Primary class teachers are very well placed to use the new language incidentally throughout the school day, building it in to daily routines. This means that children begin to use the language spontaneously for real purposes, as a means to an end.

In this way, they practise the new language on a daily basis and become confident in interacting with others.

If the new language is used by children and adults around the school, it becomes a normal, natural part of everyday school life, rather than something which only happens within the confines of the classroom.

Questions

- Have you built the new language(s) into your daily routine? How?

- How might you encourage staff around the school to use the language for spontaneous interactions with children?

- Are languages celebrated in displays around the school?

Activity

Taking the register in other languages is an effective way of celebrating languages spoken by the children in the class and of practising greetings. You can also use this as an opportunity to practise the new language being taught.

Rather than focusing only on greetings, however you might like to ask children to give you an item of vocabulary or a phrase that they have just learned – you can choose which topic you would like to practise.

A more challenging activity is to give the child an answer which they respond to with a question, for example “I am eight” would elicit the question “How old are you?”