Jumpstart! Spanish and Italian ─ Engaging Activities for Ages 7-12

Jumpstart! Spanish and Italian presents a collection of simple to use, multi-sensory games and activities which will jumpstart students’ understanding of modern languages in action. If you are one of the thousands of teachers looking for a range of practical and fun ideas to teach languages engagingly, then this is also the perfect book for you.

A range of innovative ideas to help you set the scene in your language classroom are presented first. These are followed by a feast of short and simple activities designed to help you make quick starts with your students and hold their attention. The focus throughout is on communicative action, bringing languages alive with all activities presented in two languages: Spanish and Italian. Specifically written to help teachers work within the guidelines of the new curriculum, activities in the book will help pupils to:-

• Listen, respond and understand key elements of the target language;
• Speak in phrases and sentences with appropriate pronunciation;
• Express and communicate simple ideas with clarity;
• Write phrases and short sentences;
• Develop an understanding of basic grammar;
• Learn songs and simple poems in the language studied;
• Engage in active learning through a range of varied activities.

Jumpstart! Spanish and Italian will celebrate the joys of language, and coherent expression; of finding just the right words or phrases to express what you want to say.

Catherine Watts is currently Director of the Routes into Languages South consortium and is Principal Lecturer in English Language and German within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities as well as contributing to the EdD, PGCE and MA in Education at the University of Brighton, UK.

Hilary Phillips has been a primary class teacher for over 20 years. She was also Lead Teacher for Primary Languages in Brighton and Hove and has co-presented workshops at many national conferences.