UNESCO Mother Languages Lesson Plan - Primary
Topic:
Mother Languages and Language Learning
Age Group:
Perfect for: Primary school kids
Suitable for: Lower ability secondary students
With a bit of imagination: A social care setting or low English ability participants of
any age.
Aim:
To increase global awareness and cultural understanding by introducing different
languages and improve both listening and oral skills
Objective:
 To improve cognitive listening skills and oral pronunciation and fluency by
hearing the sounds of different languages
 To increase awareness of cultural diversity and other languages
 To reinforce the vocabulary learned through playing games
 Improve Geographical understanding of where countries are and what
languages they speak
Success Criteria:
All will be able to enjoy hearing a new language and playing the games in the lesson
Most will be able to remember some of the vocabulary taught
Some will be able to pronounce the vocabulary clearly and remember it in the longterm
Potential Resources/ Preparation needed:
Ball of string
Something to play music on
Starter Activity:
Sing the “Say Hello in 15 Languages Song” , the lyrics for which are given
below
The audio file can be listened to here:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/happalmer/s/roundtheworldhello.mp
3
Timing:
10
minutes
Alternatively sing or play a song from the language that you wish to focus
on
Main Teaching:
Timing:
There are two options for choosing the vocabulary for this lesson:
10-20
1) Teach the different Hello’s from the starter activity song and Thank minutes
you in one other language
2) Teach Hello and Thank you in your chosen language.
However be flexible and creative in choosing additional/ other vocabulary
to teach as the activities are highly adaptable and the words used can be
substituted easily. Counting from 1-10 is a flexible option.
If there are other dialects of the local language that participants know
attempt to include this in your lesson
Spend some time using a variety of the following drilling techniques to
reinforce the vocabulary that you teach in your chosen language before
playing the activities.
Choral Drilling – All repeating the words together
Modelling Speed- First saying the word very slowly to practice
pronunciation of each part, then the whole word, then slowly building up
to natural speed
Finger stressing- Getting everyone to count out the syllables of the words
on their fingers
Open Pairs – Have two participants from other sides of the room practice
the vocabulary together while the others listen
Closed Pairs - Have participants practice the vocabulary privately in pairs
and go around listening
Progressive- Have the participants practice the vocabulary with each
other one by one in a line, this could be a greeting, a questions and
answer or even just counting up numbers
Development Activities: (Group or Individuals):
Each of these games could be played for 10 minutes or more
*Who said hello
A child is chosen to sit on a chair with his/her back to the class. The
teacher then points to another child who says hello in the target language
to the child sitting on the chair, e.g. Bonjour. The child on the chair then
has to identify the person who said the greeting. As the game goes on
have the children use silly voices to make it harder/ more fun. When the
child sitting on the chair has identified 5 children they can be rewarded
with a sticker.
*Hello again
The class sits in a circle in the hall. One child walks around the circle and
chooses another child by tapping him/her on the shoulder. The two
children shake hands and say hello 3 times using the target language.
They then race in opposite directions around the circle. When they meet
Timing:
20-40
minutes
halfway they repeat their greetings and then continue racing to the
empty space left by the child who was tapped on the shoulder. The first
to sit in the empty space is the winner. The other child walks around the
circle and chooses a new child to say hello to.
*Pass the ball of string
The children sit in a circle. One child holds the end of a ball of string, calls
out a friends name and throws the ball of string to that friend. The child
who gets the ball of string says thank you in the target language. The
second child then holds a piece of string and passes the ball to another
child, and so on. The children end up making a web pattern with the
string. The teacher then winds up the ball of string saying thank you to
each child.
*Placing Languages on the World Map. The aim of this lesson is to
discuss who speaks which language across the world. Have a list of cutouts (e.g. Russian) of the languages from the “Say hello in 15 Languages”
song and ask them where in the world they think the language is spoken.
Use the map of major world languages provided below and have the
participants try to stick the cut outs to the right country on the world
map.
If possible have a sound snippet/audio recording of each language that
they can listen to and then ask them to stick the cut-outs on the world
map. Play the audio recordings so the student becomes familiar with the
sound of the language.
Plenary:
Have participants say, write down and draw a picture of their favourite
hello in another language
Timing:
5
minutes
Homework:
have participants greet you in the language of their favourite hello each
morning for the rest of the week
Timing:
n/a
Say Hello in 15 Languages
"Hello" in Different LanguagesVocabulary:
hola, hejsan, jambo, bonjour, privet, ni hao, shalom, salaam, annyong, konnichiwa,
sawubona, prijatno, namaste, dzien dobry, aloha.
Activity:
This is a call and response song about the ways people say "hello" in different languages.
Children listen to each word or phrase then sing it back like an echo. As a lead up activity, it
is helpful to break the words into syllables and slowly say each syllable one at a time. This is
an excellent activity for helping children develop phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear
the sounds of language.
Hola, hola, (OH-lah) says hello in Spanish
Hejsan, hejsan, (HEY-sun) that's the word in Swedish
Jambo, jambo, (JAHM-boh) says it in Swahili
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
Bonjour, bonjour, (bohn-zhoor) says hello in French
Privet, privet, (preev-YET) that's the word in Russian
Ni hao, ni hao, (nee how) says it in Chinese
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
There are oh, so, many friendly ways
Every language has a word or phrase
Shalom, shalom, (sha-lome) says hello in Hebrew
Salaam, salaam in (sah-lahm) Arabic and Persian
Annyong , annyong, (ahn-yohng) says it in Korean
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
Konnichiwa, konnichiwa, (Ko-nee-chee-wa) says hello in Japanese
Sawubona, sawubona, (saw-oo-BOH-nah) that's the word in Zulu
Prijatno, prijatno, (pree-yat-no) says it in Macedonian
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
There are oh, so, many friendly ways
Every language has a word or phrase
Namaste, namaste, (nah-MUS-stay) says hello in Hindi
Dzien dobry, dzien dobry, (JEEN-do-bri) that's the word in Polish
Aloha, aloha, says it in Hawaiian
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
Follow up:
Sing this song using greetings from other languages. Here are some possibilities: Mingala ba
(Burmese) Bula (Fijian) Halito (Choctaw) Dobar dan (Croatian) Talofa (Samoan) Bawoni
(Yoruba) Guten Tag (German) Poolah (Setswana) Zdravo (Serbian).