Primary Languages - The Council for Subject Associations
Transcription
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: [email protected] 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.