Home Learning Help
Within the context of to the current pandemic of Covid-19, ALL here makes available to all: information, details of freely accessible support and resources, help-sheets and recommended tools and facilities to help aid home learning during this difficult time. The resources below have been put together to aid the adaptation to remote learning.
Languages Today, Issue 37, Winter 2021 - Digital Sample
Issue 37 of Languages Today is on the theme of ‘Closing the Gap’ contains many new articles and discussion points focusing on closing the gap whether it’s within the classroom, curriculum or the local community this issue has been written by members for members sharing their expertise and experiences and make suggestions and offer practical advice on how their strategies and approaches work for learners in their settings on areas such as ability range, social and racial equity, the needs and talents of EAL learners, the professional status of teachers in different contexts. This is a great read!
Celebration of Speaking 2021
Latest January 2021
New Government information on 'What's working well in remote education'
Digital Learning for Wales group has put out this advice of how Xbox and Playstations could be utilised for home learning.
Primary Compendium
This is a compendium begun in January 2021 for Primary colleagues
It consists of strategies, online lessons, activities and/or resources that ALL members consider of good quality – they are especially for class teachers who are not usually teaching the language lesson but are now in bubbles with children all week, to help you make sure children still get some access to quality language learning.
Further recommendations are welcome and will be added.
Please send them to [email protected]
Jane Birtwhistle shares
French phonics clips
28 French sounds to match the 28 videos on the YouTube French Phonics playlist
https://app.box.com/s/1tt0phfjfdmg7y70bbntt7tqw2viz9mf
La fête du cinéma
Culture and history of French cinema + posters and trailers for French children’s films ; language for expressing opinions
https://app.box.com/s/hiqnyxdsc652k4nv2q9hku6p1mlarpyg
Mon petit livre de cuisine française
Culture : French dishes ; language of recipes
https://app.box.com/s/v33dzkeqc1vxfxscxqhv8snrrk53xqlg
Les régions de France - visite virtuelle
Includes interactive map with multimedia resources
https://app.box.com/s/jwuk2g8ngdu7v3u4ybl79cfmkr2vjbgy
La Tour Eiffel
Cultural information; create an information sheet, technology tasks
Includes animations and video
https://app.box.com/s/gr9kvvbyvc8djlqevjybty118fatvtpo
Odd one out Quiz
https://app.box.com/s/xa03nww74x9yelw6x3l0i0sc0hqvbke3
Jane also hosts the Mrs Birtwhistle YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkhw8wMT4drF9MkHH2lJIsA
Clare Seccombe shares:
Learn Spanish at home: https://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/home-spanish.htm
Extensive range of video lessons with notes for parents and associated activities
Lumen's Language Challenges https://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/lumen-challenges.htm
Variety of different challenges with a linguistic aspect
Lumen's French Award
https://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/Lumen/lumens-french-award.pdf
Lumen's Spanish Award
https://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/Lumen/lumens-spanish-award.pdf
Lumen's German Award
https://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/resources/Lumen/lumens-german-award.pdf
These are downloadable pdfs
Spanish lesson videos (Light Bulb Languages scheme of work) https://www.youtube.com/c/ClareSeccombe/videos
Lessons presented by Clare herself.
Liz Lord recommends:
Learn French with Mme Cantin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YXib3wadPg&feature=youtu.be
Primary Languages Network Spanish Home Learning resources
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXMCXZunVHHfwnML1lvT0dNyyfsOKn06y
Primary Languages Network French Home Learning resources
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXMCXZunVHHcqhZxPnk0UINhhDjNVNJlZ
Janet Lloyd adds:
PLN YouTube video channel https://youtube.com/c/PrimaryLanguagesNetwork
Free extended trial of the PLN virtual learning environment and access to the pre-recorded primary language lessons, interactive Circuit Breakers and Home Learning Activity Packs.
https://primarylanguages.network/home
Sue Cave shares:
On the Cave Languages YouTube channel teachers can find video lessons leading to creative writing projects which can be completed independently by children at home, and used by teachers not confident in delivering French in KS2.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRgXukuNPKcq0B9Ubjau9Og
Marie-Odile Guillou
FRENCH PHONICS CARDS with colours and numbers up to 31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDND1vGQ9Ew&t=98s
BBC Bitesize KS2.
The Dash and Blink game is particularly designed for children to use independently.
French - KS2 French - BBC Bitesize
Spanish - KS2 Spanish - BBC Bitesize
Mandarin - KS2 Mandarin - BBC Bitesize
Cara Bleiman shares (for Mandarin)
My Youtube playlist for Primary Mandarin
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdc67_TqA-vq40vGVYpMho5z02jpLCdL1
My Primary Mandarin quizlet sets https://quizlet.com/_98om0v?x=1jqt&i=17lzv0
The Swire Chinese Language Centre Oxford Digital Resources page could also be useful: https://www.swirecentreoxford.org/digital-resources
Nadine Chadier mentions :
French - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03x4f6k/clips
German - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zg8jmp3
Italian - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z9qmhyc
Nathalie Paris shares:
Nattalingo Productions (French)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC-63DS3cwSkrzpf5xLT0Jw
Several hundred video clips
Examples:
How to build a snowman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0E9u8_nI8k&feature=youtu.be
French nursery rhymes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8LjSoa1hMY
including French challenges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dUuqLbvME
and French learning adventures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95R5Cqh4NM
Nathalie also has a Vimeo channel with videos to help non-specialist practitioners introduce lessons from the Primary French Project – a great and free scheme and resources that can easily be used online:
Also French with Mr Innes YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HrlPcSRq6FcIjVzSvxq7w
Oak Academy is currently preparing Primary Languages lessons .
A specialist teacher writes:
I'm doing a mixture of live teaching and pre-recording then uploading lessons to a private YouTube Channel (that's a time-consuming element of the whole process but the pupils and parents have responded well to having the videos to work with).
I'm making lots of resources using Word Wall at the moment, which is great for virtual vocabulary and grammar drills and has lots and lots of variety.
I have also discovered Learning Apps which allows you to embed native speaker audio for flashcard activities.
I've got into Genially and making escape rooms and interactive slides for the children to access from home as well.
That's taking ages to get my head around but there is a wonderful webinar with Joe Dale and Marie Allirot, which I've been working my way thorough and has been very helpful. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OXEDrFcRXsU
Yabla Special Offer - January 2021
Yabla is a video-based system for online language immersion, around since the summer of 2005. Yabla was the first company to integrate caption-based navigation, dictionary-integrated subtitles, and cloze game activities into TV/video programming. Offering French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese (Mandarin), and English (ESL), it serves schools and universities throughout the world. Yabla uses authentic content, in-house productions, and a unique video player to improve students' listening comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling. Every student has their own login, and teachers can assign various activities as homework, create worksheets, set goals, and monitor student performance through a gradebook feature. An ideal tool for remote learning, students can log in from home, from school, or from anywhere with an internet connection. Try it today!
Teachers who are interested in a free trial can activate one at the following link: www.yabla.com/free
Sanako Special Offer - January 2021
Due to popular demand, Sanako is pleased to announce the launch of the exercise sharing/template between tutors on Sanako Connect.
Further information on how to do this can be found here, please watch instructional video number 18
if I can be of any further assistance please don't hesitate to contact me [email protected]
ALL Website
ALL volunteers are working to bring fresh life to the various Zones of the ALL website by offering or sourcing pieces from people with something to say. (Is that you?) They write about things they have tried in the classroom, concerns they have about exams or individual learners, projects they are excited by, questions they are exploring about effective practice, events they have been to, or are looking forward to, responses to other articles, language-specific points of interest and cultural stories, etc.
The Primary tab and Secondary tab from anywhere on https://www.all-languages.org.uk/ will take you to those relevant Zones, which both have new content this month.
The Language Zones are under the tab called Research and Practice and both the German and French (Francophonie) Zones have new content this month.
LT Extra is the website area where we place extra or additional content relating to the Languages Today magazine. Currently it has a great piece from Jane Driver about Cultural Capital among other good things. Do explore more here: https://www.all-languages.org.uk/languages-today/
Don't forget to check out the Teacher Briefings https://www.all-languages.org.uk/teacher-briefings/; they are there to save your reading! The latest are about Re-evaluating the scheme of work (Primary focus,but of interest to Secondary) and Cultural Capital. The Briefings give you some key points from recent policy publications to consider, and suggestions of how you might use them to raise the profile of the #Languageyoulove.
Teacher Briefing 20: Remote Working and Online Teaching
In the context of the current pandemic and governmental advice about avoiding / limiting personal contact or staying at home entirely schools and teachers are looking for ways of using technology and self-study approaches to help students continue their language learning. ALL London, in collaboration with Joe Dale hosted a webinar on 23 March 2020 with Georgina Dorr who is teaching in Hanoi and has been coping with the situation of home teaching for 8 weeks already.
This is a must watch for all MFL teachers faced with the challenge from an experienced teacher who has risen to and overcome the challenge we all face and answering the question: ‘Teaching online: Where to start?!’ Read more here: Remote working Teaching online
TiLT Webinars
TiLT Webinars have been set up as a virtual learning resource in place of the face-to-face TiLT Conference which was due to be taking place on 26th April 2020.
The webinars have been recorded from the @ALLLondon007 webinar room and are being led by Joe Dale. Follow the link to a page which lists all forthcoming webinars and links to previous webinars.
http://www.all-london.org.uk/site/index.php/webinars/
Webinars:
Webinar 11 - Judith Rifeser: Connecting school and home: Creative Language projects
Webinar 10 - Esmeralda Salgado: A few of my favourite ICT things!
Webinar 9 - Jane Basnett: How to sharpen your Microsoft tools and related apps for teaching and learning Part 2!
Webinar 8 - Glenn Cake: That's Edutainment!
Webinar 7 - Heike Philp: Remote learning with video
Webinar 6 - Jane Basnett: How to sharpen your Microsoft tools and related apps for teaching and learning!
Webinar 5 - Sandra Atkas: The Paperless Classroom. How can digital learning improve Teaching and Learning?
Webinar 4 - Lissa Cook Screencasting and video teaching by trial and error
Webinar 3 - Georgina Dorr; Teaching online; where to start?!
Webinar 2 - Michael Williams; Distance Learning and what it feels like on Day 1.
Webinar 1 - Joe Dale shared his wealth of knowledge and vast expertise to help teachers with an array of online tools and technology.
British Council
British Council opens its English language learning online for all ages!
Online English language learning gets a boost from the British Council this week as it takes four programmes online. Adult learners can build their skills through myClass Online and MyTutor, while Primary Plus and Secondary Plus are tailored for younger learners to progress remotely.
The British Council has moved 75,000 English language learners from teaching centres in 44 countries to learn online. The move towards online provision has been accelerated in response to demands from students and parents in lockdown.
The programmes build on the British Council’s 80 years’ English language teaching expertise, packaged into convenient, easy-to-access online courses to give students the best possible online learning experience:
- myClass Online gives adult learners flexibility to study at their own pace, choosing when and how often they attend live online English classes with expert teachers.
- MyTutor provides on-demand, one-to-one tuition so that British Council-approved tutors can offer personalised tuition and professional support.
- Primary Plus (six- to 12-year-olds) and Secondary Plus (12- to 17-year-olds) combine live online classes and pre-lesson interactive guided learning to create a rewarding experience in a safe, easy-to-use learning environment with specialist, highly trained British Council teachers.
The four products add to the existing roster of digital learning offered by the British Council, including Learning Time with Timmy – a partnership with British animation studio, Aardman, for pre-schoolers, free to view on YouTube, and now streamed on Netflix. The video series is inspired by the curriculum designed by British Council experts which is taught in classrooms around the world.
European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe
Our colleagues at the ECML/CELV have created and collated a Treasure Chest of resources for learners, teachers and parents to help you find inspiring, research-informed and state-of-the-art resources easily. The website is being launched with resources for parents of pre-school and primary-school aged-children, with a range of activities for secondary school teachers and with some language games for learners.
https://www.ecml.at/Resources/TreasureChestofResources/tabid/4397/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
Bili
How Bili was born:
As a languages teacher, Charlie Foot, Bili’s Founder, felt strongly that students needed to break out of the classroom’s four walls and regularly interact with native speakers to put their language skills to good use. This seemed like the most natural way of helping them improve their skills and take a more active role in their language learning.
He set out to rethink the traditional pen pal exchange to modernise it and make it more accessible for teachers and engaging for young people everywhere. A Bili exchange allows for more regular interaction, helps teachers save time overseeing the messages being sent, and opens the door for students not only to write to each other but also to speak, see, and listen to each other, sharing real information about themselves and giving valuable feedback
How does Bili work?
Schools match with each other based on the languages they are learning and the number of students they have.
Teachers are able to create classes and the Bili system matches students based on their interests. Teachers can then set the students tasks in line with their classroom teaching, which will be responded to by their partner student (or "Bilipal"!).
Students are also able to use the live chat function, to talk in real time. Teachers can choose to have access to all of the students' transcripts, to ensure a safe learning environment.
There is also a Bilichat App, which allows students to use a video function to talk in real time. We recommend this for learners aged 16 and above.
The Benefits of Bili
- Students use their languages skills with native speakers
- Motivation increases
- Can be used anywhere with an internet connection
- Saves teachers time
- Safe learning environment
Offers
Earlybird + Golden ticket : Sign up before September and receive a 10% discount. Golden ticket: become a Bili member and we’ll give your partner school free access for a year
https://bili.uk.com/projects/earlybird-discount-subscribe-now/
Teacher Briefing 21: 2020 School Exams cancellation arrangements
This year’s summer exam series in UK, including A levels, GCSEs and other qualifications, and all primary assessments have been cancelled to fight the spread of coronavirus.
On 20 March 2020 the DfE announced that the exam regulator, Ofqual, and exam boards would work with teachers to provide grades to students.
On 26 March Ofqual held a webinar for Subject Associations and on 3rd April published a news story and other documents on which this Briefing is based. Read more in this very special Teacher Briefing 21: Exams 2020
This Is Language
Award-winning corporate member thisislanguage.com is offering extended free-trial access to anyone who needs it during the lockdown. Their amazing authentic language videos and games are a massive motivator for your students so definitely take them up on this incredible offer!
Just email the friendly team in Oxford on [email protected] and include “Lockdown” in your subject line.
In the meantime, check out their site here
ALL Resources
Former ALL colleague, highly respected, influential and inspirational teacher Barry Jones shares thoughts on planning here and we can exclusively share his wealth of experience which are placed under six headings in this very special archive:
If you have ideas, tools or resources that you are willing to share with other MFL teachers and practitioners please do email links and resources here. Our ALL London branch are actively working with Joe Dale and Linguascope to collaboratively host some webinars so more news on these below.
PowerLanguage Schools
Free 3 month access to PowerLanguage online French Course details below:
Learn a Language: French for Families The PowerLanguage team would like to offer their support to children and their families whilst they wait out the reopening of schools. Why not take this opportunity to learn French together as a family? We have opened up our successful French for Families course with no subscription fee until the end of June 2020!
Learn a Language: IDL Language Resources for your class. The PowerLanguage team would like to support high quality online learning and teaching during the extended school closures. Starting from a topic-based approach, we are making 5 Dossiers available to all French teachers working with learners aged between 3 and 14. Go to:
powerlanguage.school/homelearning to access your free resources.
Online teaching with Joe Dale
Joe Dale shared his wealth of knowledge and vast expertise to help teachers with an array of online tools and technology in light of school closures and the need for teachers to move to online teaching and distance learning. Read more here
Joe shared a very detailed 12 page document which can be downloaded and reviewed here
Joe is happy to answer questions about items in the document he so kindly shared, but our suggestion is watch the webinar he gave first as he does a superb job of guiding us through the array of potential out there.
Happy watching and learning!
Halsbury Travel
A generous offer from our friends at Halsbury who are offering all of their MFL posters available as free downloads. There are so many here but find some of our favourite below:
- Resource posters including vocabulary sheets for French, German, Spanish and Italian here
- Resource regarding preparing for speaking exams
- Help students to gain language in describing their mental health and feelings with the help of emojis and target language
- Idiomatic phrases recall and activity available in French, German, Spanish and Italian
Pearson
Free access to Pearson's digital resources until 31st August 2020
available here
To support continued teaching, learning and building students’ language skills and confidence, we’re offering free access to e-Textbooks and revision materials for:
- KS3 French, German and Spanish
- Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) French
- Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) German
- Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Spanish
- AQA GCSE (9–1) French
- AQA GCSE (9–1) German
- AQA GCSE (9–1) Spanish
Once you have access to these student-facing materials, you can then share them as part of an online class or with your students to work on at home with their parents or carers.
Learn more about the resources available and request free access.
Collins
Collins has free downloadable bilingual dictionaries for primary and secondary languages students:
Free dictionary resources
They also have free downloadable study resources available for secondary modern languages students:
Q&A Flashcards and audio for KS3 French and Spanish
Q&A Flashcards, audio and practice paper for GCSE French, Spanish and German
In addition to these languages-specific resources, Collins has lots of study support resources available for GCSE students.
Educandy
Are you looking to can create interactive learning games but have no time to learn how? With Educandy, you can create engaging activities in minutes. Just enter your words, or questions and answers and Educandy turns your content into cool interactive games.
Once you’ve created an activity, a unique code is generated. Simply share that code with your students and they’ll be able to play the game on their own device, in class, at home or even on the bus on the way to school. You can even embed the games into your own website if you want to.
The games you create can be played on individual computers, tablets via the Educandy app as well as on the interactive whiteboard.
There are 8 types of games you can generate. Create a free account today and start building your bank of resources, or copy and adapt games shared by our community.
You create, you share, they play. It’s as simple as that!
Educandy – making learning sweeter!
Read more here: Press release Educandy
Linguascope
Forthcoming FREE webinars will are available to view here.
However should you have missed any of the brilliant FREE online training opportunities for teachers to date they are available to view here.
Wondering how to spend your additional lockdown time?
6 books every language teacher should read during the lockdown
Language Challenge of the week - A new fun activity for learners using a familiar image learners can have superb fun completing this for you, in the target language of course!
Martine Pillette's free downloadable resources, 33 are available here. Merci mille fois Martine!
Free fun and topical worksheets on key workers available here
Plus the new le défi crêpes!
The défi (challenge) is open to all age groups and students from all schools, anywhere in the world, can take part. Students are encouraged to tweet pictures of their crêpes with the #DefiCrepes hashtag (or they can email you the pictures which you can share on Twitter if you prefer). The challenge will be open throughout June and 3 winners will be selected and announced early July. The 3 students in question will win Linguascope gift vouchers for their school (£100, £75 and £50 respectively).
CAVILAM Alliance Français
Our friends at the Alliance Française in Vichy, have made this fantastic kit d’animation free to download and available here
Linguacuisine
Our friends at Linguacuisine have more recipes with videos to develop language learning and also cooking! Check them out here. There is also news of the fantastic Linguacuisine Linguachef competition for 2020 and more details are available here
On Friday 27 March many of you joined Linguacuisine for a wonderful live-streaming event on Facebook were they made the classic Italian dessert Tiramisu (meaning ‘pull me up’ or ‘cheer me up’) and the chance to learn some Italian!
The Italian recipe for Tiramisu is available here https://linguacuisine.com.
Find out more about Linguacuisine all about young people at home learning languages, cooking and enjoying the food they make in a new article in HundrEd magazine here
MFL Resources and Tools
During this time of self-isolation, social distancing and working from home, it can be difficult for newly qualified educators to feel like they have the correct approach in home learning. We have created a small, but helpful document which has links to useful websites during this time and answers to any potential questions you may have.
To access the document, please click here: MFL Resources to aid remote distance learning
Home Learning bundles available from TeachIt Languages
TeachIt Languages are making many resources free until the end of April 2020 so have a look here for French, German and Spanish resources. There is still time to have a look through what they have on offer.
Following the recent announcement of the lockdown extension, our friends at TeachIt Languages have decided to keep our offer running while schools are closed.
This is free access to all TeachIt Languages resources while schools are closed to help save time for language teachers across the UK whilst homeschooling.
NCELP
The National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP, www.ncelp.org) is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and the University of York to help put into practice the recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s MFL Pedagogy Review in French, German, and Spanish teaching across 45 secondary schools in England.
The Centre’s overarching ambition is to improve language curriculum design and pedagogy, leading to high uptake and greater success at GCSE. Our Schemes of Work are proposed as examples of how language knowledge and practice can be sequenced and re-visited systematically to support progression in the early stages of language development within a low exposure foreign language setting.
To help teachers and pupils during these difficult times we have made some updates to our Resource Portal to reflect the change in practice arising from school closure.
- NCELP home learning: free resources for learners who are in their first couple of years of learning French, German or Spanish. Provides full powerpoint lessons, giving carefully created, research-informed instruction, to practise listening, reading, writing and speaking.
- NCELP teacher CPD: a series of self-access NCELP CPD sessions (YouTube screencasts), for any teachers interested to learn more about the pedagogy.
- NCELP Schemes of Work: currently available for Year 7, Term 1 and 2 for French, German and Spanish. Term 3 will be uploaded after it has been taught in NCELP project schools that are providing us with feedback and quality assurance.
To receive a weekly bulletin of the latest materials added to the NCELP Resource Portal and further information about the Centre’s activities, sign up to the Mailing List.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press have made some free lesson packs and resources available too from their popular titles:
Allez
Tricolore KS3
Tricolore KS4
Claro
Zoom Español
Zoom Deutsch
AQA GCSE French
AQA GCSE Spanish
AQA GCSE German
Click on each link above to access them directly. Oxford University Press say they shall add more so keep checking back for more goodies to help keep learners learning and consolidating whilst they are at home.
EAL Hub
Our friends at EAL Hub have resources freely available here to ensure that in these unprecedented circumstances that everyone is a learner. There is lots to choose from to help all learners continue their learning at distance or indeed if they are in school from imagination creation sheets, story books and activity packs through to social scenes and learning more about space or the environment.
uTalk
uTalk Classroom—a free offer for all UK secondary schools, running now to the end of July.
Choose three languages from over 140, plus EAL if needed.
An unlimited number of students can use the award-winning uTalk app to play speaking and listening games in over 60 topics.
Works on any standard device—tablets, phones, laptops… online or offline.
Each learner has their own account.
Teachers get a dashboard to monitor pupil progress and attainment.
Easy set-up; we do the work so your students can start learning immediately!
If you need convincing this is for you then look here at what's on offer!*
Get in touch with Susannah ([email protected] / 07749288578) so we can get you up and running straight away.
*For a sneak peek of uTalk’s GCSE-related content, go here*
La Jolie Ronde Languages for Children
La Jolie Ronde Languages for Children are doing what they can to help Schools and Teachers through these unprecedented times. It's business as usual as their Schools Department is still fully operational taking and despatching orders plus there to help with any query Schools and Teachers may have. If you are using their French or Spanish Scheme of Work, Pupil Activity Books are available electronically for teachers to email out FREE OF CHARGE.
In another positive move to help pupils continue with their bilingual learning, plus help to keep a feeling of normality, La Jolie Ronde has re-located it's extra-curricular French and Spanish classes "online". Pupils will learn via live-streamed classes directly into their home on a chosen device eg. laptop, tablet, mobile or even through a smart tv. The response from both pupils and parents has been amazing with particular praise in that the classes are a great way of keeping pupils in touch with friends and their teacher.
To find out more email [email protected]
Website: www.lajolieronde.co.uk
Online Shop: www.language-resources.co.uk
TRANSFORM YOUR PLAYGROUND INTO AN OUTDOOR CLASSROOM"
Outdoor play is great for encouraging children to be physically active as well as improving health & well-being. So why not transform your playground into an OUTDOOR CLASSROOM with one of La Jolie Ronde's award-winning language learning THEME DAYS. The Theme Days are perfect for SMALL GROUPS OF CHILDREN, across the school, to join in a fun and worthwhile language learning activity, in either French or Spanish, plus "no specialist language skills" required so any teacher or teaching assistant can participate.
School's why not replace Sports Day with our Olympic Theme Day - Create your own mini Olympic games! Perfect for pupils to learn all about the history of the games. Includes: Mini Olympic events, templates for coloured flashcards of the events, role play activities, templates for passes, ideas for certificates, 3 board games to revise language learning.
🇫🇷 www.language-resources.co.uk/products/theme-days-fr-olympics
🇪🇸 www.language-resources.co.uk/products/theme-days-es-olympics
If you're wanting an abundance of playground games, then our "Around My School" Theme Day ticks all boxes - Such a great topic for everyone to have fun with! There are plenty of OUTDOOR activities in this Theme Day. Includes: Video clips of French/Spanish children showing us their school, lots of typical French/Spanish playground games, a school treasure hunt, and a fun non-uniform day activity to reinforce items of clothing & colours. Buy here:
FRENCH - https://www.language-resources.co.uk/products/theme-days-fr-around-my-school
SPANISH - https://www.language-resources.co.uk/products/theme-days-es-around-my-school
🇫🇷Celebrate on 14 July, with our Bastille Day Theme Day. Perfect for teaching pupils all about France's very important holiday. Includes: the story of the storming of the Bastille, ideas for a Bastille Day picnic, traditional French games like pétanque, instructions for making French flags and rosettes. Buy here:🇫🇷 www.language-resources.co.uk/products/theme-days-fr-bastille
***SPECIAL OFFER FOR ALL - We're giving you 20% OFF all our Theme Day, simply use promotional code TD20 at checkout.
We can invoice you as well - simply email your order to [email protected] quoting ALL
BBC Bitesize
The NEW BBC Bitesize is here for KS1,2,3 and 4 (with some provision for KS5) for
There are some top tips here about how to learn languages if your students need a reminder.
John Murray Learning
John Murray Learning, home of Teach Yourself and Michel Thomas Method language courses, is offering teachers and students some FREE LANGUAGE STORIES from the popular Teach Yourself Graded Readers Series by Olly Richards.
- Use code TYHOME4 to download up to FIVE BONUS STORIES in the languages of your choice.
- Available in French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish and more! Suitable for GCSE and A level students.
- The offer is valid until 01 May 2020 from the Readers site and app only.
To redeem this offer:
1.) Visit https://readers.teachyourself.com/redeem
2.) Enter code TYHOME4 and select "Apply"
3.) Select the story you would like to read
4.) Create an account
5.) Access your course online via the website or download it to the accompanying Teach Yourself Readers app.
Language Horizons
As an immediate response to the Covid-19 crisis, the MFL Student Mentoring Project (based at Cardiff University) is offering Year 12 and 13 students the opportunity to engage with an exciting 12-week programme.
The programme features over 50 interactive activities and sessions. These range from taster sessions of new languages like Nepalese, to group conversation classes for A-level students, and includes a range of seminars and lectures centred on a variety of cultural themes from Brazilian Politics to Contemporary Women in Europe. All sessions are run by Student Mentors and University Academics.
The project aims to support students as they transition to the next phase, in particular hoping to bridge the gap between pupils’ last days of school teaching and the coming year at university (whatever that may look like). The project also hopes to inspire those not yet sure about their next steps to think more deeply about university and what studying a language could look like.
To support this aspirational element we have organised a series of Q&A sessions with university students who can provide school pupils with answers to any questions they might have about studying and living at university.
To get involved, have a look at our page on Hwb (https://hwb.gov.wales/playlists/view/bbf64e57-3191-4a6d-94b3-f08b3dc5af69/en/3 or our twitter page (@MFLmentoring) to see a full timetable of events. You will also be able to find a variety of self-directed learning resources.
Students can pick and choose which events they want to attend and sign up for free using an Eventbrite link. Once signed up, they will receive a link to join the event via Zoom.
If you have any questions about the programme or how to get involved please drop us a message via twitter (MFLmentoring) or contact our Wales Coordinator Glesni Owen ([email protected])
Brilliant Publications
Our friends at Brilliant Publications are offering some free resources across a range of languages. On their site they have over 400 ebook and resources throughout their site but have made a page of free languages resources which are available here and here plus check out the resources below:
Golden Daffodils
The wonderful team at Golden Daffodils have lots of free year 3 - 6 French and year 3-4 Spanish resources which can be found and downloaded here. There are many other additional resources which are available on the site.
Betsy Belle Teach
BetsyBelleTeach have heavily discounted or made free many of their resources which range from primary, KS3 and GCSE French resources. There are also grammar resources too.
Language Angels
Language Angels are offering a selection of free CPD webinars covering a range of topics such as French phonics, Spanish phonics and essentials for languages leads and teachers in schools over the next few weeks so check what they have on offer here
Consejería de Educación
Calling all Spanish teachers, our friends at the Spanish Embassy here in London are offering you all free access to the latest edition of their fantastic TECLA digital magazine, two versions are available on the links are below:
Versión en español:
https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/reinounido/publicaciones-materiales/tecla/revista-tecla.html
Versión en inglés:
https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/reinounido/en_GB/publicaciones-materiales/tecla/revista-tecla.html
The Education and MFL Advisers at the Consejería de Educación (The Spanish Embassy Education Office in UK and in Ireland) together with Extenda, the Andalusian Promotion Agency have developed 8 free workshops for Spanish Teachers, starting on May 12th until June 30th.
One hour every Tuesday from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. Click here and here for more details or see below.
Talleres en línea para profesorado de español en el Reino Unido e Irlanda
La Consejería de Educación en el Reino Unido e Irlanda y Extenda (Agencia Andaluza de Promoción exterior) ofrecen ocho talleres de formación en línea para profesorado de español durante los meses de mayo y junio de 2020. Se trata de una serie de talleres independientes sobre distintos aspectos metodológicos relacionados con la enseñanza del español, que se pueden seguir puntualmente: cada docente puede inscribirse solo en uno solo de los talleres, en varios o en todos, según su interés.
Fechas y horario: los martes de 16:00 a 17:00 en los meses de mayo y junio (desde el 12 de mayo hasta el 30 de junio, incluido). Inscripción: la inscripción es gratuita y se realiza a través de este formulario (se puede participar en todos los talleres o elegir solo uno o varios).
Certificación: la Consejería de Educación emitirá certificado de participación a los asistentes a cada taller.
Todos los detalles sobre el programa y contenido de los talleres pueden consultarse en la web de la Consejería de Educación: https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/reinounido/convocatorias-programas/formacion-profesorado/extenda-talleres-en-linea-mayo-junio-2020.html
Chartered Institute of Linguists
Our wonderful colleagues at the Chartered Institute of Linguists have some free resources in a range of languages to share with our members. These are related to the Year 9-10 exam normally held in June, called Real Lives. The exam will be rescheduled and details will be shared as they become available.
Recent past papers can be found here: https://www.ciol.org.uk/real-lives,
Audio recording files listed within the table can be accessed here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/118_4f1jkzHmfJ5DbIA90XEk7izDdXgm4.
Resources, past papers and audio recordings are available in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, Welsh and ESOL (English). In addition Polish and Somali are available for the first time this year.
Light Bulb Languages
As well as all the usual free resources, Light Bulb Languages is offering for home learning a series of videos and accompanying resources for primary Spanish. There are also the Lumen Language Challenges, which are arty and crafty activities with a Languages focus - great for promoting a sense of wellbeing. See more here
The Bell Foundation
The Bell Foundation known for their support for EAL learners have collated some advice and support of how to help EAL learners and their families with home learning. Please find their free resources here
They are also hosting webinars to aid teachers and practitioners in supporting EAL learners and their families. For more details see here
Rayburn Tours
Need some ideas for online teaching? Our colleagues at Rayburn Tours have created this Top Teacher Tips for Home Schooling
Doodle Education
Need help to ensure youngsters know how to socially distance and how far two metres actually is? Here is a fun free download from Doodle Education.
Language Horizons
As an immediate response to the Covid-19 crisis, the MFL Student Mentoring Project (based at Cardiff University) is offering Year 12 and 13 students the opportunity to engage with an exciting 12-week programme.
The programme features over 50 interactive activities and sessions. These range from taster sessions of new languages like Nepalese, to group conversation classes for A-level students, and includes a range of seminars and lectures centred on a variety of cultural themes from Brazilian Politics to Contemporary Women in Europe. All sessions are run by Student Mentors and University Academics.
The project aims to support students as they transition to the next phase, in particular hoping to bridge the gap between pupils’ last days of school teaching and the coming year at university (whatever that may look like). The project also hopes to inspire those not yet sure about their next steps to think more deeply about university and what studying a language could look like.
To support this aspirational element we have organised a series of Q&A sessions with university students who can provide school pupils with answers to any questions they might have about studying and living at university.
To get involved, have a look at our page on Hwb (https://hwb.gov.wales/playlists/view/bbf64e57-3191-4a6d-94b3-f08b3dc5af69/en/3 or our twitter page (@MFLmentoring) to see a full timetable of events. You will also be able to find a variety of self-directed learning resources.
Students can pick and choose which events they want to attend and sign up for free using an Eventbrite link. Once signed up, they will receive a link to join the event via Zoom.
If you have any questions about the programme or how to get involved please drop us a message via twitter (MFLmentoring) or contact our Wales Coordinator Glesni Owen ([email protected])
Institut français du Royaume-Uni
The Institut français du Royaume-Uni offers a wealth of free resources for teachers and learners of French in the UK , from the digital online library Culturethèque, and the Primary French Project SoW for KS2, to the IFprofs UK collaborative platform. You can find out more about its online offer here:
Maison Claire Fontaine French
Bonjour and very best wishes from all the Maison Claire Fontaine team here in Burgundy. We are so very sad not to be enjoying the noise of contented young voices trying out their language skills in our beautiful rural French surroundings. However, we have decided to use the time to create some resources that we hope will be useful to you all and now have our very own YouTube channel : Maison Claire Fontaine French. We welcome your feedback as well as any ideas for new videos and activities that we could add.
Prenez bien soins de vous et à bientôt !
YouTube link :
Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut has developed a wide range of online resources and materials for primary and secondary students and teachers of German.
The Goethe-Institut has put together a series of online cultural events and competitions designed to help you motivate your pupils and to make learning German more fun. They also offer further online training events for German teachers to enhance and broaden their skills.
Languages Today, Issue 35, May 2020. Free download.
Your May Languages Today magazine is very special this time! Given the exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in ALL took the decision to go digital! The magazine benefits from extra and extended articles, with live links from the pages, as well as pilots for new features, some of your old favourites and our acknowledgement of the great support we have seen recently from the ALL Corporate members among others.
Last time we asked new contributors to come forward and we’ve had a great response! So, as well as Michael Wardle, Vincent Everett, Martine Pillette, Suzi Bewell and Clare Seccombe you can look forward to Charlotte Ryland, Carlota Camara, Ollie Walsh, Georgina Dorr, Katie Lockett … and a Y7 pupil ! (… and that’s not all!)
Free downloadable resources from Twinkl.
Free downloadable resources packs for Languages: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/keystage3-ks3/free-taster-packs-secondary/free-taster-packs-free-taster-packs-secondary
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/keystage2-ks2/ks2-subjects/ks2-languages
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/home-key-stage-1-subjects/languages
See the Twinkl Home Learning hub for new ideas everyday here https://www.twinkl.co.uk/home-learning-hub
The ENACT Web App
We are delighted to inform colleagues that Newcastle University has released a free app for learning language through culture - ENACT.
The ENACT Web App: Learn Language through Culture
ENACT is a free web app from Newcastle University, UK. With the ENACT interactive player https://enacteuropa.com/ you can learn a foreign language through the foreign culture by carrying out a cultural activity – our app shows you how. Learn Japanese while you’re making an origami boat or Turkish while you’re making a shadow puppet! Your smartphone or tablet will talk you through the stages of doing the activity, with photos, text, audio and video to help. In this way you can learn something about a country’s language and culture before you visit it, understand more about the languages and cultures of the world and produce something beautiful! Learning by physically engaging in an activity brings the language and culture to life and helps cross-cultural understanding. The learning experience is memorable as it involves touch and all your senses. Some activities have 360° videos and images which offer you an immersive experience. You’ll watch a video introducing you to the activity and culture, then learn the most important words. A video will show you in detail how you can carry out the activity yourself in your own home, then you can assess how much you’ve learnt, evaluate what you’ve produced and send messages to others in our online community.
You can also tell others about your own language and culture! With ENACT author, the ENACT materials you produce will enable users to learn aspects of your language and culture by carrying out the cultural task which you show them. Maybe you can teach people some English by showing them how to carve a pumpkin for Hallowe’en? So people all round the world can watch your materials and learn from you about your culture, language and activity. This can be a good way of making your culture and language known to foreigners, but also to younger members of your own community, who may not be learning the traditions you did as a child. Help people all over the world learn about your own language and culture and learn yourself about other countries.
Why not join our online community of people interested in learning and teaching about cultures and languages? Simply go to https://enacteuropa.com/ and create an account to send messages, leave comments, and create your own activity!
Contact us at: [email protected]
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube
In your social media posts, use the hashtag: #EnactEuropa
Access our newsletter
How can Teachers use the ENACT Web App?
Integrating cultural tasks into the curriculum for language learning and/or cross-cultural learning as an occasional, complementary activity offers opportunities on many levels to teachers around the world. It can be helpful in bringing the cultures and languages of countries to life and in preparing students for an overseas trip as it helps engage them with the culture and language in advance. The authoring software can be used by teachers to input their own cultural activities so that their students can learn specific language points.
A great project for students is for them to input their own favourite cultural activities in their own language, using the ENACT author. Project work could also involve students producing their own activities from their own culture to present to a worldwide audience, with the choice of using their own L1 (with captions or subtitles) or English as a Lingua Franca. Digital skills can also be developed by using the ENACT authoring software, which was designed to develop a wide range of digital skills using the DIGCOMP 2.1 framework. We have a digital skills certification system for the project on
https://enacteuropa.com/sites/default/files/Enact_digital_skills_certification_system.pdf
The long term aim of the ENACT Web App is to build up a bank of cultural language learning tasks available for free worldwide, covering as many languages, cultures and countries as possible, promoting cross cultural understanding and communication. The ENACT Web App and website provide a free infrastructure which can be used by all language and culture enthusiasts from around the world. We therefore encourage everyone to add their own cultural activity in their own language, culture using the author software so that people all over the world can learn from them — and to encourage this, there is an annual ENACT Web App prize for the best cultural language learning activity. Reciprocity is built into the app: any number of new activities can be added in any language, any country and any culture around the world, using the authoring software – no culture has priority. ENACT is therefore a suitable vehicle for promoting cultural exchange and understanding around the world.
Finally, doing cultural activities for language learning is great fun, a real-world, gritty learning experience involving all 5 senses in the course of producing something with your hands and bodies. This cannot be appreciated by simply reading instructions or reviewing the app online, so why not find a workspace, choose an activity in a new foreign language, and see what you learn!
For Migrant Communities
The app was co-designed with a group of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the EU, so it is particularly suitable for helping to integrate these groups into EU societies, and for home country members to learn more about the communities in their local area. Immigrants can learn to create the host country’s cultural activities to learn about the language and vice versa. Secondly, immigrants can produce their own cultural activities in their own language using the authoring tool. People can also work online on building cultural activities with experts from the home country. These are then freely available for use by both community members, thus enabling mutual understanding and 2-way integration.
A problem for some migrant communities is that the young generation do not always learn the language and culture of the older generation, whilst the elders are often lacking in digital skills. The ENACT Web App enables the learning and inter-generational exchange of languages and cultural activities by means of digital technology. Young people with digital skills can work with older, non-digital family members to upload traditional cultural activities in the heritage language onto the system in terms of audio/video recordings and texts, thus enabling intergenerational skills and knowledge exchanges. The authoring tool is ideal for skills exchanges, so the older generation learns the digital skills and the younger generation learns the heritage activity and language, where appropriate. The infrastructure has been set up so that any number of new cultural activities can be added in any language, country and culture in the EU and beyond, using the authoring tool.
How can University Teachers use the ENACT Web App?
Internationalisation at higher education (HE) contributes to international, intercultural, and global dimensions of teaching. It increases quality of education by raising students’ international outlook and intercultural capabilities. Yet vast majority of HE students lack resources to participate in study abroad and mobility programmes and miss international opportunities. University teachers can use the ENACT web app to mobilise students’ intercultural understanding and knowledge of cultures around the word and increase their awareness of interculturality. The ENACT web app can be used for teaching activities as part of a wide range of programmes and courses with a focus on languages, cultures, and intercultural communication. Whilst students can individually explore and create cultural activities on the web app and participate in the ENACT community, you can also use the ENACT app as part of a virtual exchange to facilitate international collaboration between your students and students from another institution in another country. To learn more about how we are implementing the web app for virtual exchange, read our blog post and contact us at [email protected]
Is service learning and community engagement important at your university? Another reason for you to use the ENACT web app in your teaching is to enhance your students’ engagement with the local community. We are developing a model for the ENACT app to be used for service learning programmes at higher education. The ENACT web app is designed to foster social integration and two-way intercultural and intergenerational exchange of languages, cultures, and digital skills. Working with local organisations, your students can act as facilitators to help intercultural or intergenerational pairs to work together to create their cultural activities on the ENACT app. You can use our training materials and our academic recognition tools to acknowledge your students’ community engagement in their academic learning. Our materials to encourage for purposeful civic learning will soon be available on the Outputs section on our website.
For Cultural Clubs and Societies
If you take part in any kind of cultural activity – sewing, dancing, singing, making crafts etc. - then you may want an easy way of showing other people how to do your activity and what it means in your culture. In particular, you may want your young generation to learn your activity and the language used in it. If so, the ENACT Web App offers an easy way of doing this. Make videos of your activity as well as audio, photos and text, and use the authoring tool to make a package that anyone anywhere can use to learn about your activity, language and culture. Your young people may be more interested in learning about it if they see it online!
UNESCO’s definition of cultural heritage “includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.” We hope to promote all of these with the ENACT Web App.
Communities, Languages, and Activities App (ENACT) project is co-funded by the European Commission, Erasmus Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education, project number: 2019-1-UK01-KA203-061567. The project is led by Newcastle University, and the other consortium partners are: Boğaziçi University, Cultura Foundation, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, and University of Helsinki.
Additional Free Language Resources
Don't forget about brilliant free websites full of fantastic cross phase resources, games, videos, activities and challenges to help develop and reinforce real language learning across multiple languages such as:
Languages Online
Offering free French, German, Spanish, Italian and Latin resources from Early Years through to A level to aid distance and remote learning.
Audible and Collins: Paul Noble
Audible and Olly Richards