The annual European Day of Languages on 26 September is a great reason to have some multilingual mingling and celebrations in your classroom! And for an instant teaching activity on comparing languages, why not get your pupils to participate in the competition to design a T-shirt for the 2018 event? Or participate in a world record attempt by making a 10-20 second video clip about why they love a particular language.
The 16th annual celebration of all the languages and Europe fits perfectly into the new collège curriculum, which encourages comparing languages.
The Council of Europe's European Day of Languages site has lots of teaching activities, for example working on the onomatopoeia that different languages have for different animal sounds, or comparing idioms. It also lists events taking place, and has lots about sign language. Look out soon for an article in our Pedagogy section on using American Sign Language in English-teaching classrooms.
Design a T-Shirt
Pupils can participate in the competition to design a T-shirt promoting languages for the 2018 event. The list of instructions for entry is a good comprehension activity from A2 and revises imperatives and modals. Entries must be in by 31 December and the winner will receive 10 copies of the T-shirt.
Why I Love... Video Competition
Pupils can also participate in a world record attempt by making a 10-20 second video clip about why they love a particular language. The organisers plan to make a montage. Entries need to be in in by 30 September.
Tag(s) : "art" "celebrations" "competition" "Europe" "European day of languages" "language learning" "September" "sign language" "teaching activities" "video"