Eye in the Sky Poems

This morning thanks to the BBC Twitter service I received the link to this wonderful hexacopter view of Brazil , the country and the football stadia!

Take a watch of the fantastic birds eye view of Brazil with the "Hexacopter"!

The link is below

Bird's eye view of Brazil

In our new KS2 POS we are required to encourage children to develop their ability to use bi-lingual dictionaries. I can see a purposeful opportunity here.

The ideas below are transferable so you may like to use a similar idea when the children watch a clip about a city , a school visit, another major sporting event such as the Tour de France.

Below are listed the sights and images I saw as I took the "Hexacopter Ride". 

trees,jungle,motor bikes, motorway, beach, sand, sea,monuments, boats, football pitch, stadium, footballers , lake, river, skyscrapers, city , factory,statue, boat ,

Going on a hexacopter ride

Before your children can take the hexacopter ride with you via the BBC link, ask the children to find out what a selection of the mystery nouns are in the target language.Write them clearly on your whiteboard with the correct definite article .

1. Select a maximum of 10 of these items ,depending on the age and stage of the language learners. Some of the images pass by very quickly and but some of them are repeated- so it's best if you watch the video first and decide what is best for your class.
2. Set the scene. Explain that the hexacopter takes you on a journey overhead and that this journey is across the country where the World Cup is taking place .What might they expect to see? Explain to the class how anticipation of the meaning of possible unfamiliar language can support understanding. 
3. Read through the nouns with the children. Can they use prior knowledge or clues such as cognates/ semi-cognates to determine the  meaning of the nouns?
4. Give out bilingual dictionaries -three to a table if possible.Each table should also be given three noun cards  from the list of images you have selected that they must locate in the bi-lingual dictionary. Ask a volunteer to remind the class in which part of the dictionary we will find the target language nouns and how we can then cross reference the meaning by finding the English meaning and checking for the correct target language noun.As there will be a cross over in nouns that tables have found , you will be able to take feedback and verify the most suitable/ correct meaning.
5. Give each table five of the key nouns.It';s up to them as you take the hexacopter journey to pick up and wave the noun that represents the image they can see!
6. Now give pairs a set of all the noun cards.Ask them to lay them out in front of them on the table.Give them chance to recall the meaning on the nouns.(You can differentiate the task by reducing the number of nouns or making sure that nouns are cognates/ semi-cognates). 
7. Now let the class take the hexacopter journey one more time.This time they need to create a ladder of the noun cards in front of them from top (first image they see)..... to bottom(last image they spot).
8. Ask the children to take a final hexacopter ride and to jot down on rough paper or mini whiteboards the colours they can see as they follow the hexacopter journey. They must try to write these in the target language.

• Take feedback from the children after the activity- what colours have they seen?Add this information to the class whiteboard or flip chart.
• Can the children link the colours to the nouns? If the children are at an advanced stage in their language learning can they identify how the spelling of the colour will need to change to match the gender of the noun(masc/feminine/neuter/singular/plural).

Making a performance with the music in the clip

Working as a table again ask the children to listen to the music used for the clip.They must decide how they can create a spoken rap or poem to the rhythm of the music, using the nouns and the colours they have identified in the clip.

Explain that the children need to write a poem/rap that they can say and perform with the clip and the music as their background.

Play the music and the clip as they work on their nouns, colours and rhythm to help them to make sure that their performance is in synch with the music etc. The children should name the images/items as they appear on the screen - so they need to make sure that what they write is in a correct order.

You can decide to have the clip on screen or just conceal the clip and have the music playing for the duration of each performance as this will once again increase or reduce the challenge.

Keeping a written memento of the hexacopter ride: a hexacopter poem

The children can then create their own hexacopter poem of the views of Brazil and the images and colours they have seem .A simple diagram like this allows the children to add their image nouns and colours and to insert a flag or picture of the country in the centre.