Cross-curricular projects can often provide excellent opportunities to introduce a language to younger pupils, but it’s not always easy to find a suitable course which teachers the basics in an accessible way. Our One Minute Languages course provides the answer: ten lessons, each lasting just a couple of minutes, and all featuring native speakers in conjunction with an English-speaking host.

The topics covered in the One Minute Languages courses include:

• basic greetings;
• yes, no, please, thank you;
• saying your name and asking other people “what is your name?”;
• saying you’re learning Mandarin / Gaelic / Japanese, etc.
• saying you don’t understand;
• asking for help in the language;
• counting from 1-10;
• common expressions including “happy birthday”, “good luck” and “I love you”!

What does a lesson involve?

Each lesson is based around a recording lasting just 1-2 minutes and introduces a few phrases in an effectively simply way. Learners can repeat along with the recording, practising their pronunciation and listening to the native speaker. These audio lessons can be downloaded from the main Radio Lingua site at no cost. The additional materials for each lesson include the following elements:

• a printable lesson guide featuring all the words and phrases included in the course and a brief introduction to the language and alphabet / writing system (where applicable);
• a review episode which creates the idea that the learners have boarded a flight to the destination where the language is spoken and allows the learners to review the vocabulary covered in the course;
• a quiz episode, testing learners on the words and phrases from each lesson.

Possible uses

Our One Minute Languages courses can be used in many ways. Here are a few ideas:

• A primary four class is doing a topic on the Vikings and the teacher would like to introduce a language element to the project. Unfortunately Norwegian teachers aren’t easy to come by, so the teacher decides to bring the expert into the classroom in the form of One Minute Norwegian. The class use the short lessons as five-minute activities at the beginning and end of each day during their project. Working through the progressive lessons, they build up a range of words and phrases, enough to carry on a basic conversation in Norwegian.
• A senior pupil hopes to study Oriental Languages at university, but has no access to a Japanese or Chinese teacher. The pupil can download the lessons of One Minute Japanese and One Minute Mandarin at home and listen to them on her iPod on the way to school. This allows her to take her first steps in learning an oriental language with a view to increasing her knowledge in the future.
• A primary 7 class has a Comenius link with schools in Greece and Portugal. In the ICT suite, half the class can listen to One Minute Greek, and the other half can listen to One Minute Portuguese. Since the courses follow exactly the same programme, the children will be able to teach each other the words and phrases in each language, and learn about how languages work by comparing and contrasting the languages.
• Please see our article on a recent Radio Lingua Schools project which used One Minute Mandarin in an innovative cross-curricular project in one primary school.

Two options: digital delivery or CD

All our courses are delivered digitally, so you can simply download the required material to your computer or server for use in your school*. Digital distribution minimises printing costs and when you sign up we’ll provide you with the details of how to access the materials. Additional accounts can be created if you choose the home-use license for pupils (B). Alternatively, for a small charge we can provide a backup dvd of all the materials. Please note that we do not provide printed copies of lesson notes.

Interested? Find out more…

With our One Minute Languages courses there’s no reason why a language cannot be part of every project! Read more about the courses on the main Radio Lingua site including reviews by listeners from around the world or check out all your options in our pricing section. The One Minute Languages courses are currently available in Catalan, Danish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Luxembourgish, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Turkish, and more languages are being added soon.

*Please note that if your school network can be accessed by pupils from home then you may be required to purchase a home-use license (B). Please contact us to discuss your needs.
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