Reviews
Just a quick line to let you know how much my class of Year 4 children enjoyed the story of The Four Friends from GrowStoryGrow. We started with level 1 and worked up to level 3. This is a great way for the children to follow how the sentence structure developed and gave them a tremendous sense of achievement.
I will definately be using the story again. Many thanks!
Cath Doherty, Fulwell Junior School, Tyne and Wear
I have used a couple of the stories on GrowStoryGrow with my Y3 class. To say they enjoyed them is an understatement! They loved the ‘silly voices’ on ‘L’heure M Loup’. They also liked the use of known characters to help. I liked the progression from simple introductory vocabulary to more complex phrases, which can be taken at a realistic pace for all abilities. Non-specialist teachers will also find it useful that the children can listen to the stories spoken clearly with a good French accent.
As our school is multicultural and we have some ‘New to English’ children, I have passed this on to the EAL co-ordinator, who believes it could be a useful tool for teaching English to N2E children. The lesson plans are useful, too!
Christine Brown, Hillary Primary School, West Midlands
The children love the stories and the graphics are brilliant. It will be a extremely welcome resource for specialists and non-specialists alike.
Letitia, French teacher/co-ordinator, Saint Mary's Catholic Primary School, Wimbledon
I really like your story based approach because it offers potential for use by specialist and non specialist teachers alike. I like the mulit-lingual approach (we have lots of speakers of other languages), the potential to compare different language versions of the same story and expose the children to other languages; also that there are easy to follow lesson plan ideas linked to the Framework.
Jenny Berry, MFL co-ordinator, St John's Primary School, Bristol
I really love this website and I know that it will prove a useful resources for teachers with limited knowledge of languages, as well as those who are more competent. Stories are a great way of practising language and compliment the Literacy framework too. I tested out these stories on my daughter and son before using them in the classroom and they were soon joining in with the language. Brilliant!
Wendy Budsworth, Primary MFL consultant, Swinton
The children love Jack and the Beanstalk and other stories. They already seem more motivated to learn French, as they repeat words and phrases during the day and never complain when asked to watch the stories. They find parts funny and are really engaged. I think this is a fantastic resource. Congratulations on a job well done. It's also helping my French! I would love to subscribe to the full programme of 100 stories if possible, as I think the children would benefit enormously.
Sarah Amoah, language teacher, Switzerland
I love your resource! Ive used it with my year 3 and 4 class and we will be using it in French week for KS2 assembly.Emma Chamberlain, Ashcott Primary School, Somerset
I have had a good look at the French stories at GrowStoryGrow and trialled the site with my French Club (Y5&6). We loved it and I particularly like the fact that you have such a mix of stories: fiction and non-fiction, traditional and modern. I plan to use the site with Y3 and Y4 this week and see how they like it.
Claire Jenkinson, MFL teacher, Velmead Junior School, Fleet
Last week the infants re-enacted Quelle heure est-il M. Loup from memory. Great site!
Helen, French teacher, Freshford Primary School
We've started using it in lessons with some of our year 5 and 6 pupils - just for sheer pleasure at this stage. They seem quite taken by it.
Jean Watts, Primary teacher, St Michael's Middle School
I really, really like the plastic bag story - what a great idea! Teaches useful vocab/phrases AND a vital environmental message that's relevant to children.
Elaine Ellis
I too think the `Sacs en plastique'is a really good story; it exemplifies what the KS2 Framework says we should be doing:
`Taking a little language and using it well.'
Simple language with a `sophisticated' theme- hard to find in primary languages just yet.
Jan Lewandowski, Primary Languages Consultant, Bedford Borough
Thank you very much Valerie - this is excellent - especially for getting the accents right! We are just starting out with MFL (French) so all ideas gratefully received!
Pip Millard, MFL Co-ordinator, St Philip's CEVC School, Bath
Thanks for these resources. I showed the spider story to a class of Y1&2 year olds and they loved it. The other stories look fabulous too. I'll be using them a lot, teaching all age groups 4-11. Great as an intro to reading, something I've not done a lot of so far.
Sarah Miller, All Saints East Clevedon Primary and Mary Elton Primary too, Somerset
GREAT STUFF ! I LOVE THE DIFFERENTIATION! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK !
Rabia, Primary MFL teacher
I've had a chance to use GrowStoryGrow with some Yr1 children and they really liked it. The scope of the stories is interesting - including one on the problems caused by plastic bags - and they are very well structured, with clear patterns of progress within each story. The graphics are excellent, and they make a superb addition to the resources available for modern languages. Well done, Val, and thanks.
John Bald, independent consultant
I've used the French stories with some of my P3-5s and they really like them. The one on France is a great starter for getting the children to talk about what they know about France and they love 'La famille araignée' too. Thanks, it's been very useful for me.
Sylvia Georgin, Catterline Primary School
I used Sleeping Beauty with KS1 which fitted brilliantly with National Book Week as they were doing traditional stories. I found it really clear and easy to take them through the story - and the children loved it. The sound effects and vocals were brilliant. They are quite new to Spanish but were able to access this at levels one and two. In fact they asked for it again this week! I also used more briefly the 'Music Monster' - again really enjoyed by all.
Tracy, Spanish teacher
Hello, Just to let you know that I tried out the Papa Noel story (Spanish) with my reception class today and they loved it! We showed it first thing this morning on level 3 and I translated it for them. I then showed it again this afternoon and asked on each page whether they could remember what the words meant - and the children remembered! Thank you for such a great resource, I will certainly be using it again.
Gwyneth Wellings, Bradshaw Primary School
