Newsletter 4 Interactive Books

Newsletter 4

Check out our interactive books!

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INTERACTIVE BOOKS

I am really pleased to give you a sneak preview of our interactive books.

Rather than having to print out worksheets or switch between  documents or screens, you can now just scroll through the story, completing vocabulary challenges, reading and listening exercises, as well as watching interactive videos to support the audio and interactive pictures for the cultural information.

This is not only a great way to learn, but also a greener way to work –   saving trees and money by not printing out lots of worksheets!

At the end of the interactive book, pupils get instant feedback, and can see their scores, as well as which elements they did well in or struggled with. 

You can find the interactive book preview by logging in as normal, to A Language Story and then clicking on the Free Resources menu. You will see them in the drop down menu.

I would love to hear from you, if you have any feedback: info@alanguagestory.com


News

2023 is the year for me!

I hope this finds you well. As always I would like to thank you for your interest in A Language Story and some of the interesting emails I have been receiving from all around the World!

I had hoped to fully launch in the Autumn, but despite a lot of hard work, I couldn’t get everything ready. That’s why I started off with a long Free Trial, which runs until the end of March. I hope you have enjoyed trying out the stories with your classes.

The rest of the stories are coming along nicely and I am confident of hitting the new deadline for launch. I am especially excited about the interactive book element to the website, which I really believe is  perfect for pupils to use independently and boost their language skills to the next level.

Andrew

Try out out short stories in 2022

Try our short stories in 2022-2023!

Boost Reading Skills!

Develop Listening Skills

Our stories are designed to help pupils feel success and gain motivation, by using vocabulary and grammar structures they can recognise.

You can encourage pupils to read aloud or you can read to pupils, whilst they follow along.

Additionally, with the audio feature, pupils can listen to the recording from a native speaker, whilst reading along as well.

All of our stories include an audio version, which is great for classwork and homework.

The audio is recorded by a native speaker, to ensure pupils get access to excellent,  accurate and clear pronunciation.

Gap fill exercises included, are also a very good way for pupils to practise their listening skills.

Get Creative with Writing!

Build Confidence in Speaking

Using the worksheets provided, pupils can practice sentence building each week.

As their vocabulary knowledge improves and they being to get to grips with sentence structure, pupils can begin to write their own simple stories.

The ability to use the language creatively is a huge motivation for pupils and brings a great sense of acheivement! 

It is crucial to quickly break down the wall which inhibits pupils to speak in a foreign language.

Our stories contain lots of short interactions, which pupils can read out, act out or use to create their own short scenes.

They find these tasks interesting and fun, which helps them relax and lose their inhibitions.

Newsletter 3 – Get ready for Reading!

Newsletter 3 - Get ready for Reading!

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News

GOING GLOBAL

I am really pleased to have received sign ups from all around the World. It is a testament to the belief that reading is a GREAT way to learn and develop language skills.

OUR SHORT STORIES ON YOUTUBE!

The FREE stories are now on our YouTube channel along with the audio. 

You can find them here – 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1q3xblIHj8yxhc_nSxqw7Q

Please subscribe to the channel and keep an eye out for a few specials and freebies appearing in the near future!

GETTING READY TO LAUNCH

Thanks again for signing up to A Language Story, and thanks to all of the new subscribers this month. I am truly overwhelmed and excited by the massive interest in my project.

As many of you know, I am a languages teacher, and after a busy end of year, I am working full throttle to prepare for the September launch of www.alanguagestory.com.

In order to help you prepare your schemes of work to include our short stories and resources, I have created a synopsis of each story, so you can see which topic areas I have covered.

 

Andrew

Enjoyment is vital!

Enjoyment is vital!

Using short stories is a great way to create fun lessons with huge learning potential!

Play vocabulary games using the vocabulary sheets relevant to each story.

Get pupils to read the story out for pronunciation practice.

Listen to the story read by a native speaker to practise listening skills.

Have a go at the reading and listening activities online to check comprehension.

Use parts or all of the story for creative writing and speaking !

Sign up for a FREE trial now www.alanguagestory.com and try it out for yourselves!

Make your lessons even more fun and inspiring!

 

Creative story writing

Creative Story Writing

Our collection of short stories are great to work on in class, in IT rooms or at home. Once pupils have understood the story there are lots of opportunities to exploit the text for creative projects.

Why not encourage pupils to try their own piece of creative writing or comic strip. They could make up their own characters and use the core vocabulary to write a basic story.

Our creative writing help sheet will be perfect to help pupils structure their writing!

I am a strong believer in creative projects as a great way to motivate and inspire pupils to take languages further!

Inspire your pupils!

Join our community!

Improve confidence in speaking

Improve confidence in speaking

You can use our stories to help pupils build their confidence in speaking the target language.

When I use the stories in class, I remind pupils about some of the key sounds and then ask pupils to read aloud.

This is great for pronunciation and pupils quickly realise that they can do it. They quickly feel more comfortable speaking in German, French or Spanish.

There are lots of other potential activities you can create using the stories. For example pupils can act out scenes or just a couple of the conversational parts. Then they can try to make up their own version.

Take a look at www.alanguagestory.com

Value for money

Value for money

As a teacher myself, I am well aware of the constraints on department budgets and on our own budgets with the considerable rise in the cost of living.

I am therefore really pleased to let you know that I have reviewed my pricing for A Language Story to make it as accessible as possible for individuals and for schools

If you like what you see, just sign up for the Free month trial and then later, when the website is fully launched, you can decide to subscribe or not, after you have tried it out check out the FREE story.

Get your pupils into reading this Autumn with A Language Story!

June Newsletter

Newsletter 2 - Preview Stories are ready!

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News

I wanted to explain a little more about the concept behind A Language Story.

When introducing literature to beginner level pupils, I have always found it very difficult to find a text which is accessible  and age appropriate. Stories are either too childish or too difficult to understand.

That is why I started writing some short stories and using them in class to consolidate and practice vocabulary, which related to vocabulary and structure we were using in class.

The result is that pupils gain confidence in their ability to read and are therefore motivated to persevere.

A Language Story aims to provide an introduction to reading. The short stories are a bridge to reading authentic literature.

I have tested the initial stories in class and the response has been fantastic! Follow up tasks have included drama, story writing and film making!

 

We have had lots of fun so far – I hope you will too!

Andrew

I am really pleased to introduce these first stories for FREE.

All of the short stories in German, Spanish and French  come with an audio version and some comprehension questions.

They are read and checked by a native speaker and I have checked them over, but please forgive me if you spot any typos or mistakes. Before the main launch I will get everything proof read again !


As I develop the website, the layout will be optimised too, which will give you the smoothest user friendly experience possible. For example I would like to add an annotation function, so you can ask pupils to highlight words on the board.


In other news…….

I started an MFL reading club at school recently, which has been really great. Interestingly I have had a big mix of students coming along keen to try to improve – not just the top of the class! 

FREE Spanish Story – Los dos amigos en Barcelona

FREE Spanish Story available now!

I am really excited to launch the first SPANISH short story from the  Los dos amigos series.

In fact, I am so pleased about it, I am giving you this one for FREE.

There will be 12 books available from September, with more on the way,  covering all the main topics for Spanish learners at beginner and intermediate level.They are perfect to use in class or to set as homework and each story comes with an audio version, a comprehension quiz and various resources.

If you like it please sign up for the FREE trial – www.alanguagestory.com

I’d love to know what you think.

Many thanks

Andrew

FREE German Story – Johnny German am Bodensee

Free German Story

I am so happy to finally launch the first GERMAN story from the  Johnny German series. In fact, I am so pleased, I am giving you this one for FREE.

There will be 12 books in total, covering all the main topics for German learners at beginner level.

They are perfect to use in class or to set as homework and each story comes with an  audio version, a comprehension quiz and various resources.

If you like it please sign up for the FREE trial – www.alanguagestory.com

I’d love to know what you think.

Viel Spaß

Andrew

FREE French Story – Les amis d’Annie à Lyon

FREE First Story OUT NOW - Les amis d'Annie à Lyon

I am so pleased to finally launch the first FRENCH story from the  Les amis d’Annie collection. In fact I am so pleased, I am giving you this one for FREE.

There will be 12 books in total, covering all the main topics for beginner French learners.

They are perfect to use in class or to set as homework and each story comes with an  audio version, a comprehension quiz and various resources.

 If you like it please sign up for the FREE trial – www.alanguagestory.com

I’d love to know what you think.

Bon chance!

Andrew

Reading aloud

Improve your listening skills!

Building cultural capital also motivates learners

Building Cultural Capital

For pupils sitting in a warm classroom in the afternoon Language learning can be difficult, especially if it’s a heavy grammar based lesson!

By bringing in some cultural information, showing a brief clip or some pictures can really inspire pupils to want to find out more and motivate them to learn the language.

In our stories we include many references to landmarks, food and drink, music, art and other cultural aspects of the places visited. This not only opens up the classroom lesson to the real world, but also provides opportunity for project work, creative homework and importantly a hook to hang new language on

Don’t just teach the topic of holidays. Get pupils to find out about a specific place and then base their new language on that place.

Using our stories in this way, is a great way to finish off a topic and create a final piece of writing or even a short story of their own.

 

 

Boosting confidence in language learners!

Boosting confidence in language learners

Enabling learners to understand texts quickly, but challenging them to think at the same time, helps them build their confidence in the language and believe they can do it!

Our stories are designed to inspire and motivate pupils to read in the target language, without needing to look up every second word. Instead they can consolidate vocabulary and grammar structures they have already studied and build from there!

Interested? Sign up for our free trail on www.alanguagestory.com 

Why is reading important?

Why is reading important?

Reading is an excellent way to improve your language skills. By doing lots of reading, you’re exposing yourself to new vocabulary and structures in a totally natural way, which helps you gain a better understanding of how the language really works.

Some important things to note when you’re reading in a foreign language:

  • You will not understand every word. Just try and understand as much as you can from context and get the gist. You can look up any key words in a dictionary.
  • Write down new words and phrases. If you look something up, write it down!
  • Make notes. You can improve your writing skills and ensure you don’t forget things, by making some notes.
  • Enjoy it! If you read something you enjoy, it won’t feel like work 😄

 

Our short stories are a great way of starting your reading adventure. They are, erm, short, which is motivational at the beginning! They contain vocabulary you will recognise, so you can get the gist quickly, they are wonderfully illustrated and packed full of cultural information too.

Sign up for a FREE trial at www.alanguagestory.com

 

 

Welcome to A Language Story

Welcome to A Language Story

This project has been some years in the making! Drawn from my experiences of living and working in Europe, I have created a series of short stories in French, German and Spanish.The stories are based on a set of characters, who travel around the countries, discovering the local culture, meeting new friends and getting up to all kinds of adventures!

It is difficult to find authentic texts which are age appropriate and easy to understand, which is where these stories come in. The vocabulary is based on the UK curriculum for KS3, so learners can get the gist of the stories, as well as build up new vocabulary too.

All stories come with audio and teaching resources, with comprehension tasks and creative ideas.

Join our community now at www.alanguagestory.com