A Week in the Life of… Activity Packs for KS3
Available for French, Spanish and German
Treat your students to a week in the life of a native teenager!
Follow the main character through realistic scenarios to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
7 units cover the protagonist’s activities from Monday to Sunday – from buying food in a supermarket to writing a postcard – enabling students to learn useful vocabulary and grammar they can build on.
Social media posts, radio adverts, conversations with friends and more test their comprehension skills through creative verbal and non-verbal tasks.
All 4 language skills plus translation are practised which gives pupils the chance to build the skills they’ll need for GCSE
4 activities per unit:
- Starter
- Comprehension (listening/reading)
- Communication (speaking/writing)
- Pair/group work
Plus! Audio tracks for listening activities and bonus tasks that stretch and challenge.
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What do teachers say about this resource? (11029)
I really enjoyed working my way through this resource, which seems to present a very good balance of contemporary delivery of ideas and variety of questioning forms and techniques.
I liked that the author wants to introduce plenty of kinaesthetic challenges, at the end of each of the units. Such tactile techniques, used in combination with visual and auditory learning, are a real relief to young language learners. And a real motivation, to acquire the knowledge that the unit presents, then play with it a little. I like too, that the author presents each of her vocabulary clusters and storylines in language that year 7 pupils will identify with – the WhatsApp group chats, FB posts, Twitter posts, text abbreviations etc. The author throws in a few unusual words, for example the Austrian word for a snack, “Jause” on page 14.
The resource enhances learning, by presenting pupils with an appealing – and not too long! - set of 7 chapters which teach them aspects of German lifestyle – ie the types of school attended, German supermarkets, what German people do on a Sunday. Each unit provides the vocabulary as the building bricks for accessing the text, then practises grammatical patterns and then moves into the realm of writing and speaking in a creative, independent way.
The presentation is neatly done, with seven days of the week, providing seven separate units of content. The transcripts and the teacher notes are helpful and easy to access at the end of the resource.
The themes that feature in the AQA syllabus are covered well in the resource: family and friends, social media, mobile technology, cinema, food, sport, neighbourhood and region, life at school. The author feeds us with the necessary key vocabulary, then presents accessible, contemporary scenarios with accompanying exercises. I like that way that the author seeks to challenge pupils to complete more challenging task, if they are confident to do so. The range of creative tasks is impressive. I particularly liked the “hot seat” idea on page 11. And the summary game on page 23 is excellent!
I like the way that the resource seeks to move pupils forward in using the German language confidently and creatively.
Yes, it is worth buying!
A very good range of tasks which will support the learning of all levels of ability.
The up to date and relevant nature of this resource will appeal to the target age group. It will provide additional material for teachers and could be very useful homework material. At this time of enforced blended learning and possible continuation of some online learning, I think that this resource will not only support classroom learning, but provide additional texts and tasks that will motivate learners in Y7 at this stage of their learning.
I particularly like the up to date language and type of tasks as they will be motivating. Many of the texts include relevant vocabulary, for example WhatsApp, Instagram reference to Netflix etc. I like the range of reading and listening tasks. They are all relevant and useful and will enhance vocabulary that this age group will want to use. The motivation will be higher. I like the pair work tasks too and group talk, for example the natural inclusion of phrases in the perfect tense; Habt ihr mein neues Foto auf Instagram gesehen? Ich habe es schon gelikt. This introduces them to the perfect tense in a very natural way, unlike some text books.
I like the extension tasks and they are clearly marked. They will challenge the more able learners but also the more experienced who may have had some German teaching in their primary schools.
The students using this resource are encouraged to think and use the language they are reading and hearing for themselves. I find the tasks well laid out and the variety between the 7 days of the teenager’s week is very carefully thought out. The length of the transcripts is ideal and contain good additional practice of various key vocabulary areas in a relevant setting. The vocabulary ‘gathering’’ e.g. in Unit 6 Am Samstag serve to help young learners to explore vocabulary, use dictionaries and get into good language learning habits. Developing these dispositions to language learning at this young age is crucial in my opinion and this diary with the accompanying tasks will motivate Y7 pupils with the right amount of challenge.
The additional suggestions for remote learning/ less active learning also add to the educational value of the resource particularly at this time. If restrictions in the classroom remain it will help teachers and pupils a lot.
This resource is very good because it is based on every day life in Germany. The students’ instruction is very appealing to young students as they can identify with Lisa, who is the same age as they are. There are a variety of tasks, which enhance learning e.g. text comprehension, filling in gaps, vocabulary work and little translations tasks. The students are encouraged to write some essays, which is a good writing practice.
The students will also like the games and group activities e.g. the board games and the class surveys.
The resource is well structured.
I liked the symbol next to each extension task. This ensures that the more able students, who like challenges can find these tasks more easily. The extension tasks offered a variety of activities in the four language skills. Well done.
I liked the answer section, the transcript section and the teacher’s notes very much. This will make it easy to work with this resource as a teacher.
The resource also offered mixed/combined language skills such as reading and listening. This enhances learning. The resource offers combined learning tasks, which one would encounter in real life scenarios.
These combined skills are also important in the final GCSE exams. Therefore, the students are getting used to exam conditions without the exam pressure already in place.
The tasks are differentiated. The student can work at his or her level and progress.
What do teachers say about this resource? (11132)
It is a complete, really student friendly resource, useful for revision sessions. It can be used in Y8 as starters as well, refreshing knowledge from a year to another. I really enjoyed reading through it.
Each chapter can be used independently, which is a great thing. Teachers can either use the chapter individually before the assessment on the specific topic or decide to use the resource as holiday homework for example. Lastly, it could be used as a global revision tool at the end of the year or in the summer holiday between Year 7 and Year 8.
I liked the fact that it wasn’t too long! We have very little time in KS3 so there is almost no space for extras. It felt manageable and would be worth buying.
There is a nice range of activities which will appeal to KS3 pupils – they are short and varied. It's a break from the course book which provides variety of vocab.
Activities are set at an appropriate level and the topics covered include some preparation for GCSE topics so it feels useful. It’s good that each day / unit covers a different topic area which means that teachers can choose when to do each day / unit. All 4 language skills plus translation are practised which gives pupils the chance to build the skills they’ll need for GCSE. There are also some nice reflection tasks eg in unit 5 about social media use which tick the PSHE box, too.
The layout is clear, simple and uncluttered which will make it manageable for KS3, particularly those with mixed ability classes.
It’s a practical resource if teachers need some extra activities to bring a topic together. The "week in the life of" structure is good and makes me want to look at the other ones at different levels now.