Preparing for the new GCSE - some of the nitty gritty

The last couple of posts have been about Big Ideas and Principles, but the nuts and bolts stuff also needs looking at, and certainly we need to be getting our pupils used to the question formats in KS3.  I wanted to share our initial to-do list. This is with AQA in mind.

What needs to be looked at:       

1.  Getting used to literary texts and more authentic materials

2.  Answering in more detail in reading questions  -finish the sentence

3.  Transcribing – spelling to be taken into account in the new listening  -also part of the NC

4.  Photo-cards – starters with “what can you see in the picture”?

5.  Role-plays – situational and talking with a friend – bolster these in Y8 & 9 especially, but also in Y7

6.  Forming questions – make sure this is given more priority

7.  Intensive practice of key verbs – “emergency kit” in 3 tenses

8.  What does a good model essay look like? Preparing pupils for this – key phrases needed

9.  How assessment will change – making sure the teaching prepares pupils well for this

10.  How to keep language fresh so they don’t forget (Homer Simpson syndrome)

11.  Translation both ways.

To do list:

1.  Identify good transcribing resources (for use with micro-listening tasks (The language gym))

2.  Join the ALL wiki for good sources of material

3.  Identify a minimum of one literary/authentic text (song / poem / letter) for each module

4.  Identify a time once a month where material from other units/topics is either incorporated or used in a cross-themed writing activity to keep language active

5.  Embed grouptalk / roleplay opportunities into the scheme of work à how to progress with it?

6.  Review reference material for pupils – to support question formation / grammar aspects for correcting own work (à support feedback ticksheet)

7.  Review assessment formats in all 4 skills (roleplay should be easy to implement, even for peer assessment)   The writing assessment to mirror the format of the writing exam, including not giving advance notice of the extended writing and giving a choice.

8.  Translation – we do a lot of it in drills, but maybe not a little paragraph as often into English.  Needs to be done monthly

Preparing for the new GCSE - literature in KS3

This is the second post about KS3 and literature. The previous one has various links including to the wonderful ALL wiki on literature. in this post, I want to continue looking at the literature aspect of preparing for the new GCSE. Ks3 should be about enjoying the language, and songs and poems so far figure more prominently than prose. As far as prose is concerned, the priorities need to be:

• Getting pupils used to texts which combine language from lots of diffrerent topics and to dealing with a manageable amount of new words
• Coping with unfamiliar words
• Capturing pupils' interest
• Opening the world out to them

Letters
Letters can be an excellent way to get them to experience prose.  I have a rather battered letter which describes Christmas and the pupils enjoy reading it - real person their age, and real experience.  It doesn't need to be just such "normal" letters. There are other ideas which could prove a rich vein of material. There has been lots of work this year on WW1. I found this collection of soldier's letters. Seeing the WW1 from the "other side" could be very powerful. For the French teachers reading this, Liz Black recommended "Lulu et la Grande Guerre" by Fabian Grégoire. Some vivid writing which is accessible with some adaptations.

Other prose - stories, newspapers

We do a project week after the January exams and read a simplified version of "Aschenputtel" using the Grimm's rather bloodthirsty original. It has lots for beginners to get their teeth into, phrases such as "schwarz von Herzen" ("black of heart") - what's not to like?  Vivid phrases but also well within the capability of pupils to work out with access to a glossary or dictionary. It also gives pupils lots to think about - why the difference between the now well-established Disney version and this?  The boys enjoy reading it out loud and working with the text.

My searches so far haven't found any contemporary short stories yet that would fit the bill, although I remain hopeful that I might get some inspiration from the DaF (the German equivalent of EAL) community in Germany. It seems to me that letters and brief, adapted newspaper stories would be suitable at this stage of  learning. Which brings me to...

Bild newspaper. This tabloid paper does a great line in punchy daft stories. Search for "dümmster Einbrecher" (most stupid burglar) or similar (bank robbers is another favourite) and you find what are, in effect, mini-stories. They will still need to be adapted. It is also good for human interest stories. I found an interview with a refugee who survived the hell of the Mediterranean. Great for helping pupils understand the world.

Now to share another great tip from the training by Liz Black: Der Spiegel does a monthly news magazine aimed at 8-14 yr olds called "Dein Spiegel".  It has stories aimed at our age range, even if you will have to adapt them. And for my French teaching colleagues, there is Le petit quotidien for young people. These are going in my reading corner next year.

Breaking out of the box

One of the reasons I think we may be hesitant to use literature sources is the fact that there are inevitably words beyond what we usually teach, and certainly beyond just the topic we are trying to focus on at the minute.  That has to be a good thing, but does need approaching carefully. It must be said, however, that if we don't want pupils to compartmentalise their language, then we need to model that in our lessons.  Language (and life) is not neat and closed off into little boxes, and we need to reflect this. Still, look at this poem for Nikolaustag:

Nikolaus, du guter Mann,
hast einen schönen Mantel an.
Die Knöpfe sind so blank geputzt,
dein weißer Bart ist gut gestutzt,
die Stiefel sind so spiegelblank,
die Zipfelmütze fein und lang,
die Augenbrauen sind so dicht,
so lieb und gut ist dein Gesicht.
Du kamst den weiten Weg von fern,
und deine Hände geben gern.
Du weißt, wie alle Kinder sind:
Ich glaub, ich war ein braves Kind.
Sonst wärst du ja nicht hier
und kämest nicht zu mir.
Du musst dich sicher plagen,
den schweren Sack zu tragen.
(unbekannt)

By December, we have just done descriptions, and  this fits in very well - lots lines with words on description and clothes, and that's where we concentrate our work.  Liz Black made the point that it depends on what you want the pupils to do with it and the support you give. We shouldn't be afraid of tackling these texts with them.

Preparing for the New GCSE - Carpe Diem! Part 1

In our languages department, we are beginning to make preparations and changes to our Y9 schemes of work in preparation for the new GCSE.  There is trepidation, but as @spsmith45 points out in this blog, there is no need to start completely from scratch.  Good teaching remains good teaching. If you want a good summary of key things to consider when preparing to teach, then that is a very good place to start.

I want to talk about opportunities. Yes, opportunities.  Opportunities to open the door to other worlds, opportunities to really revel in the language.  On a more prosaic note, opportunities to help our pupils get to grips with how the language sounds.  As languages teachers, we know that a great song, poem or prose piece can transport the readers, and what better way to give pupils a glimpse of what we all fell in love with? The number of genres that can be defined as "literature" is only as limited (limitless?) as your imagination.  If you need a helping hand, look at ALL's wiki on the subject. Whilst I'm talking about inspiration, this blog is my initial response to some great training on Literature and the use of authentic texts which took place at Newcastle University on 23rd June, led by the ever knowledgeable @rene_koglbauer and @LizblackMFL, and as you can see has many links to what other people are doing.

I teach German, which we start in Y9 as an express course, so time is short.  In terms of our schemes of work, this shouldn't be yet another extra, but a vehicle for teaching.  I'm a strong believer that whichever resource is used should do the heavy lifting, and be used in multiple ways, and should be integrated into the learning. It should give pupils an opportunity not just for comprehension, but also performance of the text and use of the language they have found, either in a creative writing response.

Opportunity no 1 - reinforcing phonics work
Think about this song from the Prinzen "ich wär so gern Millionär".  Here is the chorus:

Ich wär' so gerne Millionär
dann wär mein Konto niemals leer.
Ich wär' so gerne Millionär - millionenschwer.
Ich wär' so gerne Millionär

I love die Prinzen because they sing so clearly, and they have really singable tunes, and this chorus has lots of potential. You can get the pupils to think about the sound of the "ä" because of the strong rhyme. And then you can test your knowledge on the lyricstraining website, a new and exciting discovery, which was recommended to me recently .  This could also then lead to some creative work using "wäre" to speculate on what could happen and be applied to different situations.

Silly rhymes such as the following are also perfect for beginners and reinforce key German phonics:
Eins, zwei, Polizei
drei, vier, Offizier
fünf, sechs, alte Hex'
sieben, acht, gute Nacht!
neun, zehn, auf Wiedersehen!

If you are about to tackle a longer text, it is worth laying the groundwork and making sure pupils can decode the words in front of them. This post from @gianfrancocont9 has some great warm-up ideas for listening, and is well worth a look.

One tip which came from the CPD session to help find sources for quick transcribing which also doubles as something more interesting than simply sentences from last lesson are dictation resources for primary school.  Liz Black gave an example from a Duden book, and I have found a book called "100 lustige Diktate"  which also includes little riddles (one "guess what"? riddle is about a mouse).  I have yet to get my mitts on that little number, so I will follow up and let you know what that is like.  Watch this space!

Well, this was just going to be one post, but it looks like I need another post to finish..

Revision - making it stick

This is the first of a couple of posts about revision.  This has been inspired (if that's the word) by my need to help my pupils understand what revision looks like, because between you and me, I'm shocked at how vague many of them are about how to learn.  My holiday reading has therefore been "Make it stick" by Peter C. Brown. Reading this book made me think about how I can make the process of revision explicit for my pupils. This is not a review of the book, but is my attempt at thinking through how I want to get the pupils to apply the principles in their MFL revision in the coming weeks (apologies to my colleagues teaching French GCSE, who don't have the luxury of time).

The goal
To recognise and understand all of those words IN A FLASH in the exam - that means you need FAST RETRIEVAL from your LONG-TERM MEMORY
The principles
1. Use it or lose it
Done your revision on Healthy Living? Lovely. Well done,you. But if you want it to stick, you've got to return to it and practise it again for it become part of your long-term memory. The more you return, and the more defined the path will become.
2.  Mix it up
Switch between topics, switch between skills.  You don't get bored, your brain doesn't get bored, and the effort you have to put in to remember different topics strengthens your long-term memory.
3.  Get your learning spaced out!
Don't bunch everything from one topic up in one session or week.  Space your revision of the topic out, so you have to dig the knowledge back up again
4.  No pain, no gain
Maybe not pain, but definitely effort, but that doesn't rhyme. The more effort you need to remember something during your revision, the better you remember it.
5.  Don't assume - it makes an ass out of u and me
You've done a whole hour's revision! Woo-hoo! But have you tested yourself to see what's gone in?

Making it manageable AND effective

So - what should their revision look like at home? We still have quite a lot of lessons ahead of us, so this is in addition to what they are doing in class. Asking pupils to do 20-25 minutes a day sounds much more manageable to them. They may not always do it, but if they can sign up to the principle of it, then we are getting somewhere.

1.  Every day – 5 minutes quiz on what you did yesterday

                        - 15 minutes active learning new topic with flashcards (quizlet.com)

                           Learn difficult words/irregular verbs in a phrase or sentence

                       - 5 minutes make yourself a quiz to re-use tomorrow and later on
                          Good types of quiz questions:

                         1.  Fill in the gap

                         2.  find the opposites

                         3.  word association games

2.  Once a week (MINIMUM) – skills practice. 

Either a past paper or listening/reading exercise from kerboodle from last week’s topics.

Make a quiz out of the questions you got wrong.

3.  Once a week – do the quiz you made from things you got wrong