Schools in Argyll & Bute had a visit from our international partners, l’Université de Picardie.

Over the last 6 years many schools have benefited from hosting a visit from a French primary student teacher. This has provided a wonderful cultural and linguistic exchange for pupils and staff. During the pandemic this link has been maintained virtually and although not the same, several schools were able to establish successful communication. The aim is now to reinstate face to face visits in session 2022-23.

It was a wonderful experience for the two teacher trainers from the university, Helene and Corinne, to discover schools in Argyll & Bute. They visited some schools which had previously hosted student teacher visits or been involved in the recent virtual link. During their short stay they were able to visit Dunoon PS, Kirn PS, Sandbank PS, Tarbert Academy and PS, Kilmodan PS, Rosneath PS, Hermitage PS and Luss PS. The French visitors were highly impressed by all the schools they visited and remarked on how evident it was that the wellbeing of pupils was of the upmost importance in these schools. The schools involved really looked after our guests by showcasing all the learning and providing some special culinary and cultural treats from tasty sandwiches and cakes to bagpipes and Scottish country dancing!

Get in touch with gwen.mccrossan2@argyll-bute.gov.uk  if you are interested in becoming involved with the project next session.

Primaries 5, 6 and 7 of Kilmodan Primary are delighted to announce that they have been awarded second prize in the Concours de la Francophonie, a national school competition run by the Institut français d’Ecosse, to encourage all young French learners and their teachers around Scotland to celebrate the International Day of la Francophonie.

The children scripted and then produced a short drama set in a busy French café.  They showcased their language and drama skills in a humorous sketch involving all pupils.

Class teacher at Kilmodan Primary, Linda Shaw said, “The competition offered a great opportunity for the children to demonstrate their creativity alongside their language skills.  They were thrilled to hear of their success and delighted to receive their books and certificate, presented by Gwen McCrossan, Principal Teacher for Languages.  Language learning remains central to our curriculum at Kilmodan Primary as we strive to ensure our pupils are engaged in challenging and enjoyable activities as they learn about the language and culture of France.”

Are you hoping to deliver Gaelic as an L2 or L3 in your class next session? This is an opportunity to be guided through the resources available via the Northern Alliance to teach Gaelic.

Find out how these Northern Alliance resources (incorporating the Go!Gaelic programme) offer newly created support materials and where you can find them.

This is a chance for you to ask any questions about teaching Gaelic as a 1+2 language and also how you can help improve your own Gaelic language skills.

When: Tuesday 7th June 2022, 4-5pm

Sign up HERE

French Phonics- Getting to Grips with Pronunciation

Suitable for teachers of Primary who are delivering French as an L2 or L3 and would like to improve their own pronunciation and confidence as well as develop techniques for teaching French phonics in the classroom.

This learning space has been developed for the Argyll & Bute ELC to P1 transition project. It can be used to learn simple greetings and colours in Gaelic or French. Click on the objects in the image and have fun learning words through song and play.

Why not try out some of these French  or Gaelic daily check-in language challenges with your class in April?

Click HERE to discover all the Gaelic Week events and resources.

Why not try out the new challenge from the GLEANS network with your class-

Gaelic Place Names Around You

Unite for Literacy is is a  fantastic collection of simple e-books in English or Spanish which can be narrated in many other languages.  Try one of the stories below. Listen in French, German, Polish, Arabic……

How many friends?    What colours do you eat?

Adiós días        Grande y pequeño

Plus:

March Daily Activity Calendar for Languages. This month there is a focus on literacy to tie in with World Book Day.

This term’s Linking Learners and Languages Across the Curriculum Challenge  also focuses on literacy and stories.

Click HERE to see the fabulous multicultural and multilingual way in which Hermitage Primary School celebrated Languages Week Scotland. The whole school celebrated many different languages and cultures including Scots, Spanish, German, Gaelic, French, Chinese, Estonian, Russian, Hungarian, and Dutch. Each class chose a country to study- They looked at language, culture, customs, art, food and famous people.

The aim was to help everyone recognise the importance of language and culture within a rights respecting context. The week included literacy, language learning, numeracy, dance, song, poetry recital, cooking, model making and even pilates!

Four week beginners’ Gaelic course

The course will take place via Google meet, 3.45-5pm on the following dates: 28^th February, 7^th, 14^th, 21^st March.

The course will refer to the online resources Go!Gaelic and Gaidhlig nan Òg and will introduce the Gaelic language for introductions, feelings, numbers, weather & colours.

This is an ideal opportunity for primary and early years practitioners to learn some simple Gaelic language and use this in a fun way with their learners.

Please click HERE to sign up

Teaching Languages Through Songs, Games and Storytelling

Teaching Languages through Songs and Games – 2^nd March 2022, 4pm, Google meet

This is an interactive session which exemplifies the methodology of using songs and games for teaching languages in the classroom. The activities will demonstrate how versatile a song or a game can be. There will be a particular focus on simple, easily accessible songs and games which require minimal preparation but provide maximum learning potential.

Click HERE to sign up

Using Storytelling to Enhance your Language Teaching – 9^th March 2022, 4pm, Google meet

This session will provide an interactive introduction to storytelling where practitioners will learn how to use stories to deliver all 4 language skills, explore how to develop wider literacy and how to use storytelling as an inclusive practice.

Click HERE to sign up

Daily Challenges 

31st January-4th February 2022 #scotlandloveslanguages 

Free classroom resource – The Northern Alliance Languages Team was inspired by this free downloadable poster – The Rights of the Language Learner and we have created a poster with similar ideas in English, French, Gaelic, Scots, German, Spanish & BSL. Click here to see & download the posters to share with your classes. Here’s a poster summarising everything.

For learners in upper primary / secondary at school or home we have created a poster with activities for them to try based on the above posters.

Gaelic challenge for Languages Week Scotland

Other opportunities – Colleagues in the SWEIC (South West Educational Improvement Collaborative) have generously opened up their bitesize CLPL menu running all of next week as part of their Languages Week Scotland celebrations to teachers across the country. Click HERE for links to join sessions

Languages Week Scotland 2022 will run from 31 January – 4 February 2022. The theme is “The ‘Rights’ Approach – incorporating learners’ rights within Scotland’s languages landscape”

SCILT (the Scottish Centre for Languages) has provided ideas to use in school  to celebrate the week. They will also publish daily challenges during the week and there are professional development opportunities available. You can find all this here at Languages Week Scotland SCILT

This e-book shared by Highland Council also contains lots of classroom ideas for French and Gaelic to celebrate Languages Week Scotland.

Follow the dedicated Twitter account @LangsWeekScot for all the latest news, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #scotlandloveslanguages to share how you celebrate. Alternatively, contact gwen.mccrossan2@argyll-bute.gov.uk  with anything you would like shared here on SAL.

Beginners’ French – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/221641063387

Starting on Tuesday 11th January for 5 weeks, please see link above for more details and to register

Beginners’ German – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/221991270867

Starting on Wednesday 12th January for 4 weeks, please see link above for more details and to register.

Spanish follow-on course – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/221650280957

Starting on Thursday 13th January for 4 weeks, please see link above for more details and to register.

Gaelic introduction course follow -on https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/follow-on-introduction-to-gaelic-course-tickets-222592418917

Starting on Tuesday 11th January. Sessions throughout the term. Please see above link for more details.

Shellycoat

A story in Scots, English and Arabic. Illustrated and translated by pupils from Dalintober, Innellan, Rosneath and Toward Primary Schools.

Click HERE to listen to the story and see all the beautiful illustrations. This story telling project is part of the Bethlehem Cultural Festival. Schools participated in this project as part of the L3 Arabic course they have undertaken this session.

• Access to the short animation Migrants for free for all schools as part of the Discovery Film Festival at the DCA – only till 7/11. Read more info here. It has resources to develop French & cross curricular resources linked to literacy.
• Ebook Climate change resources aimed at primary linked to Migrants focusing on Gaelic, French & Spanish based on the existing English cross curricular resources available to support Migrants.
• Nov Daily Challenges Calendar – learning for sustainability month of activities/resources
• Linking Languages Across the Curriculum – Learning for sustainability focus – an e-book with some ideas
• Padlet with ideas linked to COP26 & languages

All of the resources above can also be accessed on one page on the Northern Alliance Languages Family learning site  or the Northern Alliance Languages Teacher Professional Learning Hub

Professional Learning for Languages

Drop-in support session on using Book Creator for learning and teaching

15th November, 3.45-4.45pm- email gwen.mccrossan2@argyll-bute.gov.uk to receive the link to join.

Drop-in support session on creating Virtual classrooms for learning and teaching

22th November, 3.45-4.45pm- email gwen.mccrossan2@argyll-bute.gov.uk to receive the link to join.

Connecting Learning across the Curriculum (18th Nov) –Find out more and register

A look at how Languages (L2/3) can be linked to other curriculum areas, such as Literacy and topic based approaches.

We shall look at the Themed Activity Cards on the Northern Alliance Family Learning Site for French, Gaelic, German and Spanish for IDL work. We will also look at the Responsive Resources in Powerlanguage Schools for inspiration & touch on the CLIL approach to learning and the resources on the ELAPSE website.

As part of European Day of Languages some of us chose to dress up in the colours of the French flag. Pupils in P6 and 7 enjoyed leading games for younger children.  This photo shows us playing ‘Bonjour, Bonjour, Au Revoir,’ our version of Duck, Duck, Goose.  We were so pleased that the nursery children could join in too.

In the following clip Catriona asks Kathryn to tell us all about leading games for European day of Languages.  At Kilmodan we are developing leadership, literacy, languages, technology and HWB across the school.

P5-7 embraced the challenge of learning a French tongue twister.  Have a look at Fraser, who chose a particularly difficult one: Je cherche Serge.  Well done to everyone who took part and to Catriona who managed to say her tongue twister 70 times in one minute!  It was great fun!

The P7 pupils at Hermitage Primary School took part in a ‘Voyage en France’ challenge. They were all paired up and given an envelope with a map, 2 cash cards with a budget of £500 each and a budget sheet. The pupils had to plan a trip to France which involved them visiting at least two places, one they had never heard of before, visit at least 3 attractions, try some local food and travel on a French train. The pupils used a range of Literacy, Maths, ICT and mapping skills to complete this task. At the end, they shared their trip with another pair and a few examples were shared with the class. All the pupils thoroughly enjoyed this activity and are keen to put their planning into action.

Using Playground Games to Celebrate European Day of Languages

Why not try linking Languages up with other things you are already doing like Literacy or PE.  Take a look at this eBook for ideas on how to do this and share your learning as part of a celebration of European Day of Languages. To share the learning follow the instructions in the book  or  contact  me  directly gwen.mccrossan2@argyll-bute.gov.uk

1. Choose a game/playground game.
2. Choose what language you want to teach/revise eg. numbers
3. Play the game inside/outside.
4. Ask learners if they can remember the instructions (in English) & explain them to someone else. This could be in spoken form as a short presentation or a conversation, or learners could draw & label key words or write a set of instructions/describe what they did. If learners can add anything in another language eg. key words or the language they practised in the game, then that would be great!
5. Choose how to share the work with others in the class/school community/parents Want some inspiration? Listen to Toby (P3) explain how to play Pêcheurs & poissons in this short video using the App Sock Puppets.