Primary Languages CPD video series

(created by ChatGPT!)

This week I have started a series of Primary Languages CPD video series on my YouTube channel.  You can find the videos so far on this playlist.

I am endeavouring to keep them short and "bitesize" so that teachers will be able to watch them at a time that is convenient to them.

So far there are three videos, and plenty more are in the pipeline:

Also on my YouTube channel you can access the 12 French songs and 23 Spanish songs that I have made using Suno.com.

Dictation across the key stages #LW2024

 

On Saturday I attended day 2 of this year's Language World conference.  I gave a presentation about dictation, giving lots of ideas to use from Key Stage 2 (age 7-11) all the way up to Key Stage 4 (age 14-16) and beyond.

It was much easier to make a video for you in order to share it than to paste all the slides into this blogpost!  Here is the video:

Other links:

Point à la ligne: dictation in primary languages - blogpost

Dictados: resources to introduce, support and practise dictation in Spanish

Video Spanish lessons

 

Since the beginning of this term I have been using pre-recorded videos to provide Spanish learning for my classes.  I chose this format so that families would be able to access the lessons at a time suitable for them without having to worry about logging on for a live lesson.

All of the videos are on my YouTube channel and you're welcome to use them if you want to.

The shorter videos that I made last spring are also still available.

Making a good resource

You may know that I have been making resources for some time.  25 years in the profession and 16 years sharing online have given me plenty of time to find a style that works and that other people are happy to use.  I made this video to show how I make a resource and to give my tips and tricks about fonts, images and so on.  I hope it helps you with your own resources.

Learn Spanish at home

During a normal school week I teach Spanish to over 400 children over three different schools.  It's now been 2 weeks since I saw any of them, and I'm kind of missing them!  To give them something to do while they are stuck at home I've started to make some videos to help them to learn some more Spanish and to refresh what they already know.

You'll find the resources here.  A few points to note:

• The videos cover the language in more or less the style that I would present it to the children in the classroom. 
• The videos are embedded in the webpage so that the children don't have to go onto the YouTube website if their parents don't want them to.
• Next to each video there are some suggestions of further activities that children could do to practise the same language.
• I teach Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, so I'm starting with Year 1 content and working through.  It won't hurt some of the older ones to recap this stuff in any case!

Please feel free to share the link.

Write Away! magazine: the movie

DIY cliparts

I get a lot of the cliparts I use from Pixabay.com as it is a reputable provider of copyright-free images.  You can never guarantee that an image you've found via a Google search is copyright-free, even if you've selected "free to use, share or modify, even commercially" on an advanced search.

Sometimes I can't find the sort of thing I'm looking for, and so I make my own.  I do this using MS Publisher and its Autoshapes function.  Earlier on today, I needed some smilies to illustrate opinions, but couldn't find the exact images I was looking for in a high enough quality.  So I made the ones above.  Below is a screen capture to show you how I did it:


I learned how to do this from the late, great Bev Evans, who was so generous with her expertise.  You can still find her videos about how to make faces, flowers and backgrounds on YouTube.

So if you can't quite find the image you want, why not try some DIY?!

PS  If you'd like to use these smiley cliparts, they are available to download on the Light Bulb Languages Facebook page.

Videos

Here are some videos I thought you might like. Do you have any you'd recommend?

French:

Photo de classe is a thought-provoking set of videos where children talk about their families' countries of origin.

On fait les crêpes from the BBC

Masculine and feminine body parts from BBC Virtually There

Being French - a day in a French Primary School from the BBC

Primary French - Deux Jeux de Mains

Primary French - Playground Games and pocket money

Spanish:

The gender of nouns in Spanish from BBC Virtually There

El Pasado y el Presente - Then and Now

Un recorrido de mi ciudad - In my town

Aquí está mi escuela - a primary school in Mexico

Las cuatro estaciones - seasons and weather