Living Languages: an Integrated Approach to Teaching Foreign Languages in Primary Schools

Living Languages is simply bursting with practical and original ideas aimed at teachers and trainee teachers of foreign languages in primary schools. Written by a team of experienced linguists, this book will inspire and motivate the foreign language classroom and the teachers who work within it.

Living Languages comprises eight chapters and is structured around the integrated classroom, merging language learning with different aspects of the wider curriculum such as multimedia, performance, celebrations and festivals, creativity and alternative approaches to teaching languages. Downloadable resources are also included with the book containing additional teaching materials and the associated films and audio recordings which make this a fully-developed and effective teaching resource.

Over 50 real-life case studies and projects are presented, all of which have been tried and tested in the classroom with several having won recent educational awards. Ideas and activities outlined in this unique resource include:

• Languages across the curriculum helping to cement cross-curricular links and embed new languages in different contexts linking subjects such as history, science, PE and mathematics with French, German and Spanish;
• Arts and crafts projects in Languages, making and doing, including making books, creating beach huts and cooking biscuits;
• Languages, celebrations and festivals projects including the German Christmas market, Spanish Day of the Dead, celebrating Mardi Gras and the European Day of Languages among many others;
• Continuing Professional Development to inspire primary teachers to continue their individual professional development. The chapter contains concrete examples of others’ experiences in this area and includes details of support organisations and practical opportunities.

Each project is explored from the teachers’ perspective with practical tips, lesson plans and reflections woven throughout the text such as what to budget, how to organise the pre-event period, how to evaluate the activity and whom to contact for further advice in each case. Activities and examples throughout are given in three languages – French, German and Spanish.

Catherine Watts is currently Director of the Routes into Languages South consortium and is Principal Lecturer in English Language and German with the Faculty of Arts as well as contributing to the EdD, PGCE and MA in Education at the University of Brighton, UK.

Clare Forder is the Programme Manager for the regional Routes into Languages South consortium at the University of Brighton and has had sustained contact with teachers and pupils in the secondary sector over the past few years.

Hilary Phillips has been a lead teacher for Primary Languages in Brighton and Hove since 2003 and has co-presented workshops at many national conferences. She is currently teaching French in Key Stage Two at a primary school in Brighton and Hove.