Wave sounds,words, reading and writing

We are going to be sharing ideas on "Seaside" at our DFE funded WTSA/JLN local network meeting twilights this next  half term. You would be very welcome to attend if you are near to one of these CPD twilights on the Training Schedule

Here are a few simple ways I think we can create some letter string and sound synthesis and then reading comprehension activities for beginner and moving on learners linked to "waves" in the sea.finally our young language learners can write some target language wave messages for other children to  decipher too!

Wave words 

This is a really simple idea! It involves the way the words sound.

This activity is about enjoying the shape and the sound of the words.with each word suggested ask the children to close their eyes and repeat the word after you and imagine that the sounds are waves coming to shore!

• Ask the children to think of words they know in the target language that sound like a small wave gently moving toward the sea shore or a bigger wave that rolls along toward the shore or a huge wave that crashes to toward the sea shore .
• What we are actually asking the children to do is remember and recall the "sound" of the word and the effect it makes as it is said 

e.g.

 deux - is a small short word and makes a gentle thud

pomme is also a small short warm sound that could be a gentle wave at the sea shore

ananas has louder and more solid sounds and could be a wave that makes more movement as it comes to shore 

brouillard is big and strong and rolls mightily to shore.

Wave word shapes 

You need to consider the words that your children already know in the target language and then add the final sounds from the words to wave shape cards- a small wave, a larger wave , a big wave.

Here is an example of a completed wave word shape card.(I have thought of the words "moi", "lapin" and "grenouille" in French for the three waves here).

You will need 6 different wave word shapes and sufficient cards for one between two- 6 sets of 6 cards will work for most classes.

• Ask the children to look at their card ,working with a partner and to think of three words that fit the waves.The words must end in the correct final sound and be soft gentle words ( for the small wave), bigger more syllable words for the medium wave and large exciting sounding words for the largest wave.
• Once they have three words they can share these with the class .
• Now swap cards and start the activity again , each pair having a new ste of lettre strings on their wave word shapes.

Reading waves

This is an activity that we have used before as snake shapes, where the children have to identify and break up the words so that they can understand the message written down.

This time we will use wave shapes and messages about the seaside .

Take a look here!  It actually says "J'aime la plage car je peux nager et jouer au ballon!
the children need to identify each word to understand and read the message.and they can add their own wave message underneath following the original wave pattern as a writing and prompt frame.