I had a great time at the Seneca Virtual MFL Conference today.
Here is a copy of my slides:
https://www.slideshare.net/icpj/no-travel-no-problembringing-languages-alive-during-a-pandemic
More resources from the conference can be found here.
Enjoy!
Saturday 10 October 2020
Saturday 26 September 2020
"Music, Rhythm and Grammar-Supporting Recall", TM Modern Foreign Languages Icons event, Saturday 26 September 2020
Please find a link here to my presentation on " Music, Rhythm and Grammar-Supporting Recall" :
Really looking forward to try in my classroom all the new ideas that were shared!
Sunday 30 August 2020
Music and Technology: Making Language Learning Memorable, a TiLT Webinar-Thursday 29 August 2020
I have always been a strong advocate for using music in the Languages classroom and was delighted to be offered to present a TiLT Webinar for ALL London on this topic.
I have been a member of ALL, the Association for Language Learning for as long as I can remember and their programme of free Webinars to support language teachers during the pandemic has simply been amazing. Co-hosted by ALL London chair Helen Myers and ICT expert Joe Dale, there are now more 50 TiLT Webinars that can be accessed through the ALL London website and Joe's YouTube channel.
In my webinar, I shared a range of tools and ideas for integrating music in activities in and outside the classroom. We looked at streaming platforms like Spotify, recording tools and apps as well as sites to source free beats and loops to support pupils' creativity and memorisation of language.
I also presented tools to use melody, rhythm and song lyrics to enhance pupils' enjoyment, motivation and support their recall of key language structures.
I showed different resources to develop teachers' knowledge in order to link music and song lyrics to the culture of the Target-Language countries.
Last but not least, I shared how specific websites, apps and social media can support teachers in discovering new artists and tracks from a range of Target-Language countries.
My slides can be downloaded from here
A copy of the chat discussion and the recording of the webinar is available from ALL London website and Joe Dale's YouTube channel
The following collaborative Wakelets were started in the session:
Songs for young learners https://wakelet.com/i/invite?code=ad5b361
Do join in and share your favourite songs to teach languages....
Tuesday 28 July 2020
Twitter Summer Foreign Language Bookclub !
It all started on Twitter… After Jane Basnett, @basnettj asked her Twitter network for suggestions to create a list of French books for French teachers to enjoy over the summer.
After posting the link to her list, I agreed to add a page
for Spanish books and Sonja Fedrizzi, @FedrizziSonja offered
to make a page for German books
You can download the list by clicking here
In addition to the various recommendations I was given by
many Spanish teacher colleagues, I was also told about other exciting
opportunities to practise the language, such as …
The Tomo y Lomo podcast in Spanish about famous contemporary writers
La escóbula de la brújula, cultural podcast in Spanish also
featuring contemporary literature
I also found out about the MFL virtual book club run on
Facebook by @katelanguages
Do join the foreign language book conversation on Twitter and Facebook and feel free to leave a comment to recommend a book from the list… Enjoy and Thank you Merci Gracias!
Friday 10 July 2020
Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and Modern Languages Options: What is it and What is the point?
The EPQ is
not a new qualification but discussing it with Nick Brown,
Head of Languages at Lincoln Castle Academy, I started to understand its real potential
to promote languages…
I first came
across the EPQ at my previous school. Like in many schools, it was used as a
way to enrich the curriculum in the VI Form. As such, it is a way to get
learners to get a Level 3 qualification as well as develop their research
skills and engage with content that is within and beyond the curriculum.
Full details
about the qualification can be found here and the Future Ready website but the main feature of the qualification is that, following their own in-depth
study, students are asked to produce a project with ONE of the following
outcomes:
- A dissertation
- An investigation or a field study
- A performance
- An artefact
The work submitted for assessment must be produced in
English but-and this is VERY important for language teachers-the research and supporting
notes can be in ANY language, which would naturally occur by listening,
speaking, reading and note-taking in the language.
If the project is used to complement A Level teaching and
learning, the topics can be inspired by some of the A Level work, provided it
does not replicate their Independent Research Project (IRP).
The project can also allow students to explore their cultural
heritage or the cultural heritage of other people in the community as well as
offer them an opportunity to pursue an interest outside of the curriculum. This
could be of particular interest for EAL students, as a way to celebrate their
cultural heritage, enhance their literacy in English as well as gain a
recognised Level 3 qualification.
Examples of projects for MFL could include:
Has French cinema been a major influence on the world stage?
(dissertation-extension from A Level film study)
Is Colombian Spanish a better dialect than other forms?
(dissertation)
What trends can be seen in the use of slang words by modern
day German teenagers? (investigation/field study)
Interpretation/Performance of a play
Short film in the style of a specific director (artefact)
Self-published book of new translations of poems (artefact)
If you would like to register your interest in the Extended
Project Qualification (EPQ) or find out more information about MFL-focused
titles, click here.
And there is more….
The EPQ is also available for KS4 pupils as a Higher Project Qualification (HPQ, Level 2 qualification) and a Foundation Project Qualification (FPQ, Level 1 qualification). Like the EPQ these qualifications aim to develop learner’s transferable skills and preparing them to the world of work by making them more organised and independent. More details here.
Wednesday 8 July 2020
Ofqual Consultation: Suggested Changes for the Assessment of A Levels and GCSEs in Modern Foreign Languages in 2021
Ofqual is
currently conducting a very important consultation including proposals tomodify the assessment requirements for some GCSEs, AS and A levels in response
to disruption to education caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In the face of “lost” teaching time during lockdown, the proposals aim to free up teaching time and, in some instances, reduce what needs to be taught and take account of any public health restrictions relating to coronavirus (COVID19) that might be in place during the next academic year.
A
“recovery” curriculum?
There have
been lots of discussions about how current Year 10 and Year 12 pupils have been
affected by the pandemic in the preparation for next year’s exams as they have had
limited access to face-to-face teaching since the end of March. In particular,
the debate has been around the need of a possible “recovery” curriculum or at
the very least a “responsive” curriculum to deal with the knowledge gaps that
may have developed and that could hinder students’ further progress. This has
highlighted the differences between school settings and the pressure on some
schools to narrow the curriculum for some pupils to ensure standards in Maths
and English were not put at risk.
Consultation
about assessment NOT Curriculum review
What this
consultation is not, is some kind of a statement about the importance of
subjects and their respective content and skills. However, you would be
forgiven for believing this was the case, reading some of the online debates it
has created.
Suggestions
for Languages A Level and GCSE 2021 exams
Whereas no modifications
have been put forward for A Level, the proposals for Modern Languages GCSEs are
quite controversial : the Speaking examination would be replaced by a teacher “endorsement”
for Speaking but it would not actually count in the exam, with the overall grade
only taking Listening, Reading and Writing into account.
Although
there is no denying that cancelling speaking exams would result in gained
teaching time, this proposal also causes a number of issues:
Students
do usually well in speaking
even though it can be stressful for some ;
There would
be a noticeable imbalance in the overall grade between the productive
and receptive skills ;
Although
speaking would still be taught, it may lose its priority in the face of further
time constraints and the pressure of imposed subject targets ;
The class
focus moving away from speaking would particularly affect pupils from
disadvantaged backgrounds who may not have opportunities for further
practice ;
The decision
would most likely impact on A Level recruitment for 2021-22 as the perceived
success in speaking the language is key for motivation and enjoyment. However, given
that the basis for the decision to carry on with languages for many students is
still “success” measured by exam outcomes, ensuring a fair exam and best
outcomes might be just as important for A Level recruitment ;
There is also
a worry that dropping the speaking exam could have a negative impact on attitudes
towards speaking and languages in general in the future.
So, what
is the way forward?
Look at the coverage
of topics? The teaching of the Social Issues topic is usually kept at the
end of the course and maybe could be scrapped to make up for lost curriculum
time during the pandemic.
Go the
“Welsh way”? Keep the
assessment standards in all 4 skills and at the same level but make amendments
such as streamlining the coverage of some of the topics or skills assessed. For
instance, no translation in the reading paper or no Role-Play and Photocard in
the speaking exam. I would still be against using dictionaries in any of the
exams as I feel this could be very distracting for students.
We will
all agree that students must not have their qualification devalued and it is
important that the standards remain the same even if some aspects of the assessment are
simplified. For this reason, I believe that the overall standard of GCSEs in
modern languages cannot be maintained without any speaking being counted at all
in the overall mark.
Want to share your own views? Have your say and respond to the consultation before 16July at 11.45pm
Now is the
time to join ALL, the Association for Language Learning, our subject association, to make sure our voice is heard.
ALL is also organising a consultation webinar on Friday 10 July for all language teachers. To register, please click here.
Friday 3 July 2020
Lessons from Lockdown
Lockdown is continuing to be very
hectic and intense for teachers. I have asked my online teacher network about
what lockdown has meant for them and this is what I was told…
Lockdown has highlighted the
importance of students’ intrinsic motivation and home support and the large
impact they have on students’ achievements. It has also shown that teaching
needs to facilitate independence. For instance, some of the quietest students
have been seen to produce amazing work that they would never have produced in
class for fear of drawing attention to themselves.
However, lockdown has also sparked
creativity in many teachers, parents and pupils and in some case made parents
realise what teaching really is about.
It has also created many opportunities
for teachers to upskill, learn about blended learning, online learning and
reflect on our practice.
Pedagogy and new tools-A few pointers
Focusing on fewer aspects of the language
and guiding students’ practice to ensure complete mastery and success has come
out as the biggest priority
Acknowledging the need for more
repetition, practice and pace when learning vocabulary.
Understanding what it looks like from
a learner’s perspective, keeping things simple and along a linear organisation
allowing the teacher to reduce undue technical difficulties for pupils.
Developing a principled approach like the one adopted by @BarriMoc : retrieval, short video presentation, practice tasks (dictation, translation, gap-fill based on the content), reading task and a writing or speaking task using Flipgrid . Everything is then put in one document with any resources hyperlinked to avoid needing to open and flick between multiple tabs including Textivate or Quizziz .
Exploring the use of Bitmojis and sharing on the Bitmoji Craze for Educator FaceBook group
Taking time to test new tools, like Genial.ly
Turning a book-based IGCSE SoW into a
skill-driven one so that learning objectives and assessment align
Twitter conversations
Lockdown and teaching remotely have
highlighted …
The importance of high impact, low stakes testing for informing planning as well as improving student retrieval and retention.
That the children love to be able to
“pause” the teacher on Loom so pace of explanations during
direct instruction may need to be adapted.
That learners benefit from creating
sentences and actively applying vocab and grammar rules along with their own
creativity. This gives all they/we are doing a sense of value, purpose and
meaning. It creates a bond and link of learning trust between us even though we
are remote.
That in online lessons, it is a good
idea to include table of language chunks that pupils can use as a writing
scaffold. Pupils can add in suggestions too. Extension vocabulary and
structures need to be labelled explicitly. A simple example of an activity is
to get pupils to read out their Target Language phrase. Teacher highlights (on
zoom) . Another pupil translates. Creative
follow-up is then offered for further practice.
That your instructions are never
clear enough! It has confirmed more than ever the importance of quality
instruction, explanations, and modelling with a lot of comprehensible input and
chunks instead of single words. Voice record pro is great for making own listening.
Finally, the CPD…
There have been so many opportunities
for all teachers and especially language teachers to upskill themselves to
deliver effective language lessons remotely. I have collated many of them in a Wakelet
here, with
the most prolific sources of CPD being ALL, the Association for Language Learning , Linguascope, Joe Dale’s MFL Twitterati
group (#mfltwitterati on Twitter) and the Global Innovative Language TeacherFacebook group created by Gianfranco Conti and Dylan Viñales.
Time to join the conversation!
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