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issue 3 november 2009 welcome welcome to the third edition of the mfl sunderland primary newsletter the aim of the newsletter is to keep all primary school mfl teachers and their secondary colleagues 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 just follow the link on the homepage if you have any news articles or resources that you would like to share via subsequent issues of the newsletter please email them to clare.seccombe@gmail.com who s who the primary languages steering group school improvement officer with responsibility for mfl sunderland la support teacher for primary languages language college director at st aidan s primary languages co-ordinator at st aidan s language college sunderland south co-ordinator carole beeston ks2/ks3 mfl teacher at st aidan s primary languages trainer lynn langford ast at washington school washington co-ordinator janet holyoak coalfields co-ordinator mfl co-ordinator at newbottle primary school caoimhe nichomhrai sunderland north co-ordinator mfl co-ordinator at castletown primary sarah dutton acting mfl subject leader at st anthony s frances collins st anthony s please contact one of the steering group if you have any questions about primary languages in the city st aidan s school st anthony s school washington school 0191 553 6073 0191 553 7700 0191 219 3845 newbottle primary school 0191 553 6566 castletown primary school 0191 553 5210 chris campbell clare seccombe janet mayes ruth moreland festival of languages and cultures this year s festival of languages and cultures for primary and special schools will take place at st aidan s language college on monday november 23rd from 9.30am until 12.00 there will be performances by participants as well as a series of workshops which will include language taster sessions the event will be a celebration of language learning and the international dimension in sunderland la schools and will offer a showcase for groups of students to demonstrate their skills and the outcomes of their work to an appreciative audience we hope also that it will motivate young people to enjoy and value language learning and learning about other cultures if you are interested in participating please contact janet mayes at st aidan s schools will already have received information and the booking form via email.

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primary languages audit each year the dcsf and cilt the national centre for languages request from the la certain data for primary languages the same data will also be very useful for informing the la s primary languages steering group and the city s international strategy many thanks to all the schools who have already completed the audit if you haven t please go to http tinyurl.com/yl7etl7 there are only seven questions and it will take just a few clicks and very little time to complete sunderland resources the scheme of work for year 4 is now on the mfl sunderland website many thanks again to the st aidan s team www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland resources-pr-fr-newsunderlandmaterials.htm we would value your feedback on the resources please either email clare or submit your thoughts via the mfl sunderland forum www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland forum.htm what s good on the web http storybird.com storybird is a site where you can write your own stories and illustrate them using the bank of fantastic images and illustrations then use them big book style in the classroom pupils can also make their own stories have a look at one i ve already made and used http tinyurl.com/yhkmyf8 http www.imagechef.com use imagechef to create simple poems and calligrams show pupils that they can be creative with just a little language http library.thinkquest.org/j001156/makingbooks/minibook/index.htm make mini-books pupils can write as much or as little as they want and can also illustrate their work la-funded flas if you would like to host one of our three french foreign language assistants flas there are still two slots available of 4 hours a week each for the first half of the summer term the flas will be free of charge to your school they can enhance not only your french teaching but also many other areas of the curriculum such as music pe and art they will also give you a personal angle to intercultural understanding and community cohesion please contact clare.seccombe@gmail.com first come first served contacts the primary languages steering group has been compiling list of mfl co-ordinators in sunderland primary schools whom we can phone or email direct if you have received a copy of this newsletter to your personal email address then we already have your details if you haven t please email clare.seccombe@gmail.com and we ll make sure you are added to the list that way you ll know that you are receiving all the latest news and information about primary languages in sunderland your free resource this issue s free resource is a wordsearch to practise country names you could use this as a reinforcement activity but also to introduce the names of countries in french once pupils have completed the wordsearch why not ask them to work out what the countries are in english and check in the dictionary what languages are spoken there what do the flags look like this will help you to address the intercultural understanding strand of the ks2 framework newsletter produced by clare seccombe ©mfl sunderland 2009 november 2009 http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

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