Ann Robertson Education Support Officer Modern Languages City of Edinburgh Council Outdoor Learning in Modern Languages

Aims Share practical approaches Outdoor space as a resource Sharing of ideas and discussion

1. Sights, smells and sounds In class, ask learners to think about and then write up what they would be able to hear, see and smell in different parts of the school grounds. This could be done as a brainstorming placemat activity in cooperative groups. Take the class outside, taking their fully formed sentences with them. At each of the areas identified in class ask them to compare what they can hear, see, smell with what they’ve written. They can then write true/false and also note down any differences. Back in class ask them to write up the results of their sensory survey and do it as a comparison e.g. I expected to hear.... I heard....

2. Madrid Street Poetry

This is my school It’s grey, It’s colourful, It’s modern, It’s big This is my school.

3. Photo treasure hunt Prepare a bag of 50 – 100 words of objects in the school grounds e.g. seagull Take all learners outside and organise into pairs. Learners take one word from the bag, check it in the dictionary and then have to take a photo of whatever it is. Can only take a new word once they’ve shown you the photo. Class competition to see which pair can get the most words/photos!

4. School ground signage Ask learners to walk around school grounds and identify areas where signage could be put up around the grounds e.g. eco garden, outdoor classroom etc. Back in class, learners then work out what the language would be for those places. Correct as a whole class and come up with a bank of places around the school which could then be signposted. Create designs for signs in the target language. Potential for link with technologies to then create the signs (using a winning design!) to be put up around the school.

5. Pebble writing Ask learners to create a bank of words in the target language which describe their town or their environment. This could also be tied in with adjectives e.g. leafy green Teacher gives learners flat stones (collected by teacher or you could take class out and ask them to find stones/objects which they could write on. Write their words onto the objects and leave in strategically chosen places so that other people will find them and pick them up! You could potentially contact the local press about this and create a bit of a buzz about it by leaving them around your local town for people to find. This could also be a way to highlight a particular issue e.g. anti- bullying with messages like friendship, love, fairness etc.

6. Eye spy Teacher takes class outside and asks them to brain storm as many things as they can see in their surrounding environment and find what they are in the dictionary. Teacher then plays eye spy with learners who then have to see if they can find what it is that they are describing by looking at their list of words. Winning learner then chooses the next eye spy.

7. Outdoor Listening Teacher describes things they can see around them and learners then have to write if it is true or false. E.g. I can see a seagull on a bin Ideal for practising prepositions

8. Outdoor Reading Teacher places 10 numbered reading cards around the school grounds e.g. pinned to a tree. Each card contains a clue which could relate to current topic e.g. In this subject, we learn about numbers. Learners are challenged with a time limit to find the cards and work out what the answer is to each card. First group/pair to find the full list, “wins”.

9. Outdoor numeracy Learners are given a list of questions written in the target language and relating to numeracy in the school grounds e.g. How many trees are there? How many bins are there? How many steps are there from the playground to the school front door? Learners are then challenged with finding all the answers to the questions within the school grounds and then, when back in class, writing up their answers in sentences. E.g. there are eighty steps from the playground to the front door. You can then compare and contrast answers.

10. Giant word search Learners are asked to create a word bank of 10 words on a particular topic. They are then given chalk and in an area of the playground are asked to firstly, write their words out as a list on the ground and then create a word search which contains their words. Once complete they can then rotate round and try each other’s word searches!

11. Storytelling Teacher places cards with sentences from of a story in different parts of the playground. Learners have to find the cards, copy down the sentences and then put the story into the correct order. This could be a story with the action taking part in different areas of the schools grounds. You could also ask a Secondary/Higher class to write the story beforehand and then place the cards in the school grounds.

12. Preposition photos Ask learners to bring a teddy or toy into school Ask learners to go around the school grounds and take photos of the toy in various places around the school grounds. Back in class, learners can then write up sentences describing where their toy was e.g. Bobo is under the bush.

Pupils start from la terre (earth). They take it in turns to throw a stone, aiming for the numbers in sequence. If they miss a number, they lose their turn. If they touch a line, they have to start again. They must not land in l’enfer (hell). The first child to reach le ciel (sky) is the winner.

All the children stand on a line apart from one child, who stands on the opposite side of the playground with his back to them. They try to move forwards as he says Un, deux, trois … soleil. He turns round, and any child still moving is out. The first child to reach the speaker and touch his back is the winner.

One child is l’épervier (the sparrowhawk) and stands in the middle of the playground. The other children stand at one end. When the sparrowhawk calls out j’arrive, the other children have to run across the playground without being caught. If the sparrowhawk catches them, he calls out attrapé and they become sparrowhawks too.

Children sit in a circle. One child pretends to be a cat and goes to another child, who has to say Pauvre petit chat malade without laughing. If he laughs, he becomes the cat. If not, the cat goes to another child.

One child hides their eyes and counts to whatever number is appropriate to the size and amount of children playing. This could be done in French if possible. When the child has finished counting he/she shouts j’arrive and looks for the others who have hidden. If the child finds one of them he/she shouts trouvé and that child helps them find the others.

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” Ludwig Wittgenstein