city running commentary

This half term with Year 5 in French, Spanish and German wewill be working on language we may need if we visit the target language country.We will make virtual tours of a famous city and explore the sights andbuildings of the cities.

We go to Paris , Sevilla and Berlin.

I have used this idea of a running commentary with KS2, KS3,KS4 and also with adult intermediate learners at primary French Upskillingthat we offer as part of our network support.

It can be organised anddelivered on a variety of grammatical levels. 

• To recap familiar nouns
• To practise adjectives
• To create a present tense description of a city using thephrase in the target language for  “thereis / there are…”
• To give directions and add prepositions of place to descriptions
• To talk about a virtual visit you have made etc

Take a look at this famous you tube clip of a tour of Paris: 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9V-zUlrhEE]

Here’s how we will beusing this activity with our Year 5 and our intermediate French upskillinggroup this half term…….

 Stage One

Let your pupils or students watch the clip and enjoy thesights and the sounds.

Stage Two

Now all you need to do is create cards that have the keynouns for the buildings you can see in the clip. 

Here are three French examples

Le pont

Les magasins

La cathédrale

Withbeginners I would use maximum of 10 cards and we would have talked about thecards and what they could mean first. With Year 5 and intermediate adultlearners we would look up unfamiliar nouns   in a bilingual dictionary and discuss genderand whether the nouns we can see on the cards are singular or plural.

If you colour code the words they can see the patterns moreclearly e.g. green for masculine singular / blue for feminine singular nouns/redfor plural nouns/

Ask your learners to familiarise themselves with all the keynouns which they have spread out in front of them on the desk.

Stage Three

Now play the clip again! Can the pupils sort the noun cardsinto the order they see them or notice them in the video clip?

Hereis the Spanish clip we will use:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyLnS0Pgxxg]

Stage Four

Ask the pupils to work in pairs and share their order with asecond person, comparing their orders. They will need to use the phrase forthere is / there are (il y a …../hay……/es gibt …….)

It’s not a case of being right or wrong as they may havemissed an item the first time it appears on the screen.

Stage Five

Can the pupils now change the nouns in the descriptions theyhave created from definite article nouns to indefinite article nouns. 

Shareexamples they will need – masculine singular/ feminine singular and pluralindefinite articles.

Stage Six

Nowplay it again Sam! 

Here is our German video selection for a tour of Berlin: 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWbcHZtSufM]

Invite volunteers to create the running commentary forthe video clip. 

Turn down the sound and the volunteer just like a tour guideshould describe what they can see, using their descriptions and saying the keyphrases as they see the items on the screen.
 

Further Development?

This activity could be an activity that bridges the gap betweenUKS2 and KS3 because in KS2 we could add adjectives, directions or add prepositions to develop and enhance our descriptions.

And in KS3 there’s the opportunity to use a familiar resource,familiar nouns and a familiar activity to , change tenses  , create dialogues, add adjectives  and intensifiers, create more complexsentences using relative clauses and make comparisons .

Thanks go to Julie Prince too @PrinceLanguages who alerted me to these wonderful city tours to the tune of Happy 
Take a tour round  Paris and Sevilla!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ5rR0WlEkQ][youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u01IVkZkjUA]