VAK
in
Modern Foreign Languages
Hertford SLN
2008-9
1
During the course of the school year 2008-9, our SLN
focussed on Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic activities. We
asked pupils in Years 6&7 what activities they liked doing
when learning languages and why.
This booklet is a collection of the activities the pupils feel
help them to learn the most. They have all been tried and
tested in the classroom and their success confirmed by our
pupils. We hope you will try out some of the activities and
enjoy them as much as we do!
Hertford SLN
Jane Beacom
Sheila Kumar
Belinda Martin
Christine Marshall
Helen Kemp
Liz Judd
Emma Steed
Richard Hale School, Hertford
Simon Balle School, Hertford
Chauncy School, Ware
Sele School, Hertford
Hollybush School, Hertford
Mill Mead School, Hertford
Little Munden School, Dane End
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this document are those of the teachers and pupils involved in the
SLN work and do not necessarily represent the views of HCC. References to publications
and websites are for information only and do not mean in any way that the authors benefit
from purchases or hits made. The bulk of our work has been in French but all the activities
can be adapted for any language.
2
Guessing games
with cards
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Text cards stuck on board – 2 pupils at board, first to touch right card wins
In pairs match text cards to picture cards
Play snap
Play pairs
On IWB, pile images/objects on top of each other, pupils say what they can see
Pass the image very quickly across the screen
Put all images on screen/stick cards on board – remove one, pupils say what is missing –
‘Qu’est-ce qui manque?’
Show image/object, say word/phrase, pupils say oui/non
Show image/object, give alternatives e.g. C’est un oeuf ou un bonbon?
Show image/object, say word/phrase. Pupils repeat if it is what the teacher is
showing, otherwise they must remain quiet. Called ‘Répétez si c’est vrai.’ Could also be
‘Sautez si c’est vrai.’ Teacher and pupils compete against each other. Works well with
a number of images on board.
Show image/object, ask direct question ‘Qu’est-ce que c’est?’
Show image/object and written word (text card), put the two together, pupils can do
this.
Show image/object. Pupils cross arms. If teacher says correct word for picture
shown pupils remain silent, if teacher says incorrect word pupils raise arm to protest.
Choose a card from a set of flashcards, don’t show to class and children have to guess
which one has been chosen.
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Performing in
an assembly
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It builds my
confidence up
After learning names of animals and adjectives, read Cher Zoo by Rod Campbell. (Dear
Zoo French/English , ISBN 9781844441730) Most children across the school know
this story and you can use masks for the animals, a hat for the keeper and a large
envelope for the letter writer to aid comprehension and add atmosphere. The class
narrates the story with actions for the adjectives while a small group act it out.
Children learn weather expressions and perform L’araignée Gypsy
(www.mamalisa.com/mômes.net ) (Incy Wincy Spider) with actions and props – the
familiar tune means it is easily understood and can be performed with a minimum of
props.
Presentation of a weather forecast: children introduce sketch by chanting days of the
week and “bonjour” as a clapping rhyme, then groups say individual days and give a
weather phrase, showing picture and doing actions for comprehension. Close by
reciting days of the week again and “Au revoir”.
Children read story of “La belle au bois dormant” from PowerPoint (Monkseaton
Language College primary French contact 96ButlerM@Monkseaton.org.uk . Sing to
tune of “There was a princess long ago” and use props for characters – hat for witch,
tiara for princess, sword for prince, fake roses for thorny forest etc.
Class trip to Paris was followed by children performing sketches ordering food in a
café and a street stall, showing how they had used vocabulary learnt in class in real
situations.
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… especially to a
tune
Working to
a time limit
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Using well known tunes, such as theme tunes (Countdown, The A Team, James Bond)
with a timer on the board adds incentive for pupils to works fast.
Tunes such as these can be found on iTunes and downloaded for use in the classroom.
It is also possible to download the Countdown clock for use on an IWB or laptop and
projector.
MFL website – www.atantot.com – speedword – spell against the clock.
MFL website – www.linguascope.com – each topic unit has “choix multiple” task. Choose
correct picture to match word. Timed.
Of course, other timers can be used – sand timers, kitchen timers etc.
Compare and make
connections
between
vocabulary
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It builds my
confidence up
Children enjoy explanations offaux amis – le car is not a car, la libriarie does not lend
book but sells them.
Year 6 appreciate some slightly risqué connections – e.g. la piscine.
We often compare the differences or similarities in spelling between French words
and English words which make the students become more aware of accuracy.
French
danse
loin
musique
English
dance
loin
music
5
Doing posters
and labelling
It helps me
to learn
Students like doing posters as it helps them to memorise vocabulary. It can be seen as a
prop for encouraging them to learn and help them to pay more attention to their writing
skills. Posters are often displayed around the class as prompts. It makes the students
feel valued as their work is on display.
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Rearranging a written text into a different format is a very useful way of
demonstrating understanding. E.g. personal information about a family into a table,
food into a mind map (see ‘Conversion’ in The Teacher’s Toolkit by Paul Ginnis ISBN
189983676-4)
Grammar posters are a great way of establishing understanding. After the pupils have
been taught the present tense, ask them to produce a poster, with examples. This can
be made into a competitive activity with the winning poster being made into laminated
writing mats for the whole class.
Months of the year can be a short topic – combine with Intercultural Understanding
and children draw and write about the different festivals throughout the year.
Days of the week combine well with weather –divide the page into 8 and choose a
weather for each day and “le weekend”.
Make a map of the places in the town - can then be used for prepositions
Real Objects – make
it touchy feely!
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Play doh is a winner! We have used it to make fruit and body parts! We have also
used it to demonstrate adjectives when learning the comparative and superlative.
In my bag: Children feel and say, or guess, an item in the bag to win a point, or
replace items in the same order that the teacher has said them.
Throw the dice: Throw a large foam dice. The pupil who catches it must say the
number on the top face. Pupils take turns to throw the dice to each other, answering
correctly as they receive the dice, progressing to mental maths – the teacher
specifies the function. The dice is rolled twice, the children saying the numbers e.g
6x4= 24.
Aerobics and gymnastics – challenge the pupils to give the instructions!
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Doing
Walk & Talk
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I can practise my
speaking and it is
more active
Once language has been practised in the usual way, it is time to get the pupils speaking
with fewer prompts. Walk and Talk is ideal for this. Give them a time limit. Within
that time, they must speak to as many people in the class as possible (or give them a
specific number), reducing the amount of support (written words, visual clues) as time
goes on. Walking around the room to talk to different people gives students a much
needed break from sitting. The activity gives the opportunity for repetition in a
secure one-to-one environment with the added incentive of a time limit.
In order to record pupils we went quite technical and bought individual voice
recorders. These are like USB sticks that you can record on and save as sound files
(Philips SA 1100 512MB Flash Audio MP3 player £10.00 each approx.)
We also bought digital microphones which record to a very high quality - Samson
Condenser Microphone CO1U USB (29724) from Digital Village www.dv247.com
Students in KS3 do individual presentations regularly during the year. They use the
IWB for their visual prompts (only) and perform in front of their peers. The other
students give a mark on pronunciation, fluency and accuracy. They also award levels.
Numbers game – distribute cards with groups of identical numbers – pupils move
round room to find the number matching their own. Must use target language.
Family game – each pupil is given name of a family member – move round class to find
your family.
Class survey – use basic questions in target language to find other pupils’ names, ages,
brothers / sisters and pets.
Finding places in town – post pictures of places round classroom. Direct pupils to a
place. Pupils direct others.
Running dictation. Post some simple phrases / short text in target language at front
of room. Pupils in small teams. Pupils take it in turns to come to read the short texts /
phrases – memorise what they can from the text and take back to group. One pupil per
group records the text. Works especially well outside – weather permitting.
Interactive survey – each pupil has a picture/word card showing e.g. a name / age /
animal / item of clothing etc. There are e.g. six different cards. Pupils move round
room to find the names, ages etc of the other 5 people. Each pupil has an answer grid
to record their information. Add interest by telling the pupils they must find one
person with one piece of information which matches their own.
7
Rhymes, music,
songs, chanting
It helps me
remember the words
and it’s funny
Children love to sing and making up a simple song from familiar tunes is a really good way of
learning simple vocabulary using a lot of repetition. Good from reception all the way through
KS3. Using actions to go with words also cements the understanding and memory of words.
Eg Ba ba black sheep
Use it with puppets initially eg, tigre, éléphant, girafe, crocodile.
Then move on to children’s names.
Bonjour, bonjour comment t’appelles-tu?
Je m’appelle éléphant bonjour, salut.
Bonjour Monsieur, Bonjour Madame,
Au revoir tout le monde
Bonsoir, bonne nuit.
Frère Jacques
Lundi, mardi, lundi, mardi
Mercredi, mercredi
Jeudi, vendredi, jeudi, vendredi
Samedi, dimanche, samedi, dimanche
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Tête, épaules, genoux, pieds, genoux, pieds, ( x2)
Les yeux, le nez, la bouche, les oreilles,
Tête, épaules, genoux, pieds, genoux, pieds
Traditional songs: Frère Jacques
Sur le pont d’Avignon
Il est né le divin enfant.
Alouette
Stille Nacht
Vive le vent
www.mamalisa.com traditional songs words and music
Resource books and CDs
60 Comptines et formulettes pour
Crèches
Young Pathfinder: Let's join in!
(YPF6) Rhymes, poems and songs
Singing French: 24 Photocopiable
Songs And Chants For Learning
French
CD available from Amazon (EMI B0000AVPI)
Cynthia Martin & Catherine Cheater
www.cilt.org.uk
Stephen Chadwick & Helen Macgregor
(Publisher: A&C Black ISBN–10: 0713668989)
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Le rhythme, la Musiques et les Raps
de Monsieur X
Un Deux Trois – First French Rhymes:
Dorothée ”La Valise”
Chantez Plus Fort!
Français, Français
Rachel Hawkes
Chantel Goya
Un kilo de chansons
Take Ten en français
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CD and book
David Hicks www.monsieurx.co.uk
Book with CD by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
ISBN–10: 1845076230
Cartoon video with bits for holiday
Book plus CD (Brilliant Publications)
ISBN-10: 1903853370
The language factory - Learning song, rap and rhyme
www.language-factory.co.uk
ISBN 978-1-905898-00-8
rachelhawkes.typepad.com/linguacom
French website of songs
www.comptine-enfants.com
An old (first published 1978) but very good cassette
published by Nelson Thornes
ISBN-10: 0861585011
Book and DVD published by Devon Learning and
Development Partnership – great for PE.
ISBN 1855229765. Now available in Spanish.
Vary the speed
Vary the volume
Change the mood, voice, tone
Use actions!
In groups – tables, sides of the room, rows, girls, boys…
Silent singing (!)
Give each personal pronoun an action e.g. je – point to yourself, tu – point to one pupil,
nous – include all pupils and yourself in a pointing gesture. If you and the pupils always
stick to this when conjugating a verb, they should find them easy to remember. One
of our teachers used the tune ‘Another one bites the dust’ by Queen to teach the
pronouns. Extend this by singing the whole verb to the tune of the ‘Conga’.
Sing the paradigm of ‘avoir’ to the tune of ‘Pink Panther’; what about ‘être’ to ‘Black
Adder’?
Send a pupil out of the room. Hide an object – e.g. a toy animal. Pupil comes back in.
Class chant name of animal in French. Start chanting word very quietly and increase
volume of chanting the nearer the pupil gets to the hidden item.
Pupils can provide the rap rhythm. Effective learning device and gets pupils focused.
Expo 1 Heinemann 0 435 38489 9 (Resource file and CD rom)
Unit 1 “ Dans mon sac………”
Unit 2 “J’ai un lapin”
Unit 3 “ As-tu vu mon rat?”
Unit 4 “ Je vais au restaurant”
Unit 5 “ Tous les matins”
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Unit 6 “ La vie est stressante”
The accompanying music is very lively!!
 Simon Balle School website: www.sbslangs.org.uk. Click on the Fun Gallery e.g. “Ma
routine journalière”- to the tune of jingle bells. Various songs / raps in French and
German
 One of the ideas we were told about by Rachel Hawkes (AST, Comberton Village
College, rachelhawkes.typepad.com/linguacom), was a singing competition for all pupils in
Year 7 (Spanglovision). Each class downloaded a song from iTunes and then performed
it to all other pupils in the school, in the various year assemblies. The winning class
was the one who received the most number of votes from all other pupils in the school.
Role-play
It is a chance to
improve your
acting skills
 Most successful when pupils work in small groups and choose a role they are
comfortable with. E.g. café scenes work really well as props are easy. Pupils dress up record activity on camera - class evaluate performance.
 Using hand puppets is useful to encourage less confident speakers. Pupils can “hide”
under table as “puppets” perform. We purchased puppets with some of our SLN
funding. (A.S.Toys from contact@asbikes.co.uk)
 Ask pupils to make a face mask – could be a famous person (download a picture, full
face size, cut out holes for the eyes and mouth and mount on card). In class, pupils
put on the masks and give their personal information as that person. A further
activity could be to role play a situation in the style of that person. Imagine Ronaldo
buying his fruit at the market!
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Watching
films
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You can pick up new
words and also make
out a lot of them
Many coursebooks come with a DVD and our pupils really enjoy those (mainly Early
Start). DVDs from Early Start show good examples of life in France and Germany.
We also show feature films in the FL, sometimes with English subtitles, sometimes
without – watch out for them! Amazon is a good place to start.
From time to time students watch short sequences of a film. After each sequence
students work in small groups to complete worksheets e.g. finding equivalent of French
words, filling gaps.
Quinze Minutes video series. Old but worthwhile ISBN-10-:0563375523.
Extra – DVDs produced by Channel 4 currently unavailable but very good if you can get
them! ASIN 1851443304 (German) and ASIN 1851443282 (French).
Linguascope
…fun and it tests
you
Excellent resource – not very cheap (£230) but includes German, French, Italian and
Spanish. Includes a range of interactive games to consolidate vocabulary & printable work
sheets. We used some of our SLN funding to purchase this website.
http://www.linguascope.com/
Linguamate is part of this website package. Provides software for making your own
word games, quizzes etc. Brilliant resource – easy to use – little preparation time.
e.g. there is an excellent cloze task (jumbled phrases) which the teacher can create –
pupils have to unjumble the phrase, if the answer is correct the monkey on the page
fills up!
e.g. pupils can make their own word cards for an interactive game
 Linguaprime – entertaining activities for primary level pupils.
 Linguastars – excellent resource for secondary school pupils.
 Mobile.linguascope – students can access vocabulary activities on their mobile phones.
 Media.linguascope – students can watch live TV and listen to radio stations in the TL.
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Other useful websites are:
www.leclubfrançais.co.uk Games/worksheets/resources - also in Spanish.
www.channel4.com/languages Games etc.
www.lajolieronde.co.uk Resources
www.primaryresources.co.uk MFL link for ideas/lesson plans/games etc.
www.langpix.com For pictures of animals/food etc to make your own flashcards/powerpoints.
www.mflresources.org.uk Games/worksheets/powerpoints/flashcards- mainly secondary but
some useful resources for primary.
www.momes.net Really useful for poems/comptines on any subject eg vegetables, weather,
colours, numbers etc (Go to comptines).
www.teachingideas.co.uk
www.atantot.co.uk £40 for annual subscription – well worth it.
www.zut.org.uk subscription required between 9am and 4pm, other languages available.
www.frenchteacher.net
www.mflgames.co.uk
www.languagesonline.org.uk
www.little-linguist.co.uk – great for purchasing resources e.g. books etc.
Young Leaders
It’s not always
grown-ups
teaching us
The Young Leaders Scheme now offers secondary students an award for assisting in
MFL lessons. We are currently in our second year of this award at Simon Balle School
and have been working in partnership with Mill Mead and Morgans primary schools this
year. We have been delighted at the success of this scheme. It is an added incentive
for our Year 10 students to take up a MFL at Key Stage 4 and an opportunity to
diversify provision for primary pupils in their language lessons. The Young Leaders
make two preparatory visits to the primary schools before their final assessment
visit. The Leaders are required to assist with teaching a language topic and a cultural
item. All the ideas and resources used are planned and prepared by the Leaders. This
scheme has enabled us to work more closely with two of our main feeder schools and
to share our practice in terms of MFL provision.
The primary pupils’ response to their new “teachers” has been fantastic and all the
Young Leaders have passed with flying colours. It is a brilliant opportunity for all
concerned.
Further information from Sports Leaders UK, www.sportsleaders.org
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The French and
German assistants
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We can learn about
their country
Some of our funding was spent on time for the Foreign Language Assistants employed
by the secondary schools to work with KS2 pupils. Not only did this boost the
assistants’ salary, but it also widened their experience of the British education
system. It gave the primary school pupils a chance to hear an authentic accent and
meet a ‘real foreign person’. Raising the profile of languages in the primary school was
also an important aspect.
One of our primary schools funded their own German assistant for 2 hours a week as a
result of our work in the first year of the SLN.
The assistants worked with the whole class, giving them information about themselves
and their home town etc. We ran out of time to fulfil our idea of the assistants going
in to primary schools at Christmas and Easter to talk about celebrations in the country
and teach the pupils some songs.
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Dancing around
the classroom
It’s active
To learn and reinforce new vocabulary, do Chain Exercise. Students are in groups of
four or five and stand in a line in front of the other students, each says a phrase with
miming action. The students opposite guess the phrase from the mime. It has to be
quick for it to be interesting. E.g. verbs on daily routine in present tense. This is very
good for peer assessment.
 When practising directions, play Blindfold. One student is blindfolded and has to
follow the instructions from his instructor (the teacher). To make it more difficult
the students then have to work in groups of four to write the full directions. The
leader of each group writes their version on the white board. Move tables and create
pathways down which to direct students.
 Useful technique for learning simple but frequently used phrases – pupils form a circle
and move round room moving arms in imitation of train/car wheels e.g. “Dans mon sac il
y a………….” Stop circle at intervals and get pupils to move in opposite direction. When
“dans ma maison “ is introduced the “il y a “ comes naturally.
 Going “to” – being “at”– place pictures of places in town around room. Direct pupils to
the place and then pupils say they are at that place. Pupils then dictate directions.
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Playing competitive
games
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By Numbers - number off the pupils and have them respond to actions by their
numbers e.g. ‘Les numéros six – levez la main!’ Also give pupils a colour, fruit etc.
e.g. Les fraises – tournez-vous!’
Pumpernickel sagt, Jacques a dit…
Montrez moi - good for parts of the body, pencil case items, classroom furniture.
Directions - follow directions to find an object.
Time Limit - give a list of items to be fetched by a team within a time limit.
Connect 4 - using OHP grid and images, construct Connect 4 grid on board. Divide
class into 2 teams/class plays against the teacher.
Noughts and Crosses - construct a O & X / Blockbusters grid on board using F/C
or OHP images. Divide class into 2 teams/class plays against the teacher.
Guess - show a small corner of a flashcard, show it upside down, in an envelope or
through a peephole. Pupils guess the item. They could guess the card on top of a
pile, or after you have ‘cut’ it, or when holding one behind your back.
Catching - arrange the class in a circle, the teacher may throw the
ball/beanbag/soft toy from the middle to a child in the circle, or it may be passed
around the circle. Pupils can respond at different levels:
o Teacher throws ball to Luke, says ‘Luke’ and he replies ‘Je m’appelle Luke’
before throwing the ball to someone else and calling their name.
o The ball can be thrown and caught to continue a sequence of numbers or
the alphabet.
o To say items in a random order.
o To pass on names or other personal information e.g. ‘J’ai 10 ans, et toi?’
o To answer a question as the ball is in the air and then pass the question
on.
I spy - spy coloured objects, people, numbers, initial sounds, then letters e.g. Je
pense à un objet (quelquechose de) bleu/une personne habillé en rouge/un nombre
entre 16 et 18/quelquchose qui commence par A.
Sequences - ask the pupils to repeat the sequence of numbers, words you say.
Also continue saying the numbers in a particular sequence.
Listen twice - teacher reads out 5/8/10 words twice. Pupils just listen. After
second reading they write down as many words as they can remember. (Could pick
out images of words they heard to avoid writing).
Show me - groups have sets of items, first group to show the item specified by
the teacher gets the point. Progress to individuals using number fans or digit
cards – first they select and keep the item concealed, then all show them to the
teacher on the command, at the same moment (good for informal assessment).
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Bring me - volunteers from each group compete to bring the items specified by
you. Also, a volunteer from each group goes to get some items suggested by the
teacher. The class must guess how many the volunteer then conceals behind his or
her back e.g va chercher des crayons, hol mir ein paar Buntstifte. The child holds
some pencils behind his or her back – whoever successfully guesses the number of
pencils takes the next turn.
 Give each pupil a card with a word on it e.g a month. Make a line of words in
sequence e.g. alphabet, days, months, numbers. Pupils lay their word in the correct
place in the line.
 Pair work activities can take many forms. Most important to have audience and
purpose e.g. information gap, running dictation, card games (just repeating is OK in
this situation).
 Memory Game - ‘I went to market…’ Each child repeats what has been said by the
previous child and adds his or her own item e.g. You could limit this to six or eight
items then restart the sequence. Use the “Je suis allé au marché” game idea with
other topics – e.g. Je suis allé en Angleterre/en France/en Allemagne,/J’ai visité le
marché/ la piscine/ le parking or Dans mon sac j’ai un crayon, un stylo, et… une
gomme
 What next? Pupils ask for a set of cards or items in the same order that the
teacher has said them.
 Repeat if it’s true - Challenge Game – teacher points to images on OHP/flash
cards, saying a word/phrase. If the teacher says the word/phrase that
corresponds with the image the pupils repeat it, if the teachers word/phrase does
not correspond with the image then pupils must remain silent. This works best if
the teacher is very fast!
 Team games with coloured bean bags – split class into 2 teams, give than a number
and call out colour of bean bag – first to pick it up gets a point
 Lotto – make cards with pictures children have seen as flashcards – lots available in
Monkseaton course.
 The teacher reads a list of vocabulary to the students. Students are not allowed to
write anything. Then the teacher ask for 4 volunteers to come to the board, each
has a marker and has to write as many words as possible from memory. If they are
stuck they ask for help from one friend only.
 Blockbusters – examples of this game can be found for German on www.klar.co.uk excellent website for KS3 and KS4. Includes PowerPoint presentations on a range
of topics and grammar rules. Also on www.atantot.com in French and German
 “Millionaire” game and “Fling the teacher” on www.klar.co.uk and “Grade or no
grade” game - “Penalty” on www.atantot.com . On Atantot click on the S/P button
to access a whole range of competitive language games.
 Pictionary - Divide pupils into two teams. One pupil from each team comes to the
front. Show them a word and the pupils draw the item on the board. First team to
guess the word gets the point.
 Effacez! 2 pupils (1 from each of 2 teams) run to the board and rub out/circle the
number/word they hear.
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Story Time
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‘La chenille qui fait les trous’ teach days of the week and foods. Introduces concept
of verbs and improves reading and writing skills. Using a familiar story means
comprehension is relatively straightforward.
Bi-lingual books are very useful – from Little Linguist – children can read the English
and look for familiar or target French words, so can be re-used with different focus.
Monkseaton Primary French has a range of stories with Powerpoint presentations.
E-books are on websites e.g. Tout le Monde/Babelzone/Linguascope, available on
subscription.
LCP produce a range of e-books covering the usual topics
www.little-linguist.co.uk – good website for books and books with CDs e.g. Ana Lomba
Easy French storybook Goldilocks and the Three Bear/Red Riding Hood, book and
audio CD – could be used as part of guided reading session.
Older children can re-write story or write one version e.g. change foods in The Very
Hungry Caterpillar
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