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.
Help Cooking with Languages give more children the gift of language by supporting us in the Crowdfunder January Jumpstart 2017
Well, 2017 is starting with a bang.
We are excited to share that we have been selected as 1 of just 100 start-ups for the Crowdfunder January Jumpstart. Our month-long crowdfunding push starts on Thursday 12 January and we hope to raise £5,000 towards publishing costs to give more children the gift of language.
Crowdfunder has selected 100 projects be part of January Jumpstart, an exclusive four week crowdfunding program for the UK’s entrepreneurs of 2017.
Our project, Cooking with Languages is designed to make learning a language exciting and interactive. We wand to help create oodles of language-loving superheroes.
Gone is the tedious studying of verbs and complicated vocabulary from dull textbooks. Cooking with Languages is all about hands-on fun as children make easy (and scrummy!) recipes, take part in games and other activities, and listen and repeat from audios recorded by my son Joshua and daughter Francesca, both bilingual in English and Spanish.
“I want to do for languages what Jamie Oliver has done for cooking,” says Lisa, trilingual herself and passionate about giving children the gift of languages. Conscious that children often see learning as a chore, she decided to make languages fun.”
Our project started in English and Spanish kitchens, helped by language assistants Arthur Apple and Nerea Naranja. Further down the line we hope that Olivier l’Oignon, Klaus Kartoffel and Paola Pomodoro will be valuable language kitchen hands, but for now we are concentrating on materials in English and Spanish.
“These are my children’s languages so they’re closest to my heart,” Lisa says. “We’ve had a lot of fun creating the materials as a family – trying out new recipes in our own kitchen, recording the audios and thinking up new ways to make learning Spanish exciting. And we’ve had some great feedback on what we’ve produced so far!”
[bctt tweet=”Help @CookLangauge do for languages what @jamieoliver has done for cooking. #crowdfunding” via=”no”]
Funds raised via the January Jumpstart will help bring down costs.
“Publishing on an ad hoc basis is prohibitively expensive,” Lisa explains, “and I need funds to bulk-order and make the materials cheaper and therefore more accessible.”
We already have language teachers in both the UK and Spain keen to use our materials and bring that much-needed fun element into the classroom.
Those who join Cooking with Languages in their quest to raise £5,000 (about €5,800) by January 31st will be richly rewarded. Fundraisers will be able to obtain a copy of the activity cookbook and other materials at reduced rates. There’ll be sneak peeks at new materials and the chance to have your own recipe in the book and dedicated to your own children. But best of all, everyone who contributes will be helping to make language learning fun and give more children the gift of language.
A Sneak Peek At Just A Few Of The Crowdfunder Rewards:
Contributions start at as little as £5 (approximately €5.80!) and can be made quickly, securely and easily via PayPal.
Which Language Should We Launch Next? The Decision is YOURS!
If you are looking for a fun but easy Easter recipe, look no further. Our Easter Bunny Pancake recipe is simple but scrummy…
With this easy Easter recipe, the children can use their imagination and decorate them with their favourite toppings, having fun in the kitchen!
This pancake recipe, using only 3 ingredients, is very easy to make. This is one of the simple and scrummy recipes that are included in English and Spanish in our first bilingual activity Cookbook. The Easy Pancake recipe is on pages 10 to 14.
Once you’ve prepared your pancake mix, you will need to prepare your decorations.
We used:
- Cantaloupe melon for the ears and whiskers.
- A raspberry for the nose.
- Blueberries for eyes.
- The teeth are mini marshmallows.
Prepare your decorations
We prefer the skinny crepe-style pancakes so we used a larger frying pan to prepare the face.
In a smaller frying pan, we made a thicker American-style pancake to cut out and make the cheeks.
A small drop of honey was used to glue the decorations on the face.
At this point, I must confess that I was not the mastermind behind this fun Easter idea. Our children had been looking for Easter activity ideas on the internet and had seen different versions of this idea. You can imagine how happy I was when they insisted on making Easter Bunny Pancakes for breakfast this morning 🙂
We hope you have lots of fun making your own Easter Bunny Pancakes and we’d love to see what you make. Pop over to our COOKING WITH LANGUAGES Facebook Page and share your Photos.
Or, add the hashtag #cookingwithlanguages on Instagram and we’ll share them with everyone 😀
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Here are some of the Pancake Recipe Pages and Games …
Let’s Have Some Language Learning Fun With English and Spanish Tongue Twisters …
Tongue twisters are a great way to improve and practise pronunciation when learning a foreign language. They are also a good way of improving our communication skills as they help us control our tone and rhythm while speaking.
Pronunciation whilst learning a foreign language is a skill that should be practised from day one. That way you can say things right from the very beginning and not have to struggle to change bad habits that have been picked up by speaking the language without good practice.
Also, controlling your tone and rhythm whilst speaking is a good habit to practice from the outset.
So, if you want to practise your pronunciation, tone and rhythm in your native language or a foreign one, tongue twisters are the way to go.
[bctt tweet=”Tongue Twisters are great to practise your pronunciation, tone and rhythm #languagelearning #mfl”]
There are a multitude of tongue twisters in each language. Learning the ones from your target language will help you improve your skills in that language.
Here are some tongue twisters in English and Spanish that we encourage you to practise and learn to improve your communication skills in both languages:
English Tongue Twisters:
If two witches would watch two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
Black but bit a big black bear. But where is the big black bear that the big black bug bit?
One-one was a race horse. Two-two was one too. One-one won one race. Two-two won one too.
If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Red lorry, yellow lorry. Red lorry, yellow lorry. Red lorry, yellow lorry.
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Spanish Tongue Twisters:
Pepe Pecas pica papas con un pico. Con un pico pica papas Pepe Pecas.
El cloro no aclara la cara del loro con aro de oro, claro que el cloro aclara el aro de oro en la cara del loro.
El que poca papa gasta pica papa paga.
Coco cocina coco con cocadas de coco, como coco cocinaba poco, los cocos poco comerán.
Cómo quieres que te quiera, si el que quiero que me quiera no me quiere como quiero que me quiera.
La pícara pájara pica la típica jícara; a la típica jícara, pica la pícara pájara.
Pablito clavó un clavito. ¿Qué clavito clavó Pablito? El clavito que Pablito clavó era el clavito de Pablito.
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En Cooking With Languages, nuestro objetivo es hacer que aprender idiomas sea divertido. Nuestra misión es animar a que más niños quieran aprender idiomas. Nuestro primer libro de recetas, diseñado para niños aprendiendo inglés y español, está lleno de actividades para aprender idiomas. Hay muchas razones por las cuales nuestro libro es genial y os ayudará, a ti y a los más pequeños, a aprender idiomas.
Aquí 5 Razones por las Cuales Nuestro Libro de Recetas Hace el Aprendizaje de Idiomas Divertido:
¡Todo el contenido está en inglés y en español!
Una de las cosas geniales sobre nuestro libro de recetas es el hecho que todo el contenido está tanto en inglés como en español. Esto permite que los niños puedan leer las recetas en ambos idiomas y aprendan muchas palabras y frases nuevas. A la par, los más pequeños aprenderán la estructura de las frases en ambos idiomas, ayudándoles a hablar como nativos, casi sin dares cuenta.
Poder ver el contenido en ambos idiomas realmente ayuda a entender como los nativos de ambos idiomas se expresan y como estructuran las frases: todos los idiomas funciona de distintas formas, así que esto es una fantástica forma de entender como estos dos idiomas son usados.
¡Recetas Simples y Deliciosas!
Poder leer las recetas en ambos idiomas es fantástico pero lo que es realmente importante es que el contenido es genial y realmente aporta mucho contenido con el cual aprender. No solo ofrecemos deliciosas recetas que todo el mundo amará, también ofrecemos textos bien estructurados, con mucho vocabulario que será útil y que los más pequeños aprenderán fácilmente. Las palabras y oraciones han sido mantenidas sencillas per naturales para que los pequeños lo puedan entender y recordar con facilidad.
Nuestro objetivo es pasarlo bien mientras aprendes idiomas y nuestro libro de recetas realmente ofrece eso. Nuestras recetas no son solo deliciosas sino que también son fáciles y divertidas de preparar.
Así que, si quieres pasar un buen rato con tus hijos mientras preparas recetas simples y deliciosas y aprendéis idiomas juntos, ¡este libro de recetas es para ti!
Arthur Apple y Nerea Naranja: ¡Nuestros Divertidos Asistentes!
Arthur Apple y Nerea Naranja son nuestros asistentes en la cocina (y en clase). Están aquí para ayudarte con nuestras recetas y con tu aprendizaje de idiomas.
El diseño de los personajes es simplemente genial, son divertidos y perfectos para los más pequeños. Arthur Apple y Nerea Naranja definitivamente captarán la atención de los pequeños y harán que quieran cocinar, jugar y empezar a aprender idiomas. Los niños adoran los dibujos animados y Arthur Apple y Nerea Naranja son, definitivamente, los personajes perfectos para ayudar y guiar a los peques mientras aprenden idiomas. ¿Qué niño no quiere un buen amigo que les ayude?
NOTA: Estamos desarrollando más apps que permitan a los niños conocer mejor a los asistentes y poder preguntarles cómo se pronuncian ciertas palabras.
¡Un Montón de Juegos y Actividades con las que Practicar!
Tener mucho contenido del cual aprender es genial, evidentemente, pero la mayor parte de nuestro proceso de aprendizaje ocurre cuando tenemos que pensar y razonar la respuesta a una pregunta y es por eso que nuestro libro de recetas ofrece un montón de juegos y actividades. Estas actividades permiten que los niños puedan practicar y fortalecer todo lo que han aprendido leyendo y hablando mientras preparan nuestras simples y deliciosas recetas.
Nuestro libro de recetas ofrece un gran abanico de actividades para que los pequeños se lo pasen bien mientras cocinan. Con nuestras actividades y la ayuda de Arthur Apple y Nerea Naranja, aprenderán vocabulario nuevo en el idioma objetivo para que, algún día, puedan hablar como nativos.
¡Ilustraciones Fantásticas!
Siempre se dice que no deberíamos juzgar un libro por la portada pero, evidentemente, la primera cosa que ves cuando coges un libro es, de hecho, la portada… y nuestro libro de recetas tiene una portada fantástica. Muestra parte de las ilustraciones que encontrarás dentro e introduce a nuestros asistentes. Todas las imágenes e ilustraciones en el libro son animadas, divertidas y llenas de color.
Cuando enseñas a niños pequeños, lo más importante es que no vean los libros como algo aburrido. Tener divertidas ilustraciones en las páginas del libro definitivamente hará que los más peques quieran mirar y usar el libro.
Las imágenes e ilustraciones usadas en nuestro libro de recetas tienen el propósito de facilitar la tarea de aprender idiomas a los más pequeños: la mayoría del vocabulario está acompañado por una imagen para que el aprendiz entienda lo que significa la palabra rápidamente. Esta técnica permitirá a los niños empezar a pensar en el idioma objetivo ya que no estarán aprendiendo palabras traduciéndolas de vuestro idioma nativo. Estarán creando nuevos atajos en su mente lo cual, en el futuro, les ayudará a hablar como nativos.
La mejor forma de aprender es pasándolo bien y entreteniendo a los estudiantes con buen contenido. Nuestro libro de recetas ofrece un contenido fantástico y horas de diversión así que es fantástico para aprender idiomas. ¿No estás de acuerdo?
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