Active learning

Children learn in many different ways and have different learning styles. Opportunities for children to experience language through song and rhyme, storytelling and games offer children ways to interact with the new language and with one another in a dynamic and social environment.

Through active methods and physical response children feel safe to explore and experiment with the new sounds. For those who prefer to listen and observe, they absorb the new language by watching others and gradually increase in confidence, until they too are joining in, responding to what they hear and see and engaging with others in short conversations and role-play.

Story telling

The use of storytelling and Big Books is a rich source of learning in the primary curriculum. Children can follow the story in many ways. They can react to sounds or words or phrases through physical response. They can act out parts of the story as their teacher reads aloud or they can activity produce parts of the story by providing a sound effect, missing word or phrase, or by using a refrain.

Stories enable children to engage at their own level. They give many valuable opportunities for children to hear a good model of pronunciation and to experience the sustained use of language in an enjoyable way, developing their ability to listen and concentrate, to follow extended text and to build their confidence in their ability to understand the new language without recourse to English. High frequency words and structures can be learned through the use of storytelling and can provide a valuable platform for progression.