One of the many benefits of teaching languages at primary school is the huge potential for language work in other areas of the primary curriculum, and teachers across the country are already tapping into this. Meaningful links can be made with all areas of the primary curriculum and PE can be one of the simplest and most effective ways of doing this - as well as being hugely enjoyable.

We feature here suggestions for activities, and a reference from new material from this website which teachers may wish to explore and use.

Have a look at the clip Movement. A teacher works with her Year 4 class in the school hall. Children are warming up in preparation for their PE lesson by moving around the hall and following her instructions to jump, walk, hop, make themselves tall / small etc; a normal warm-up activity that you might expect to see in a PE lesson. The difference is that this activity is conducted almost entirely in French. Children respond to French verbs, adjectives and adverbs by adapting their movements around the hall. They take big strides très lentement; they jump like frogs très rapidement. Learning is active; children are clearly enjoying the session and are benefiting both physically and linguistically.

A key language learning strategy, particularly with young learners, is to use a physical response to help remember words; PE lessons provide the ideal opportunity for children to do this in a meaningful context. Although carefully planned by the teacher, it is not the language used that the children are most aware of but rather the activity. Thus they are immersed in French almost without noticing it. In responding to what the teacher says the children are also meeting objectives from the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages, for example Oracy O4.2 Listen for specific words and phrases.

There are many short PE activities for warming up or cooling down that are very easy to conduct in another language. The language can be adapted to suit the level of both the children and the teacher. Teachers who are less confident in the language may want to begin with a very simple game that uses perhaps 4 or 5 words or phrases, while others may want to use a wider range of vocabulary. Authentic songs can also be used very effectively as part of the lesson. All primary practitioners, whether they are confident speakers of the language or not, will feel comfortable leading activities that they are familiar with from another subject, in this case PE.

Other Activities

• A simple game is ‘Traffic Lights’, where commands (in the form of colours) are given to children, who ‘translate’ the colours into action. So green is ‘go’ (or running), yellow is ‘slow down’ (or walk) and red is ‘stop’. The game can be made more difficult by using the ‘opposites’ rule – green is ‘stop’, red is ‘go’ etc. It can also be added to by including ‘roundabout’, where children turn once on the spot, ‘motorway’, where children sprint, and ‘speed bump’, where children jump once in the air before continuing.
  
  
• ‘Corners’, where each corner of the hall or playground is labelled with a different word or phrase (either orally or with written signs), is also very effective. Children have 30 seconds to choose a corner. The teacher calls out one of the words or phrases (or picks one out of a bag) and all the children in that corner are out. The game continues until there is one child left.
  
  
• When learning adjectives, an effective game is ‘Mr. Men’, where the name of a particular ‘Mr. Man’ is called out, e.g. Mr. Slow, Mr. Rush, Mr. Bounce etc. Children then move around in the manner of that Mr. Man. ‘Little Miss’ Characters can, of course, be used as well!
  

In conclusion...

The benefits of these games and the many others that can be adapted is that they offer the opportunity to reinforce and practice language on a regular basis. The language can be changed according to what the class is learning in the chosen language at that time.

There are also huge time gains to be made in terms of covering the curriculum. If primary language lessons are delivered by a visiting teacher, PE lessons can be an ideal way for class teachers to reinforce learning throughout the week having observed the lesson by the visiting teacher.

Most importantly, both children and teacher enjoy the lessons and are given an opportunity to use the language in a natural context.