With so many exciting activities now happening in primary
schools in respect of language learning, creative use of school
display offers excellent opportunities to develop, reinforce and
celebrate languages. Primary schools have outstanding displays and
this stimulating feature can be used to showcase a wide range of
language activities. Here are some examples.
Words and phrases used by the children and teacher can be
prominently displayed together with pictures that illustrate the
concepts. These could include classroom phrases, basic
conversations, names of objects, such as the colours, days of the
week or parts of the body. Now that most schools have digital
cameras, short dialogues could be created with the children using
speech bubbles to illustrate these conversations. Seeing these,
children will also begin to appreciate the links between the spoken
and the written words and phrases.
Lyrics for popular songs can be displayed, again with suitable
illustrations. Children love learning new songs in other languages
and showing the lyrics supports learning.
If the school has a link abroad, why not show photos and
information about school life in the partner school. Children
greatly enjoy learning about the lives of other young people and
this will stimulate their curiosity and enable them to reflect upon
their own culture and that of others. There is real scope here for
comparisons of school life, leisure activities, food, localities
and TV. All these topics will get the children talking and increase
their motivation.
When the children do a piece of work in the target language,
such as a short piece of writing, a worksheet or short letter, or a
short transcript of a conversation, why not laminate it and put it
on a board for all to see.
Have you thought of naming the classrooms or corridors in your
school after places abroad? This can really bring an international
feel to the school. Imagine the corridors having street signs
giving the names of well-known streets in another country.
Lastly, at some point ask the children what they most enjoy
about learning a language and how it might be useful for them in
their adult lives. Then put some of these up as quotes around the
school. These can be named and displayed with a digital picture.
The whole school community, including parents and visitors will
then see that learning another language isn’t just fun and
challenging, but points our youngsters to the future.