Teach Primary Issue 18.2

26 | www.teachwire.net I t has long been accepted that cross-curricular planning of teaching and learning is an effective way to resolve the competing demands of multiple curriculum areas and limited time. However, languages sometimes remain confined to their own curriculum silo, awaiting innovative pedagogical approaches to set them free. This is where translanguaging comes to the rescue—a powerful approach that can shatter these barriers and result in rich, authentic learning experiences. The theory Translanguaging is a pedagogical practice that weaves the use of two languages into the fabric of a single activity. Learners receive information in one language and then engage with that information using another. In the case of my Year 5 learners, this approach was employed to nurture their Spanish language skills, while fostering a deeper understanding of cross-cultural connections. Lighting the language spark The first step in our translanguaging journey was a conventional three-week unit of English work based on the book Better Than New by Broder and Buckley. This fantasy tale set in Argentina is presented bilingually in English and Spanish. After working through the book as a class, the children wrote individual stories inspired by the text. Bridging continents The next leg of our linguistic adventure involved connecting with a class in Argentina through the British Council's school partnering portal. This partnership provided a real-world context and an authentic audience for the learners. We decided to work on a story exchange project. This would help the Argentinian learners to develop their English, and my class to work on their Spanish. We agreed that our Better Than New stories, with their environmental focus, would be ideal for the purpose, as we were aware that similar coastal pollution issues affect both our countries. We set up a Padlet ( padlet.com ) through which our two classes could initially get to know one another, and then work together on the story project, in a safe and managed manner. Having established a bond with our Argentinian friends, my learners then revised their stories electronically using the online tool Book Creator ( bookcreator.com ) , incorporating short Spanish phrases to mirror the bilingual presentation of the original text. Book Creator was instrumental in giving the children’s work a polished, book-like finish with interactive elements: adding an engaging dimension to their learning, as well as a huge sense of pride in their completed publication. Expert advice As I'm not a fluent Spanish speaker I knew that external language mentoring would be extremely useful while working on the story exchange, so I contacted one of our local universities to see if they might be able to help us out. The result was astounding. We received a full-day visit from a third-year language undergraduate, who worked with each of the children in the class to ensure the grammatical accuracy of their Spanish inclusions, as well as helping to teach them more about Spanish vocabulary and sentence structure. At the end of this experience, the children were confident in the Spanish they had included, and extremely proud of what they had achieved. Interestingly, this was the most motivated I’d seen many of my pupils in relation to language learning. I think it had a lot to do with having a defined ‘real world’ audience of Argentinian friends who the children really wanted to impress, as well as a fluent language role model to support them with the task. Beyond language The journey didn't end with language skills; it extended into collaborative exploration of subjects like history and geography. The children, now armed with enhanced Spanish proficiency, collaborated with their Argentinian counterparts to study the migration of Welsh settlers to Argentina during the 1800s. This interdisciplinary approach fostered a deeper understanding of both language and culture. TP Adventures in LANGUAGE Marc Bowen is a Deputy Head and primary teacher in South Wales. You can contact him at marc. bowen@raglan.schools edu. org.uk F EATURE S MF L Cross-curricular collaboration with a partner school overseas is a powerful way to unlock progress in MFL, as Marc Bowen discovered...