I've been thinking ahead to European Day of Languages, which isn't until the end of September, but it always seems to come around quickly. It’s such a lovely opportunity for us to celebrate one of the things we love the most as MFL teachers: languages. At our school we actually have European Week of Languages, with various activities taking place both in and out of the classroom throughout the week. Below is a list of some of the things we do or have done in the past at my school:
1. French and Spanish café
My colleagues donned their chef hats and aprons and cooked up some delicious French and Spanish dishes for our students to come along and sample and lunchtime - it was also a nice opportunity for them to speak a bit of the target language. You could also speak to your school canteen and see if they could prepare a dish from a different country each day throughout the week - we've been very lucky that ours have kindly agreed to do this in the past.
2. Duolingo
A few years ago we did a Duolingo competition for both students and staff. We also used the week as an opportunity to launch our Duolingo club.
3. Languages display
I emailed all staff and asked them to share which languages they spoke and what experience they had of travelling and living in other countries. I then created a display in the MFL corridor of colleagues' responses and photos of our time spent abroad in various countries.
4. Design a t-shirt competition
Students created a poster showing the importance of languages and the best ones were made into t-shirts for them to keep as their prize.
5. Cake competition
Students were invited to bring in their own edible language themed creations which they had made at home, with prizes awarded to the best ones.

The activities pictured below - European Languages Week Bingo and the Photo Treasure Hunts - have been created for this year's European Languages Week, so fingers crossed they will be well-received. Feel free to click the images below to be taken to the Canva template if you'd like to adapt and download for your own school.

I'd love to hear about what you do to celebrate European Day of Languages at your school, so do please comment below with your great ideas! 
Dannielle
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P.S. If you find my website or any of my resources useful, or if I've saved you some time, do consider clicking the coffee button below.

Usually I tend to create my own resources, as it's always been something I've enjoyed doing - that opportunity to get creative. Occasionally, when the creative juices just aren't flowing and I need to quickly find a resource for a lesson, I'll head to one of the sites listed below. This is by no means an exhaustive list and there are lots of other fantastic websites out there, but here are just a few of my favourites:

​Aurélie shares lots of fabulous resources freely on her OneDrive for KS3 and KS4 French and Spanish. She's super lovely and definitely one to follow on  Twitter too!

Gianfranco Conti has been very generous in sharing great ideas and resources for use in the MFL, all supported by extensive research. He has over 400 resources in his TES store, many of which are free. 

Kate Languages - as well as running her online languages courses, and having her own range of stationery, Kate also sells resources for KS3 and GCSE French, German and Spanish. There are over 50 freebies here, so you can try before you buy!

Lightbulb Languages - a site with over 7000 free resources for both primary and secondary French, German, Spanish, Italian and Latin

MFL Magic shares her colourful, eye-catching Spanish resources for use from KS3 all the way up to A Level.  ​

Mr B Currier kindly shares some fantastic MFL resources including his marvellous
GCSE Knowledge booklets.

Ollie MFL has over 200 resources in his TES store and it's unsurprising that he has over a thousand 5 star reviews. His Boletín is a work of art and it makes me sad that I don't teach A level, so unfortunately can't use it myself. You can sign up to receive his Boletín newsletter here.

Simona Gravina shares Spanish and Italian resources in her TES shop and these have very positive reviews. Another one to follow on Twitter, particularly for those interested in Gianfranco Conti's E.P.I methodology

Spanish and Umbrellas shares Spanish resources for use with KS3, GCSE and A Level on her fantastic website.

Steve Smith shares around 1800 French resources on his website. You can subscribe here, as well as accessing lots of free samples of his work here.

Hopefully this blogpost will make future planning a bit easier. Have a great week everyone!
​Dannielle

P.S. If you find my website or any of my resources useful, or if I've saved you some time, do consider clicking the coffee button below.