Happy New Year from our friends in Brindas, France

We have had a great start to 2018. We were very excited to hear from our friends from CM2 de l'école de Brindas, FRANCE.

They wished us a happy holiday: http://cm1.galligani.eu/2017/12/18/have-good-summer-holidays/

They also wished us a Happy New Year! They made a Star Wars themed movie that our students loved:  http://cm1.galligani.eu/2018/01/29/good-new-school-year/

Nell and Isabel led a team to make a movie for students at Brindas School:

We are curious about schools in France. We had some questions:

Avery: Do you have a helper teacher?

Keir: Do you have a swimming pool?

Elliot: Do you do homework?

Nick: What do you do on a normal day at school?

Zoe: do you have traps for pests (animals)?

What languages do you speak?

Emelia: How many children are there at your school?

Henry: What is your learning schedule?

Jude: Do you have lunch boxes?

Stella: Do you bring your lunches to school?

Alex: What are your favourite subjects?

Ruby: What sports do you play at school?

James: Do you have alergies?

Lachlan: Can you tell us about where you play? Do you have playgrounds?

Zac: How big is your playground?

Caspian: What do you usually play at playtime?

Yasmin: How many classes do you have at your school?

Marnie: Do you have desks?

Molly: Do you have class pets?

Greta: How long are your breaks?

Jasmine: How long are your holidays?

Taiga: How long do you have at school?

Yoshi: Do you have a cafeteria?

Nuala: What year groups do you have?

Nye: What food do you put in your lunch boxes?

Cameron: What is the hardest Maths that you do?

Evan: when did you start learning english?

What do you like about your school?

Are you religious? What are the names of your gods if you have them.

What weather do you have? Is it hot or cold?

Evan, Rhosyn: How long is your school day?

Eins Zwei Polizei

We are thrilled that Sarka has offered to teach German this term as part of our languages programme. Yesterday Anna's base group learnt that we use many German words in English. They also learnt how to count to 10 in German. 

Languages Programme

This week we have kicked off our new languages programme.  Every Friday we will be working for the middle session of the day learning either, Mandarin, French, Spanish or Maori.  Maria, Leola and Violetta’s mum will be looking after Spanish, Wanwan, Mandarin, Clotilde, Anatole and Eloi’s mum, French and John will be teaching more Maori.

We are very excited to be kicking this off as it not only celebrates some of the cultures we have within the school but goes some way to connecting us to the rest of the world including Asia.  Maori is taught and integrated in our regular programme so the Friday session is reinforcement and building on this knowledge.  

The research suggests that the benefits of language learning include increases in brain size What Happens to the Brain when Learning a New Language, but there are many others including increased understanding and acceptance of the cultures and ways of thinking of other people.  All great skills for the 21st century learner.