It’s August, and you know what that means: the back-to-school season has officially begun. For many of you teachers, that means that you’re working away in classrooms, starting to attend in-service days, and planning for a fresh school year. If you’re also working an extra duty as an after-school program leader, we hope this blog can help take a few things off your plate. We’ve created a framework for leading an after-school language club, and it’s ready to share with you!

Choosing a language

Choosing a language that’s the right fit for your student body is step #1. Your PTA or other parent group may have a language they’d like their children to learn. Or, maybe you choose a language that many of your bilingual students speak at home. In any case, you can’t really go wrong. Learning any second language is an asset. Let’s look at the prevalence of just three:

• Chinese is spoken in over 25 different countries.
• French is the official language in 27 countries, and is one of the most geographically diverse languages in the world.
• Spanish is the official language of 21 countries. 

With 195 recognized countries in the world, these three languages alone are spoken in one-third of them. So, pick the language you’d most like to focus on, and then let’s move on to planning your club’s slate of learning activities. 

Harnessing the power of music

Incorporating songs and fingerplays as part of your language club routine is the perfect way to introduce new vocabulary to students. Consider this for just a moment: when we are raising little ones, we teach them the sounds and words of our language as we sing them lullabies or recite nursery rhymes. We can harness this musical magic to teach children new languages too. Catchy tunes help children better retain the words and their meanings, and fingerplays or other movements help keep them engaged and learning actively. 

Start with a bit of research into common children’s songs in your focus language. If you need a jump-start on this, we also have some Spotify playlists for you with songs in Chinese, French and Spanish (here). Or, you can find the translated versions of English children’s songs on YouTube channels like Super Simple Español or Little Baby Bum Español, Français and Mandarin. 

A different avenue to explore takes more of a music appreciation approach. We encourage you to explore not only your focus language, but also the cultures where it’s spoken. So, let your students experience new types of music, traditional dances and any unique instruments from these cultures. As they listen, you can teach them musical terms like fast/slow, high/low, loud/quiet and feeling words to describe what they’re hearing.  

Exploring the visual arts

Children also build cultural awareness alongside language skills when they’re exposed to classic art. You might have them describe the scenes on ancient Chinese pottery, using new vocabulary to name animals and people. They could identify the types of food and drink from still lifes of the French countryside. Or, maybe they learn more about famous Central American artists and begin to name the colors and shapes they see in the artists’ work. The opportunities to build vocabulary in your focus language are endless. 

Better yet, have children create their own works inspired by these art pieces. Let them assemble their own still life scenes and paint them, or create a self-portrait in the style of Frida Kahlo. Integrating the arts into learning creates new levels of engagement and allows children another way to demonstrate all they are learning. Listening in on their conversations while they work is a great way to gauge their understanding. 

Storytime

Adding a story to your opening circle or centering the day’s activities around a classic tale are other great ways to help children engage with your focus language. Bilingual stories come in many widely spoken languages and can help children better comprehend the narratives. You can also read versions of common tales from different cultures to explore their similarities and differences. 

If you’re uncertain about your ability to read aloud in the target language, don’t worry; you have quite a few options:

• Invite special guest readers (family members, language experts from local colleges, etc.) to your club periodically.
• Listen to an online read-aloud or audiobook version from Epic! Books for Kids, YouTube, or your local library’s collection.
• Check out a Wonderbook or Vox-enabled audiobook to have it read aloud for you.

Sampling cuisine

Introducing children to unique dishes from other cultures provides them with more opportunities to practice language. From describing flavors, temperatures and textures to practicing conversational skills when ordering, children can quickly build their vocabularies while also enjoying a tasty snack. For even more exposure, you can engage your club’s little members in preparing a traditional dish. This is another chance to reach out to your families and local community to help contribute to your club. Whether it’s sharing recipes, providing an authentically prepared meal or lending a hand in your learning kitchen, special visitors can share their own expertise and culture with your students.

Let’s play!

As always, we want to highlight the incredible power that play has in helping children engage in new topics and build knowledge. A language club should be an exciting, welcoming space where children feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things. Play is the perfect way to accomplish this. Here are a few ideas for setting up playful learning opportunities for your students to engage in:

• Label a dramatic play kitchen in your focus language. Provide children with culturally relevant utensils and dining set-ups. Let children create menus based on the traditional dishes they’ve been learning about. Give conversational prompts that help them practice new phrases, like ordering or discussing the flavors of the food. 
• Reenact a common fairy tale or fable with costumes. Allow students to create costumes and set designs, encouraging discussion in the focus language as they work. Encourage students to use words and phrases in your focus language as they perform. 
• Have students create a musical performance based on a topic, type of music or traditional instrument. Let them make their own instruments and come up with lyrics in your focus language. Have them teach the song to their peers or perform for the wider school audience. 
• Play I-Spy in your focus language, targeting a specific topic, like colors, shapes, sizes, etc. with each new game.