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.

Games

Games motivate children and reduce the stress that can affect children’s willingness to use a new language for real. Children concentrate on participating in the game itself and enjoy interacting with one another and the teacher. The more engaged they become the more their use of language becomes spontaneous, improving in pace and fluency.

Games give plenty of opportunities to repeat and rehearse new language in enjoyable and non-threatening contexts. In a similar way to daily routine the language needed to operate a game is often the same from one game to another. This language of interaction can be used as the building blocks for progression. Using the teacher as a model, children learn and use simple structures for themselves. They can move from simple to more complex language across the Key Stage.