Whitehouse Common Primary -

Celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity - Day 4

Year 4 have been comparing the days of the week in nine different languages recently, and spotting patterns between some of them. For example, Spanish, French, Italian and Catalan are all quite similar and seem to all be related to Latin, and English, German and Norwegian seem to be related to one another too. We discussed why this might be and also have a discussion about which came first, Mars the god or Mars the planet? What do you think?

If you want to compare the days of the week in a large number of languages, some less well known that others, Omniglot (the online encyclopaedia of  wriitng systems and languages) has a large chart of them. It even includes sound files for some, so if you want to know how to pronounce the days of the week in Swedish or Czech or even Luxembourgish, you have a model to copy! The site also has an interesting explanation of the origins of the days of the week in English as well as other languages. (There was much excitement when children realised that a recent film character, complete with hammer, has a day of the week named after him!)

Celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity - Day 3

Today, a poem that we've shared several times in assemblies about languages.

Here's a link to the post by the author in which she discusses why she wrote the poem. 

Ullswater Day Four

Wonderful final day, with the sun shining and bright blue skies to wake up to. Pupils did a variety activities including: a trip to the farm, gorge walking, sailing on the lake, testing rafts on the water, hill walking and a visit to Aira Force to name a few.
Children and staff are very excited to be returning home tomorrow to fill you all in on our fantastic adventures.

Ullswater Day Three

The children continue to do us proud with their team building skills, collaboration, perseverance and independence. They've faced lots of challenges and the fresh air and bracing walks  mean they go to bed tired!
Shackleton
Today the group tunnelled around the Outward Bound centre, built shelters and designed and made our raft ready for tomorrow's sail. We applied our collaborative skills and encouraged people through the warren of tunnels below the ground. Many of us were apprehensive, including Mrs. Brady, but we all did the activity! Excellent. We then built shelters and designed our rafts. Our DT skills were put to the test as we designed, made and evaluated our use of ropes and knots. Let's hope they float tomorrow.
Scott
Today the group walked through the cloud up to Gowbarrow Fell (481m). We didn't stay long on the summit as  it was very windy! We took it in turns to lead the group, developing our leadership and observation skills. We walked back to Ullswater in sunshine, identifying Wood Sorrel and tasting it. Yummy, just like apple skin!
We then stopped off at Watermillock Church to admire the architecture before heading back to the centre. Looking forward to another adventure tomorrow!
Mallory
Today the group began by learning and rehearsing skills on site that would help them on their day of adventure today. We then travelled over to Howtown and donned our boiler suits and went tunnelling. It was very wet and dark but we loved having the opportunity to explore! We then travelled to Boredale and climbed the gorge. We worked extremely well as a team and used skills learnt today including a Roman handshake and spotting. This evening we are orienteering on site.
Johnson
Today the group boarded the minibus to the beautiful Boredale valley.After donning our waterproofs, safety helmets and harness's we made our way up the gorge. We overcame many barriers while wading through some deep water at times. We created our own dam and then cascaded the water all over us! Another fun filled day for Johnson!
Tenzing
We travelled further afield today (we could see Carlisle and the Scottish border!) and through the wind and cloud climbed a rock face. We learnt how to tie special knots to keep us safe and we had to work as a team to ensure a successful ascent and descent of the rock faces. There were three levels of difficulty and most of the group decided to go for it and challenge themselves. With the encouragement of the group, Mrs Cowdery made it!
Francis
We began our adventure at one of the most well known beauty spots; Aira Force. At the bottom of the waterfall we had a forage through the forest looking for mushrooms, leaves and identifying poo! We played Winnie the Pooh's favourite game at the top of the waterfall and then branched off and walked up the fell. Once we reached the top, it was time for lunch. Although the view was amazing, it was extremely windy and so we ate in the group shelter (a huge parachute). On the descent we identified native trees to the area and their importance to the landscape. I wonder what tomorrow brings.
Hillary
The mini bus transported us to Howtown where we ascended Hallin Fell, this was quite challenging as it was steep in places and the grass was wet and slippy; however, we encouraged and supported each other to reach the top where we felt very proud of ourselves. The view was stunning as we sat eating our lunch. After taking an easier route down, we then used ropes to climb the side of a rock face; this required more team work as each person pulled the ropes to help their team mates climb up and abseil back down. Finally, we were treated to thrilling ride on the speed boat across Ullswater back to the Centre. A fabulous day was enjoyed by all, even when it tested our perseverance skills to the limits.

Celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity - Day 2

DO you enjoy musicals? Today we have some of multilingual musical videos to share with you.

Why not have a Frozen sing a long in twenty five different languages. Here is Let it go subtitled in German, Mandarin, Bulgarian, Polish, Swedish, Korean, Japanese and Serbian amongst others. 

Or perhaps you'd like to hear The Circle of Life, Part of my World, A Whole New World, I Won't Say I'm in Love and Colours of the Wind in a variety of languages? Disney's Greatest Songs Multilingual Mix. 

And if you prefer your musicals live rather than animated, why not listen to and watch 17 Jean Valjeans singing 'Do you hear the people sing?' in their own language. Les Mis

Ullswater Day Two

Francis
Today Francis caught a bus to Angle Tarn after donning the safety equipment collected from the store, the pupils proceeded up the gorge to the waterfall. Each child navigated the narrow ridges and boulders supporting each other using ropes and the ever helpful, Roman Handshake. The children behaved impeccably and worked fabulously as team.

Shackleton
The group took the speed boat across the lake before boarding the Steamer from Howtown to Aira Force National Park. We ascended many steps to get a view of this amazing waterfall and then walked back to the centre via a very rocky mountain path and another forest before finally walking down a 'very long' road. After leaving the centre at 9.30am we returned to the centre at 4.30pm exhausted but very proud of our achievements.

Mallory

Today Mallory caught a minibus to Glennriding Dodd. Here we navigated our way up the rocky mountain and back down again. We stopped at intervals for a much needed rest and worked really well as a team to make sure we were all safe. The views were absolutely amazing!

Johnson

Today Johnson caught a speed boat across Ullswater to Howtown. Once kitted up we continued on a trek along the coastal path to a forest. Once in the forest we undertook a sensory game and had to locate coloured objects that match our cards. We enjoyed a lovely picnic overlooking Ullswater Lake. Once back at Howtown we tunnelled through the centres narrow tunnels. We used many BLP skills.

Scott and Hilary
Today these groups went to Cold Cove to gorge walk. The children worked collaboratively to help each other through the gorge. The children have to be spotters, anchors and supporters using Roman Shakes. Once we reached the top, some children had showers in the waterfall.

Tenzing
Today we got a power boat across the lake and then walked to one of the highest points overlooking Ullswater; Hellin Fell.  The views were amazing. After this we walked down through a wood of Oak trees and some of us did a barefoot walk. It felt great! We then worked collaboratively in pairs to identify trees while one of the pair was blindfolded. We used many of our BLP skills.

Celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity - Day 1

How many languages can you name? Do you know where they are spoken? 

Here's a very short quiz about languages on the VoyageKids website. EDoL quiz

You could have a go at this fun quiz and see if you can identify the 24 official languages of the European Union whilst avoiding the naughty spiders. LinguaGo  

And here's a slightly more tricky quiz for parents: Language Quiz

Ullswater Day One

Wow! What a start to the week. We had a fantastic journey and only hit a small amount of traffic on the motorway. When we arrive we were greeted with brilliant sunshine and a glorious view of the lake. After meeting our friendly guides for the week, we were shown our rooms and had to make our own beds! (This took a while)

Later that afternoon we all enjoyed a refreshing jog and dip in the beautiful lake – teachers included! Followed by a hearty evening meal and some evening activities like orienteering.

We are eager to see what the week has in-store. Hope you are not missing us too much.