Last month I got an email from my Union asking if I would like to attend the 2012 Regional Early Career Teachers conference at the Hilton in Gateshead. The programme looked good with a focus on SEN, Behaviour Management and Ofsted new assessment. All of these being hot topics in ITE, I decided to attend and left Mr Bewell home alone with the kids for the weekend. Win! On arrival, I firstly observed that I was definitely at the older end of Early Career Teacher!!! Joking aside, I had a great weekend and am now keen to get more involved with the work of my union, who are desperate for new, even and young(er) active members. The people I met were engaging, intelligent and keen to learn and the training was of a very high quality. The resources from the event can be found here: http://www.rect.org.uk/ I hope you find them useful. If, like me, you have never attended a Union CPD event, my advice would be to go for it. I am now hoping to attend another event in late Marg linked to International Development work... Always learning. All the best, Suzi

What a busy week it has been.  Below please find links to 3 articles which I wrote linked to MFL Learning and Teaching.  I hope you find the content useful.  Please, as always, feel free to leave a comment or a question if you need any clarification.

 

Best wishes to you all,

Suzi

The Importance of Intercultural Understanding in MFL 

http://www.boardworks.co.uk/mfl_694 

 

Skype makes sense!

http://bit.ly/w53ceu 

ICT in MFL (Rethinking Homework) - see page 10 

http://tinyurl.com/SECEDICTMFL 

With thanks to @pwhenshaw from SecEd for allowing me to publish this.

Ok mfltwitterati, it was suggested this evening that I make t-shirts for the conference and I am happy to so (as long as there are just a few of us!!!)

 

Please leave a comment with size requirements below and I will get onto this asap.

I think we can have our twitter names on front and avatar /photo along with the mfltwitterati hash tag and then ililc and hash tag on back...How does that sound?

 

Will try and source the t-shirts this weekend - should be no more than £5 each...

 

Ooh I do love to sew and craft!

Sx

Dear all

I wil be speaking at this conference and said that I would promote it as it is going to be an amazing day filled with inspiring talks which will hopefully give you that well needed boost in the cold, wintery months...where even I lack enthusiasm some days!!!

 

Best
Suzi

 

 

Amelie is very fond of this book and today wanted to be recorded reading this, her second story. This is a great one for early language learners focussing on clothes and there are quite a few tricky sounds to exploit too.

What I find particularly interesting is that even at age 6, after only being taught how to read and recognise the link between sound and spelling quite recently (compared to most of the secondary age pupils I taught), Amelie still sometimes struggles to remember that 'an' is pronounced with a nasal sound unlike in English.  What amazes me further is that she is already able to self correct...and actually gets quite cross with herself when she pronounces it wrong!!!  See how she shakes the book in frustration.

It is also interesting to note that Amelie is so used to NOT pronouncing final silent consonants when she reads them that she says 'mon t-shir(t)' dropping the final 't' - this is quite advanced for a 6 year old, I feel.

 

Please leave her a friendly, encouraging comment below and who knows you may see more stories here soon.

Best

Suzi

I have wanted to blog about this for a while but there never seems to be time...

Amelie my daughter, 6, has 2 English parents ... I always say that I dreamt of having a French husband and bilingual kiddies running around my Parisian home, and then I met Mr B (half English, half Norwegian), fell head over heals and the rest is history.

I was still determined to give both of my children a head start in languages and with the help of Andre and Nadege, our amazing French nounous, Amelie and Gabriel (now 4) were exposed to French 3 days a week for about 2 years until the time came for them to start school.

I wondered if we would keep the French going (and it hasn't been easy) but we have...Amelie in particular is keen and picked up a French story book a few weeks ago and insisted that she read it to me.  Initially, I was a bit worried that her phonic awareness of French was not advanced enough but I think you will see from the clip below that I had very little to worry about.  I particularly like the confident manner in which she ends the video!!!

Amelie has only just learned to read in English so I think that her early exposure to French has a lot to do with her accent and seemingly 'natural' ability to decode the French sounds.  My head spins if I think about it too much...

I am a very proud mummy and I am sure Amelie would love to hear what you think of her French storytelling. She LOVED being videoed toinght and I am sure there will be more to come!

Thanks in advance for your comments - they will make her day.

Suzi x

 

 

Hello again ... It has been a while.

Over the next few days I will fill in the gaps and write around the PPT presentations below, but as I know many of you are keen to include as much IU into your languages lessons as possible, I decided to blog the resources first and foremost and will add some meat to the bones tomorrow.

 

The course was excellent and a super turn out for a saturday morning. Someone had even flown in from Ireland!!!

Here is the PPT from the key note address, which was a great start to the day:

The sessions x 4 were divided into Primary and Secondary.

Primary:

Secondary:

 

Copyright statement:

In the meantime, I hope there is something to interest you.

And for more information on high quality, affordable training for MFL teachers, I would strongly recommend you visit:

http://networkforlanguages.org.uk/#/regional-centres/4549897477

Suzi

As I am writing this post, it is hard to believe it has been a whole year since the last Languages Show.  What a year it has been!  The show was as fantastic as ever - some would ask why would you want to give up 3 days of your life to attend (and maybe I am a sad INSET junkie), but it is one of the highlights of my year and I don't actually see it as work.  It was a chance to see what is going on in the world of languages at the moment but, more importantly, to catch up face to face with the people I often refer to as my 'MFL Dream Team'!  

So, here are some of the highlights of the 3 days starting with Friday...

FRIDAY - DAY 1

I arrived bright and early and as well as having a good look around the stands, my plan was to attend the following sessions:

-Talk to me! Crystal clear ideas to get students talking, Rachel Hawkes

Rachel's presentation can be found below:

Rachel is an inspiration to many, myself included and I wouldn't leave home at 5.30am for just anyone!!!

My favourite ideas from the session were:

'What's the question?' (in my experience, pupils need lots of practice of asking questions as well as answering them),

"Count the number of words in your sentence" (which my trainee PGCE MFLers love),

"Morph" (to encourage pupils to create a voiceover)

and

"The dustbin task" (due to its open-ended nature).  

You can find more of Rachel's excellent resources and ideas which she shares freely at www.rachelhawkes.com

-TXtspk in lang lrng - LOL, Wendy Adeniji

Wendy's session on Text Speak in MFL was also very inspiring and with her say so, I am hoping to be able to pass on some of the resources in the coming days...  I am 35 and spend far too much time on my mobile (texting, blogging and tweeting, not much talking actually) and I get the impression that many of the youngsters that we teach are the same.  It seems that this would be an interesting avenue to explore as it touches on a topic that is dear to pupils' hearts so it makes sense to tap into that and exploit it in the MFL context.

In the meantime, some useful websites to explore on this theme are: 

French:

http://mylo.dcsf.gov.uk/Basic/French/FR_L0_M3.3

German:

http://www.whystudylanguages.ac.uk/txtspk

http://mylo.dcsf.gov.uk/Basic/German/GE_L0_M3.3

Spanish:

http://mylo.dcsf.gov.uk/Basic/Spanish/SP_L0_M3.3

 

UPDATED: With Wendy's permission, here are the resources in 3 languages.  See more of her resources www.ilanguages.com and www.trainingforlearning.com You will also find useful information on high quality training opportunities which revolve around 'teaching the usual in an unusual way!'

Click here to download:

Textspeak_Activities.doc (28 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

Textspeak_Activities.doc (28 KB)

 

Click here to download:

Textspeak_Activities.doc (27 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

Textspeak_Activities.doc (27 KB)

 

-Gotta sing! Music in the MFL classroom, John Connor

John's session was everything i was hoping for and more.  I failed to take notes as I was too busy participating and pinning a velcro horse onto John's felt pinny!  I think @joedale has photographic evidence on Flickr somewhere...

The highlight of John's session was definitely the Brown Bear song in Spanish.

I will contact John and see if he is happy to share his PPT.  

HOT OFF THE PRESS! Here it is:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/70875519/Using-Music-in-Language-Lessons-1

 

-Revealing the Essential Core, Bernadette Holmes

Bernadette Holmes - what a woman and what an exceptional speaker and language enthusiast. Initially, I wasn't sure if I would attend this session but I am really glad I did.  Bernadette is a real believer in cross curricular learning and CLIL.  Her session contained so many great ideas and I plan to contact her to see if she, too, is happy to share her PPT. Watch this space.

 

Authentic resources at KS3 - too hot, Martine Pillette

I have long been a fan of Martine's work even before we ever met and I was still working as a regular classroom teacher.  As a native French speaker, she has so much 'inside information' relating to France and French speaking culture, so I was keen to see what she would present at the show.  The main ideas, relating to the environment, are part of a new KS3 resource which she has produced called 'J'écoute et je lis avec petite chérie" (see http://www.goldendaffodils.co.uk/jecoute_et_je_lis.php)

Below you can access some of the sample materials which Martine presented at the Languages Show will hopefully give you a flavour of what looks to be a really exciting resource:

Here is a video clip showing an extract from the DVD (Le Voyage d'une goutte d'eau)

and more can be found on Youtube (see associated clips):

 

Related YouTube clips which I came across are also included below:

 

In honesty, I never really enjoyed teaching the topic of environment as I didn't manage to find a meaningful way to do so, but perhaps these engaging resources would fill that gap.

 

 

 

 

MFLSat+

 

 

Session 1

@markpurves www.souffler.com  

Mark Purves – Singing Tribes

The session started with a song about body parts to a catchy jig.

Song is an accelerator and helps language to stick!  It lifts your mood.  Fact!

Mark suggested injecting short bursts of music into your lesson at various points.

We were shown some simple breathing exercises which focus on pulling in the stomach and opening up the throat.

Mark suggested reading ‘How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything’ by Ken Robinson who is a big fan of creativity in the classroom.

Mark also had us on our feet for a second and final time and showed us how he sings praise phrases with actions to his pupils.

They all sang ‘Fantastique Suzi!’, with a wiggle to boot!  I went pink!  I think Chris Harte has photographic evidence….

 

Session 2

@spanishsam

Sam Lunn - Routines and Maximum TL

Spanish Sam presented a high energy session entirely in Spanish showing how to teach opinions.  It transpired that she does this every lesson as part of her register routine.  I think she may need a long lie down at the end of the day!!!

 

 

Session 3

@titchylynn

Lynn Smith - Thinking Skills

Lynn Smith presented a session on thinking skills and the need to confuse your pupils and how letting them make mistakes can lead to better understanding in the longer term.

Ideas included odd one out, categorisation (verbs, nouns, adjectives), memory maps, de Bonos hats (facts, positive, negative, creative) – place sentences in the correct category.  Picture images can also be used and then pupils are given one of the four roles from de Bono’s hats and are asked to contribute a sentence commenting on the picture e.g. of Gerard Depardieu.  They could also create a mind map as part of the plenary to show what they have learned in today’s lesson.  Excellent ideas!

 

Session 4

@valleseco

www.changing-phase.blogspot.com 

Clare Seccombe - Story Telling in Primary

Apologies I was listening so hard, I forgot to type!  Loads of ideas and resources on Clare's amazing website - well worth a look!

 

Session 5

Emma Bains - New Curriculum KS3

@bains_1

www.bouncingkumquat.blogspot.com 

e.bains@westwood.coventry.sch.uk 

Westwood School

Emma presented some ideas from their new SoL e.g. a topic on Sat Nav in French. Another theme was fashion (as opposed to Clothes). There was a really nice idea for playing Cluedo in Spanish.

 

Session 6

@simcloughlin 

Simon McLoughlin - Audioboo

Simon was winging it! He went to a party last night instead of preparing for today...good man!  Simon presented www.audioboo.fm and showed us, via his class blog, how he has used it with his Primary classes.  You can see examples here:  www.class12.hotspurblogs.net 

We also got to watch and laugh at the Joey from Friends speaking French clip - LOL!!!

 

Session 7

Thomas Snell, Newcastle University resources

www.teacherstoolkit.com

www.universed.co.uk (from Newcastle University)

www.linguacast.ncl.ac.uk 

Linguacast Days - visit www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/northeast/eventss.html 

 

Session 8

@misstdunne  www.misstdunne.com 

Terri Dunne - Blockbusters

The templates will go into the MFLSAT Dropbox.

Terri showed us several ways of using Blockbusters to promote speaking in the MFL lesson.

 

Session 9

@dominic_mcg

 

1.www.wallwisher.com

2.www.classtools.net - Fakebook

3.www.classtools.net Twister - fake twitter

4.www.classtools.net - random name generator / question generator

5.Random letter generator

6.www.wikispaces.com - wikis

7.Blogs

8.clea.nr (only works with chrome and firefox)

9.Puppets

10.MOM - mug of misery POP - pot of participation

 

Love Dom's dry presenting style - more lucky lucky pupils!

 

Session 8

@amandasalt www.amandasalt.blogspot.com 

Amanda Salt - Spanish Immersion Residential

Amanda spoke about a cheap and cheerful immersion weekend for her A level pupils. Activities include treasure hunt, DVDs, songs, quizzes and Dragon's Den.

Sounds like an amazing experience for pupils and teachers alike.

 

Session 9

@blagona 

Alex Blagona - The story of 8B/Fr1

Demotivated, disinterested....

Asked them what they thought they needed to do to get better at French - comments posted on wallwisher.com and set own targets.

Rate my teacher idea - Alex asked his pupils to rate his lessons and explain their ratings. Brave move, non?

Alex felt the need to change his style of teaching to suit them rather than the other way around.

The purpose of all this was to establish a dialogue with pupils.

Q. What do I need to change to help them to 'get it' and move on in their learning?

 

When marking books, Alex can respond to comments especially if this implies a lack of understanding.

Also provides feedback for parent's evenings.

Alex can then sit pupils in particular groups so that they are separated according to ability.

 

Have a go!

 

Session 10

@joedale

Joe Dale - Using QR codes in MFL

Joe's presentation can be found here:

http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/2011/07/ipod-touch-train... 

Session 11

@suzibewell 

Suzi Bewell (moi!) - Do you Vocaroo?

 

See the next post down on this page for my presentation.

 

 

Session 12

@icpjones

Isabelle Jones - Creative projects

Isabelle spoke to us via Skype about some creative projects she has been involved in in Oldham to motivate her reluctant boy learners.

She shared an impressive rap song that they had produced.  It is available in the MFLDropbox.

 

Session 13

@rene_koglbauer

Rene Koglbauer - Social Networking (Facebook) to improve boys' writing.

 

 

Session 14

@bellale

Alex Bellars - Dojo, Triptico and Lingro

Dojo:Rewards and Sanctions

At the end of the lesson, kids can see the whole class performance.  Can be downloaded and shared with form tutors and parents.

Lingro:Help with complicated reading texts

Type your website into Lingro and it will take you back to the site and add a gloss for any words you are unsure of.

Triptico: Word tiles, Class Timer, Random Group creator, Scoreboards, Question Quiz, 

@david_triptico

 

Plenary

Stephen Fawkes delivered by @CHarte

Food for thought via Adam Ant 'Don't you ever...'

 

Awesome day.  Feeling inspired.  Learned loads. Can't wait to pass some of this on to my lovely new cohort!

Roll on the next one wherever it may be.

Suzi