p. 1

issue 13 march 2011 welcome welcome to the thirteenth edition of the mfl sunderland primary newsletter the aim of the newsletter is to keep all teachers and headteachers informed of the latest developments in primary language teaching nationally regionally and within the local authority previous editions of the newsletter can be found on the mfl sunderland website at www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland/primarynewsletters.htm please email comments and feedback to clare.seccombe@gmail.com in this issue conference news keeping in touch what s good on the web news from cilt pml timeline poisson d avril pâques a free easter resource then and now primary languages show at the beginning of march i was very lucky to be able to attend the 2011 primary languages show in liverpool i attended some excellent workshops and greatly enjoyed the keynote address which was given by professor david crystal you can read or download my notes from here http tinyurl.com/62bhvpg primary teachers from all over the city joined us at the sandhill centre on 17th march for then and now our third annual primary languages conference we were treated to an excellent keynote address by mark purves on using music and singing in languages lessons and delegates attended workshops on teaching larger numbers and dates places in town and longer texts there were also opportunities to find out about using an e-portfolio for recording and assessing pupils work and progress and to brush up on teaching phonics in french you will be able to find the presentations and resources from the event on the website www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland resources-pmflconference.htm some of the comments enjoyable experience very useful tips very good experience and some brilliant teaching ideas fantastic ideas ­ can t wait to try them out when is the next course lots of useful ideas to practise in the classroom another excellent conference thank you curriculum review you will doubtless be aware that the government has announced a review of the national curriculum the call for evidence has begun and will close on 14th april please help us to make the case for primary languages by responding the all-important url is http tinyurl.com/6y76kea.

[close]

p. 2

what s good on the web the lingo show is new to cbeebies online it has been designed to bring different languages to a pre-school audience but would be just as useful in ks1 and even into ks2 it features french spanish mandarin welsh punjabi urdu polish and somali www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/lingoshow little human planet is the little sister series of the critically-acclaimed bbc series human planet and was indeed filmed by the human planet team each programme follows the lives of young children from around the world and celebrates how children around the world are different and how they are the same find out more at www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/littlehumanplanet there are some delightful french songs on il était une histoire the site provides the words for you and you can also click to hear the songs being sung go to http www.iletaitunehistoire.com genres/comptines-chansons if you are working on the french alphabet or animals with ks1 or ks2 you might like to download and display this alphabet http tinyurl.com/6z4pk3w from petitestetes.com the children could use a bilingual dictionary to find out which animal represents which letter guess who is a popular game that can be used in language lessons to practise personal description you can download free of charge extra sheets to use with your game http www.hasbro.com/games/discover/guesswho/guess-who-characters-fr_fr.cfm the easter one in particular is useful as the character names are in french which would be good for reading and pronunciation practice the american site literacy center has some good iwb-style activities for french which would be useful for ks1 or even eyfs sound is included the les mots section would be useful for exploring the sound-spelling link with lower ks2 have a look at http www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_fr.php new from cilt cilt have recently launched their upskilling phonology module for french it s an excellent resource for anyone who feels they need support with french pronunciation a particular strength is that you can watch videos of the phonemes and words being said by a male and a female native speaker having audio to learn from is useful but being able to see the shapes that the mouth makes when speaking french is a fantastic addition you ll find all the resources here http upskilling.primarylanguages.org.uk q=content/phonology due to the current economic climate many primary languages advisers have been made redundant cilt are well aware that in the words of therese comfort head of primary at cilt teaching primary languages is like riding a bike but many teachers are not yet ready to remove the stabilisers cilt are putting support in place so as to be able to help teachers who find they no longer have support at local level the first thing that you can do is to sign up for the e-updates which are available for eyfs primary and secondary via this link http bit.ly/ghgkfo they are also developing half-termly newsletters for which you can sign up by emailing philip.harding@cilt.org.uk you will need to include your first and last names your email address your school s name and postcode and the phase in which you are interested primary or secondary cilt have produced some downloadable information sheets for parents about the benefits of language learning and how they can support their children you will find them here http www.primarylanguages.org.uk support guidance/parents.aspx.

[close]

p. 3

a pml timeline recently i was looking for a primary languages timeline to include in a presentation but couldn t find one so i had to put it together myself i thought that i would include it here just to illustrate how far primary languages has come 2002 publication of the languages strategy languages for all languages for life which called for languages to be taught to all ks2 by the end of the decade 2004 languages become optional in ks4 2005 ks2 framework for languages is published 2006 first sunderland scheme of work for ks2 french goes live sunderland employs its first la-funded flas to support primary languages 2007 new qca scheme of work for primary languages is published the dearing report is published and is positive about pml 2008 ofsted report the changing landscape of languages 2004-2007 92 of primary schools are teaching a language in ks2 2009 second incarnation of the sunderland scheme of work is uploaded to the website the rose review of the primary curriculum takes place 2010 general election and coalition labour s plans for statutory ks2 languages are dropped 2011 ofsted report into mfl achievement and challenge 2007-2010 reviews pml favourably curriculum review if you would like a powerpoint copy of this you will find it in here in the what s next for primary languages presentation www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland/resourcespmflconference.htm much has been said recently about the current economic climate and the effect that it is having on the provision of support for primary languages throughout the country and in sunderland i would urge you to take full advantage of the support that is available to you while it is still there international school award sunderland la remains committed to all schools in time achieving one of the tiers of the international school award isa whatever stage you have reached currently with your international work the award offers a framework for celebrating what you have already done and for building on and improving that work in the future to see how easy and straightforward it is to apply for the foundation tier have a look at this page http www.sunderlandschools.org/international/for_schools_isa.htm for the foundation tier award you do not need to have any partner schools if you do have a partner school and are working with them you will be eligible for the intermediate award if you are looking for ideas for international work have a look at cilt s page of european day of languages http bit.ly/hwncxk i would also recommend these pages on the global gateway · list of activities for the international school award which would be useful for people just starting off with working with a partner http bit.ly/idrthd · projects and collaboration http bit.ly/h9qgf2 · case studies of comenius projects http bit.ly/efguio

[close]

p. 4

poisson d avril on 9th august 1654 king charles ix of france adopted the gregorian calendar and the official first day of the year became 1st january instead of 1st april some people continued to celebrate new year at the beginning of april by giving each other small gifts these gradually became joke presents then tricks that were played on those who had forgotten the new date the best-known trick is the sticking of a fish on someone s back hence the name of the day poisson d avril nobody knows exactly where the fish part came from but it s thought that the day is allowed to bring a bit levity to the seriousness of lent so while on 1st april we are april fools the french are april fishes if you would like to teach the children in your class about poisson d avril as an aspect of intercultural understanding there are plenty of children s websites that have useful resources poisson d avril fishes to print out and stick on someone s back http www.teteamodeler.com/dossier/imagepoisson-avril.asp they can also be used for decorations some french children put the fishes in the fridge at home in their parents shoes the possibilities are endless make an origami fish http www.teteamodeler.com/origami/poisson1-origami.asp make a pompom fish http www.teteamodeler.com/activite/bricolage/poisson1.asp a fish for colouring http www.teteamodeler.com/coloriages/coloriage7/poisson.asp more fishes to print out or colour http bit.ly/fgc6xi a simple poisson d avril song with actions http bit.ly/9gjmbk sound included momes.net features a rhyme by ihab shaker that can easily be adapted http www.momes.net comptines/poissons/j-ai-vu.html j ai vu un poisson marron qui mangeait un bonbon ah bon ah bon j ai vu un poisson bleu qui mangeait des oeufs ah bon ah bon j ai vu un poisson violet qui mangeait du poulet ah bon ah bon j ai vu un poisson vert qui mangeait un courant d air ah bon ah bon j ai vu un poisson blanc qui mangeait la pluie et le temps ah non ah non pour jouer je veux du temps i saw a brown fish who was eating a sweet oh really oh really i saw a blue fish who was eating some eggs oh really oh really i saw a purple fish who was eating some chicken oh really oh really i saw a green fish who was eating a draught oh really oh really i saw a white fish who was eating the rain and the weather oh no oh no i want some time to play if your class know the colours and some foods they can make up their own verses here are some that some children in france have done they have changed the fishes to other things as well http www.ecole-saint-martin.org/e_courtel/index.php

[close]

p. 5

pÂques issue 6 the easter issue for 2010 gave you some useful links for teaching easter in french and also a free easter mini-book http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland/primarynewsletters.htm in this issue you ll find out more about how easter is celebrated in france and some french easter words first of all here are the important days la semaine sainte holy week le dimanche des rameaux palm sunday le jeudi saint maundy thursday le vendredi saint good friday not a jour férié bank holiday in most of france le jour de pâques easter sunday le lundi de pâques easter monday a jour férié in france nb these days have capital letters as they are special days days of the week do not usually have capital letters in french in france church bells ring every day to call people to mass on jeudi saint however the bells fall silent the story says that they fly to rome to be blessed by the pope and to collect chocolate for the children they return on jour de pâques and drop chocolate eggs bells and bunnies into the gardens for the children to find they are called les cloches volantes the flying bells there is a good colouring picture of the bells on this belgian website http www.creafamille.be/coloriages/paques/cloches_paques.html the easter bunny le lapin de pâques is also a tradition la chasse aux oeufs is the hunt for eggs that have been left by the easter bunny on jour de pâques the traditional meal is lamb or pork another traditional food is the gâche de pâques which is a brioche in the form of a loaf of bread easter in france is much less commercialised than it is here as it is primarily a religious festival however chocolate eggs and bunnies are popular and chocolate fishes can also be bought probably because of the closeness of poisson d avril see page 4 if you would like to wish someone a happy easter in french you say joyeuses pâques if you would like to know how to pronounce this go to http www.omniglot.com/language/phrases easter.htm scroll down to the french and click on the greeting your class may be interested in learning some of the easter greetings in other languages and finding out where those languages are spoken your free resource this issue s free resource is a reading and writing activity in french or in spanish with an easter theme reading and writing in the foreign language were identified in the recent modern languages ofsted report as being a weakness in ks2 and this activity sets out to show you that it s not as difficult as you might think to do some writing in another language often writing in another language is all about adapting a model first of all the children read the sentences count the relevant items and answer oui or sí if the sentence is true and non or no if it is false then they modify the false sentences to make them true to move this on another step children could create their own pictures and write their own true/false sentences for their friends to read newsletter produced by clare seccombe ©mfl sunderland 2011 march 2011 http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

[close]

p. 6

1 2 3 4 il y a cinq oeufs il y a trois lapins oui ou non oui ou non a rabbit no an egg yes a fish a chick il y a deux enfants oui ou non il y a six poussins oui ou non 5 il y a sept bonbons oui ou non 6 il y a huit poissons oui ou non 7 il y a quatre cloches oui ou non vocabulaire un bonbon une cloche un enfant il y a un lapin non a sweet a bell a child there are un oeuf oui un poisson un poussin ©mfl sunderland 2011 cs http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

[close]

p. 7

teacher s sheet 1 2 3 4 il y a cinq oeufs il y a trois lapins oui ou non oui ou non oui non oui oui non non non il y a deux enfants oui ou non il y a six poussins oui ou non 5 il y a sept bonbons oui ou non 6 il y a huit poissons oui ou non 7 2 5 6 7 il y a quatre cloches oui ou non il y a deux lapins il y a huit bonbons il y a quatre poissons il y a trois cloches the numbers 2-8 are on the sheet already to facilitate correcting of sentences ©mfl sunderland 2011 cs http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

[close]

p. 8

1 2 3 4 hay cinco huevos hay tres conejos hay dos niños hay seis pollitos ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no un huevo un niño an egg a child no a cake a chick yes 5 hay siete caramelos 6 hay ocho pasteles 7 hay cuatro flores vocabulario un caramelo un conejo una flor hay a sweet a rabbit a flower there are no un pastel un pollito sí ©mfl sunderland 2011 cs http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

[close]

p. 9

teacher s sheet 1 2 3 4 hay cinco huevos hay tres conejos hay dos niños hay seis pollitos ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no ¿ sí o no sí no sí sí no no no 5 hay siete caramelos 6 hay ocho pasteles 7 2 5 6 7 hay cuatro flores hay dos conejos hay ocho caramelos hay cuatro pasteles hay tres flores the numbers 2-8 are on the sheet already to facilitate correcting of sentences ©mfl sunderland 2011 cs http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

[close]