The verb to have and a wizard's potion . Practical primary progresson

The verb to have and a wizard's potion . Practical primary progression

We are busy making practical primary progression in foreign language learning within our network . 
We are trying to support children in their language learning and  encouraging them to be creative and effective .

The new DfE POS specifies that children should make "substantial progression in one language in KS2 , that we should lay foundations for future language learning in KS3 and that we should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing focused on familiar routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology , grammatical structures and vocabulary



Over the last year I have been developing approaches to "Drama and Grammar" and "Creativity and Grammar"
In a previous blog I shared our Grammar Stepping Stones  nouns , adjectives ,verbs in the voice of the child which will allow you to understand more about our approach to the development of primary grammar.

This week some of my colleagues shared with secondary colleagues the creative approaches, activities and outcomes they have generated with their Year 6 pupils at a cluster transition meeting. This is what the secondary colleagues thought:

" The enthusiasm of yourself and all the primary cluster members really shone through and the work being done in KS2 is really impressive. What we all picked up on was how comprehensive the SoW in KS2 have become and how creative and innovative those in the primary school can be when delivering it." 

On Monday I will be sharing with colleagues how we have developed activities across four years of learning in KS2 so that with  UKS2 children who have been learning a language for several years we are now confidently exploring verbs and revisiting their developing knowledge of nouns and adjectives .

I work with some wonderful teachers and teaching assistants who take on the challenges , use the activities we generate and then create activities and facilitate learning in styles that best suit their classes. 

Here I will share first some of the materials we provide them with and then some of the outcomes that are from the real classrooms in Warrington!
Take a look at our Wizard's potions in French , German and Spanish.
(We also provide the teachers with sound files and key words where necessary)   



We offer our colleagues support in the development of possible staged activities .   

Here is our French potion poem 

Comment faire un sorcier

J'ai une araignée

Tu as deux grenouilles

Il a un oiseau

Elle a un chat

Maintenant ajoutons un peu de sel

et un peu de sucre

Ils ont cinq crabes

Et vous deux avez sept vers

Et de l'eau et un peu de poivre

Abracadabra!

Nous avons un sorcier!

.....and here are the Spanish and German versions of the potion

Spanish potion

German potion

Here are the two core focuses for the wizard's potion

A focus on nouns

A focus on verbs

And here you can listen to how a non-specialist language teacher was able to generate effective and creative learning revisiting nouns and developing children's understanding of the verb to have in French based on a wizard's potion!

a wizard's spell teacher talk