Primary Languages - The Council for Subject Associations

A Languages
voice for subjects
Primary
Learning outside the classroom
Summer 2009 PS4
Are you beginning to tire of practising
‘What’s your name?’ and counting
1–10? Are you seeking inspiration
for interesting contexts for children
to link learning about colours and
numbers? Are you keen to offer some
fresh content to go with the new
language? Could you do with ideas for
Key Stage 1 as well as Key Stage 2?
Would you appreciate some examples
in languages other than French? Then,
keep reading… this edition of Primary
Languages is for you!
O
n this page we have ideas for making
connections with maths. On the
centre pages we provide some super
suggestions for working throughout
Key Stages 1 and 2 using Minibeasts
as the theme, and we introduce you to
dendrochronology. Finally, we offer further
ideas for resources to help promote
outdoor learning and languages on page 4.
Cross-curricular
traffic survey
How can Primary Languages teachers
take languages outside the classroom?
ALL member Helen Kent, who
works with feeder primary schools
in Cumbria, offers the following
suggestion.
MATHS
Cross-subject link
How about combining a look at your local
environment with language learning and
the numeracy objective of making a tally
chart and representing data in a variety of
ways? Perhaps you are going to take your
class outside to undertake a traffic survey.
Use this as an opportunity for language
learning. Teach key nouns using visuals for
bus, car, van, lorry, bicycle, motorbike and
other vehicles. Introduce the plural form
so that children can report back on their
findings. Use graphics on the tally sheets
to remind them of the meanings and ask
children to keep a tally alongside the
vehicle names written in the language.
Once children have completed the tally,
consolidate their findings in the classroom.
First revise key nouns and numbers. The
number you go up to will depend on the
survey findings. Introduce the question
word for How many? (Combien de?
Wie viele? Cuantos?). If you teach a
phrase for there is/there are such as il y
a, es gibt, hay you can elicit the results in
the new language, encouraging responses
at sentence level: Il y a combien de
voitures? Il y a dix voitures. Using
whole sentences in this way to form simple
conversations would be a great outcome
for oracy objective O4.4 (Ask and answer
questions on several topics) from the KS2
Framework for Languages, while at the
same time encouraging children to develop
their skills in collecting data. Using the
new language to complete part of a task
you would be doing anyway is extremely
motivating and enables children to see the
language as having a useful purpose.
Why not invite a partner school abroad,
to do the same activity in English,
exchange the data and use it to draw
conclusions about the comparative
localities? Pupils in Upper Key Stage 2
could use the data to give a short oral
presentation (O5.4 Prepare a short
presentation on a familiar topic) or write
up the sentences they have practised orally
using a model you provide (L6.4 Write
sentences on a range of topics using a
model). This could form part of a display
on how to present data in different ways.
Minibeasts
Minibeasts images courtesy of the Pictopus gallery – see www.ictopus.org.uk
Children of all ages love everything to
do with minibeasts. Here Linda Owen,
Gloucestershire Primary Languages
Advisory Teacher, shows how to build
a spiral curriculum, revisiting the
topic but in a more sophisticated way
each time.
B
egin with a minibeast hunt in the
school grounds or wider environment,
introducing nouns such as:
◗◗ Un escargot – a snail
◗◗ Une coccinelle – a ladybird
◗◗ Une araignée – a spider
◗◗ Une chenille – a caterpillar
◗◗ Un ver de terre – a worm
◗◗ Un papillon – a butterfly
◗◗ Une abeille – a bee
Years 1 and 2
Here are some ideas for developing the
theme through the year groups.
Early Years Foundation
Stage
◗◗ Nouns + actions – each noun could have
an accompanying action to allow the
children to listen and respond before
they produce the words independently.
◗◗ Nouns + numbers, counting.
◗◗ Listening for initial sounds.
◗◗ La Jolie Ronde – ‘La Ronde des Petits’
has some excellent materials on this
theme.
◗◗ The website La Maternelle De
Moustache is also really useful
www.jt44.free.fr. Search in the
alphabetical index for chenille, papillon
or escargot, for example, to find lots
of free resources.
◗◗ Nouns + un/une, le/la – the minibeasts
can be sorted depending on whether
they are ‘un’ or ‘une’.
◗◗ Prepositions – let the children put the
minibeast ‘sur’ or ‘derrière’ a flower or
leaf etc. Take the children on a bug hunt
and ask for a preposition to describe
where each was found.
◗◗ Very Hungry Caterpillar – the life cycle of
a butterfly.
◗◗ Going on a Bear Hunt – this includes
some habitats, which may come in
useful later on.
Years 3 and 4
◗◗ Expressing an opinion– ‘J’aime les
coccinelles.’
◗◗ Connectives – ‘Je n’aime pas les
araignées mais j’aime les coccinelles.’
◗◗ Visit habitats in your area. Ask the
children who lives there – ‘Qui habite
ici’? They may spot the link between
‘habite’ and ‘habitat’.
◗◗ Design an experiment to test the
following statement – ‘Les escargots
n’aiment pas manger la pizza. Les
escargots préfèrent manger les
feuilles.’
◗◗ Take digital cameras or video cameras on
a minibeast hunt. Back in the classroom,
create presentations adding text labels
and perhaps even voice over.
Years 5 and 6
◗◗ Investigate food chains – La feuille est
mangée par l’escargot. L’escargot
est mangé par l’oiseau. L’oiseau est
mangé par le chat.
◗◗ Introduce the children to a classification
key and use suitable software to set one
up in the language.
◗◗ Investigate camouflage – C’est bien
camouflé ou ce n’est pas bien
camouflé?
◗◗ Allow the children to take digital photos
or make short nature films to send to
a link school and compare the locality.
They could also make animations or
create multi-media presentations (writing
for a particular audience, speaking and
listening).
SCIENCE
Cross-subject link
Dendrochronology
Did you know that the science of tree
rings is known as dendrochronology?
By studying sections of tree trunks
you can determine the age of the
tree, how fast it grew and what
the climatic conditions were like.
Louise Pagden, Hampshire Primary
Languages Consultant tells us how
dendrochronology can be used for
Primary Language learning
D
uring the summer term of Year 6 the
children at Freegrounds Junior School,
Hampshire, spent six weeks studying
dendrochronology through a Spanish
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated
Learning) unit of work. This cross-curricular
unit built on children’s previous knowledge
of growing things and helped them
explore cause and effect relationships.
The teacher began by asking the class to
consider which factors were required for
tree growth, and what happened when
these were not present. Using real cross
sections of trees, as well as pictures (see
page 4), children looked at the differential
growth of trees during the seasons. They
discussed the different ages of the trees
and made comparisons. At the end of
the unit, children played the role of ‘Dr.
Dendro’, analysing and diagnosing the
problems that real trees experienced.
The overarching theme of tree rings
naturally lent itself to many aspects of
grammar, which needed to be reinforced
in their language learning, such as the
construction of sentences, and particularly
the different word classes. Children were
given two statements about the tree
rings: los círculos son estrechos and
los círculos son anchos, which they had
to link with one of two other statements
about the speed of growth of the tree.
En el verano el árbol crece
muy rapido.
En el invierno el árbol crece
muy lentamente.
By considering the causes for the tree rings
being either close together or farther apart,
they were able to create sentences using
connectives to link clauses, for example:
Los círculos son muy estrechos
porque en el invierno el árbol
crece muy lentamente.
If your class is learning French, your starter
sentences could be:
Les cercles sont étroits.
Les cercles sont larges.
L’arbre poussait vite.
L’arbre poussait lentement.
These could then be connected with donc
or parce que thus: L’arbre poussait
lentement, donc les cercles sont larges.
Here are further possibilities based on the
amount of sun to which the tree had been
exposed.
Ici l’arbre poussait lentement.
Ici l’arbre poussait vite.
Il y avait plus de soleil.
Il y avait moins de soleil.
Children could link these as follows:
Ici l’arbre poussait lentement,
parce qu’il y avait moins de
soleil.
Il y avait plus de soleil, donc
l’arbre poussait vite.
They also examined word order El árbol
verde. El agua fría. and changed
sentences to the negative form: No hay
mucha luz, por lo tanto el árbol no
crece mucho.
The children thoroughly enjoyed this unit
of work, particularly analysing real cross
sections of trees. One child said he had
‘learnt a lot, and it was really different from
normal Spanish lessons’. Many children
remarked that they liked the combination
of learning Spanish and science at the
same time. They also liked handling the
pieces of tree trunk, and the way that
whilst much of the learning took place
inside the classroom, this could be applied
in the outside world.
News Primary Languages
A
voice for subjects
Do you know
Other resources
Unit 6 of the 2007 non-statutory QCA
Schemes of Work for KS2 Languages
Growing things features the life cycle of a
plant in simple French, Spanish or German?
This unit complements Life Processes in
the Key Stage 2 curriculum for science and
incorporates ideas for also teaching about
fruit and vegetables, and making links with
the story of Jack and Beanstalk. Do you
have a vegetable plot or flower garden
in your school grounds where children
could observe wild life growing or even
plant some seeds or bulbs themselves?
There are plenty of simple but engaging
teaching activities in the units which are
also cross referenced to the Key Stage 2
Framework for Languages. Each primary
school is eligible for one free copy of the
whole Scheme of Work in one language,
and additional printed copies in a ring
binder are available for just £15 a set per
language. For more copies contact
◗◗ For pictures of cross sections of trees
go to www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/
treerings/tree_rings.ppt
◗◗ Primary Resources website
www.primaryresources.co.uk has a
PowerPoint of plants which you can use
as picture prompts for discussing what
plants need in order to grow.
◗◗ If you would like to swap ideas more
generally, you can also visit
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/
primarymflresources
This is a yahoo group managed by
volunteers Helen Myers (past ALL
president) and Cynthia Martin (Presidentelect of ALL), where you can both
upload and download resources.
◗◗ On the CILT Primary Languages training zone, www.primarylanguages.org.uk,
you can see Kati Szeless discussing
the effect of distance to the Sun
in some cross curricular work on
the Planets using connectives in an
interesting context.
QCA Orderline
PO Box 29
Norwich
NR3 1GN
Association for Language
Learning news
If you are interested in findings
from research related to languages
developments and projects, look out for
the summer 2009 issue of ALL’s Language
Learning Journal, which is a special edition
devoted entirely to languages in the
primary school.
Past issues of Primary Languages are also
posted on the ALL website.
Association for Language Learning
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH
tel 0116 229 7453
fax: 0116 229 7456
www.ALL-languages.org.uk
tel: 0870 060 6015
email: orderline@qca.org.uk
Alternatively, download them from
www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/schemes
Ten Seeds
A delightful book with which children
may already be familiar is Ruth Brown’s
Ten Seeds, which has been translated into
French and Spanish.
Brown, Ruth (2001) Dix petites graines.
Published by Gallimard Jeunesse.
ISBN 2-07-054521-0.
Brown, Ruth (2001) Diez semillas.
Published by Brosquil.
ISBN 978-84-95620-96-5
It covers numbers 1–10, with a very simple,
beautifully illustrated text introducing ants,
a pigeon, mouse, slug, mole, cat, dog,
flowers and bees from a child’s perspective.
This pamphlet is part of Primary Subjects 4, published by CfSA. Unless otherwise indicated, the content is copyright free for use within your educational establishment.