Let the "language genies" out of their bottles.

Start of the new academic year and none of us are quite sure what the year might look be like. One thing is for certain that we all want to help our young learners get back on track and make progress.

At the start of this school term, we need to spend a little time recalling and retrieving prior learning to offer learners a platform to help them move forward in their language learning. Think genies trapped in bottles! It’s time to be “language genies” and let your learners fly free! Here’s the link to our start back freebie in French and in Spanish. Download for free from the PLN Active Lingo Shop.

Find out ways to use the resources and to develop creative simple language learning in this blog post too. We hope it’s useful for everyone.PLN members will be able to access the resource on the VLE at the start of term.)

The resources are at three levels. Answers are provided so that all staff can use the resources and they can be used at home independently or with parents/carers leading learning too.

For near to absolute beginners, there is a simple “sequence solving” set of activities for the learners with numbers, days of the week, and greetings/name. Solve the missing letters and release the language learning genies from the bottles.

For learners who can already speak and write some simple full sentences about themselves, well then there is a sequence of activities to create your genie personalities and to free the trapped genie in the bottle.

For learners to be more creative and independent, recall familiar language and explore unfamiliar language using online word tools or bilingual dictionaries there is a “magic potion ingredients” activity to set the genie free.

Remember the activities are there to lead you in. They are just the beginning. In whispered voices, the potions need to be read aloud, the genies the children create need to be read quietly and recorded with “genie voices” and the simple sequences of language can be extended and practised, spoken in genie whispered voices too. Make a genie book, create a language genie display, produce your own genie avatars, hold a local lockdown language learning genie class online learning session etcetera.

Come back to your genies throughout the academic year and add to your genie in a bottle set free as a language learner and see how you can use this device to help your learners fly (again!) in language learning.

Share with us what you make and send your results by email to coordinator@primarylanguages.network or contact us via our contact form on the Primary Languages Network website.