I am Nuria and I am working as a Spanish LA in the area of Inverclyde. To celebrate the European Day of Languages I prepared a master class in Catalan, as I come from Barcelona. Some pupils knew we speak two languages but not all of them, so it was a useful way of getting them to know the context deeper (many spend their holidays there).
Firstly, I briefly told them about the bilingual situation but I quickly moved into the lesson itself, making them repeat “Hola”, “Bon dia” all together. Then I used the introduction phrase “Em dic Nuria” (I´m...) and asked them to present themselves, including their teacher! The next step was to shake hands with a pupil and add “Com et dius? Encantat/da” (What´s your name? Pleased to meet you) in what they already learnt. I put a slide on the screen with the small dialogue because the next step was to stand up and start shaking hands with everyone in the class and introducing themselves.
I also told them which languages I speak in Catalan and so I asked them to do the same. The last activity was related to food and drink. I told them to imagine themselves in a bar or restaurant, presenting the waiter and the custumer with the labels in Catalan along with a picture, so it was not necessary to translate it into English. Then, I gave to every group a set of food pictures and the labels to match. When they made their guess I put a slide with the right match and asked them to repeat with me all the vocabulary. I did the same process with drink. I did it in St. Columba´s High School (located in Greenock) where the second language is French so I tried to use vocabulary with similar form (“fromage-formatge”, “vi”, “pa”), basically to make them aware of how they can use their knowledge to guess meanings in other languages (especially with Romance languages!).
But there was still something left to do! I gave them a sheet with all the vocabulary they have learnt so far along with a small dialogue between the costumer and the waiter. Firstly I read it aloud and asked them to repeat with me for pronunciation purposes and then they had to practice it with their group. They also decided which food and drink to order and the bill. Finally, every group went in front of the class and performed the situation. They all had fun and the teacher also performed it with me!
They were S3 and S4 groups and I might do it again tomorrow with the other school I work in. I think the pupils and the teachers found it quite interesting and I believed it was also a way to settle in a type of activities that would definitely be useful for the Spanish class (as the teacher told me, the role play and the introduction performed yesterday has helped them to be more confident and feel relaxed about using the second language and in the future it will not be uncomfortable or something to feel shy for).
Cheers from Gourock!
