6 Steps to Progress from Oracy Literacy:

1. Identify the phonemes (the smallest unit of meaningful sound) – when we are starting to read the language, we have to understand the phonemes that exist in the language, that do not exist in English. We need to introduce these phonemes one by one – do this once a week. Get the children to think about words that already contain that phoneme and introduce them to the spelling of the word.
2. Ask the children how many words they already know in the foreign language that may contain that phoneme.
3. Give the children a set of picture cards and a set of word cards where they can play a matching game – they can match the pictures with the word. Do this half way through the year.
4. To have cards or have it on screen, the classroom instruction vocabulary in the written form. Ask them to do what the card/screen displays, to match what they already know with the written form of that word. This helps provide feedback of who is understanding and who isn’t.
5. Predict how to spell new words – can they apply the phoneme to grapheme correspondence to help spell new words.
6. Move from word level to sentence level, and then to text level. Ultimately, this will then support them with their written language.

Grammar…

Grammar will help embed and consolidate how our own language works.

Familiarity with terminology:

• Benefits for Language One (L1);
• Confidence in reading and spelling;
• Confidence in reading and spelling;
• Expand vocabulary;
• Develop cognitive development – thinking skills.

Punctuation…

French – No possessive apostrophe, for example, in English we can say ‘The teacher’s pen’; which means the pen belongs to the teacher. However, French does have a contraction apostrophe, for example, ‘c’est…’ which means ‘it is…’.

German – Nouns have capital letters no matter where they appear in a sentence.

Spanish – Upside down ‘?’ and ‘!’ before sentences.

Accents…

French:

• é – sound changes to ‘ay’;
• è – sound changes to ‘eh’;
• ê – used to have an ‘s’ after the ‘e’;
• ô – used to have an ‘s’ after the ‘o’;
• ç – sound changes to ‘s’ – indicates there used to be an ‘s’ there.

German:

• ä – Umlaut – turns ‘a’ into eh;
• ö – Umlaut;
• ü – Umlaut.

Umlaut is a sound changer.

Spanish:

• á;
• é;
• í;
• ó;
• ú;
• ñ – tild – this makes the sound ‘ny’.

Gender and Plurals…

It is a pointless activity trying to teach little ones gender in foreign languages. 

Introduce new nouns with the gender identifier:

French:

• Le – means the – masculine;
• La – means the – feminine;
• Les – means the – plural;
• Mon – means my – masculine;
• Ma – means my – feminine;
• Mes – means my – plural.

German:

• Der – means the – masculine;
• Die – means the – feminine;
• Das – means the – neuter;
• Die – means the – plural;
• Mein – means my – masculine;
• Meine – means my – feminine;
• Mein – means my – neuter;
• Meine – menas my – plural.

Spanish:

• El – means the – masculine;
• La – means the – feminine;
• Los/Las – means the – plural;
• Mi – means my – masculine and feminine – no gender;
• Mis – means my – plural.

Adjectives…

Attributive – before the noun.

This s usual in English and other Germanic languages.

Romance languages (e.g. French) – tend to place the adjective after the noun.

Verbs and Tenses:

• Present;
• Future;
• Past.

In languages, you can use the following to support verbs and tenses:

• Writing frames;
• Models;
• Word mats;
• Lists;
• Gap-fills;
• Picture gap-fills.

This helps them to practice their reading and writing to develop their literacy skills in the language.

French: Je suis allée hier à deux heures en ville pour visiter mes amis.

Spanish: Fui a la cuidad ayer a las dos en punto para vistar mis amigos.

German: Ich bin gestern um zwei Uhr in die Stadt gegangen, um meine Freunde zu besuchen.

All of the above sentences mean: I went to the town yesterday at two o’clock to visit my friends.

At the beginning of the school year, it would be good to give each child a vocabulary list – these can be used in those moments where there are a spare two to five minutes in the day, to then use these vocabulary lists to create a sentence. This would only be done in Year’s 5 and 6.

Dictionary Skills:

The mechanical process must be taught, e.g.:

• There are two halves;
• What the words are at the top of each page;
• Abbreviations.

Four Strands of Learning a Language…

• Vocabulary;
• Morphology – changing the shape of words;
• Syntax – a set of rules that tells you were to place words in a sentence;
• Phonology – refers to the sound system that belongs to a particular language, accurate pronunciation and being able to understand the words.

Phonology…

Mele Kalikimaka! – this not Hawaiian, this is the attempt of native speakers of Hawaiian to say, ‘Merry Christmas!’. Hawaiian does not have the same phonemes as English.

-T, -S and -R are three phonemes (sounds) that do not exist in Hawaiian. In English, there are forty-four phonemes.

In English…

In English, there are 23 consonantal phonemes, and there are 21 vowel phonemes. 

In French…

In French, there are 36 phonemes, however, half of those do not exist in English.

In German…

In German, there are 46 phonemes. Although German has 46 phonemes, they are more consistent.

In Spanish…

In Spanish, there are 25 phonemes. Only 5 of them are vowel phonemes.

Thinking about Phonology in the classroom:

Pronunciation Rules…

• Phonics – Some schools may use phonics to teach foreign languages in their schools. However, be aware that English phonics is not the same. Instead of using ‘Jolly Phonics’, because the gestures will not be the same, allow the children to create/generate their own gestures – this will allow them to remember things better;
• Sounds – When introducing new vocabulary, highlight the sounds in each word. Perhaps use a little mirror to get the children to mimic the way you are saying the sounds;
• Practice – It is important to deliver languages little and often. You can use little and short phonics starters and go over new and revisited sounds.

Phonics:

Focus on…

• How to produce new sounds;
• How to recognise them;
• Linking them to graphemes.

Phonics is ultimately there to support children with their reading, to lead on into their writing. 

When teaching languages in schools, only introduce writing in Year 5 and Year 6.

Things to do when learning a foreign language…

• Alphabet – be able to spell their own name, play ‘Guess the Name!’. When playing ‘Guess the Name!’, you have got to sell out the name in the language and the children have got to guess who the person is, in whom’s name you are spelling out. The person could be: teachers in the school, famous people, characters, other children in the class etc. Eventually, get the children to create their own name.
• Chants, songs, rhymes, etc… – get the children to make up their own based upon the topic in which they are learning, along with a memorable tune, which could come from a current song in the charts.
• Memory hooks – mobiles, posters on the wall, pictures on the wall – these will help the children to be able to visualise.
• Tongue-twisters – make sure you know what the tongue-twisters mean before you introduce them to the children.
• Sound boards – choose your own tunes.
• Finger mats – building word chains.

How to practice new phonemes (sounds)…

• Varied choral repetition – the notion of repeating and repeating, to learn how to speak and to learn new vocabulary comes from the Behaviourist theory. By allowing children to do this as a whole class, it allows children to feel involved, and to raise their self-esteem. However, a disadvantage of choral is that you can’t hear all of the children, and you get the silent children.
• Puppet – the puppet does not speak in English but only the Modern Foreign Language in which the children are studying. The children are only allowed to speak to the puppet in the language in which is being learnt, otherwise, the puppet will not respond.
• Accompanying mimes (created by the learners) – have fun and use ones that make children laugh. This engages the children, and they are more likely able to remember.
• Numbered flash cards – you can use this as a ‘brain break’ – this can be ruled by the teachers, or allow the learners to be in control.\
• Progressive questions – yes?/no?, either?/or?, what is it?

Useful vocabulary for practice…

• Likes or dislikes – statements or questions;
• Agree or disagree;
• Simple opinions;
• Uncertainty – perhaps, etc;
• Feelings – how are you today?

In terms of other groups of phrases or words, they will be useful for:

• Games;
• Classroom objects or tasks;
• Grammar and literacy;
• Teacher language and praise;
• Cross-curricular, e.g. maths, physical education, etc.

Listening:

Although phonology has two sides to the same coin, they are both linked.

Good modelling of pronunciation is needed – at this point, it is critical that all the children can see you face to face. The learners should then see and hear the speaker. This could then be followed up by the children looking at the way they pronounce the words, perhaps by mimicking the teacher into a mirror.

BEWARE OF SIMILAR SOUNDS!! LEARNERS WILL COPY WHAT THEY THINK THEY HAVE HEARD!!

Practise by…

• Silently mouthing the sound/word/phrase which the learners then pronounce;
• Listen and identify new sounds (songs, poems etc);
• Non-verbal responses;
• Phonics bingo;
• Listening for cognates;
• Listen for individual, specified words;
• Listen for the overall meaning.