Learning a new language can be a challenging and rewarding experience, but it can also be intimidating and overwhelming. One way to make the process more enjoyable and engaging is by using games as a basis for learning.
Here are a few reasons why playing games makes language learning fun:
Games are engaging:
Games are a fun and interactive way to learn, and they can help keep students engaged and motivated. By using games as a basis for learning, you can help make language learning more enjoyable and encourage students to stay involved.
Games are interactive:
Games are an interactive way to learn, which can help students practice their skills in a more realistic and engaging way. By playing games, students can practice their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in a more interactive and dynamic way.
Games are adaptable:
Games are flexible and adaptable, which means that you can use them to teach a wide range of language skills. Whether you want to focus on grammar, vocabulary, or conversation skills, there is a game that can help you achieve your goals.
Games are fun:
Above all, games are fun. By using games as a basis for learning, you can help make language learning more enjoyable and help students stay engaged and motivated.
Here are a few examples of games that you can use to make language learning fun:
Scrabble:
Scrabble is a classic board game that can be adapted to teach vocabulary and spelling skills in the target language. Students can practice building words and improving their spelling skills, while also learning new words and phrases.
Hangman:
Hangman is a simple game that can be used to teach vocabulary and spelling skills in the target language. Students can guess letters to help fill in a word or phrase, and the teacher can provide hints or clues to help them along.
Word search:
Word search puzzles are a fun and interactive way to practice vocabulary and spelling skills in the target language. Students can search for hidden words in a grid of letters, and the teacher can provide a list of words to look for or allow students to come up with their own list.
Charades:
Charades is a classic party game that can be adapted to teach vocabulary and conversation skills in the target language. Students can act out words or phrases without speaking, and their classmates can try to guess what they are trying to convey.
Board games are a classic way to make language learning fun and interactive. There are many board games that have been adapted for language learning, such as “¡Arriba!” and “Let’s Talk Spanish.” These games can help students practice vocabulary, grammar, and conversation skills in a fun and engaging way.
In addition to these games, there are also many online resources and apps that can help you make language learning more fun and interactive. For example, we offer a range of exercises and games to help children practice their skills, and it provides feedback and rewards to help keep them motivated.
Overall, playing games can be a powerful and effective way to make language learning more enjoyable and engaging. Whether you use traditional board games, online resources, or apps, the key is to find the tools and techniques that work best for you and your students. With a little bit of creativity and flexibility, you can make language learning a fun and rewarding experience for all.
Do you know how to make polvorones? Do you know what polvorones are?
Polvorones are traditional Spanish cookies that are made with a few simple ingredients. They are similar in texture to shortbread cookies and are enjoyed during the Christmas festive season.
Children enjoy making polvorones because they are relatively easy to make and require minimal ingredients. The dough can be easily rolled into small balls and baked into cookies, which makes them a fun activity for kids to participate in. Additionally, the finished cookies are delicious and make a great treat to share with friends and family.
With this recipe, you’ll find the ingredients in Spanish, but the instructions in English
How to make polvorones: A recipe for traditional Spanish cookies
Ingredients:
227 grams unsalted Mantequilla, softened
125 grams confectioners’ Azúcar
280 grams all-purpose Harina
60 grams finely ground Almendras
5 grams Extracto de vainilla
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the Mantequilla and confectioners’ Azúcar until smooth.
Add the Harina, ground Almendras, and Extracto de vanilla to the Mantequilla mixture and mix until well combined.
Roll the dough into small balls and place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they are lightly golden.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dust the cookies with additional confectioners’ Azúcar before serving.
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
We hope you enjoy this recipe for how to make polvorones, they’re fun to make together, and you can learn some new Spanish words!
P.S. Did you guess the Spanish ingredients correctly?
Nothing beats learning while having fun. This is our philosophy here at Cooking with Languages. As it is gift-giving season, we thought we’d put together some food gift ideas for your little language learning foodies so they can do just that: learn while having fun.
All of the ideas below are food-related items (toys and non-toys ideas) that can also, for the most part, promote language learning.
1. Pastry cutters
You can find pastry cutters in almost any shape or size these days. But what about some fun cutters in the shape of letters? Perfect for practising the alphabet in a foreign language while baking or for playing spelling games, for example.
2. An Activity Cookbook
What better gift than a language learning activity cookbook? If you are a bilingual family, if English or Spanish is your minority language, this cookbook will be perfect for your little foodies. They can learn the target language while playing little games and cooking our authentic easy recipes. Our cookbook is available as a printed version or as a printable to download. Wrap it up with a little accessory (a whisk, a knife or our matching apron) and you have a great non-toy gift for the little bilingual foodie in your life. Find out more here.
3. A Fun Food Play Set
Learning a language is not just about learning words. It is also about learning a culture and the foods people in those countries eat. If your child is in love with Japanese culture, what about getting him or her a sushi set? We also love wooden pizza or cake sets for pretend play.
4. A Child-Friendly Knife
Get those skills sharpened with a knife designed specifically for children. Young kids will love being taken seriously and cutting on their own.
5. A Cooking Class
If you are after an experience gift, how about a cooking class? You could search your local area for classes aimed at children. You could also organise your own and team up with a speaker of your target language and organise something with other families. Or you could search for cooking classes in a holiday destination you might be visiting soon. Contact us for details of our Cooking With Languages classes
6. An Apron or Two 😉
Of course, no little foodie can cook without a lovely apron. Our matching adults and children aprons make a great family gift. They also come perfectly bundled with the cookbook mentioned above.
7. A Blank Recipe Book
What about purchasing a simple blank notebook and using it as a recipe book? This would make a really inexpensive gift and is perfect for encouraging writing skills in a target language.
8. Playmats/Placemats
Eat & Play Placemat by Chronicle Books
This could be a fun gift for families who like to eat out or for kids’ tables at events/parties. There are lots of paper placemats out there. These ones though are food-themed and are a great way to practice a language or even leave comments for the chef.
9. Food-Safe Pens
If your children like to bake cookies or decorating them, food-safe decorating pens could be so much fun to add some amazing colours and effects. Imagine how much fun they would have baking cookies and writing on them!
10. A Snack Box
Sample box from SnackCrate
If your children like to eat as well as cooking, a snack box from treats around the world would make a fun gift. You can find subscriptions to boxes like these with snacks from around the world. These make for an excellent opportunity to learn about different cultures from around the world and will be perfect for all ages.
So, there you have food gift ideas for your little language learners. What other ideas would you like to share with us?
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A language classroom is not just about learning the grammar and the vocabulary. It is also about learning the culture or cultures to better understand the language. We all know how food is a fabulous way to get to understand a culture and its people. So what better or more fun way to learn a language than through food?
Today, we share 5 simple and easy tips to incorporate a country or a language’s food culture into your language classroom, your homeschooling routine or your language learning experience.
The key here is the authenticity of the content. Every decent educator will know that to learn a language authentic materials work best and are the most useful. Nobody wants to learn about made-up artificial conversations between a French baker and a customer talking about bagels!
Here are our 5 authentic yet simple tips:
Design Your Own Food Packaging
In a globalised world, it is not difficult to find food packaging containing foreign languages. Just head to your local (ethnic) supermarket and pick something that fits your target language. You get to use the packaging to learn a few words (and taste whatever is inside if it is relevant). Alternatively, next time you are visiting your target language country, bring back food packaging.
Create A Menu
Once again, you don’t need to travel far to find menus written in a foreign language. Either visit your favourite restaurant or check out menus online from restaurants in your target country to get a taste of your favourite dishes.
As an activity, get your students to search for menus, study them and create a brand new one for their very own restaurant.
Role-play: At The Restaurant
You have created your very own menu, all you need to do now is to set up a little role-play with that menu: waiter and customers. Asking questions about the menu, ordering from it, paying the bill are all wonderful authentic practice situations for any language student. Food vocabulary is obviously important here too but you get to add much more to it.
Cook a Typical Dish
Of course, one of the most obvious things you can do to incorporate food into your language lessons is to cook a typical dish from your target country. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy or complicated and if you have no cooking equipment, a salad could work too.
Write Your Own Recipe
If your students are up to it, you could even ask them to write or translate their very own recipe. Imagine you are to cook something typical from your own country for people who only speak your target language. You will need to translate the recipe for them. You could supply them with a recipe or they could make one up. Watch out for translation of weights and measure units! They need to be culturally appropriate too. This is a wonderful activity to do to practice cooking-related verbs too.
Have you got any other tips to add to this list? We would love to hear about the ways you do incorporate food into your language lessons or classroom.
Download FREE materials and great gifts …
Let Us Show You How To Plan A Cooking With Languages Competition in Your Target Langauge
Learning about a country, its customs and its food is a fabulous way to motivate children to learn languages.
In previous posts, we have explained the many different skills children learn in the kitchen and how the kitchen is a great classroom for language learning.
Today, we are going to show you how to plan a Cooking With Languages competition in your place of learning.
Use Simple Bunting and Fun Food Facts for Decoration
Follow these Simple steps to plan a Cooking With Languages Competition in your Target Language (TL):
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Select your target language (TL) e.g. English
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List countries where your TL is spoken. E.g. England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, USA, Canada
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Prepare templates for the flags for each of the countries
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Research traditional and popular dishes for each country (Note: Keep it simple!) e.g. apple crumble, tatties, banoffee pie …
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Invite your students to:
Choose a recipe (remember they can research their own too!) and prepare step by step instructions in the TL
Prepare photos or even a video in the TL demonstrating each step of the instructions
Invite one set of students each week to give a presentation and bring in a sample of their foods
Alternatively ….
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Hold a Cooking With Languages Competition Day in your TL.
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All students are invited to bring in their creations on a given day.
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A panel of judges select the winning dishes.
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Winners can be for specific age groups, food type or any other creative category you come up with.
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Points are awarded for accuracy of TL, originality, taste and appearance.
Don’t forget to share pictures on your Cooking With Languages
If you would like templates of any materials, just email
cookingwithlanguages@gmail.com and we will send them to you 🙂
Download FREE materials and great gifts …
Most children would love the opportunity to be put in the spotlight with the chance to release their inner diva. Whether it’s singing a song or acting out parts of their favourite movie.
How To Help Your Bilingual Masterchef Shine!
Today, we want to share a winning formula to help your children, a future bilingual Masterchef, shine. They will improve their language skills by feeding their imagination as a contestant on a popular television show such as Junior MasterChef or Great British Bake Off – but with a twist.
The icing on the cake is that the show will be conducted in the language they are learning (target language). They could be cooking a paella in Spanish, a kartoffelpuffer in German or a creme brulee in French. It will be fun, competitive and educational as they get their head around a recipe in a foreign language.
Learning a language used to be as dry as day-old bread but not anymore. Children will enjoy cooking with languages, especially if they have the chance to win a prize and be a television star for a day.
Organising a Junior MasterChef or Bake Off is relatively straightforward and could be your party piece for a birthday get-together or for a sleepover.
Unless you have a large kitchen with more than one cooker, it is a good idea to get them all to work from the same recipe and make something that’s relatively quick to cook. With younger children, they could prepare the recipe and you put in the oven for them.
[bctt tweet=”Play the Mystery Box challenge in your Junior Bilingual MasterChef #languagelearning” username=”cooklanguage”]
It’s a mystery…
For Junior Bilingual MasterChef, you could play the Mystery Box challenge so they all have the same ingredients to start. They would then be given 10 minutes to find a recipe in the language they are learning to create a meal which symbolises that country.
For Spain, for example, they could be given the ingredients to make albondigas (meatballs), cocas (mini pizzas) or empanadas (little pasties). The cocas would be ideal for younger children as they could just be asked to decorate ready-made cocas.
The German students could try kasespatzle (similar to macaroni cheese), kartoffelsalat (potato salad) – good for the little ones – or Bavarian apple strudel cake.
In the French corner, we’d suggest cherry clafoutis (fresh fruit and custard dessert), mousse au chocolat (chocolate mousse) or moules marinieres (mussels).
For younger children, we would suggest that you go through a recipe with them so they are copying what you are doing or ask them to do something simple like put the toppings on cocas or decorate cupcakes.
Download FREE materials and great gifts …
Older children can follow a recipe in a foreign language while undertaking the Mystery Box challenge. They can be encouraged to put their own twist to it by adding a special ingredient or making it look very special.
Icing on the cake …
In the Bake Off, depending on their age, you can encourage the children to make their own cakes or simply create colourful toppings for ready-made cakes. Again, they will have to use ingredients from their chosen country and follow recipes or instructions in this language too.
Let them shine…
It is a fun idea to find a volunteer to film them while they’re baking. Then get them to introduce themselves and talk about their produce in Spanish, German or French. You can give score points for the best dish as well as the most authentic accent. If you want to be really clever, you could put these on a Facebook page or YouTube to ask their friends to vote on the best ones.
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