NEWS
Green deal on recycling
Free education sessions at a country park are on offer for schools that host a recycling bank. Charity Traid will pay for sessions at Lee Valley Country Park for schools that agree to have the bank installed. Schools will also receive #163;300 for every tonne of clothes and shoes collected. Go to www.traid.org.uk
Future of RE
A symposium on the future of RE, in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on March 1, 4.30pm to 7pm, will include a talk by Mark Chater, former RE adviser with the QCDA. Visit www.natre.org.uk
Languages show comes to Liverpool
Cilt, the national centre for languages, will hold its 15th annual primary languages show in Liverpool next month. The two-day event features more than 60 workshops, including French story-making using puppets and podcasting. For more information, go to www.ciltplus.org.ukpls
RE
What is it?
Although Chinese New Year is not, strictly speaking, a religious event, it is often included under the umbrella of festivals and celebrations. This year, it starts on February 3, when the Year of the Rabbit begins. This is a collection of resources and displays to celebrate Chinese New Year.
How to use it
A good place to start might be to make celebration cards. Superkings has uploaded a selection with “Happy New Year” on them in English and Chinese, plus one which celebrates the Year of the Rabbit. To inject some historical interest in how the years came to be named after animals, evebatten has created a PowerPoint resource that tells the story. For a more craft-focused lesson, the TES resources team has provided links to instructions on how to make a Chinese lantern or dragon puppet.
Where to find it
All of these links and resources can be found at www.tes.co.ukchinese-new-year
LANGUAGES
What is it?
This is a collection of resources aimed at helping primary-age pupils learn simple French vocabulary. However, many of the resources are purely visual so they could be used in any language.
How to use it
Visual games such as “Body parts bingo” (uploaded by Kgbinterpol), where pupils have to match parts of the body to names that are called out, or ladywardy’s “Blockbusters”, based on the TV quiz, help pupils to memorise words.
Songs are also a good way to immerse pupils in the language, and Lor Mac has uploaded a link to a website that uses French songs to review grammar and vocabulary. Words are blanked out in the songs and pupils have to work out what they should be, depending on which grammar point you’re reviewing. There are also classroom instructions in French, such as “Ecoutez” (listen) or “Asseyez-vous” (sit down), for teachers who want to incorporate simple French vocabulary informally.
Where to find it
The collection of primary French resources can be found at www.tes.co.ukprimary-french
ENGLISH
What is it?
This is a collection of the most popular resources on vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation, or VCOP.
How to use it
Games range from “word of the day” to “Cheddar Gorge” in which pupils sit in a circle and keep adding connecting words to a sentence (both uploaded by cariad2). There is also a collection of “outstanding openers”, created by mac_moo.
Where to find it
All of these resources can be found at www.tes.co.ukVCOP-collection.
