LEARNING LANGUAGES AT ALDERCAR

LEARNING LANGUAGES AT ALDERCAR MFL Department Aldercar Community Language College

Content Introduction Why learn foreign languages? Features of the languages taught at Aldercar French German Japanese Spanish How can parents help with homework? Who to contact with questions or for advice Language classes for Adults Further reading Useful Internet sites Pronunciation guides and alphabets List of main text books used in school

Introduction We often get asked at Parents evening how can I help my child with his/her languages homework. And so we have put this booklet together with some guidelines and tips which we hope will make it possible for you to give your child more support with his/her language learning. About languages at Aldercar Every child coming into Year 7 has the opportunity to learn at least 1 language. Some students will be selected to participate in our Languages Enrichment Programme which spans Years 7 and 8. The current choices (2011-12) are: French, German, Spanish, Japanese. This booklet gives a short summary of the features of each of these languages so, even if you have never learnt the language/s your child is learning, you can at least understand a little more about them. There are also some tips on how you might be able to help with homework, plus some advice on taking homework support and your own language learning further. Helping your child to pronounce other languages and read/write Japanese scripts. At the back of the booklet are: Pronunciation guides for each language, including the phonetic alphabets for French, German and Spanish plus a reading chart for the Japanese alphabet. You can use these for yourself if, for example, you are testing your child on vocabulary or for your child if she/he is having difficulty, e.g. with a reading homework for Japanese. Topics The type of language which pupils learn at Key Stage 3 falls under the following general headings: Myself and my family (names, ages, jobs, descriptions) Numbers (dates, days of week, birthday) Hobbies (likes and dislikes, sports) School life (school subjects, timetable, classroom objects, transport) Shopping (names of shops, things to buy, colours, size, asking for something) Food and Drinks (typical food and drink words, what you have for breakfast, ordering in a café/restaurant) Daily routine (telling the time, verbs such as get up, eat, drink, watch TV, go to sleep.., weekend activities) Holiday and travel (past and future tense, summer holidays, transport, sightseeing places) House and Home (describing where you live, the rooms in your house, countries, nationalities, languages, directions, location and describing a town) Health (parts of body, illness, healthy eating, exercise habits)

Why learn Foreign Languages? When learning a language, you develop valuable skills, such as increased memory power and the ability to learn and apply rules. This is why people say that the more languages you learn the easier it gets! You will also be pleased to find that the skills you pick up in languages help with other subjects, such as communication skills, creativity and the ability to develop independent learning skills. Learning about another culture, even if you never visit that country, will broaden your mind and allow you to see your own country as part of the wider world. Did you know that a recent government report has shown that people who have language skills have many more opportunities in the job market? The ability to communicate in another language, even on a basic level, is a great way of making friends in other countries and cultures. Learning languages at Aldercar gives you access to other cultures through e-mail links, pen-friend schemes, visitors from other countries, exchanges and trips abroad. Features of the Languages French Why choose French? French is spoken by 70 million people across the globe in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Australasia and North America that is almost every continent in the world! As France is our closest neighbour, there are always opportunities to practice with native speakers. Many British people own homes in France or holiday there. Many English words take their roots from French and so there are lots of similar words, e.g. café, croissant, apartment, table, unique Many aspects of our culture and daily life originate from France. The structure and grammar of the language is very similar to English. Challenges when learning French French sounds beautiful when spoken correctly! In order to succeed with the difficult pronunciation, students must be brave about speaking out loud! (see the alphabet and tongue-twister website at the back of this booklet) Some aspects of French grammar take longer to master but if you work at it, you will succeed, imagine it is a big puzzle and you will crack it!

German Why choose German? Germany is one of the major economic powers in the world and one of our main trading partners. German pronunciation is relatively easy to master, once you have got the hang of it! Many British companies welcome German speakers into their workforce If you have a logical mind, German grammar is for you! German is spoken by 100 million people around the world: eight European countries plus Argentina and Namibia Challenges when learning German German grammar can be a challenge as it has many rules to learn! The word order in sentences is sometimes different from English, but it is very regular and easy to learn. German words often seem long and difficult to spell, but practice makes perfect! Japanese Why choose Japanese? Japanese is spoken by 130 million people in Asia and South America. Japanese is studied by more than 170, 000 people! Karate, karaoke, kimonos, futon, sushi these are just some of the Japanese imports that we ve all heard of. Japan is well-known for it s cars, advanced technology, manga (cartoons) Japan is a major economic power and many of the products of our everyday lives are made by Japanese companies. There are many business and cultural links between Japan and the UK and many Japanese people live and work in Derbyshire. Few schools in the UK offer Japanese and therefore there is a shortage of good Japanese speakers. The grammar and pronunciation of Japanese are fairly simple to master. Challenges when learning Japanese: Three different alphabets make learning to read and write Japanese a BIG challenge! However, practice makes perfect and learning the writing systems can be fun! Unlike European language there are fewer opportunities to practise with native speakers. Because Japanese is not a European language, there are no common roots. In particular, the vocabulary is very different and takes longer to learn. However, there are many borrowed words in Japanese which come from English.

Spanish Why choose Spanish? Spanish is spoken by 250 million people in 18 countries in Europe and South America. Spain is a popular holiday resort and there are many opportunities to practise the language. There are plenty of opportunities to use Spanish in the workplace especially in the tourism sector. It is fairly easy to pronounce and there are many words that are similar to French and English. Tacos, tortilla and tapas - Spanish opens up a whole new world of culture, both Spanish and South American. Challenges when learning Spanish: The grammar rules are similar to French. There are a few pronunciation points that need to be mastered, but once you know them, you won t forget them. There are regional variations in Spanish but these will not hinder understanding you might need to imagine you have a lisp when speaking Spanish. Italian There is the possibility to study for a qualification in Business Italian in Year 10. This would be a great asset in terms of applying for jobs in the catering or tourism sectors.

How can parents help with homework? For vocabulary learning, you can be really helpful by testing your child. You can do this by taking their exercise books and asking for the words, one at a time. If the words are written in another script, ask your child to write down the English pronunciation (you can also use the pronunciation guides and scripts at the back of this booklet). Encourage your child to teach you some of the language they are currently learning. Examples of language they could teach you fairly easily and early on in their language learning are: Counting (1 10, 1 20, 1 100, backwards from 100, in 5s and 10s) How to introduce yourself (name, age, job, favourite food), you could keep adding to this as they learn more. Words for the different members of the family (mum, dad, sister etc) Telling you their timetable in the foreign language The days of the week and months of the year Of course your child will only be able to teach you something as they learn it themselves so you could get them to tell you what they have been learning recently and to show you their book when they bring it home for homework. This is a good review for them and keeps you up to date too. If your child is stuck with a piece of languages homework (and if you have time!) ask them to explain what they are supposed to do and see if you can move them on. It s quite common for children to get stuck on one part of a homework and then give up rather than leaving that part and trying the next question. Please encourage them to speak to their teacher if they are totally unclear about what they are supposed to be doing. In Japanese encourage your child to keep practising the writing of scripts (copies of these are in this booklet) just a few at a time is the best way. In all languages, help your child to practise saying the alphabet (there are pronunciation guides in this booklet) so that they can pronounce the language more accurately.

Who to contact with questions or for advice Everyone in the languages department wants pupils to feel confident about learning languages and to be enthusiastic and keen to speak a foreign language. If you pick up from your child that all is not well and they are unsure of what they are doing, please contact us. Often the problems are small ones which can be easily solved. We may not be able to speak to you immediately if we have a full teaching day but if you leave a message with the school reception or our Administrator Mrs Clare Ashby and we will get back to you as soon as we can. People to contact: Your child s language teacher in the first instance Your child s Form Tutor, who can pass on the message Telephone 01773 712477 ext. 276

Language Classes for Adults, and further reading At Aldercar we are able to offer after school language classes for adults in the following languages (2011-2012) French German Spanish Japanese Some of these classes could be for beginners and some are for intermediate/gcse level. We try to tailor each class to fit the needs of the majority of the participants. We send out a letter to all parents at the beginning of September giving information about the classes but we do ask for a small enrolment fee to cover part of our administration costs. The aims of the language classes are: 1. to help parents support their own child s learning 2. for parents to learn or brush up a language that they have a personal interest in. If you are unable to attend the after-school classes we are also able to accommodate a few parents and cares joining our timetabled classes. If you are interested in this option, please discuss it with your child s language teacher or the Head of Department/Director of Language College (see contact number on previous page)

Further Reading If you can t attend language classes but would like to have a go at learning a language, there are a wealth of teach yourself style books/tapes/cds on the market (your local library should stock some or be able to get the in for you). Remember, though it can be quite hard to find the time/self-discipline to teach yourself, so set yourself easy targets. Some useful titles: Teach Yourself Essential various languages taught in a need to know style (Hodder and Stoughton) Teach Yourself Beginners...various languages taught in a step-by-step approach (Hodder and Stoughton) BBC Essential. Search for these and other titles on these internet sites: www.hachette.co.uk www.amazon.com There are also some online language course, some much better then others but try putting your chosen language into a search engine and research into useful sites. You will find something that suits your needs and level, or try www.quia.com/dir/lang - a site which has a range of activities in many languages. And for French try www.bonjour.com for free lessons to refresh your language skills BBC Languages BBC2 frequently re-runs its language course programmes on the Learning Zone (late night/early morning). Look out for these in TV guides and set your video to record them.

Useful Internet Sites One way you can help your child with their language learning is to research some internet sites together to discover new and fun ways of learning language. Here are some suggestions. French www.languagesonline.org.uk www.mflgames.co.uk www.travlang.com www.languagesonline.org.uk click on 'New GCSE 2011' www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize click on French www.bonjour.org.uk www.momes.net (younger children, stories, songs, poems film reviews) www.infojunior.net (non-fiction reading material) www.liberation.fr France Daily www.lemonde.fr France Daily www.parismatch.com celeb magazine www.francealacarte.org.uk French embassy in London http://www.ashcombe.surrey.sch.uk/curriculum/modlang/ Lots of useful teaching materials as well as advice and evaluations as to how to improve http://www.aiglon.ch/langlink/ a great website to help practice vocabulary, grammar rules and reading and listening skills. Particularly useful at GCSE. www.zut.org.uk Lots of Games and Interactive Quizzes to build your vocabulary skills: this website is free after 4pm (you cannot use it without a login code before 4pm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench/pf2/games_all.shtml Interactive games from the BBC site, including topics such as numbers, colours, family, pets, the time, dates, weather and holidays http://www.actustar.com/ find out the latest news all about French celebrities http://www.planete-friends.com/spip/sommaire.php3 Watch Friends in French and read the synopsis of the series in French! http://www.e-hon.jp/demo2/indexfr.htm (read Japanese children s story in French) German www.yjc.org.uk www.kidsweb.de (includes cookery, quizzes and art and craft) www.goethe-institute.com www.digitaldialects.com www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/

www.dw-world.de www.heute.de www.tagesschau.de http://www.languagesonline.org.uk/ A very helpful website which can help with vocabulary building, grammar practice and comprehension skills: click on Deutsch on the left hand toolbar or on Games http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/ A useful revision site for practising GCSE style reading and listening skills. You can also practise your vocabulary skills by playing online Bingo and Destination Death! http://www.filmstar.de/ Showbiz gossip in German http://www.juma.de A Website designed for teenage learners of German http://www.wetteronline.de/ German weather reports http://www.quelle.de/ German shopping website gut.languageskills.co.uk/index.html Lots of Games and Interactive Quizzes to build your vocabulary skills: this website is free after 4pm (you cannot use it without a login code before 4pm. http://www.ashcombe.surrey.sch.uk/curriculum/modlang/ Lots of useful teaching materials as well as advice and evaluations as to how to improve: http://www.e-hon.jp/demo2/indexde.htm (read Japanese children s story in German) Spanish www.aiglonlanguages.ch click on Spanish - Revision - GCSE - Vocab Quizes www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/spanish/ www.pequenet.com (children s newspaper) www.elpais.com Spanish Newspaper www.muyinteresante.es Spanish Science/tech magazine www.abc.es Newspaper www.asisehace.net click on Nivel Avanzado www.hola.com fashion/celeb magazine http://www.languagesonline.org.uk/ A very helpful website which can help with vocabulary building, grammar practice and comprehension skills: click on Español on the left hand toolbar or on Games: click on Espanol New GCSE 2011 oye.languageskills.co.uk/index.html http://www.ashcombe.surrey.sch.uk/curriculum/modlang/ Lots of useful teaching materials as well as advice and evaluations as to how to improve: http://www.aiglon.ch/langlink/ a great website to help practice vocabulary, grammar rules and reading and listening skills. Particularly useful at GCSE. http://www.sispain.org/ Links to information on everyday life, history, geography, language and culture in Spain http://www.e-hon.jp/demo2/indexsp.htm (read Japanese children s story in Spanish)

Japanese www.kuhelp.webs.com (Japanese mainly but there are other language websites too) web-japan.org/kidsweb (lots of language, culture and general interest activities and information, including kana charts) http://www.digitaldialects.com/japanese.htm (pronunciation of scripts and more) http://www.quia.com/shared/japanese/ http://www.shakespeare-w.com/japanese_lessons/tag/gcse-oral/ (useful for GCSE) http://www.klbict.co.uk/interactive/japanese/index.htm (useful for GCSE speaking) http://nihongo-e-na.com/eng/ (lots of websites can be found according to your needs) http://anime-manga.jp/ (learn Japanese through anime style) http://web-japan.org/ (know about Japan) http://kids.yahoo.co.jp/ (Japanese search engine) http://www.e-hon.jp/demo2/index1.htm (read Japanese children s stories) http://www3.u-toyama.ac.jp/niho/song.html (listen to Japanese nursery songs) General www.kuhelp.webs.com (Japanese, French, German, Spanish) www.linguatots.com (aimed at parents with small children but gives a general guide on how to help your child even if you have no knowledge of a foreign language) www.quia.com/dir/lang (Many and varied language activities) http://www.livemocha.com/ (free language learning site) http://www.byki.com/ (free language learning site)

List of main text books used in school French Metro 1, 2, 3, 4 (Green and Red) Y7: Metro 1 Y8: Metro 2 Y9: Metro 3 Y10 & Y11: Metro 4 Plus teachers own materials German Logo 1, 2, 3, 4 Y7: Logo 1 Y8: Logo 2 Y9: Logo 3 Y10 & Y11: Logo 4 Plus teachers own materials Spanish Listos 1, 2, 3, 4 Y7: Listos 1 Y8: Listos 2 Y9: Listos 3 Y10 & Y11: Listos 4 Plus teachers own materials Japanese Ima 1 and 2 (text and workbooks) Y7: Ima 1 Y8: Ima 1 & 2 Y9: Ima 2 Y10 & Y11: GCSE course Plus teachers own materials and Mirai

Phonetic alphabet French L alphabet A B C D E F G H I aah bay say day euh eff jey ash ee J K L M N O P Q R jee kaa ell emm enn ooh pay que air S T U V W X Y Z ess tay ew vay double vay eeks egrec zed Special sounds ai ay au(x), eau(x) o ou oo oi wa qu k ch sh maison animaux douze trois quatorze chapeau eu(x) u (fur) deux, neuf ui wee, ooee huit il(le) eyu famille, juillet gn ny (new) champignon, araignée in, im, ein, en, hein, ent, ain, aim an quinze, trente * You don t usually pronounce the last letter, but of course there are exceptions.

Phonetic alphabet German Das Alphabet A ah B bay C tsay D day E ay F ef G gay H hah I ee J yot K kah L ell M em N en O oh P pay Q koo R air S ess ß ess-tset T tay U ooh V fow W vay X eeks Y oopsi-lon Z tset

Phonetic alphabet Spanish El alfabeto A ah B beh C theh D deh E eh F efeh G heh H acheh I ee J hota K kah L eleh Ll elyeh M emeh N eneh Ñ enyeh O oh P peh Q cuh R ere Rr erre S eseh T the U uuh V uuveh W uuveh dobleh X ekis Y ee griegah Z theta

Japanese hiragana alphabet あ a /apple/ い i /ink/ う u /root/ え e /elite/ お o /orange/ か ka /car/ き ki /key/ く ku /quick/ け ke /kettle/ こ ko /coffee/ さ sa /salad/ し shi /ship/ す su /super/ せ se /cell/ そ so /saw/ た ta /tap/ ち chi /chip/ つ tsu /cats/ て te /test/ と to /toe/ な na /nap/ に ni /knee/ ぬ nu /noodle/ ね ne /neck/ の no /no/ は ha /habbit/ ひ hi /heel/ ふ fu /food/ へ he /hail/ ほ ho /hobby/ ま ma /mad/ み mi /mini/ む mu /moo/ め me /mess/ も mo /more/ や ya /yard/ ゆ yu /you/ よ yo /yawn/ ら ra /lack/ り つ ri /leak/ る ru /loop/ れ re /lake/ ろ ro /loan/ わ wa /wine/ を wo /oak/ d,g,k,p,s, ん n /end/ t が ga /garlic/ ぎ gi /geese/ ぐ gu /glue/ げ ge /gecko/ ご go /go/ ざ za /zap/ じ ji /jeans/ ず zu /zoo/ ぜ ze /zest/ ぞ zo /zodiac/ だ da /dad/ ぢ ji /jeans/ づ zu /zoo/ で de /day/ ど do /door/ きゃ しゃ きゅ しゅ kya sha きょ しょ kyu shu ぎゃ じゃ kyo sho ぎゅ じゅ gya ja ぎょ じょ gyu ju gyo jo ば ba /bar/ び bi /beam/ ぶ bu /boo/ べ be /bed/ ぼ bo /ball/ ぱ pa /paris/ ぴ pi /pea/ ぷ pu /poodle/ ぺ pe /pet/ ぽ po /post/

ちゃ ちゅ ひゅ cha ひゃ みゃ りゃ みゅ りゅ hya mya rya ちょ ひょ みょ りょ chu hyu myu ryu にゃ びゃ ぴゃ cho hyo myo ryo にゅ びゅ ぴゅ nya bya pya にょ びょ ぴょ nyu byu pyu nyo byo pyo