Learning about the English language

I am now limiting the time that I spend away from home, but for Language World I have made an exception… and my proposal was accepted, yeah!

If you are reading this… thanks for attending my workshop or reading about it on the ALL website!

Using an English dictionary to discover cognates
Looking at the root of words
Looking at words of Anglo-Saxon origin
Practising pronunciation through footballers’ names
Use the similarities in SPAG
Breaking down sentences into parts of speech
Transition links KS2-KS3 between English/MFL/EAL departments
During KS2/3 transition: early introduction of grammatical terms, e.g. infinitive, to make them less scary
Underlining silent letters
Sound-spelling links with “borrowed words” (European Day of Languages, British Council)
Translation tasks – even in primary (basic) to make it easier later on
Talking about grammar, sentence structures, word classes
When finding a new word in a text, looking at the context and sounding it out as they do in English
Making links in the grammar
Being aware that they sometimes misunderstand the rules in English (e.g. say “more better than”), so need to explain them in English before moving on to introducing them in the target language
Using synonyms, e.g. courageous and brave
Maximising the explicit with Y4, about conjugating verbs, pointing out that it is done in English too
Last, but not least (and I totally agree!): don’t be afraid to “go off” tangent, to explore language, links etc. It often leads to really good conversations, comparisons with home languages etc.

Thanks for your contributions, and for reading this!

Nathalie

“I am learning [insert language], but I am also learning about the English language!”