For me, language learning has always been inextricably linked to travel and exploration. In my experience, learning even just a few words in the language of any country you travel to allows for a richer and more rewarding experience and, of course, opportunities to engage with native speakers in authentic situations support – and inContinue reading “Running Trips Abroad”
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La Fête des Rois and Día de Los Reyes
La Fête des Rois or Dia de Los Reyes is a interesting tradition to share with children and a great opportunity to link language a culture. Celebrated on the 6th January, Epiphany is a key festival in the Christian calendar and marks the visit of the three kings to the baby Jesus. With lots of regionalContinue reading “La Fête des Rois and Día de Los Reyes”
Lights, camera, action!
For the last few years, I have been running an after-school Spanish Club. Whilst the core group of attendees usually remains the same, a small number of pupils come and go each half term. This means that I try to take a more project-based approach to teaching so that everybody, no matter how much SpanishContinue reading “Lights, camera, action!”
Au Marché !
Back in 2018, I had the great pleasure of taking thirty-five nine and ten-year-olds to northern France for a week. I have so many happy memories of that trip, one of which was a grey morning in the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, when we visited the market. The children had lots of fun looking around allContinue reading “Au Marché !”
J’aime les glaces
With the weather warming up, and the second half of the summer term just around the corner, I’m really looking forward to delivering this brand-new sequence of lessons, which I added to my French scheme for Year 4 when I did some curriculum refreshing last academic year. This is the result of a collaborative planningContinue reading “J’aime les glaces”
Unlocking Cultural Capital
First coined by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ‘cultural capital’ became a bit of an an educational buzz word – at least for those of us working in England – when it first appeared in Ofsted’s 2019 Inspection Framework. Here, it was outlined in rather broad brush strokes as:Continue reading “Unlocking Cultural Capital”
Francophone Art Week
When I first started working as my school’s specialist languages teacher, with responsibility for teaching across all eight Key Stage Two classes, one of my main aims was to take French from being a “stand-alone” subject to one which was much more cross-curricular. Weaving language-learning into the curriculum alongside other subjects felt important in termsContinue reading “Francophone Art Week”
Low and No-Prep Language Lesson Activities
I love sending time planning and preparing creative and engaging activities and resources to use in my languages classroom, but sometimes we all need a go-to activity, which we know will give us the learning outcome we need with a minimal amount of preparation. All of the activities below work well as starters, as wellContinue reading “Low and No-Prep Language Lesson Activities”
The International School Award
The British Council’s International School Award recognises and celebrates schools that have shown a commitment to embedding international awareness and understanding within their curriculum offer. I first heard about the International School Award several years ago and applying for it had always been on my ‘to-do’ list but it wasn’t until 2019, following a fantasticContinue reading “The International School Award”
Le 14 juillet
Le 14 juillet (Bastille Day in English) commemorates the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and celebrating this historic event is one of my favourite days in the school calendar. At my school, all of Key Stage Two go off timetable for the day and take part in a carousel of activities, both inContinue reading “Le 14 juillet”
My Primary Languages Classroom 