Embedding
Cross-curricular links
Movement
Context
During a PE lesson this class is responding to commands given by their teacher in French to jump, run, swim etc. slowly or quickly.
Exploration
Integrating language into the school day like this helps to make language learning a normal part of the curriculum and aids memorisation.
The children recognise and respond to action verbs and the adverbs, slowly and quickly.
By listening carefully and responding they are prepared for the next stage, i.e. using the
language themselves.
This is a quick, effective activity which, although particularly useful as a PE warm-up, can be introduced at different times throughout the school day using any familiar or new language. You can easily build in progression by increasing the difficulty and complexity of the language and by encouraging children to take the role of teacher.
Activities requiring a total physical response have enormous benefits in language learning. The use of body movements helps children to understand the language easily and engages them in actions which aid memorisation. The teacher can see straight away whether children understand. Children learn quickly by acting out the commands and saying the words at the same time. They develop and apply language learning strategies.
Links to the KS2 Framework
The children:
• recognise and respond to sound patterns and words
• listen for specific words and phrases
O4.2 O3.2
Oracy 3.2
Page 23
Oracy 4.2
Page 37
• identify specific sounds, phonemes and words
KAL
Knowledge about Language
Page 79-83
• use actions and rhymes and play games to aid memorisation
• look at the face of the person speaking and listen attentively
• use gestures to show they understand
LLS
Communicating, Understanding and Being Understood
Page 86
Memorising
Page 88
Next steps
To follow up this activity children could take over the role of teacher in issuing the commands to the rest of the class.
They could also use the commands to play Simon Says. Children might perform the activities in pairs, with one calling out the commands.
The difficulty and complexity of the language can be increased by varying the verbs and adverbs used.
• listen for specific words and phrases
• listen attentively and understand more complex phrases and sentences
Development
• Which other activities can be integrated into the routine of the class? See other
video examples under the theme Embedding > Cross-curricular links.
• Consider teaching children sports using the language.
