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Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales
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Product Description
Introducing pupils to foreign languages at an early age can help them comprehend and apply the rules of grammar, as well as encouraging social development and cultural understanding. Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales is a now resource that will provide support for your language teaching in your primary school
After age 7, as the brain starts to reallocate or close it down the space allocated for language aqcuisition , it becomes increasingly difficult for most people to learn languages. And one problem in this country is that most [foreign language] programs don't start until secondary school, which is too late.
According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in which language defines our understanding of the world, children who are bilingual will have access to two different linguistic codes and therefore potentially, two different thought systems. Research suggests that learning a second language stimulates development, and the benefits can be detected right across the curriculum.
Learning a foreign language helps pupils to comprehend and apply the rules of grammar, as well as encouraging social development and cultural understanding. So there is a whole list of reasons for you to introduce pupils to foreign languages at an early age.
Whether you are an experienced linguist, someone with limited language skills or have negative memories of your own language learning, Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales is a resource designed to make the teaching of a second language easy and fun for both you and your pupils.
A new approach to teaching MFL – easy and fun for teachers and pupils
Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales is a resource made to fully support language teaching in your primary school.There are two different fairy tales in the book each translated four times to offer you a language course in:
* French
* German
* Spanish
* Italian
Using familiar fairy tales within the classroom helps children's understanding of language – by following the pictures in these widely recognisable stories, and through use of repetition, your pupils can easily follow and begin to interpret the language.
Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales uses an investigative approach to take advantage of young childrens' sophisticated capacity for learning language, enabling them to use their 'language acquisition phase' to their full potential.When teaching language in this way you will notice that your pupils possess enormous capacity easily to acquire new language learning skills.
Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales will enable you to:
* deliver quality classes that teach your pupils a second language, whether your own language skills are highly developed or very limited
* bring positive language learning into your classroom
* rely on a quality resource that will help you to teach, as well as including you as a learner
* help your pupils to gain a deep and satisfying understanding of language rather than an arbitrary collection of topic phrases
* engage your learners both cognitively and emotionally with learning language
* find personal enjoyment in a resource that will engage you
* understand a different approach to learning language
* give your pupils ownership of their own learning of a second language and equip them with language tools for their future.
Based on award-winning research!
This exciting resource was built on research done by Northumberland Grid for Learning, with children learning language skills in a pilot scheme exactly in this way.The research, winning the 2007 European Award for Languages from CILT, found that the broader and richer the language experience you provide in the primary classroom, the more children are likely to learn. Stories offer a whole imaginary world, created by language and images that children can enter and enjoy. Fairy tales are familiar territory to young learners and this familiarity opens the door to language learning.
Using familiarity to help children learn
Pupils bring with them prior knowledge of the story meaning that they better understand the activities set within the lesson. Learning of a second language is made easy in the following ways:
* the narrative of the fairy tale provides opportunities to seek out patterns within the story and to look for similarities and differences
* repetition within each fairy tale encourages children to join in, mimicking the indignation or surprise of the native speaker
* pictures give clues to meaning and the animation makes them laugh.
Why use an investigative approach with your pupils?
Children have huge language learning potential. We know this from the seemingly effortless way in which they acquire and develop language and language structures in their first language. This large potential for languages is what we draw upon in Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales. Each activity in the pack is specifically designed to get both the teacher and the learner thinking.
How it works
Learning Languages Through Fairy Tales uses this investigative approach to language learning in which teacher and pupil embark together on a journey in search of meaning. There is no expert in this investigation but rather a skilled facilitator. Each of the fairytales is supported by a series of group activities that help children access the text, construct meaning and develop their own narrative language.The activities work well in each language and build a sound foundation of knowledge about language and language learning strategies.
Activities
Read on for a description of each type of activity used in Learning Languages Through
Fairy Tales and what the aims of each activity are:
Storyboarding
For children to use the skills of sequencing and deduction to find the main nouns in the story.The visual images provide a clear association which aids memory retention.
Classifying
By looking for similarities and differences within the words used in the story pupils are made aware of unfamiliar concepts such as gender or sound patterns.
Visual Map from Memory
This develops memory and recall skills along with an ability to work in a team.The activity introduces adjectives and the effect that different nouns can have on them.
Auditory Map from Memory
Auditory Memory Maps are a fun and engaging exploration of sound and its relationship to the written word. The nature of the activity gives children no option but to communicate with each other using the sounds they have heard and their challenge is to find the words that match those sounds.
Fortune Line
The Fortune Line is a simple tool that helps children engage emotionally with a story. From a language perspective they are recognising and sequencing text as well as identifying words in the foreign language that are acting as an emotional trigger.
Kim's Game
Games help children to recognise that there are a variety of different techniques that can be used to enhance memory and give them an opportunity to try them out.
Odd One Out
Asking children to pick the 'odd one out' from a set of words in another language encourages them to think about the characteristics of words and what they represent. They start to note similarities and differences, and in articulating these they begin to build a language that talks about language.
Dominoes
Dominoes is a game familiar to many children. Playing it in another language helps children to recognise and retain new language in a non-threatening way.
Pass the Parcel
Teaches children how to sequence words in a sentence and how word order can affect meaning within a sentence.
Snakes and Ladders
The familiar context of this dice game gives children an opportunity to consolidate their learning from the stories. It helps transference as they have to think of the target language words outside the familiarity of the story. Blockbusters Similar to Snakes and Ladders, Blockbusters consolidates learning and helps transference.
Action Charades
Action Charades uses drama techniques to enhance listening and speaking skills. Initially children use mime and gesture to show their understanding of phrases related to the story. The language of the story, which until now has been a vehicle for understanding the story, has become a tool for conveying meaning and creating scenes for new stories.
Happy Families
This is another familiar game that enables children to practise simple, repetitive questioning techniques using the characters of the story as a stimulus.
Narrative Format
The Narrative Format activity recreates the imaginary world of the story and invites children to enter it. Only the target language is spoken here and the repetitive nature of the format helps children build up and retain spontaneous narrative language.
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