teaching grammar in primary language lessons march 2015 twilight session dfe/university of reading...
TRANSCRIPT
Teaching Grammarin
Primary Language Lessons
March 2015Twilight Session
DfE/University of ReadingCPD in MFL
Objectives
• Consider the grammar objectives of the Programme of Study
• Discuss how grammatical knowledge could be taught
• Demonstrate activities for teaching grammar in the first two years of language learning
Word Class ActionsTry allocating an action for each type of word class to aid understanding and recall of the concept. Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Conjunction
Pronoun
Adverb
Word Classes and Physical Punctuation• Use the opportunity of teaching new
vocabulary to make references to its word class. e.g. classroom actions = verbs
• Create sentences with a simple connective using physical actions for punctuation.
écoutez regardez
Voici un crayon, un stylo et une règle.
Consonants and Vowels
• Reinforce the meaning of vowels and consonants by describing their sequence in a familiar word. e.g. guess which colour adjective
rouge – bleu – vert
• consonne, voyelle, voyelle, consonne, voyelle• consonne, voyelle, consonne, consonne
Gender of Nouns
masculin
e feminineFor speakers of English, this is a difficult concept to grasp which needs much practice.• Always use the terminology masculine and
feminine nouns• Make comparisons with other languages which
also have this concept• Try colour coding flashcards for each gender• Teach masculine nouns together to highlight the
difference before teaching feminine nouns• Always teach with an article in front of the noun
Gender of NounsActivities
• Give out cards with words masculine and feminine on them. Read out nouns and children lift up the correct gender card.
• Allocate a gender card to each group of children. Read out nouns and each group tries to beat the other one to claim the word for their group.
• Display nouns in the classroom grouped according to gender.• Read out a story and every time the children hear and identify
a masculine or feminine noun, they hold up the correct gender card.
masculin
e feminine
Plural Nouns• Discuss the meaning of the words singular and plural• Ask the children stand alone if you say singular and stand with
someone else if you say plural• Make a comparison with English or other languages spoken by
the class as how to make a French noun plural• Hold flashcards of singular and plural nouns so the class
cannot see them. The children take turns to guess what is on the card by naming either a singular or plural noun.
• Make sets of singular and plural image cards with matching word cards and the children play a memory game
Plural Nouns and a Dictionary
• Make sure the children are familiar with using a bi-lingual dictionary
• Practise looking up nouns in French in the dictionary and making them plural
• Using a dictionary to find words, the children create their own mini-book in the style of the Hungry Caterpillar called ‘Le monstre a faim..’ each day it eats more and more unusual things
French at the front – English at the end
Sentence building – the position of adjectives
• Ask the children to recall the meanings of the word classes using the actions.
• Invite children to hold word cards representing the noun and adjective and stand in the correct order.
C’est
un chatun chienun cochonun lionun moutonun papillon
bleu.jaune.vert.rouge.noir.violet.
Using a language scaffold
Ce + est = C’est – this an opportunity to explain elisionC’est un – this is an opportunity to explain liaison
Sentence building activitiesusing the language scaffold
• Children hold cards facing towards them with images to represent elements of a sentence using a noun and adjective and the class takes turns to guess the correct words from a list. When the correct word is guessed, the image is displayed the guessing continues until the complete sentence is discovered.
C’est un
Sentence building activitiesusing the language scaffold
• The children write a sentence on a mini white board and you do likewise. Ask the children to stand up and as you read out your sentence if theirs is not the same as yours, they sit down. Those left standing at the end win a point.
• Write sentences on card and cut up into individual words. Distribute the cards and the children have to find others in the room to make a sentence.
est unvert.
C’papillon
Sentence building activitiesusing the language scaffold
Unique sentence• The children write down sentences using the
language scaffold, trying to make combinations which they think no-one else will use. In groups, each child reads out one of their sentences, if no-one else in the room has the same one, they win a point for their team.
This is a great activity to practise listening, speaking, reading and writing skills as well as demonstrate
grammatical understanding.
More activity ideas
All these activities are from the resource bookMore Fun Ideas for Advancing Modern Foreign
Languages in the Primary ClassroomBrilliant Publications
Which ones will you try?