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!

Inspire your pupils!

Introducing A Language Story!

A series of short stories in French, Spanish and German.

Stories are linked to the U.K. curriculum, using vocabulary pupils will recognise from class work and covering typical topics like Freetime, health, environment, town, shopping, school and so on.

All the stories are complete with audio, quiz questions and other resources.

Each story also contains many links to cultural information about the place, as a starting point for pupils to broaden their cultural horizon.


Join our community!

Join our community.

There are many ways to connect with www.alanguagestory.com to keep up to date with news, ideas and discussion about promoting reading in foreign languages with young learners.

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Watch our videos on YouTube and sign up to our newsletter or subscribe for the FREE trial on our website.

Looking forward to working with you!

Andrew

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!

Focus

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

Johnny German & Friends

Meet Johnny German & Friends

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Johnny German is 14 years old and just loves all things German, hence his nickname Johnny German!

He plays the piano and harmonica and takes every opportunity to show off his talents. 

He also loves to travel and learn about local specialities and customs.

Join him on his adventures, as he visits places in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and meets a lot of new friends on the way.

If you want to inspire and motivate your pupils, you can sign up for a FREE trial here www.alanguagestory.com

You get one FREE story, as well as one free month access to a language once we fully launch.

Look forward to working with you!

Meet les amis d’Annie

Meet Annie and her friends

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Annie loves speaking French and loves to travel around France.

She meets up with her friends, Jacques and Youssef and they have some great adventures, as they visit different places in France.

Annie loves art and is always sketching pictures of her experiences. 

Jacques loves food and is keen to show Annie some of the specialities on offer!

Youssef is a musician and loves to sing and play the guitar.

The stories are aimed particularly at Key Stage 3 learners, with the vocabulary and grammar set at level they will recognise and understand. 

All stories also have an audio version available and are backed up with resources to test comprehension.

 

You can sign up for a FREE one month trial on launch at http://www.alanguagestory.com and sign up to the newsletter for updates and news from A Language Story.

Copyright © 2022 A Language Story

Meet los dos amigos

Meet Carla and Carlos - los dos amigos

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Carla is visiting her old friend Carlos in Spain. She loves learning Spanish, discovering different places in Spain and learning about their culture. Carla also loves music and plays both guitar and piano! 

Carlos is always having fun and is very sporty. He shows Carla around and loves introducing her to Spanish specialities and traditions. 

Join them on their adventures, as they journey around Spain. 

Perfect for  key stage 3 to get into READING and start to develop their language skills. 

COMING SOON – SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO FIND OUT MORE.

Reading aloud

Improve your listening skills!

FREE story preview

Motivate and inspire pupils

Motivate and inspire pupils

Our stories are full of interesting cultural references, which allow teachers to expand with their own stories and information.

This is a massive inspiration for young learners and gives them a real life reason to want to learn the language, something we feel is very important.

As our characters discover new places on their adventures, pupils can also start to imagine doing the same thing.

The cultural references and adventures can also lead to some great project work like researching a place, a project on the environment or street art in Germany…. The options are endless.

You can sign up for a free trial at www.alanguagestory.com

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