We are living big moments in England these days: languages are compulsory in primary schools from this school year! Schools can decide on the time allocation- in my two schools I teach each year group once a week.
We are aiming for "substantial progress" by the end of Year 6, and I was wondering how to make the most of the input my single weekly lesson provides. Spacing out is so important when learning a language, the children could really benefit from more Spanish on the days when there is no lesson, so I have come up with the "Spanish 5 A DAY" idea.
It is practising Spanish for 5 minutes a day by singing a song or playing a game. It will be pupil led, I will pick the leader(s) every week. I know how busy class teachers are and I don't want to put extra burden on them by asking them to think of activities to do. They will "just" have to make sure they can fit in a song or a game in the day. I always have the new vocabulary on the display, they can take the flashcards off for a quick game of "Heads down thumbs up" or they can read the numbers while playing the "secret signal". I will leave a CD and YouTube videos on the class laptop in case the children want to sing a song. The leader(s) can wear a badge for a week and get a reward at the end.... which will have to be chocolate if I really want them to remember the 5 A DAY Spanish practice:-)
This is the poster I made for the classroom display:
You can find a lot of ideas on how to build in language activities in the school day on Clare Seccombe's blog:Time for Languages.
More about pupil participation in my lessons:
10-minute teachers
Spanish leaders
The cupboard - new game
Wish us good luck:-)!
Really good idea! Good luck with the new curriculum!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rebecca, so far so good:-)
DeleteLa idea me parece muy buena siempre y cuando el resto de profes estén dispuestos a colaborar. En fin, encima de ser "profesora caracol" con la lase a cuestas ahora encima hay que ser "profesora malabrista" intentando coger momentos de donde se puede jaja,ja...¿Tan diíficil es dar más tiempo a la semana para los idiomas? Yo vengo de dar en España cuatro horas semanales de inglés con cada grupo y desde que vine a Reino Unido me indigno cada vez que hablan de aprender un idioma porque es una pena que le den tan poco peso dentro del curriculum....en fin, mejor eso que nada pero es que así la progresion es mucho menor y podríamos hacer mucho más. En mi cole nuevo tengo una media hora con cada grupo a la semana......y en Y6 media hora cada quince días....¿Es sustancial la progresión? ja,jajaja,ja....me río por no llorar....en fin, tenemos que ingeniárnoslas como podamos :-)
ReplyDeleteSi, estoy de acuerdo, los otros profesores tienen que ayudar y colaborar pero en los ultimos anos he notado que no tienen ni tiempo ni confianza asi que dejare que los alumnos se encarguen de las actividades. En Hungria tambien tenemos 3 o 4 clases a la semana y mis amigos (los profes) no me pueden creer cuando digo que enseno a 30 alumnos, una vez por semana, sin libros:-) Pero nos gustan los desafios, si??? :-)) Besos
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