Free French, Spanish and German Primary Resources
World Book Day is one of our favourite moments in the school calendar. At Languagenut, we love any excuse to celebrate stories, and this week is the perfect opportunity to show how beautifully books and language learning go hand in hand. We’ve pulled together some ideas, inspiration, and Languagenut resources to help you bring a little extra magic to your MFL lessons!
Why Books Belong in the Language Classroom
Stories give students something meaningful to talk about. They provide:
- Context for new vocabulary
- Memorable characters to describe
- Repetition that supports language acquisition. Stories recycle key vocabulary and structures in a way that feels organic rather than forced. Pupils absorb patterns without even realising they’re doing it.
- Illustrations that make comprehension accessible
- Cultural connections that spark curiosity
- Built‑in motivation – children want to understand what’s happening in a story. That curiosity drives them to engage with new language.
- A safe space for creativity – books give pupils permission to play with language, inventing characters, changing endings, or designing their own versions.
Even familiar English language picture books can become powerful tools for practising a new language, and students love seeing their favourite stories in a new light. language picture books can become powerful tools for practising
This year, to celebrate World Book Day at Languagenut, we’ve created resources based on animals and adjectives, using some familiar characters! You can download resources in French, Spanish or German.
French
Spanish
German
French
Spanish
German
But, if you are looking for more ways to fit languages into World Book Day, here are some topics you could cover!
Colours: Introduce/revise colours with books like “Elmer” by David McKee or “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” by Eric Carle. Students could create their very own multicoloured animal and write a sentence to describe it in the target language.
Clothes: Introduce items of clothing using vocabulary from books such as “The Smartest Giant in Town” by Julia Donaldson. Older learners could also describe what some famous fictional characters are wearing!
Food & Drink: Introduce food vocabulary items with simple picture books such as “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle (also great for days of the week!) or “The Tiger who Came to Tea” by Judith Kerr. Older learners can practise expressing their food likes and dislikes with books such as “Eat Your Peas” by Kes Gray.
Emotions: Get students to express their emotions in the target language with phrases such as “Aujourd’hui je suis…” or “Hoy me siento….”. The book “The Colour Monster” by Anna Llenas would be perfect to support this and would give students the chance to revise their colours too!
