World Book Day, on 01 March, presents a wonderful opportunity to explore foreign language books!
Why not plan ahead and use some of the following ideas and resources?
Need a lesson idea? Why not try some of these:
- get your thinking cap on and dress up as a multilingual book character (think, Astérix, Pinocchio, Pippi Longstocking…)
- practise a class performance of a favourite story to another class
- share your own favourite book/s
- swap classes with another teacher, who can then read / share their favourite book with your class
- re-tell a story as a whole class with actions, then create a mini book of the story
- design a book cover or book jacket for your favourite book
- describe a famous book character using a variety of adjectives
- write a letter or email to your favourite book character / author
- play a game to match famous book titles. Give students a list of book titles in both English and the target language. Can students match them correctly?
- use ‘Where’s Wally?’ as a stimulus and get pupils to describe the location of Wally using prepositional phrases
- hide a picture or toy of a book character in different places around school or in the classroom. Add a question in the target language that students can answer after locating the character.
Be inspired by others and read an article on using literature to enhance language learning. These are some of our favourites:
Using the Gruffalo. Read how Children’s author Julia Donaldson inspired students and teachers at a multilingual ‘Gruffalo day’.
My Best 10…take one text…use 10 ways. Choose one piece of text and use it in these 10 innovative ways to boost learning.
Literature and Language Learning. This special feature, looks at the theory and practice of using a wide variety of literature in language learning.
Look for a new book to use as a stimulus. The following book reviews and blog posts in the Language Zones might help you choose.
Le papa qui avait 10 enfants by Bénédicte Guettier
Ruby Red Riding Hood by One Third Stories
Quatres Contes Populaires Ecossais by Fiona Scott
Or in need of something a bit different? Find out how to inspire a love of Russian children’s books here.
Still hungry for more ideas? Here are links to some more great resources.
If you are planning to celebrate World Book Day in your school and have a resource or idea you would be willing to share with your ALL community, please get in touch with our Education Officer.