a Christmas box of crackers - so that the crackers on the board are in paradigm order?

Now ask the children to select nouns for each cracker (perhaps even the objects you find as presents in the cracker or characters and objects we associate with Christmas).

Can they now add the correct adjective- remind them that the spelling of the adjective must suit the noun they are describing!

Blu-tac the noun and the adjective to the cracker selected by the children

Can you make a box set of crackers each with the object and its description!

Time for your own crackers! 

Ask the children to design and create their own "Christmas Crackers Selection Box" ,creating their own full sentences and adding a picture of the object on the reverse of the cracker. 

You can support children by allowing them to use the language you have practised or you can stretch children by asking them o think of their own objects , find the noun and describe the noun with their own choice of adjectives.

Christmas Carol Verb Singers!

This activity is a stand alone activity or can be part of the Christmas Cracker lessons for UKS2
The aims of the activity are to practise the parts of the verb "to have" and create a simple carol performance in which children identify the singular and plural forms of the present tense of the verb"to have".




You will need to introduce or revisit the verb "to have" :christmas cracker style! 

• Draw  8 2D Christmas Crackers on festive paper and the same on plain card.
• Cut out  the shapes.
• On the plain paper in the centre section , write one part of the present tense of the verb paradigm  "to have" in  the target language.
• Cut the festive paper crackers in half.

• Stick the outer edges of one of the festive Christmas cracker on to one of the plain paper crackers - so that the festive cracker can open and shut in the middle.
• Put the finished festive crackers on the board. 
• Ask volunteers amongst the children to select a cracker.
• Open the cracker with the children.

• Look at the phrase written in the middle. Do the children recognise any of the phrases?Can they identify that hes phrases are parts of a verb?
• Can they help you to organise the crackers in to a paradigm of the verb (singular line of crackers and plural line of crackers) ?
• (You may need blu tac to keep the festive crackers shut when you want to conceal the phrases written on the plain paper).

A Christmas Carol 

• Practise the verb "to have" in the target language by opening the festive crackers one by one from the top of the singular line through to the bottom of the plural line of crackers.
• Can the children see any patterns emerging? 
• Hum with the class the tune of "We wish you a Merry Christmas". Pause occasionally and select a festive cracker.Can the children remember the phrase that is inside the cracker?
• In pairs ask the children to try to fit the paradigm of the verb "o have" in the target language to the tune of "We wish you a Merry Christmas!"(It will work in French,Spanish and German if you make it a "merry" and sometimes "exagerated" sounding song").
• Ask volunteers to share their songs.Select a class favourite from the songs.
• Now practise the song as a class group of carol singers!

• Make it a Christmas Carol singer performance- ask the children to stand in rows of six making a crescent shape.
• Sing the chosen version of the "to have" Merry Christmas song and ask the children to shake hands with one person on the left or right on singular parts of the verb and to cross arms and join hands with partners on either side and shake hands ,standing in their rows for the plural parts of the verb

Christmas heroes!

My previous blog post about Mog the hero of the Christmas night has got me thinking!


What about creating descriptions of christmas characters as heroes of the celebrations?
we can explore the verb "to be" , adjectives and the agreement of adjectives with the masculine and feminine characters!


Step One 

• Show the children part of the clip of Mog saving the Christmas celebrations in the Sainsburys advert for 2015 or discuss with the children what Mog has done to save the celebrations without viewing the clip.
• Discuss how this makes him  a hero!

Step Two 

• Brainstorm or share adjectives with the children in UKS2 that we associate with heroes.
• Look for cognates and semi cognates 
• Check for false friends

Step Three

• Write them super hero style in the sky - so the children are looking at the spelling and practising the spelling

Step Four

• Show the paradigm of the verb to be to the class.
• Practise saying the verb "super hero" style
• Idenitify the parts of the verb yoou will need to say "He is...." and "She is..."
• Ask the children to tell a partner a super hero sentence for Mog in the target language and then to write  the super hero sentence in the air. 
• On the board with the class write 5  "Mog the super hero sentences" - use the "He is ..." part of your paradigm of the verb "to be" plus five of the adjectives you have been investigating
• You could stop here and create Mog the superhero christmas posters or .....
• Ask the children to create a poster about their own superhero character (Rudolph the reindeer or Father Christmas or a Christmas elf- the character must be a masculine noun.Again you could stop here and create your own super hero posters or .........

Step Five 

• Introduce the Christmas fairy .(This must be a feminine noun). 
• Using the "She is ...." sentence from your paradigm above and the adjectives you used to describe a super hero,write some super hero sentences for the fairy on the board.
• Can the children read the sentences with a partner
• Can the children in pairs now say the sentences in their own preferred order for the Christmas fairy from most true to least true
• Can they cross refernce the sentences abouty the Christmas fairy and one of the masculine christmas super heroes you have prepared sentences about (see above).Can they spot the spelling changes to the adjective?

And now using the People Pillar Poem activities from blogpost in May 2015 you could  create your  own Christmas superheroes pillar poems and 3D characters !Ths time focus on the 3rd person singular of the verb to be and the correct agreement of the adjectives to describe the character's super powers! 

People pillar poems and template

Mog, negatives and positives at Christmas

Most of us will by now have seen Sainsburys Christmas 2015 advertisement.It stars Mog the cat.There is a beautiful story by Judith Kerr about Mog at Christmas too- a much less disastrous story!
Here are some ways I think we can exploit the video clip with moving on and advanced learners in UKS2.

Let's take the clip and use the footage for language learning purposes before Christmas in UKS2.
First watch the clip and look at the language content- house,home, kitchen,food,decorations, actions,emotions etc....
First why not try out some of the observation reading activities I wrote about here:

You can revisit familiar language, explore new vocabulary (house,home,verbs ,adjectives, empotions, adverbs etcetra etcetra!)and broaden vocabulary and then get the children to observe the clip and identify when they see key written language.
Revisiting language observational games







Let's be a bit negative!
The clip describes how everything is spoilt by a fire in the kitchen.....
Why not practise the negative with the children in UKS2?

• Look at the structure of the negative using "there is/there are "in the target language.Ask the children to watch the clip and pause the clip at points and ask the class to write individually or in pairs or with TA support a negative sentence e.g pause as the tree falls down ... can the children write "There is no tree".
• Share the sentences!Ask volunteers to share their sentences either in spoken or written form.Write them out clearly on the board.
• Now let's add a touch of positivity! 
• Can the children help you to change their negative sentences to positive sentences! 
• Write the positive sentences out clearly too! 

Let's be melodramatic! 

• Ask the class to practise with a partner saying a negative sentence from your list and then the opposite "positive" sentence" from your list
• Can they add emotion in their voicesand facial expressions?
• Can the class mimic what they hear and see as children volunteer to perform their melodramatic negative- positive sentences?

Let's share the good news!

• Create simple negative- positive lift the flap strips - 
• Ask the children to write a negative statement on the top flap and a positive statement to rectify the situation on the bottom  flap
• Encourage children to find new target language vocaubulary for items associated with celebrations!  

Shoes filled with language and with treats!

Some of us are beginning to get organised for December and thinking of ways to link language learning,culture and celebrations.
Every year we celebrate with our young language learners- Saint Nicholas Day.
Children in Europe hope to receive a stocking or a shoe filled with treats from Saint Nicholas for their good behaviour.
Let's move this in to the world of language learning.
Let's reflect on our learning this term ands let's look at how we are developing our skills of language learning too!
(In fact this could make a great AfL tool or even a summative assessment task).
The activities below will take two lessons or the shoe can be  produced as a ten minute follow up activity at the end of a couple of lessons over the next couple of weeks and then you will need one lesson for the actual language learning activities.  

What to do?

• Take the simple shoe template. I have just pinned a template for a Saint Nicholas shoe here on my Janet's language learning pinterest board
• Give all the children  a template and ask them to create their own Saint Nicholas shoes.They can decorate the shoes with target languae items and pictures or cartoon characters,symbols and flags to represent facts andfestivals you may have already considered with them this Autumn term. that throughput the term.
• Once the shoes are ready and have the children's names written on the soles - as  a target language sentence  (maybe with more advanced learners they can tell you ore about themselves - where they live, what they like etc).
• Now you need to select the type of activity to suit the age and stage of the children.

Key Stage One 

• Practise numbers.Then give the children number cards and ask the children to help you select the correct number card and put in in their own shoes.
• Can they take the numbers out of the shoe after the activity and tell a partner the numbers.
• Can they put all the numbers back in their shoes in a pile from lowest to highest and count them in and say them as they put them in the pile.
• Ask the children to place them on a window ledge- ready to receive a treat or reward in the shoes from Saint Nicholas!

Year Three /beginners

(Practising pronunciation,broadening vocabulary, reading out loud, using a bilingual dictionary)

• Practise using  bilingual dictionaries with the children.think about foods and presents and colours of Christmas time. 
• As a class invedstigate the letter strings and sounds of the new words and dicuss patterns and sound links.Say the words out loud.Ask for volunteers to read aloud independently the words.
• Now give the children 10 blank pieces of card.Ask the children to spurce for themselves, write out and decorate the ten cards.then ask them to place them in alphabetical order in their shoes.
• Ask the choldren to share their shoes with a partner.Can the partner identify the item from  the picture , can they try to apply sound and letter string rules to read out loud the words in the target language.
• Ask the children to put the words back in their shoes again - in alphabetical order and then place them on a window ledge- ready to receive a treat or reward in the shoes from Saint Nicholas!  

Year 4 and Year 5 (Moving On)

(Practising pronunciation,broadening vocabulary, reading out loud, using a bilingual dictionary, exploring basic grammar, speaking and writing in full sentences)

• Practise with the children how they can express a like or a dislike and the question and answer they can give for a like or a dislike.
• Perhaps some of your older or more advanced learners (Year 5) children can express an opinion too and add an additional clause.
• Investigate as a class using bilingual dictionaries key nouns that we associate with Christmas e.g presents, food, types of food such as sprouts(!!)  , carols, Christmas tree. Christmas decorations, cards,shops , family.discuss the sound spelling links and alos the gender of the nouns and whether theses are singular or plural.
• Ask the children to use bilingual dictionaries to write in draft  four sentences about Christmas - two "love" and two "like" and maybe one "dislike"  sentences.Ask them to think carefully about how they write the nouns and the plural form if necessary of the nouns too.They can add an opinion clause too if they are able to.
• Now ask them to write these sentences out in best on strips of paper and to decorate the reverse side of the strips of paper.The children must  fold up the strips in to conertinas, each fold is after a single word and place these  in their shoes.
• Ask a partner to trake out the concertyian- read aloud the words as they unfold the concertinas and then to say the sentence a second time without reading the paper and mime the meaning of the sentence.
• Ask the children to put the folded concertina strips back in their shoes again and then place them on a window ledge- ready to receive a treat or reward in the shoes from Saint Nicholas!

Year 6 (Advanced)

(Practising pronunciation,broadening vocabulary, reading out loud, using a bilingual dictionary, exploring basic grammar, writing in full sentences, describing people,places and objects)

• Take a look at the verb "to be" in the target languge 
• Look at singular and plural nouns associated with Christmas 
• Model and disucss the use of thrid person singular "is" and third person plural "are" with singular and plural nouns.
• Play a game ,where you ask the children to decide if they should use "is" or "are" as you mime and slowly write up on the white board one of the nouns you have shared.
• Now ask the children on their tables to  brainstorm  key  Christmas nouns  in English and then look for and check spelling  of these in the target language in a bilingual dictionary. 
• Can the table now brainstorm and look up adjectives (atleast two per noun) to describe the items e.g mouldy sprouts or colourful presents etc.
• Give each child a set of five cards.On the front they need to write in the target language  a full sentence using part of the verb "to be" and the correct third person singular or plural form plus the noun  they have selected and the adjective or adjectrives they want to use to describe the item.The children must try to agree the adjective with the noun! On the reverse they need to decorate the card with the item they are describing so that it looks like the description they have chosen.You can differentiate the task by suggesting to sokme children they use the language the table already brainstormed, to others they must use this as a platform but add new adjectives and  to others they should try to create atleast two independent brand new sentences with their own sourced language from the bilingual dictionary.
• Ask the children to put the cards back in their shoes and then place them on a window ledge- ready to receive a treat or reward in the shoes from Saint Nicholas! 

 

Creating Characters and being Junior Judges on Strictly!

I love Strictly! We have used Stictly before in our network - a couple of schools created dance routines with directons, counting and commands.It worked really well.

Joanne, my associate colleague set up a Stictly Come Dancing Judges panel with numbers and personal info introductions too!

This year I am certain that children would love to become target language "Junior Judges"- just like the ones on the real programme.Watching "Strictly It Takes Two" I realised how we couod easily use this idea with children talking in the target language.

We will practise the verb "to be" and nouns.Add interesting adjectives and we could make similes too!
It's a simple but topical way of creating descriptive sentences, practising the verb to be and looking up and using nouns too and writimg,reading and saying out loud sentences in the target language!Oh and don't forget the children in the class will have to listen to each other too!

The tools we will need to be junior judges!

• We need to consider which parts of the paradigm we will need to describe pictures of dancers.  
• Firstly we need to practise the verb "to be" and selecting and placing the correct parts of the paradigm of the verb "to be" under dancers pictures "he...."/"she......"/ "they (male)......" they (female)....." and "they (male and female).......
• Secondly we need to investigate nouns we may like to use to describe dancers and the characters they are portraying.Let's collect useful nouns  from our bilingual dictionaries: ( pirate/ princess/ fairy/wizard/cyclist/penguin/bear/gentleman/ lady/ fruit seller etc).I would show the children some clips of the dancing from Strictly come Dancing or you could show picures on screen of soke of the dancers in outfits etc- Movie night or Halloween night would be two good themes.There are plenty of pictures out there on the internet too to use...... 
• Now let's play Simon says with the nouns and add actions and freeze frames

Judge the dancers!

• Why not show the children a couple of the dancers and the dances and let the children write out a descriptive sentences about the characters in the dances e.g "He is like a pirate" or "They are like monsters" etc
• Why not additionally or alternatively make it a guessing game.One person reads out the sentences he/she has written and the  rest of the class must guess who the sentences desctribes from the people in the show.

People Pillar Poems

You could always finish off the activity by creating some of my People Pillar Poems- using the characters from the dances....as both a writing and 3D display activity.Thanks to Clare Seccombe for the template!

Take a look here 

People Pillar Poems and template

Autumn activities

Over the last two years and at this particular time of year, I have written blog posts to celebrate Autumn.I  have brought them altogether here to help those who want to teach a series of lessons based on Autumn.

Simple activities that all your staff can use to practise numbers , colours,simple language with an Autumn style theme, based around leaves, counting and the colour of leaves.

Practising basic language with an Autumn focus

Being creative with the theme of autumn from creating imaginary fantatsical fruits to creating our own German Eulen and reading a Spanish Autumn poem

A touch of Autumn creativity

Taking an Autumn walk, making 3D maps of parks and places in town

Taking an Autumn walk

Exploring a beautiful French poem with UKS2 - les feuilles mortes.

Les feuilles mortes

Writing ,and a review of this half term's language learning, using Autumn leaves to be gathered in amd shared out again at the start of next half term!

Writing and a review of progress in our writing

Autumn markets and simple language links with Maths.

Autumn markets

Using drama,poetry,music and performance to go on an autumn walk with a French poem

An Autumn poetry walk 

Looking for nouns, adjectives and verbs

Autumn word sorts and games 

Autumn descriptive sentences with a  noun, an adjective and the verb "to be"

Autumn sentence trees.Writing complex sentences (noun,verb, adjective, conjunction and intensifier)

Autumn sentence trees

It's just a pile of Autumn leaves - or is it?
In this pile are many spoken and wrtten Autumn messages.Just how many can your children create?

Let's make an Autumn sentence tree

You may find my previous two blog posts help too!
Autumn word sorts and game

Autumn descriptive sentences with the verb "to be"


In this activity the learners will create spoken and written interesting sentences about Autumn using nouns,adjectives, common verbs, a conjunction and possibly an intensifier.

Your learners will need to have access to bilingual dictionaries and will need to be moving on or advanced primary language learners.They will be  at a stage where as a class you are exploring adjectives and agreement and  parts of verbs to be and to have.You could take this further and explore common regular verbs in the present tense associated with Autumn too.

Each type of leaf represents in this activity part of a sentence: 

Nouns associated with Autumn or Harvest time

The verbs "to be" and "to have" and /or verbs about harvest time

Adjectives to describe Autumn

Intensifiers and conjunctions to make our sentences more interesting

• Discuss with the children what each leaf shape represents.
• Write on the whiteboard clearly a sentence in the target language about Autumn which uses the following:

noun,verb,adjective,conjunction, noun, verb intensifier ,adjective

(e.g. the apples are red and the apples are very sweet)

(e.g.the birds fly fast,but the hedgehogs are very tired)

• Read the sentence aloud for the chldren .Can the children identify what type of sentence you have written- does it compare two Autumn objects or does it give more than one descriptive detail about a Autumn object?
• Can the children help you to read aloud the sentence and then identify which leaf shape represents each of the part of the sentence.Place each leaf shape above the correct part of each part of the sentence.
• Give the children time to re-read the sentence and to try to remmeber it.Cover spme of the parts of the sentence with the leaf shapes.
• Can the children say the sentence to a partner and remmebr what is behind the leaf shapes?
• Can the children write out the sentence?
• Share with the children a leaf shape sentence like below:

• Can the children create their own interesing Autumn sentences which follow the leaf shape sentence structure ?
• Ask partners to check each others sentences
• Now ask the children to draw and write out their sentences ,placing the words in the correct leaf shapes they draw. 
• Now you have your Autumn sentence tree drawings ready to go up on an Autumn sentence tree display.

  

Autumn descriptive sentences with the verb" to be ".

It's just a pile of Autumn leaves- or is it? In this pile are many messages both spoken and written.Let's explore!

Take a variety of Autumn leaves and create explorations of sentence structure and creative comparisons! Here is the second blog post....Take a look here at the first blog post Autumn word sort and game
 My Autumn leaves pile allows us to explore sentences and to say and write sentences of our own and create a decriptive comparison of Autumn.

Each leaf shape represent a structure within a sentence.
In this activity the leaf shapes represent the following:

An Autumn noun: a leaf,fruit (s), vegetable(s), animal connected with Autumn (e.g squirrel,hedgehog,bird)

Part of the present tense of  the verb "to be "  in the target language

An adjective to describe our Autumn noun

You may at this point want to play the gathering game from the previous blog post Autumn word sort just  to gather nouns and adjectives and as a class to identify parts of the verb "to be" and the verb "to have".

Autumn twig sentences 

Can the children on mini whiteboards write their own Autumn sentences: a sentence using the verb "to be"  (noun,verb,adjective)

The sentence can be checked orally with a partner or the class and then the children can transfer their spoken sentences to their own visual display sentences.These are twig sentences to go on our class display of the verb "to be " Autumn tree.Take a look here:

Autumn word sorts and game

It's just a pile of Autumn leaves- or is it? In this pile are many messages both spoken and written.Let's explore!

Take a variety of Autumn leaves and create explorations of sentence structure and creative comparisons! Here is the first blog post... the rest are to follow!

My Autumn leaves pile



Each leaf shape represents a structure within a sentence that our primary language learners are exploring as they develop their ability to speak and write sentences in the target language.

Take a look at what I mean:

My "noun" leaf

My verb leaf:

My adjective leaf:

and for the learners that are now moving on in their ability to form target language sentences here are:

my conjunction and intensifier leaves 

  

 Now let's go on our first  Autumn Exploration!

Step One 

• Can the children help you collect words: nouns or adjectives or verbs linked to Autumn and colours or animals associated with Autumn, going for an Autumn walk or harvesting fruit and vegetables?
• Can the children make the decision as to whether the word they have thought of, remembered or accessed in the bilingual dictionary is a noun, adjective or verb?
• Ask the children to write out clearly on pieces of paper or card their favourite Autumn words that they have remembred or investigated.
• Attach the leaf symbols too the top of the class board.Now ask the children to help you place the nouns under the noun leaf on the white board, the adjectves under the adjective leaf and the verbs under the  verb leaf.

Step Two 

• Collect together the cards or write out the words onto cardsthat the class has found -you could ask the children to do this for you.
• Place the written word cards in a pile on the floor or the table. 
• Play a sorting game .
• Can the children help you sort the nouns, adjectives and verbs in to three piles?
• Now you are ready as a class to play the Autumn Word Game (see below)

A Possible Step Three

With more advanced learners you coud take the activity one step further and add conjunctions and adverbs too!

The Autumn Word table game 

• Children to play the game as a table game.
• Object of the game to win as many Autumn words as possible.
• Ask tables of  four to six children to write out as many of the words as the class has collected on to cards.Give the children a time limit for this.
• Now give each table a set of Autumn leaves.Each group needs two of each of the noun, adjective , verb autumn leaf cards. 
• Ask the children to put all the written Autumn word cards face up on the table in a jumbled up order - so not categorised as nouns etc.
• Autumn leaves cards face down in a pile on the table.
• Set a time limit for the game!
• Each player takes it in turns to select an autumn leaf card and then to select a written word card that matches the leaf e.g a noun, adjective or verb.As the game progresses a player may not be able to find a noun or an adjective or a verb written card and will have to pass on his or her go.
• With more advanced learners challenge the children to see if they can create an Autumn sentence with one of the nouns,verbs and adjectives that they have collected.... 

Verb to have and verb to be.World Rugby Chants

Last year we talked alot about paradigms of verbs - well here is a topical and current way to introduce or practise the verbs "to have" and "to be in the target language.
Julie Prince visited us here in Warrington and we created a song version of the paradigm of the verb "to be"!  

Show the children the Haka performance from the All blacks team 
The children need bilingual dictionaries so that they can look up key vocabulary (kit, equipment and personality characteristics)

Divide the class into groups with sufficent children spo that they can perform the paradigm of the verbs.
Ask the children to think of items of kit and equipment that a rugby player will need ( boots, socks, shirt, shorts, gum shield, rugby ball etc)
Now the children can create their paradigm chant of the verb to have - with rugby kit 

Repeat the activity with the verb to be and the characteristics of a rugby player (strong, fast, brave, quick,tactical, powerful, etc)

It's a conversion! Rugby World Cup Grammar Challenge

Just a simple game but one I think that some classes will really enjoy! 
How many conversions can a team of children successfully achieve during a focus on grammar in the target language.
Each successful conversion is worth 2 points!

Pick your realistic and stage appropriate grammar focus - nouns, adjectives or present tense verbs!

Now the game is on!

The Rules of Rugby Conversion Grammar

• Each team should have four players (differentiated ability)
• Each player must particpate fully and be involved in the structural change to the noun, verb or adjective.
• Each player needs a small whiteboard and pen or pieces of paper.
• The teacher must set each team a similar challenge with a different item of vocabulary (see below)."The conversion challenge"
• Ask each team to convert the piece of vocabulary in front of them so that it can be used in a different way ( see below).
• Each team player must use their whiteboard or a piece of paper to write or demonstrate pictorially part of the change  to the piece of vocabulary"the conversion "so that it completes your conversion challenge

Possible Conversion Challenges 

With nouns (select an appropriate challenge for the level of your learners)

• Change a noun  and its article from definite to indefinite article and noun
• Change a singular noun to a plural noun
• Find out in the bilingual dicytionary if a noun is masculine or feminine and write it out with a definite artilce and an indefinite article

With adjectives (select an appropriate challenge for the level of your learners)

• Place a correctly written adjective in the correct place in a sentence with a noun
• Write accurately an adjective with a noun that is a feminine noun- expect agreement
• Show the different spellings of one adjective if it is used with a masculine singular , masculine plural , feminine singular, feminine plural noun. 

With verbs (select an appropriate challenge for the level of your learners)

• Spot a verb in a written sentence
• spot an unfamiloar verb in a written sentence and then find its meaning in a bilingual dictionary and write out the infinitive 
• Take an infinitive and write out the first person singular (etcetra) 
• Change an answer using a verb to a second person singular question
• Write a correct sentence using a modal verb and the infinitive of another verb

Let's open the window on the target language World

I love buildings and I love doors and windows.I like to imagine who may be behind the door etc.
With our more advanced learners at the start of the academic year it is a great opportunity to get them talking again! 
Let's give them a picture stimulus for this!



Here are  some photos I have taken this year in France and Spain that we are going to use to get our children using prior knowledge in the target language in a creative way!

All the pictures involve the children pretending to open a window or a door to reveal the person behind the door and create the character.
Just who is behind the door or the window?

This activity and the picture stimulus is a great device to focus on grammar from the previous year.






We can ask the children to use adjectives to describe the person behind a specific window or door.
We can ask the children to use verbs to allow the person behind the window or the door to explain what he/she is doing or whet he/she likes to do
We can use questions and answres to find out more in the first and secind person singular about the person behind the window or door.

All the children need to do is open the door or window of their choice and create the imaginary character behind the door or window! 
Let them stick the picture in their record books and ask them to cut round three sides of their chosen window or the frame of the door and add a drawn sketch of their imaginary person or creature behind the closed window or door.




This can be a spoken activity or it could be a written text ........
Great fun and creative use of language at the same time and an opportunity to revisit and re-use language and structure from prior learning.