Norfolk high school students became teachers yesterday as they helped other youngsters learn a new language through dance, music, and games.

Year nine pupils from Wayland Community High School in Watton went along to Ashill Primary to help out with its languages week.

Working in groups, they planned a morning of activities for youngsters aged four to 11 involving German, Italian, Spanish and Afrikaans.

The classes included learning the names of body parts by playing the board game Twister, Brazilian dancing and African music.

Helen Fernandez, an English teacher at Wayland High, said: 'The pupils have been working on this for the past two or three weeks. They've had to organise the activities and decide the best way to reach their audience. They have really embraced it and had a fantastic day.'

For the high school pupils, yesterday's events will count towards their language leader course which helps students develop leadership and communication skills.

Every term Ashill Primary School takes a break from normal lessons to hold a themed curriculum week to allow youngsters to explore subjects in different and exciting ways.

This week, pupils will learn about a number of different languages, including Chinese and French.

Headteacher Kelly Scott said most of the lessons would be focused around the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She said: 'Each group has explored the story in different languages – learning the names of the colours, counting the foods and making sock puppets.'

The pupils get to work with all the different teachers in the school and mix with children they would not usually have classes with.