Workshop Details

Workshop Details

We run three workshops 

1. Stories for fun, inclusion and progression
2. High frequency words for sentence-building and progression
3. Rhyme and rhythm for pronunciation 

A combination of these three workshops is very popular, the main objective being that the teachers have the confidence and materials to go straight back into the classroom and try out the new ideas and resources themselves.

1. Stories for fun, inclusion and progression 

This workshop will look at ways of exploiting 2 stories:

• The fable of the Wind and the Sun
• Four Friends 

Each story will be approached in a different way to show examples of:

Learning skills such as:

• Guessing meaning from pictures and cognates
• Listening and miming
• Using rhyme and rhythm
• Using story boards 

Knowledge about language such as:

• Recognising patterns
• Sentence building
• Recognising question forms and negatives

Benefits

Teachers will:

• Share their own experiences of using and exploiting stories
• Experience techniques and methodologies for teaching stories
• Learn how to exploit a story to the full, covering many of the KS2 learning objectives and making a story cross-curricular
• Learn how to actively involve all of the children in their classroom with the story
• Have fun
• Receive cut-out puppets, illustrated scripts of the 4 stories and an audio CD
• Leave with practical ideas and ready-made materials to take back to the classroom.

2. High frequency words for sentence-building and progression

Did you know that about 12 words make up about 24% of all reading in English? The same theory applies to many other languages. So why is it then, that these crucial words are often overlooked in language teaching?

This workshop will help teachers to identify high frequency words in a foreign language and crucially, show them ways of helping children to learn these words using mime, picture association, sound effects, rhythm, and context.

The teachers will leave the workshop with a bank of materials to use in their classroom.

3. Using rhythm and rhymes for pronunciation

This workshop looks at the powerful use of rhymes and rhythm for teaching sounds. This is a particularly effective method for younger children.

About Val Thornber

The workshops are run by Val who has been teaching French and Spanish for 20 years. She is bilingual and feels that she was inspired by her French mum who used to read stories to her when she was little. She has written and delivered many workshops where teachers receive practical knowledge and materials to take back to the classroom.

She has written and published her own set of language-learning stories called ‘Little Tails of the Unexpected’ which has been nominated for awards. Her paper ‘Progression through high frequency words’ was published by SCILT in 2006 which she has delivered at numerous events throughout the UK.

Val now works in a local primary school in Edinburgh where she continues to experiment with new and memorable ways of teaching and learning language.

Her latest project is a collection of online stories called ‘GrowStoryGrow’.

Rates

£150 for an hour

£250 for half a day

£400 for a day

+ expenses (travel, accommodation)

Contact

Please contact Val directly for more details:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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