Register their interest! 7 ways to use register time to maximise language learning

I always say that registration time in the classroom is the most under-used time during the school day. It is a real opportunity to maximise learning. Think about it: that two and a half minutes spent (or longer) twice a day can be a real chance to revisit and recall learning from a previous day, week, month or even year to encourage that all-important retention.  Here are a few simple yet effective ways to exploit it.

1.   Greetings.

Greeting the child and them greeting you back in the target language is the obvious start. But if you’ve been learning different greetings and farewells, have you considered asking the children to choose any that you’ve learnt to reply to the register? It may seem strange to reply ‘Good night’ in the morning but I’m sure children will see the funny side of it as well as be able to embed these essential phrases. You can build in a rule that you have to say a different phrase to the person before you. Or even that they have to alternate between a greeting or a farewell.

2.   Q and A.

We are often teaching children how to answer a question about their name, age, how they are feeling, their preferences etc in the target language. But are they as confident with the question? Select a few questions and answers you wish to focus on; these could be displayed on the board for support. You ask the question eg: ‘Quel âge as-tu?’ and add the child’s name after it. The child at the top of the register answers it. Continue all the way through the register giving each child the opportunity not only to hear the question up to 30 times but also a range of answers, reinforcing the language each time.

3.   As easy as 1, 2, 3. 

Another obvious one is to give each child their number in the target language according to their position in the register. They simply say their number out loud when you call their name. Build this into a speed challenge to see how fast you can do it. They may become confident enough to reel off their numbers without you saying their names in between! A great one for a quick check of who is present.

4.   Slide sorter.

On your PowerPoint of vocabulary or phrases, go to ‘View’ at the top and ‘Slide Sorter.’ All the slides should appear on screen. Taking each one in turn, you say them out loud followed by the child’s name, they repeat it in response. Rotate through all your phrases as many times as you need to reach the end of the register.  For the afternoon register, see if you can do it aurally e.g. without using the phrases on screen. Or even, allow children to choose which of the phrases they want to respond with.

5.   Silly voices echo.

A fun twist on number 4. Choose any vocabulary or phrases you want to focus on: this can be a good way to hone the particularly difficult language you wish the children to master. Use call and response again but make it vibrant by using different voices and volumes for the children to replicate.

6.   Charades.

Either you or a confident learner performs the action or gesture for a word of phrase you’ve learnt at the front of the class and the child says the word aloud in the target language. To keep it pacy, if they don’t know, you can say it and they repeat it to reinforce.

7.   Snack and dinner orders.

Don’t forget the dinner register too. So much opportunity here to exploit the meal choice names in the target language for the children to choose from or even ‘yes please’ and ‘no thank you’ – great transactional language to embed which, after a few tries, will become second nature and part of your class culture.

We’d love to hear what you think when you’ve tried these ideas. Do let us know what worked and any other things you’ve tried to be about exploit language learning outside of formal language lessons. PLN members can join and post on our WhatsApp forum (just email your mobile number to will@primarylanguages.network to join the group).