Languages
Multi-stage activity cards
These multi-stage activity cards are designed to be shared by language teachers in primary schools with their students. Each week’s activity cards share a consistent theme from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3. This will make things easier for parents supporting learning from home.
There is one activity card per stage, per week. Each activity card should take students approximately 30 minutes per week to complete.
At this time it’s important that students have some contact with their teachers. It’s recommended that teachers record themselves modelling the language required to complete the activities. See more about this in the section below.
Modelling language and activities
Teachers can use Microsoft Stream (accessed through the Microsoft Office 365 tile in the staff portal) to record videos of themselves modelling language and activities. View the instructions for Stream for further information.
There are example videos to accompany some of the activity cards (below). Videos such as these allow language teachers to further support their students while learning from home.
Weekly activity cards
For Early Stage 1 to Stage 3:
- Week 1 – countries and nationalities (PPTX file, 586 KB)
- Week 2 – sports (PPTX file, 584 KB)
- Week 3 – Olympics (PPTX file, 587 KB)
- Week 4 – make a chatterbox (PPTX file, 589 KB)
- Week 5 – playing with your chatterbox (PPTX file, 590 KB)
Example teacher videos
Supporting Stage 1 students with the week 1 task:
Weekly activity cards
For Early Stage 1 to Stage 3:
- Week 1 – food (PPTX file, 586 KB)
- Week 2 – likes and dislikes (PPTX file, 589 KB)
- Week 3 – can I have... please? (PPTX file, 589 KB)
- Week 4 – at the shops (PPTX file, 588 KB)
Example teacher video
Supporting Stage 2 students with the week 1 task:
Weekly activity cards
For Early Stage 1 to Stage 3:
- Week 1 – what's the weather like? (PPTX file, 585 KB)
- Week 2 – places to go (PPTX file, 586 KB)
- Week 3 – things to do (PPTX file, 584 KB)
- Week 4 – planning a day out (PPTX file, 586 KB)
Two week learning sequences
These detailed programs offer a 2-week unit that builds student skills. School staff exercise professional judgement when making decisions about the suitability of teaching and learning activities to meet the needs of their students.
Early Stage 1
Hello song
Students listen to a modelled version of the hello song and reproduce the song. Lessons 1, 2 and 3 focus on engaging with the common words and phrases that make up the song. Phrases in the song may change from language to language. Teachers can increase the number of lessons in this sequence to match the number of individual words and phrases in the song if time permits. Finally, students record themselves singing the hello song in [Language] and share it with the teacher.
My favourite toy
Students listen to a modelled version of the phrase ‘my toy’ and words to describe a toy. They engage in activities to practise saying and writing this language before composing a short text in [Language] describing their favourite toy.
My favourite toy 2
Students say and write words for different types of toys in [Language]. They complete activities to demonstrate understanding of new vocabulary. They practise saying and writing sentences before composing their own short text.
Stage 1
My dream home
Students engage with the letters of the alphabet that make the word ‘house’ in [Language]. They learn to write the word ‘house’ and recognise it in text. Finally, they write a short text about their house in [Language] using a drawing and rehearsed language.
My dream home 2
Students learn to recognise and use [Language] words to describe different types of housing for example, house, apartment. They learn to name external features and different rooms/areas of a house and they make door signs for each room.
They create a print or digital plan of their dream home using pictures and captions to name each room/area. They present their dream home to their family using simple structures. If possible, they ask a family member to record their presentation and upload their presentation to the school’s digital platform.
My bedroom
Stage 2
About me
Students listen to a modelled version of questions and answers about themselves and respond by correcting the word order of mixed up sentences. They then practise writing the questions and answers before using the language in interactions. Finally, they write a short text about themselves in [Language].
Where are you from?
Students listen to a modelled version of questions and answers including those about nationalities and countries. They build vocabulary of nationalities and countries and reflect on grammatical patterns involving the two groups of words. They make a deck of cards and incorporate [Language] into familiar card games. Finally, they create their own card game that involves using the vocabulary of nationalities and countries in [Language].
Country
- draw a map of [Country] and label it with places they have researched
- listen to and read a text in [Language] about Australia
- respond to the text by engaging in activities that allow them to demonstrate skills and understanding related to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
- write scaffolded sentences before incorporating their research about [Country] into their own text.
For languages which are spoken in more than one country, for example, Arabic and Spanish, students can be asked to research an Arabic or Spanish speaking country.
Stage 3
Caring for the environment
In Lesson 1 students engage with the script of an interview about recycling. They learn vocabulary and expressions related to recycling and obtain and organise specific information from the text. In Lesson 2 students recreate the interview by putting phrases in the correct order. In Lesson 3 students act out the interview with the help of a family member or a classmate and finally in Lesson 4 students record a podcast or video of the interview.
Caring for the environment 2
Students learn new words and expressions about recycling. They learn about the benefits of upcycling and how Aboriginal people from Pormputaaw are upcycling ghost nets to create artworks. Students create their own artworks using clean waste from home and present their artwork to their family explaining what materials they have used. If possible, they ask a family member to record their presentation.
Caring for the environment 3
During these lessons students engage with texts in [Language] to learn vocabulary and expressions about things they can do to protect the environment. They complete a questionnaire to find out about their attitude to nature and then they write an article about the benefits of recycling for the school newsletter.
Support for teachers
Each Wednesday in Term 3 2021, we will explore using and adapting the K-6 guided learning packages to assist with learning from home.
Join the next Zoom webinar, view previous webinar recordings and find other useful resources on the guided learning packages page (staff only).
Associated resources
The two-week programs linked above all have related digital student resources and printable student workbooks that are located in our filterable resource library.
You can also find ideas and activities on our curated list of external digital resources.
Distance education resources
Access K-6 distance education resources developed to support students that cannot access a physical school.
The Distance education network offers these documents to support teachers delivering off campus learning. They are not designed for all learning contexts and are not anticipated to address all syllabus outcomes.
While the resources support independent student study, they must be used in consultation with their subject teacher.