Curriculum for Wales

The Curriculum for Wales says

Giglets delivers

Languages connect us.

Languages connect us with people, places and communities. This Area is designed to equip learners, as citizens of a bilingual Wales in a multilingual world, with the ability to use Welsh, English and other languages in a plurilingual context.

In this area, children learn about their own cultural identity as well as the cultural identities of others; the aim is to foster a sense of pride in their sense of identity and belonging to Wales. Children recognise the similarities and differences between languages. This area provides children with opportunities to develop their creativity, as well as a set of skills such as mediation, adaptability and empathy.

At Giglets, we understand the importance and value of languages. In the Giglets library you will find texts in over 35 different languages, including Welsh and English. It’s a matter of pride that we have added so many Welsh texts to the Giglets library in recent years. Where a text is available in another language, it is also available in English. Giglets is ideally placed to support language learning and awareness.

The Giglets online library also includes a diverse range of texts from different languages and cultures and covers a wide range of themes. Original stories from Wales, Scotland, Iran, Portugal, Bangladesh feature, among many, many others. These texts give learners an insight into other countries and cultures helping them understand the diversity of language and culture and develop their own cultural identity. Themes include adversity, kindness and wellbeing.

Understanding languages is key to understanding the world around us.

Languages and literacy are fundamental to human communication. They enable us to make sense of what is heard, read and seen, and thus to develop our understanding, empathy and our ability to respond and to mediate effectively.

This Area aims to provide learners with opportunities to experience languages, as well as images, in a range of forms and genres. The rich and varied nature of these experiences can improve learners’ ability to become creative and enterprising in their use of a range of languages in a plurilingual context.

From initial language work in the Foundation Phase to more detailed reading, writing and oracy work in the upper Key Stages, Giglets is able to support Welsh teachers in the implementation of the Curriculum for Wales.

Giglets is the ideal tool for developing comprehension skills. Text specific Higher Order Thinking Skills questions are available as well as automatically marked Reading Test Questions. There are a variety of question types in the Giglets Reading Test Questions including multiple choice, sequencing, find and copy, and matching styles. These not only engage learners but allow teachers to assess understanding on a deeper level. The Resources section of Giglets includes task and activity ideas designed to build solid comprehension skills that can be applied to a range of texts.

Expressing ourselves through languages is key to communication.

Clear and effective communication through language is an important life skill. It calls for the ability to use and adapt languages in a range of roles, genres, forms, media and styles and in a suitable register. In a bilingual and multilingual context, this also calls for the ability to choose an appropriate language and to mediate.

In this Area, learners should be given opportunities to use languages in order to be effective as they interact, explore ideas, express viewpoints, knowledge and understanding and build relationships. The learning and experience supports them to develop an awareness of how they use a range of languages to express themselves for different purposes and audiences.

The Giglets library and its texts are very diverse in terms of content as Giglets understands how important it is that children get opportunities to read, discuss and write about different text types.

Giglets texts are a great prompt for discussion and many of the activities in the Giglets resources section focus on developing oracy skills.

The Giglets highlighting tool can help teachers focus in on the features of different texts and language choice, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Literature fires imagination and inspires creativity.

Literature expands horizons. In all its forms it can inspire and motivate us, while also helping us to learn more about language and communication.

This Area provides learners with literary experiences that can engage them as listeners, viewers, readers, narrators and creators. These experiences support them to appreciate a creator’s craft as well as develop their own creative skills. They should be encouraged to experience and respond to a variety of diverse literature that gives them insight into the culture, people and history of Wales as well as the wider world. Learners can develop their ability to demonstrate empathy and contribute to their emotional and mental well-being. In all, the literary experiences offered aim to spark learners’ imagination and creativity and help to build a lifelong love of literature.

Giglets texts are inspiring and engaging for all learners. In early primary school, teachers may share traditional tales, nursery rhymes and exclusive Giglets texts with their learners. In Key Stage 1 and 2, teachers may introduce adapted classics and draw from the wide range of text types and forms available in the Giglets library across fiction and non-fiction. As reading and writing as so intrinsically linked, more and more schools are using Giglets texts to support writing journeys.

The Giglets theme music and illustration are proven to be wonderful creative prompts. The ‘Create’ question within every set of text specific Higher Order Thinking Skills questions is also a teacher favourite for creative prompts.