tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9042845110607157462024-03-27T02:15:41.009-07:00Making sense?A blog dealing with various aspects of teaching MFL in secondary school. Follow me on Twitter @JoQuatschFrau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-83426691825963780692020-05-27T03:30:00.002-07:002020-05-27T03:34:02.469-07:00Teaching cultural sensitivity at GCSE - VE Day 2020When I listened to the German President give his <a href="https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Reden/2020/05/200508-75-Jahre-Ende-WKII.html" target="_blank">speech on VE Day</a> 2020 straight after we had finished our 2 minutes silence here in the UK, it had a huge impact on me. It had ideas and messages which I felt were of vital importance, and which also went to the heart of the German mindset. It got me thinking about my Year 10 German class, and how I could put something together that they could do working from home, but that would get them thinking.<br />
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Why bother, when I'm already woefully behind in my scheme of work? As a teenager trying to make sense of the world and my place in it, this is exactly the kind of material I would have wanted my teachers to share with me - texts with substantial ideas that offer a different view of an event commemorated across Europe. To me, it is important to help students begin to understand that different countries and cultures view things differently. If we don't teach them to appreciate this, then we are always going to badly misunderstand our neighbours.<br />
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Of course, it is easier said than done with a speech of this complexity and richness, and I faced the added challenge of providing the work for the students to work through independently (with me available on Google Classroom in case of problems). I still wanted it to build their language skills and practise the vocabulary and key verbs from the festivals topic.<br />
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I selected sections from the latter stages of the speech, which focused on the idea of VE Day as a day of liberation, and what liberation and freedom meant. I went through several attempts at this, and in the end took out a reference to Artikel 1 in the Grundgesetz that I would have left in if I had done it in class, as this would have needed a lot of unpacking on its own, and that is something I would like to do with them in person, and also fits in with the social issues topic we will do later and hopefully in person. Having selected a section, and worked out exactly which parts I wanted to use, I was able to think about how I made it accessible to the<br />
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First phase: building up vocabulary<br />
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1. I wanted them to think about verbs, and the difference between the different words we might use:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROmezruZgHM0FmYLYhUo50CiQVm7F0QifE6a_wxdIoAL1JJFj5NA1WsZJC6gJdeih4V-iJl1-Ll48MAZUFhqTDTJ1i7d-gKrbN2itOhI8qpHhwkSTo3jrW3dfSiZ4za1iu9ONDUQq0sQ/s1600/Slide4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROmezruZgHM0FmYLYhUo50CiQVm7F0QifE6a_wxdIoAL1JJFj5NA1WsZJC6gJdeih4V-iJl1-Ll48MAZUFhqTDTJ1i7d-gKrbN2itOhI8qpHhwkSTo3jrW3dfSiZ4za1iu9ONDUQq0sQ/s320/Slide4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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2. I then got them to think about key words from the speech, and word families, such as this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxN_CPWyug7z2OSBW-ZwHwFPnH8ZYbUw-QfZMiKde3x6QvjcDpycLhgJrLWnzVk8Wrguw1fqXidTttK9Vlh9w_NwGB5JNTr7xmJK7Uh2_ZO-yadbQFUNnSVV3KKmhjDihP77JBQ7f4GY/s1600/Slide5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxN_CPWyug7z2OSBW-ZwHwFPnH8ZYbUw-QfZMiKde3x6QvjcDpycLhgJrLWnzVk8Wrguw1fqXidTttK9Vlh9w_NwGB5JNTr7xmJK7Uh2_ZO-yadbQFUNnSVV3KKmhjDihP77JBQ7f4GY/s320/Slide5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl743hR_9UZCwqVC65HtdrKnnDPqg9bq3yuFzvwNDFjtcOsZwPihLEv0H8KyO115Pmy7L1ZG9AoeBaw6W4VizYWG5xfC98hS0v8QLvGNdKtCsZ0OyM1SXaSikWP-sp4yCIwYXqCl2RvGE/s1600/Slide6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl743hR_9UZCwqVC65HtdrKnnDPqg9bq3yuFzvwNDFjtcOsZwPihLEv0H8KyO115Pmy7L1ZG9AoeBaw6W4VizYWG5xfC98hS0v8QLvGNdKtCsZ0OyM1SXaSikWP-sp4yCIwYXqCl2RvGE/s320/Slide6.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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3. Beginning to introduce ideas from the speech, I asked them to find opposites:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-kqHWo914IiHrQPeKr1elnlw8RCae7vBGOm5wPYyqD3_I1ZcnzVFpd8fcd_9h7zUnfUPS2jSOG_26CX1144rSWmgX5oFI63t8hD6YIc2sJPLScSJsai11m6BlmSb0iqa21Pp8G6XN-I/s1600/Slide8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-kqHWo914IiHrQPeKr1elnlw8RCae7vBGOm5wPYyqD3_I1ZcnzVFpd8fcd_9h7zUnfUPS2jSOG_26CX1144rSWmgX5oFI63t8hD6YIc2sJPLScSJsai11m6BlmSb0iqa21Pp8G6XN-I/s320/Slide8.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Second phase: Describing the photos</b></div>
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This is a standard GCSE task, but I had an ulterior motive: I wanted them to start considering the imagery that we shared when we celebrated. As these were a warm-up to the main part of the work, I allowed this to be a "choose the correct option" task. Still giving them a German workout, but keeping it low-demand.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXGGMdEm6SLF0EzPGEIG9DYaT1st_-bttht0RjHxClutthXxZyQ86JQZO3CDJHMvIyyahJlsFaz6jVjmI5Il4uVNYCqyiaVa8X9i7unv0yG6slTQFse8FF90JpukSPxMw4rxN_jZy0t4s/s1600/Slide10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXGGMdEm6SLF0EzPGEIG9DYaT1st_-bttht0RjHxClutthXxZyQ86JQZO3CDJHMvIyyahJlsFaz6jVjmI5Il4uVNYCqyiaVa8X9i7unv0yG6slTQFse8FF90JpukSPxMw4rxN_jZy0t4s/s320/Slide10.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The second photo I chose was partly to choose the different aspect of commemorating, but also so I could teach them the word "Dudelsack". This is an opportunity never to be missed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-JSSjcFqNJ-Q4gSM8MFsweAtmf2XhpnGXNAN_vKcXxDIFGPepOoxqQWolQb5ELQaluqs3eAbEl9VeTZbKlrsNdcv6whAh8vNWLQUsH6UFMhbx7gH_iYmqfyCfuz9DWnj5JWvJ3kuAro/s1600/Slide11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-JSSjcFqNJ-Q4gSM8MFsweAtmf2XhpnGXNAN_vKcXxDIFGPepOoxqQWolQb5ELQaluqs3eAbEl9VeTZbKlrsNdcv6whAh8vNWLQUsH6UFMhbx7gH_iYmqfyCfuz9DWnj5JWvJ3kuAro/s320/Slide11.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I then moved onto a photo from Germany. Students are often curious, and will ask about how the Germans view the second world war, but they often assume that it is something to be swept under the carpet, or they see it through our lens of winning and losing. I think it is good to show them how it is actually handled.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAPWI-wzAAVcFTsGy6AZSRtc-9tqsEIAksV8EFBqct8zUqhzbnmz2lo7HPsU8ZL3Sja5FuFR5-ECysRMtWrJ4ZgztDF2jYO36llTsBLczipG-dEzc7EoOPFMI2_FYLnWGzapTIxgeCYM/s1600/Slide12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAPWI-wzAAVcFTsGy6AZSRtc-9tqsEIAksV8EFBqct8zUqhzbnmz2lo7HPsU8ZL3Sja5FuFR5-ECysRMtWrJ4ZgztDF2jYO36llTsBLczipG-dEzc7EoOPFMI2_FYLnWGzapTIxgeCYM/s320/Slide12.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Third Phase: The speech</b></div>
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2 final pieces of warm-up. I introduced the exercise in English, explaining briefly who the Bundespräsident is, and what I wanted them to get out of it. The final part of the vocabulary / idea building was a word cloud made out of the words from the extract, so the larger words were those which appeared more than once in the speech:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTVAlQqVaTgAgfdBP8RByrwq02UkpQN-Nj9zDv3FYX8sA3106cAbIH6azWgYvp5-qf7c1clvab3wA1YVdjWdg41pJll8BCDTikyMX39dcQkm9_LxrYVyRlLvEhG0fejYgb3cPL9NA2gM/s1600/Slide14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTVAlQqVaTgAgfdBP8RByrwq02UkpQN-Nj9zDv3FYX8sA3106cAbIH6azWgYvp5-qf7c1clvab3wA1YVdjWdg41pJll8BCDTikyMX39dcQkm9_LxrYVyRlLvEhG0fejYgb3cPL9NA2gM/s320/Slide14.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The exercises were in 3 stages:</div>
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1. Passages from the speech in parallel text form.</div>
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2. questions that tested their understanding of the ideas</div>
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3. "Find the German" to get them to really focus on the German, not just gloss over it.</div>
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Here is the first section and its exercises:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdL-t_UGscVJXoKffR8Y_bk1wqyPO2_dGCh2vPD0Jql8Yfo9i61c8NoYOrA63Xoph9RoLCdFqP2Dl4q6O3HxEvyVg_Hm1WS-QLAbplWrDV8G2egfZ5H2oF2aci4XsuxAljfJ8p5MDvss/s1600/Slide16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdL-t_UGscVJXoKffR8Y_bk1wqyPO2_dGCh2vPD0Jql8Yfo9i61c8NoYOrA63Xoph9RoLCdFqP2Dl4q6O3HxEvyVg_Hm1WS-QLAbplWrDV8G2egfZ5H2oF2aci4XsuxAljfJ8p5MDvss/s320/Slide16.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Weaj-K5jv_qtKnWRIztl6pzckDOhbvkgUoXblCm-G9tIXQspkQ06BegpxxiloI3oAPpRZTyVz8WpMq5XsvdXPG8tYaAUkw8ohyphenhyphenYFub-ngdXKLwUePGROw31nvV15tZtRZG6kWcPQ0eY/s1600/Slide17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Weaj-K5jv_qtKnWRIztl6pzckDOhbvkgUoXblCm-G9tIXQspkQ06BegpxxiloI3oAPpRZTyVz8WpMq5XsvdXPG8tYaAUkw8ohyphenhyphenYFub-ngdXKLwUePGROw31nvV15tZtRZG6kWcPQ0eY/s320/Slide17.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGDPORJ2pMOZx1dQDdj_wq7oKjnipsydVF2N0keR6bDXNpNDfTV4U0JvyPqQgUEkVpBF_-TXsnLpbkd2rLBYoJArPUfimma4glGrvI2XEumZj3wz3L9AL5AiBiW1_-2ybnZfrRYd2e7I/s1600/Slide18.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGDPORJ2pMOZx1dQDdj_wq7oKjnipsydVF2N0keR6bDXNpNDfTV4U0JvyPqQgUEkVpBF_-TXsnLpbkd2rLBYoJArPUfimma4glGrvI2XEumZj3wz3L9AL5AiBiW1_-2ybnZfrRYd2e7I/s320/Slide18.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Once we got to the end, what did I want them to do with it? This had already been a long piece of work, and the work I've received from students has shown that by this stage they had already spent a lot of time on it. I had toyed with doing some "match the sentence halves" exercises, but in the end, I wanted their response to the ideas of the speech, not merely some functional language work. So, I gave them a choice. Their response is their work over this week, although I've already had a few submissions. Some have done a word cloud of their most important words, others have created an image based on the key words for them. I know from the messages that some have thought long and hard about the ideas, and have also found it interesting. If I have been able to heighten their awareness and make them think, then I will be happy.<br />
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The full powerpoint is uploaded on tes <a href="https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-do-the-germans-see-ve-day-12311969" target="_blank">here</a></div>
<a href="https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-do-the-germans-see-ve-day-12311969" target="_blank">https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-do-the-germans-see-ve-day-12311969</a><br />
<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-39452245519456712492019-01-13T04:02:00.003-08:002019-01-13T04:02:39.375-08:00Turning the tanker around - changing how we prepare our students for GCSESeptember last year was a new start for me, and a new challenge as Head of Department. Like a lot of schools, there was a lot of work that had already been done to prepare for the new GCSE, but it was also clear that we still had a lot of work to. I want to blog about how we are going about the challenge of changing things up. <br />
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<b><u>Our main challenges were / are ..</u></b><br />
Helping students to understand how to revise<br />
Getting them to speak more spontaneously, and use the linguistic structures for themselves<br />
Middle / weaker students feeling that they didn't know how to build sentences<br />
Helping students to write to bullet points adapting the resources they'd already learnt<br />
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<b><u>The story so far</u></b><br />
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<b><u>The successes</u></b><br />
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We started with a big push on spontaneous speaking, especially at KS3, and this has proved to be successful as far as we have taken it. We have used techniques that a colleague learnt at a local ALL twilight group on spontaneous speaking run by Julie Hall. She has written an article for ALL where it's explained, <a href="https://www.all-languages.org.uk/practitioner-focus/using-target-language/" target="_blank">which you can find here</a>. We showed them how useful avoir/être are, and we introduced phrases for the register, and it's the creative ones that have been successful, so if someone is absent, they speculate that they're skipping lessons with Beyoncé to go to MacDonalds. Another one that students enjoy using is saying where they'd like to be e.g. I'd like to be in bed / I'd like to be in town with my friends. Students get points (which they record at the back of the book) for speaking French / German, and there is a mini-prize every week. They get points for reacting during pairwork, and we set tasks up so that they know it's an expectation to react. No real life conversation simply involves question 1, answer 1, question 2, answer 2. They love saying "Tu rigoles!" or "Spinnst du?" This has also motivated weaker students. In my bottom set year 8 lesson last week, the technology crashed on me. I heard a voice from the back say, "Quel désastre!". This class will also ask for the correct colour highlighter in French. They feel able <i>and</i> motivated to do it, and it has brought a buzz to the classrooms.<br />
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We wanted to give a bigger push on structures rather than just single words, and so introduced key sentences to our vocabulary lists. These aren't Knowledge Organisers as they are being discussed, as we felt that they still needed to be able to access the individual words as well, but we have put "top 10 sentences" at the start of each organiser, and these highlight the key structures, and also showcase how to extend sentences. These have been integrated into our end-of-unit assessments, and used in weekly vocab tests, but that's about it and only some students have cottoned on to the fact that they can also use them in their own work. It is clear, however, that we have a lot of work to do to get the students to make the most of them, which brings us to our longer list of "Things we need to work on".<br />
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<b><u>Still on the to-do list</u></b><br />
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<b><u>Making sure our assessments don't sabotage the work done in class</u></b><br />
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Having been so encouraged by the progress made by the spontaneous speaking in KS3, I was appalled that the Year 9s, who have their exams soon, just wanted to know "which paragraphs to learn" for the speaking assessment. As far as they are concerned, speaking is still just a case of rote learning answers completely divorced from the content,so the same problems came up with them parroting things they didn't understand, with of course the inevitable mistakes that made their sentences gobbledegook. Yes, there needs to be an element of them being able to showcase the best that they can do, but we need to help them with their revision, and build in some element of quick-fire questions that they need to respond to.<br />
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<b><u>Revision skills, or lack of them</u></b><br />
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It has become painfully clear that all year groups have only the vaguest idea about how to revise, even students who appear reasonably confident. This is clearly urgent for Year 11, but we need to address it now in all years. <br />
So - what to do?<br />
First up - a "How to revise" lecture to introduce the key concepts. Due to availability of our lecture theatre, Year 10 got the lecture first, and I've uploaded it onto tes.com <a href="https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-revise-mfl-year-10-12050543" target="_blank">here</a><br />
<a href="https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-revise-mfl-year-10-12050543" target="_blank">https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-revise-mfl-year-10-12050543</a><br />
This starts the conversation, but then needs to be continued in class.<br />
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We're going to focus on introducing one new element a week, both to staff and to students.<br />
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<b><u>Strategies are going to include:</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>One allocated slot per week for a "how to learn from the KO" starter</li>
<li>Another lesson is going to have "walk / jog / run" starter</li>
<li>Teach mimes for past, present, future AND infinitive and use as prompts in class</li>
<li>Teach the BSL words for question words.</li>
<li>Teaching students the concepts of "building blocks" (my phrase for core structures) and how to use them.</li>
<li>Getting students to speak from doodles, and not worry about getting it "word for word"</li>
</ul>
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Wish us luck - I will post about our progress in future posts.Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-56585646432755693502018-01-25T13:52:00.000-08:002018-01-25T14:02:29.050-08:00Revision skills - assume nothing<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With the mock speaking exams for Year 11s and annual exams for Year 10 just around the corner, the issue of revision skills has loomed large recently. Both my Year 10s and, more worryingly, some of my Year 11s have been resistant to the revision techniques I've introduced to them to help them learn for the speaking exams, and they have struggled to choose the right tool for the right situation. I see them clinging to the methods that worked for them at Key Stage 3, which don't fit the brave new world of the new GCSE that they find themselves in. The phrase which has echoed through recent times is "never assume".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u><b> Here's what I've learned:</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Never assume</b> <b>that demonstrating revision skills will be enough</b>. Showing them the success of a technique doesn't necessarily mean that they have made the connection with when and why to use it. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We need time in class to have those learning conversations where you can get the students to think about why certain strategies are effective for which reason. My experience in the last few months is that my students use certain techniques blindly without knowing why, meaning they make bad choices. Beyond the old chestnuts of "reading through" or "writing it out again and again", I've come across some new variations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Never assume they know the difference between different techniques</b>. We've had success with memrise.com for promoting regular vocabulary learning, but some students now think that will also see them through the speaking exam!!?!</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Never assume they've got it.</b> Once is not enough - the revision skills have to be practised on a very regular basis, and be integrated into the schemes of learning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Never assume</b> you can leave these techniques to KS4. Bad habits picked up in KS3 take an age to unlearn. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Key Stage 3</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Never assume they'll make the link between learning words in French with how they learnt spellings in primary school unless you make it for them</b>. Look-Say-Cover-Write-Check needs reminders at the beginning of September at the very least. Talk to them about how they learnt in primary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Never assume (and this I learnt again to my cost this week) they will understand how to make their own flashcards</b> for revising for speaking assessments. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>And, of course, never assume they know how best to use them</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">This week I wanted to do a revision lesson with my Year 7 French middle set. I decided we would make our own flashcards for the key questions from the module we had just finished. A nice, easy lesson, I thought. Oh, how wrong I was. Everything seemed to throw up misunderstandings. Despite showing them a model on the board, some seemed genuinely mystified by the whole concept. For others, putting the question on one side and your own personal answer on the other seemed new. Not cramming too much onto one card was another skill quite a few needed to learn. That was before we even got round to using them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I wanted them to use the cards in 3 steps. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">1. Ask the question and let your partner see the full answer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">2. Get the partner to answer the question but this time only revealing the starter words on the flashcard. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">3. This time the partner has no help.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">After a few minutes of pairwork, I heard several choruses of "j'ai fini". A closer questioning showed that they had done the task in order to get it over and done with, rather than with the deliberate aim of using the different stages to actually learn their answers. A lot of conversations and coaching was needed to get the penny to drop. I finished that lesson with a headache. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I was determined to get them to understand it more carefully, so I came back next lesson for a second go. Example cards, another explanation. More time. The second half of the lesson, the class was transformed. I had a class that worked happily quizzing each other and coaching each other. A real taste of independent learning. I say "a taste", because if I don't do this again next time, they will forget all about it, apart from a few diligent students.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">And for the students: <b>never assume that you've learnt it just because you've spent time learning</b>. In the last 10 minutes, I got them to write out what they could remember, then use their green pens to see where they needed to focus their efforts. </span><br />
<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-58132800886965515632017-12-03T03:49:00.003-08:002017-12-03T03:57:51.846-08:00Starters with impact for GCSE<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b><u>Starters with impact</u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We’ve just had our mocks, and we’ve got a long list of
things to address on top of the content which we need to finish.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We are not going to magic extra time out of
the ether, so that means that every activity we do in class needs to have
maximum impact.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are 2 main ways
for this to happen:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">1.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The activity
combines language skills with heightening awareness of exam formats or
requirements.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">2.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>By doing activities
that emphasize key structures and start the process of memorising and
internalising key structures and language. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In many senses, I have been doing this already, but
sharpening this up is beginning to make a difference.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What I’m going to look at in my next few
blogs are some examples of strategies I’m using in class.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Starters </span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">These play such a crucial role.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Here are some favourites of mine.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "calibri";">“5 a day”</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
Whilst <span style="font-family: "calibri";">stood
at the photocopier, a couple of weeks ago, I had a bad case of worksheet envy. I was admiring a starter sheet from maths, taken from
this <a href="https://corbettmaths.com/5-a-day/gcse/" target="_blank">website “5 a day</a>”.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The teacher said
it was great for highlighting misconceptions.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Now I’m not going to have time to do something for every day, but here
is one I made for my foundation French group:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLYd30_HIo80frmpH1R7SnyBUputr1whIim5vcV9FWAnubk2hP67IwHDRANnYkQUrBdPsOFny8RQm_hScdQ0hqHmJLmAdCVXNr9tNJug8Gu7nhZxTLPmNc6TVAN3hDKr3sbpG5h1OjUo/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLYd30_HIo80frmpH1R7SnyBUputr1whIim5vcV9FWAnubk2hP67IwHDRANnYkQUrBdPsOFny8RQm_hScdQ0hqHmJLmAdCVXNr9tNJug8Gu7nhZxTLPmNc6TVAN3hDKr3sbpG5h1OjUo/s400/Slide1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Photocard:</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">2 photos – match the sentences to the card.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Once you’ve gone through it, give them 30
seconds to memorise, then show a version with key structures blanked out.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Get them to write them again on their
mini-whiteboards.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">2 photos – 2 descriptions.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Match the photo to the description, then similar process to before.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This allows you to model a full answer for
the speaking photo card.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Summary questions</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We call our bank of speaking questions for each topic “summary
questions” so that the students don’t just think of these as questions just for
the speaking exam.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We have a real task
on our hands getting them to learn them, so we’ve started giving them a couple
of key questions a week.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We also
desperately need them to practise writing to a bullet point, and for them to
see the connection between the summary questions and the writing exam.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They also need practice in understanding what
is required of the bullet point.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We give them 2 questions to learn, but instead of always testing
as a peer assessment, we sometimes put them as writing bullet points on the board and
give them 10 minutes to answer one of the bullet points.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Here’s an example:</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Qu’est-ce que tu fais
pendant ton temps libre? </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">is transformed to the bullet point</span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">vos passe-temps préférés</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My students have found this useful, and it seems to be helping them to make the links between their learning and the exam.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I’m still using my lollipop sticks starter, which I <a href="http://mflmeanderings.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/lollipop-sticks-for-grammar.html" target="_blank">talked about here</a>, but I now follow it up with a grid in the past, present and future that
is similar to grids seen in the reading exam specimens, which I get them to
fill in, either with or without prompts.</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span>Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-21168410189449283022017-11-12T09:53:00.000-08:002017-11-12T09:53:11.922-08:00Preparing for the new A-Levels
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">This weekend I had the pleasure of spending my Saturday with
colleagues at a conference on preparing for the new A-Level hosted by the
wonderful ALL Yorkshire, with Robert Pike and Rachel Tattersall
presenting.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I can’t possibly do justice
to everything that was presented, but below are some of the things that I took
away from today, and the thoughts I had whilst listening to the presentations.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A lot of the comments below are specifically
AQA, but the general gist will apply to any board.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">1. Get the
information from the exam board websites now!<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">You need to get yourself familiar <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>now</u></b> with the exam structure, especially for the speaking
exam.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">It was news to me that for the A-Level, the candidates only
have 5 minutes preparation time, and this is done in front of the examiner! Not
only that, but although they only do one stimulus card, they have to ask 2
questions. The devil truly is in the detail!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">The advice on conduct of the examinations is up on the
website (e.g. <a href="http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/as-and-a-level/german-7662/assessment-resources"><span style="color: #0563c1;">http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/as-and-a-level/german-7662/assessment-resources</span></a>
) so now is the time to trawl through the website to get what you need.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">On the German A-level page there are the detailed
instructions for the speaking test, and commentaries on sample answers for both
the essay paper and the speaking test.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">You should also have had an advisor assigned to your school
for the Independent Research Project.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If
you haven’t heard (I haven’t!), chase it up with your exams officer.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">2. Preparation for
the exams</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">IRP -<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>My students
have started their research, and they are now beginning to look towards how to
turn that into something which can be used for the exam.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Timings are going to be crucial – those 2
minutes of presentation can earn up to 5 marks for AO4, so it’s important for
this to be structured well, but of course, not so crammed that the students
rush and become unintelligible. A 9 minute discussion is a long time, and it’s
going to be crucial that they have enough material and considered thoughts on
this to last this amount of time.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">The training prompted me to go home and look at the form for
the IRP (also on the website).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There is
room for between 2 and 10 headings for the discussion. The more headings used,
the more control the candidate will have over the direction of the discussion.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">Translation</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">It was commented on that a mark of 0/10 for the translation
into the TL was not uncommon.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Lots of
small mistakes evenly distributed would lead to this, so training our students
to be confident with grammar, and to look carefully at what is required
(singular /plural; definite article / indefinite article) is essential.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">How can we help in
class?</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Lots of practice of changing and manipulating language.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The old adage of making maximum use of any
text you do in class still applies.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Getting students used to finding verbs but then change tenses, changing
1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> to 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> person (especially with irregular verbs in
German), spotting the change in role and therefore the change in case – these
are all things that come with regular practice.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">Summaries</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">I was intrigued to find out that examiners <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>do</u></i></b>
count the words for the summaries.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They
do allow for a few additional words, and will mark up to 10 words over the
word-limit, up to the first natural break.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>That means that candidates must stick to the bullet points, and be
guided by the number of points awarded.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">Tips to improve
summaries:</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Avoid introductions and keep to the bullet
points.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Make rough notes first before doing the final
summary – it will make it more concise. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Answer the bullet points directly.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">In class, practise transcribing, especially
focusing on verb endings, article spellings etc.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">The essay</span></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Examiners look first a AO4 (critical response).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Students need to demonstrate accurate and
detailed knowledge, evidence from the text, and develop arguments and draw
conclusions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The best essays are not the
long essays – 350 words are more than enough. They need to be tight, relevant
and varied.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Encouraging students to
choose their examples and quotes carefully and write with control, needs a lot
of practice.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Robert Pike talked about
using <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ExExExEx</b> to get students to
think about structuring paragraphs.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Express your point</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Explain</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Example</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Extend and develop – this the part which will
give candidates access to the highest marks for AO4</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Personally, I use a variation on PEEL, and use it in my
marking.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">P – point</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Eg – Example</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Ex – Explanation</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Ev – Evaluation</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">L – link to the question</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">By using this in my marking, the students have been able to
see more clearly whether they have been making too many descriptive points,
rather than developing ideas.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;"><b><u>3.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Developing the knowledge
of society and making it stick</u></b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">One of the big concerns for this new A-Level is whether students have a
good understanding of the knowledge of society, and can they recall this information
quickly.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There is a lot of key
information to remember, and although they don’t need specific figures, they do
need to know trends, rough comparisons and be able to talk and comment about
these and examples from the TL countries.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">We need to help our students to get control over this by
getting them to do summarising activities at the end of the topic.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This should also mean that they have an easy
overview of the whole topic.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Favourites that were mentioned were making a mind map, summary
page of facts, doing a poster, doing a presentation to the class with a word-limit
on the slide to stop the dreaded put-a-text-up-then-read-it-out disaster.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I have several students who hate mind maps
and posters, and are definitely bullet-point people.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I insist on a second column beside the stats
and facts which states what conclusions they can draw from them.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">4.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Combining fluency and knowledge of society</span></u></b></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Getting our students confident enough to speak is often one
of our big tasks in Y12.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are lots
of good, short activities to support this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Speaking from word cloud prompts reinforces key
ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Using prompt cards with key language and a key
idea that they have to include builds up their level of language.</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Just a minute</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Hot seating</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Rank ordering (diamond 9, for example) with
justification of their placings.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">There were all ideas I already used, but I came across a couple
of new ones that I liked:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Connect 4 – but instead of providing a word, they have to be
able to answer the question e.g. How has family changed since 1960s?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Beetle Drive – 1 question for each side of the dice.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Students have to answer the relevant question
to be able to cross off that particular square.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>BUT (and this is the bit I really liked) if they throw the same number
again, they have to add to their answer.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: calibri;">5.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>And finally…. questioning</span></u></b></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">All the way through the training session, it occurred to me
again and again how crucial the questions we pose in class are.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One question I really need to consider for
myself is whether I’m spending enough time asking higher order questions that
give students the opportunity to evaluate, analyse and compare aspects of the TL
country. </span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: calibri;"></span>Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-18417577366774004002017-07-02T06:24:00.000-07:002017-07-02T06:27:25.310-07:00Why I love mailmergeUnlike excel spreadsheets, which we've had no choice but learn to love, mailmerge seems to be a little known function. I discovered it a couple of years ago, but as I talk to lots of colleagues who've never used it, I thought I would share my very basic use of it.<br />
<br />
Feedback on exams. Except with the most switched-on classes, it can be a nightmare. 4 skills, at least 3 on paper form. No matter how hard I had tried to make it clear, students were still confused. "Which one's my overall grade?". Reading out the levels/grades to the whole class or going round individually were also less than satisfactory.<br />
<br />
As I already have a spreadsheet with the grades/levels for each skill, I can easily make individualised feedback for each student. Now that I am wise in the ways of mailmerge, it takes me 5 mins to create feedback from the spreadsheet which also makes it clear for the student and minimises my stress levels. What's not to love?<br />
<br />
Here's how I do it.<br />
<br />
1. When I'm marking the exams, as well as entering grades, I also enter a remark in 2 extra columns: "what you did well" and "next steps". I normally do this on a separate piece of paper - doing it into a spreadsheet also gives me a great overview for parents' evening and reports.<br />
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2. so now you have a lovely spreadsheet like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdDNJYYhJWt3cca8TYyjsDGSZ4HZo0dv3KdXb3F_8nbs1y7NDPfHKt4Uq7_cjbIJyAx8sfjcqdSa5z3RmM5_vb2w_vzWJ-AVhQj4uKup38yIB3WSISJclVqo05k6LaGqgDjMUk9AHzBg/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdDNJYYhJWt3cca8TYyjsDGSZ4HZo0dv3KdXb3F_8nbs1y7NDPfHKt4Uq7_cjbIJyAx8sfjcqdSa5z3RmM5_vb2w_vzWJ-AVhQj4uKup38yIB3WSISJclVqo05k6LaGqgDjMUk9AHzBg/s400/Slide1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
3. Open a word document and choose "Mailings" and select "Start mailmerge" and choose "normal document". Write the basic format of the document you want.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVV3w9VC4QfVYkyq6GT5peaY2yrzKRu5a21J2e0p2z6NT_Ds9HYagWiPX2fl2Chip1bzOTMdX2g_kMBiS3shZUC0BO3-PfygnzNybMDrdbYee5y4nVqXxvRuMgoMxJP7-kZn0kd2ak0o/s1600/Slide3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVV3w9VC4QfVYkyq6GT5peaY2yrzKRu5a21J2e0p2z6NT_Ds9HYagWiPX2fl2Chip1bzOTMdX2g_kMBiS3shZUC0BO3-PfygnzNybMDrdbYee5y4nVqXxvRuMgoMxJP7-kZn0kd2ak0o/s640/Slide3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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4. Now you need to choose the recipients. That's the students from your spreadsheet. So - choose "existing list" then choose your spreadsheet and the page that has your class on it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitucFm6_1ZHeClt2-CgpbtlSjSZK8hA141q9wixAnc1OtiFB5svdIkysyCFabUP9ktFb_9IzeUX38VXnmJN5EsRGIE4pyWhHZ3-HIJmI2hf-6tI-Rsix8NFbdTQkbJM1_iKFEMj69OrSI/s1600/Slide4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitucFm6_1ZHeClt2-CgpbtlSjSZK8hA141q9wixAnc1OtiFB5svdIkysyCFabUP9ktFb_9IzeUX38VXnmJN5EsRGIE4pyWhHZ3-HIJmI2hf-6tI-Rsix8NFbdTQkbJM1_iKFEMj69OrSI/s640/Slide4.JPG" width="640" /></a>5. Now enter the fields where you need them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GWFzK5aY4amdidsAgSfjvEF468DINg9MZ5vW6B-1XO9P3M1A2ipw-VTKN-TxsejxfEXelcx7zG7g0bIFoEREQAuI2q__294o2rXm_xjJj8rW4ZRkCcNCG1AQnLYZuLBZkA6rCDrD8X0/s1600/Slide5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GWFzK5aY4amdidsAgSfjvEF468DINg9MZ5vW6B-1XO9P3M1A2ipw-VTKN-TxsejxfEXelcx7zG7g0bIFoEREQAuI2q__294o2rXm_xjJj8rW4ZRkCcNCG1AQnLYZuLBZkA6rCDrD8X0/s640/Slide5.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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6. Choose preview results and double-check. Then finish and merge. I always choose "edit all" . And Voila - pain-free feedback.<br />
<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-84512815757880495602017-06-18T04:17:00.001-07:002017-06-18T12:00:20.094-07:00Changing mindsets - or trying to take the comfort blanket awayI'm coming to the end of my first year at my new school, so the annual reflection about what's worked and what hasn't is even more essential. One of the biggest battles I have had this year has centred round learning for assessments. Apart from my Year 7s, all my other year groups have clung to the idea of memorising paragraphs. The disastrous legacy of the now defunct GCSE is proving hard to shift. The battle is, of course, most acute in year 10, who have less time than other year groups to make that shift. In their writing exam, despite me saying that the questions would be adapted from the summary questions they had done for each topic, many students simply tried to learn all of these answers by rote. This meant that we had the familiar problems of minds going blank after the first line, but with the added horror that they didn't tweak the language they knew to fit the actual question. When talking with the students, it became apparent that I still had my work cut out. What I thought I had been teaching them i.e. how to use key verbs, how to use the language constructively, was not what the students were taking in. Basic mistake.<br />
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In many ways, this is a variation on another age-old battle to persuade students that "just reading through" is the worst revision technique ever. I get it - rote-learning of paragraphs has a good feeling to it. It's also really definite - there's my paragraph, that's what I've got to learn. Doesn't matter if I don't know what it means, I've just got to learn it. Boom! Of course, breaking things down, knowing what all the elements mean - that's hard work, and it looks like you're making less progress at first, but it's real learning. There will still be a place for learning answers so that you can answer questions for the general conversation, but it cannot be with this mindset that you just learn and regurgitate.<br />
<br />
I'm about to get my year 10s to prepare a for another writing assessment, so these are some of the things I've done differently since January.<br />
1. Lots of explicit talk about learning - lots of use of lego imagery!<br />
2. Adapting the use of photos as starters to emphasise the use of key language.<br />
3. Making memrise.com a bigger part of the learning process - showing the leaderboard, but also (crucially) showing which % of the course they have mastered.<br />
4. Making them fill in a sheet of key language for the summary questions before they learn them - broken down into opinion phrases, verbs, adjectives/adverbs, connectives, fab phrases. On the sheet they fill in the French and the English. It's a faff, and I make them do it in class, because they don't like doing it, and I can quality control it. It then allows them to test each other.<br />
5. My lollipop-stick games on key verbs.<br />
6. Vocab tests that include a few sentences to translate, not just single bits of vocabulary<br />
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Will it work? We will see. Is anyone else in the same boat? I'd love to know how you've tackled it.<br />
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<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-53593785222668841192017-06-18T03:43:00.001-07:002017-06-18T03:43:40.081-07:00Swag BagSometimes the old ideas are good ideas because they work. I have a year 10 GCSE French set, where many have targets of grades 6-7, but I found it difficult to get them out of their comfort zone. So, in October, we started a swag bag. On the middle double-spread in their exercise books, we started assembling useful phrases that would help them to elevate their language. A few weeks ago, we had managed to come up with this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXj8JWj3PO-lxQCQlpKNCHA_G76XvG9AfLr9CPGesPrny7bnlCzo3kTSRAHG0Bo8X0RNf2MhyeYpLc4_nw20ABcYxz2CRDeije0jVC1m9LuzWo-LV_nQyCqwObg3Xer6_NjpaWvN28KeA/s1600/swag+bag+picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXj8JWj3PO-lxQCQlpKNCHA_G76XvG9AfLr9CPGesPrny7bnlCzo3kTSRAHG0Bo8X0RNf2MhyeYpLc4_nw20ABcYxz2CRDeije0jVC1m9LuzWo-LV_nQyCqwObg3Xer6_NjpaWvN28KeA/s320/swag+bag+picture.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's different to a learning mat, because they are responsible for choosing whether the word or phrase is worthy of inclusion, which means that we have a conversation about why these phrases are useful. It also puts the onus on them to think about it and maintain it. Now, when we do extended writing, they have to nominate at the top of their work a minimum of 3 swag bag phrases that they can use in their work. It's a work in progress, and we will add to it in the future, but it's been useful for getting them out of their "j'aime...parce que c'est super" straitjacket.Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-25733306558777453822017-06-12T13:37:00.000-07:002017-06-12T13:37:00.552-07:00Lollipop sticks for grammar!Lollipop sticks - a fun way of making sure no-one gets left out from my questioning. But there's so much more to be done with them. Why does it just have to be student names on them? As I no longer have access to my smartboard random word chooser, I need another random phrase selector, and lollipop fit the bill in a pleasingly no-tech kinda way.<br />
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One of my challenges this year has been to find ways to help my year 10s build their awareness of verbs and the different tenses. So - I have created these lollipop sticks, all with "trigger phrases" on them - French on one side, English on the other.<br />
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfWFwGADPfk3mzlffjC4M17uLhD20aYYHfIl9nezPtlr6ifixBwvhecSYlwBW5tGETLfSsRIAfaNQnxKONBHlW_iL1U_VuCyuZKY-exnVc5hD6oSqQoQFsNSvblAVp8vFGMyc5RPDxEM/s320/lollipop.jpg" width="180" /> </div>
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The trigger phrases include phrases or verbs which then require the infinitive, and then triggers for the present, perfect, imperfect and future:</div>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjPMieyGlT97GedMstxPWW9L6_DG6DTSDhZ5ckzFMnAxpVFrM-H3RQgOzzW1tTxzDkzQrQRnz9K6JwXiEV62sTby7DLRMT6NgmFjbbd99623vbsdYVyXB2AJvBZxlc4TJbkzyOJTDsA8/s400/Slide4.JPG" width="400" /></div>
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I have selected 8 key verbs from the topic we are currently doing, and put them into a table.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyl9IOBYFzDanhZXQZfTyOfuJUs5K9x0gLqepdlgNTsJTZSXXiSYMDjRpd-VK-pf13CaIcMmEIUtsT7Tkrv7ovVT94yoWHRlACb6gQNO-9QeyV836QFKc_KBjLtgxgwxDoa0Uqz0eL-qo/s1600/Slide2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyl9IOBYFzDanhZXQZfTyOfuJUs5K9x0gLqepdlgNTsJTZSXXiSYMDjRpd-VK-pf13CaIcMmEIUtsT7Tkrv7ovVT94yoWHRlACb6gQNO-9QeyV836QFKc_KBjLtgxgwxDoa0Uqz0eL-qo/s640/Slide2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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After introducing the idea of the trigger phrases, ensuring that they know which tense goes with which, we can then start playing.</div>
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Some ideas that have worked:</div>
<ul>
<li>Everyone gets a lollipop stick, then writes the chosen verb in the form they need on their mini-whiteboard.</li>
<li>Focus on one verb - allow some memorisation time, then people come up to choose their stick, then get to form it. They double their points if they can translate it too.</li>
<li>Challenge the other team. </li>
<li>Timed challenge.</li>
</ul>
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You get the gist - I'm sure you can think of some of your own.</div>
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<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-78537734498532296192016-12-29T11:10:00.000-08:002016-12-29T11:10:40.498-08:00Teaching film for Year 12 MFL students
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Teaching film in Year 12</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">One of the pleasures of teaching 6</span><sup><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: calibri;"> form MFL has
always been the opportunity to study a film or literary work.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">The cultural and linguistic richness which
this brings to the study of a language has the ability to light up the experience
of learning a language.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Usually,
however, I have been used to teaching this in Year 13, where it has been much
more about learning about a film, play or novel in the medium of the target
language. With the majority of the students that I’m currently teaching, I’m
not yet in a position to do this in the way I was used to doing – most of them
are simply not linguistically advanced to be able to cope with the material
I’ve developed. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Simply put, the needs of
my Y12s are very different from the needs of any previous Y13s I have had. As
my school is entering all Y12 for the AS, I also have the eye-wateringly tight
time constraints imposed by external deadlines to contend with. All of this
means that my current teaching materials for teaching a film are in dire need
of an overhaul. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">In this post, I’m going
to reflect on the ways in which I’m going to have to adapt the way I teach a
film or a text at Year 12 needs to change to reflect the different stage in
learning which are students are at.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: calibri;">What do my students
need?</span></b></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Some of my students still need intensive practice of verb
conjugation and work with the cases.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">That means incorporating lots of follow-up grammar practice, much of
which can be done in their independent study sessions or as part of
homework.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">It also means identifying the
key verbs / vocabulary for each session and giving them more prominence.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Teaching new grammar – I am going to need to introduce more
complex relative clauses, the use of weak masculine nouns, for a start.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Essay-writing practice.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Although it will be a while before they can write a full essay, they can
write structured paragraphs from the start which could form an essay, and that
teach essay-writing language.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: calibri;">Summarising skills – summarising is now part of the requirement
at AS.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">This needs practising in general,
as well as in the specific way it is required for the exam.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: calibri;">Ideas for starters:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Summarise what happened in the scenes from last
lesson</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Screenshot – describe the picture – note techniques
/ who is doing what</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">verb games using the verbs from last lesson</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">prepositions and cases gapfill</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: calibri;">Ideas for follow-up work: </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: calibri;">Each week needs a mix of the following:</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Grammar work with the identified focus –
gapfill / word order / cloze text </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Translation – either from the script or from the
language work provided</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Summary of the action – choose a tense to do it
in – practise imperfect / perfect or even present tense</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px 48px; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: calibri;">Structured paragraph “exam-stylee” focused on
either how the themes are developed / how technique is used / the role a
character plays / what we learn about society from these </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-11105972065348685182016-03-06T05:56:00.003-08:002016-03-06T05:58:54.300-08:00Helping pupils with challenging reading texts for GCSEI thought I would share the following resource which I have been using with my year 11s to help them improve their exam technique. The tendency my students have is to snatch at one word, then build their answer around that one, single word, which inevitably leads to disaster. Alternatively, they have no idea where to start. Taking them step-by-step through the process, slowing them down so that they are forced to think about what they are reading - these have been useful. Especially for AQA GCSE, where obscure answers are part and parcel of preparing for the A-A* type questions,<br />
<br />
I have a golden rule: Show me the evidence!! You have to be guided by the words in the text. We have just done a past paper question where the answer to the question, "How do you know the family are despairing of getting Louis to school on time?" was "They are thinking about having breakfast the night before" Previous attempts at these types of obscure questions has led to blank expressions all round. Although not all got it, some did because they had taken it step by step.<br />
<br />
This template is also good for homework support. If they have done all of these steps, you know that they have really engaged with the text.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Guided Reading
Template<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Stage 1.</u></b> <b>Look
at the clues which could set the scene.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Is there any photo
/ picture? What does it show? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. What’s the title
of the article? Translate it here:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. What’s this
article about? Which topics might be
included in this reading text?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Stage 2.</u></b> <b>Skim
read – getting the gist of what has been written</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
List the 3 most important things you have learned from the
text.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Stage 3.</u></b> <b>Focus
on the first line of each paragraph – find the theme of the paragraph.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Translate each first sentence, and then tell me what the
probable theme of the paragraph is.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 141.95pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Paragraph <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
number..<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.1pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Translation<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 158.05pt;" valign="top" width="211"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Probable theme<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 141.95pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
1. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.1pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 158.05pt;" valign="top" width="211"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Stage 4.</u></b> <b>Find
out what the key words are each question – underline them!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Stage 5.</u></b> <b>Find the section that gives you the answer
to the question</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a. Underline the sentence or phrase which gives you the
answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
b. Translate as much as you can from that sentence into your
exercise book.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>German:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>English:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Stage 6.</u></b> <b>Answer
the question, using your translation to help you!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>Here is the <a href="https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/guided-reading-template-11234524" target="_blank">link to the resource on TES</a></o:p></div>
Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-14495454391398954292016-02-22T12:38:00.000-08:002016-02-22T12:48:07.649-08:00Using film in MFL lessons - integrating it into the scheme of work<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. The lesson sequence I'm going to describe came about when it became clear that I really needed a Plan B. The danger of the spiral curriculum, where topics are revisited, but with increasing difficulty, was laid bare a few months ago by one of my Year 9 French classes. The textbook we loosely follow is Tricolore, and the not-so-inspiring topic was family, and the grammar covered revision of adjectives for description and reflexive verbs including reciprocal verbs such as "nous nous disputons". I made the fatal mistake when introducing the new topic of mentioning "family" and the shutters came down." Family? Did that in year 7." and although the phrase, "What's the point?" wasn't actually uttered, the body language said it all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back to the drawing board. This is when I came upon <a href="http://www.rachelhawkes.com/RPP/Film/Film.php" target="_blank">these fabulous resources by Rachel Hawkes</a> and colleagues on the film "Neuilly sa mère!". I liked these resources, but I wanted to try a different approach. The joy of this film is that it allows the pupils to comment on the family and characters shown in the film, and that from this, I could also teach them what I needed. I think there is much to be gained from pupils seeing and experiencing a full film in the foreign language - their ear becomes more attuned, and the cultural references and sights are also often easily absorbed. I have been less impressed with the overall effect that watching a film over, say, 2 lessons <i>followed by</i> language work. In recent years, I have tended to use short excerpts of films instead. I decided, therefore to blend the 2 approaches, and show approx. 20 - 30 min clips over a period of lessons and use these as the stimulus for the rest of the lesson. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was the sequence that developed.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Aims of unit and
the film:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->revise and extend knowledge of family members<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->revise and extend personality adjectives <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->introduce a wider range of reflexive verbs to be
able to talk about who you get on with<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->revise and extend adjectives for describing
appearance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->revise la futur proche to predict the end of the
film<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->to develop phrases for introducing your opinion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->to write about your own family based on the
language learnt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->to write a review of the film<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <b><u>Lesson 1 <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">start
– 17:00</span></u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> We introduced the characters. Using grouptalk and with a support sheet with personality words, they discussed which characters they liked and why, and compared them. Who was more spoilt? Who was funnier / nicer? They also worked out who was related to whom. After they had completed exercises about the fictional family, I got no complaints about applying that language to a description of their own families for homework.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">L <b><u>Lessons 2/3 <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">17:00
– 39:00</span></u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> After watching the relationships between the characters develop, I used this section to teach "s'entendre bien avec" with other reflexive verbs e.g. se disputer. We used a tarsia game to get to know the key verbs and structures, and they were then able to say who got on with whom. They then applied it to their own families.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><u>Lesson 4 </u></b></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><u>39:00
– 1:00</u></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> This section allowed more use of reflexive verbs e.g. ils se moquent de lui. And, as Sami doubted whether he would ever get his girl because he thought he wasn't her type, this seemed a good time to revise appearances, as it fitted with the plot. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><u>Lesson 5 </u></b></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><u>1:00
– 1:15</u></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Something a bit different this time. We watched the party scene and then used the near future to predict what would happen for the end of the film. I taught them a few phrases to introduce their opinion.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <u><b>Lesson 6 watch to the end</b></u></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> We found out which of our predictions were right! We then did some work to review the film. Who was the favourite character? Which was the favourite scene etc.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The class really enjoyed this sequence of lessons, and they were willing to use more challenging French because they were motivated. I prefer this way of watching a whole film. We still got through all of the language for the scheme of work, and it felt much more organic. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-78778117391801568532015-07-02T13:43:00.003-07:002015-07-02T13:43:39.143-07:00Preparing for the new GCSE - some of the nitty grittyThe 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.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 148.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>What needs to be looked at:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Getting used to
literary texts and more authentic materials<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Answering in more
detail in reading questions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-finish the
sentence <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Transcribing –
spelling to be taken into account in the new listening<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>-also part of the NC<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Photo-cards –
starters with “what can you see in the picture”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Role-plays –
situational and talking with a friend – bolster these in Y8 & 9 especially,
but also in Y7 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forming questions
– make sure this is given more priority<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Intensive pr</span>actice of key
verbs – “emergency kit” in 3 tenses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does a good
model essay look like? Preparing pupils for this – key phrases needed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How assessment
will change – making sure the teaching prepares pupils well for this<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to keep
language fresh so they don’t forget (Homer Simpson syndrome)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Translation both
ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To do list:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Identify good
transcribing resources (for use with micro-listening tasks (The language gym))<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Join the ALL wiki
for good sources of material<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Identify a minimum
of one literary/authentic text (song / poem / letter) for each module<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Embed </span>
grouptalk / roleplay opportunities into the scheme of work </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> how to progress with
it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Review reference
material for pupils – to support question formation / grammar aspects for
correcting own work (</span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
support feedback ticksheet)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>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.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Translation – we
do a lot of it in drills, but maybe not a little paragraph as often into
English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needs to be done monthly <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span>Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-9002689331738045092015-07-02T13:36:00.005-07:002015-07-03T03:08:03.483-07:00Preparing for the new GCSE - literature in KS3This is the second post about KS3 and literature. The previous one has various links including to the wonderful <a href="http://all-literature.wikidot.com/" target="_blank">ALL wiki on literature</a>. 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:<br />
<ul>
<li>Getting pupils used to texts which combine language from lots of diffrerent topics and to dealing with a manageable amount of new words</li>
<li>Coping with unfamiliar words </li>
<li>Capturing pupils' interest</li>
<li>Opening the world out to them</li>
</ul>
<br />
<strong><u>Letters</u></strong><br />
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 <a href="http://www.g-geschichte.de/pdf/plus/soldatenbriefe_aus_dem_ersten_weltkrieg.pdf" target="_blank">this collection of soldier's letters</a>. 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. <br />
<br />
<strong><u>Other prose - stories, newspapers</u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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...<br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://www.bild.de/news/ausland/fluechtling/fluechtling-erzaehlt-ich-ueberlebte-die-hoellenfahrt-uebers-mittelmeer-40660742.bild.html" target="_blank">interview with a refugee who survived the hell</a> of the Mediterranean. Great for helping pupils understand the world.<br />
<br />
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 "<a href="http://abo.spiegel.de/de/c/dein-spiegel" target="_blank">Dein Spiegel</a>". It has stories aimed at our age range, even if you will have to adapt them. And for my French teaching colleagues, there is <a href="http://www.lepetitquotidien.fr/" target="_blank">Le petit quotidien</a> for young people. These are going in my reading corner next year.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Breaking out of the box</u></strong><br />
<br />
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:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Nikolaus, du guter Mann,<br />
hast einen schönen Mantel an.<br />
Die Knöpfe sind so blank geputzt,<br />
dein weißer Bart ist gut gestutzt,<br />
die Stiefel sind so spiegelblank,<br />
die Zipfelmütze fein und lang,<br />
die Augenbrauen sind so dicht,<br />
so lieb und gut ist dein Gesicht.<br />
Du kamst den weiten Weg von fern,<br />
und deine Hände geben gern.<br />
Du weißt, wie alle Kinder sind:<br />
Ich glaub, ich war ein braves Kind.<br />
Sonst wärst du ja nicht hier<br />
und kämest nicht zu mir.<br />
Du musst dich sicher plagen,<br />
den schweren Sack zu tragen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">(unbekannt)<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-8111777077390670672015-06-29T14:15:00.001-07:002015-06-29T14:26:41.707-07:00Preparing for the New GCSE - Carpe Diem! Part 1In 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 <a href="http://frenchteachernet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/challenges-of-new-mfl-gcse.html" target="_blank">blog</a>, 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.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://all-literature.wikidot.com/" target="_blank"> wiki on the subject</a>. 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.<br />
<br />
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 <em><u>and</u></em> use of the language they have found, either in a creative writing response.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Opportunity no 1 - reinforcing phonics work</u></strong><br />
Think about this song from the Prinzen "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RhsQcf4gVg" target="_blank">ich wär so gern Millionär".</a> Here is the chorus:<br />
<br />
Ich wär' so gerne Millionär<br />
dann wär mein Konto niemals leer.<br />
Ich wär' so gerne Millionär - millionenschwer.<br />
Ich wär' so gerne Millionär<br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://lyricstraining.com/play/die-prinzen/millionar/HxsilzhUax#" target="_blank">lyricstraining</a> 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. <br />
<br />
Silly rhymes such as the following are also perfect for beginners and reinforce key German phonics:<br />
Eins, zwei, Polizei<br />
drei, vier, Offizier<br />
fünf, sechs, alte Hex'<br />
sieben, acht, gute Nacht!<br />
neun, zehn, auf Wiedersehen!<br />
<br />
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. <a href="https://gianfrancoconti.wordpress.com/2015/06/16/seven-micro-listening-enhancers-you-may-not-be-using-often-enough-in-your-lessons/" target="_blank">This post from @gianfrancocont9</a> has some great warm-up ideas for listening, and is well worth a look.<br />
<br />
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 "<a href="http://www.amazon.de/Duden-lustige-Diktate-Zwergen-Clowns/dp/3411809566" target="_blank">100 lustige Diktate"</a> 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!<br />
<br />
Well, this was just going to be one post, but it looks like I need another post to finish..<br />
<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-44529679519115393782015-04-14T10:39:00.002-07:002015-04-14T10:39:36.175-07:00Revision - making it stickThis 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).<br />
<br />
<strong><u>The goal</u></strong><br />
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<br />
<strong><u>The principles</u></strong><br />
1. <strong>Use it or lose it</strong> <br />
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.<br />
2. <strong>Mix it up</strong><br />
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.<br />
3. <strong>Get your learning spaced out!</strong><br />
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<br />
4. <strong>No pain, no gain</strong><br />
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.<br />
5. <strong>Don't assume - it makes an ass out of u and me</strong><br />
You've done a whole hour's revision! Woo-hoo! But have you tested yourself to see what's gone in?<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Making it manageable AND effective</u></strong><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every day – 5
minutes quiz on what you did yesterday<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 15 minutes active learning new
topic with flashcards (quizlet.com) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <strong><em>Learn difficult words/irregular verbs in a phrase or sentence</em></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>- 5 minutes make yourself a quiz to re-use tomorrow and later on <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good types of quiz questions:<o:p></o:p></u></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fill in the gap</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>find the opposites<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>word association games<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once a week
(MINIMUM) – skills practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Either a
past paper or listening/reading exercise from kerboodle from last week’s
topics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Make a quiz out of the questions you got wrong.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once a week – do the
quiz you made from things you got wrong<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><br />
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Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-78048006652419481732014-12-07T03:45:00.001-08:002014-12-07T03:45:08.945-08:00Stretch and challenge in MFL<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"
Stretch and challenge" - one of Ofsted's obsessions, and rightly so - who wants pupils who aren't learning to the best of their ability? As linguists, we want pupils to be adventurous and to use their knowledge to express themselves. After all, it's what helped us fall in love with language learning. The way I see it, stretch and challenge is not just for the most able; it is about how we set the learning climate in our classroom. Of course,it will look different depending on which pupils you have in front of you, but this is not about an add-on. So - how do we achieve this in class?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Deploying some very prosaic (but effective) basics can help us. The most fundamental basic is to know your pupils, and their prior learning. This, however, allows us to be <em><u><strong>creative</strong></u></em> with how we introduce vocabulary. This week, I was able to introduce the perfect tense in French to a weaker set of pupils through an account of a weekend in Paris using regular "er" verbs. I knew that they were already familiar with the verbs in the text, although not in the perfect tense, and within the context of the passage, they were able to show understanding, and then mine it for key verbs in the perfect tense. Parallel texts (one side in the Target Language (TL), the other in English) also give pupils the change to understand texts that little bit beyond their current level. Equally, using a text with lots of cognates/familiar vocabulary which support pupils in working out the meaning of new language is a very effective technique. <em>Give one/get one </em>or<em> quiz/quiz/trade</em> can also be a good way of reinforcing independent use of phonics by pupils, as well as reinforcing other co-operative language. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">These strategies not only get beyond the sterile listen/repeat chorus and its single-word stranglehold, but they get pupils engaging with longer texts, which is far more satisfying for the learners, and already gives them that sense of progress.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong><u>The use of target language</u></strong> is something repeatedly raised by Ofsted as an issue. Some things are more difficult in the TL however, there is much which can be done in the TL. If I fall off the TL waggon, I run a competition in class for the best use of the TL - this boosts the pupils' awareness, and mine. We have a speaking mat to support this, and it is part of our routine to get them out at the beginning of the lesson. Progressing with it is often tricky, and much of it comes down to teaching questions, and revising them at regular intervals. Having the question words displayed prominently in the classroom helps to prompt and support. Then, when you ask your pupil where their book is, they can understand and respond, if you have been able to point at the relevant question word on the board. If not all the lesson is possible in the TL, it is better to "chunk" it - so there are clear segments in English, clear segments in the TL. Swapping between the 2 just encourages the pupils to wait for the English translation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Speaking is not just confined to classroom routine. In topic-related work, it is important that pupils have the opportunity to work beyond tightly-scripted dialogues, although these clearly have a place in familiarising pupils with new language. This is where <a href="http://www.teachfind.com/teachers-tv/mfl-implementing-group-talk-initiative-and-other-strategies" target="_blank">Group</a> talk comes into its own. Having an unscripted conversation that is still supported allows pupils the freedom to express themselves and try things out for themselves, and gives them the feeling of having "real" conversations, and can really boost confidence. It also means they have to listen carefully to each other, and more able pupils can be encouraged to extend their responses. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong><u>Speaking also includes reading out loud</u></strong>, which helps with phonics. A favourite game in my classes is "rhubarb". In a group, one person starts reading. If they make a mistake spotted by someone else, the challenger says "rhubarb" and says what it should be. If the group agree it is right, they get to continue the reading. Points are awarded for every sentence read successfully, one point if they are challenged unsuccessfully, one point if they have challenged successfully and are going to take on the reading.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong><u>Writing</u></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here's a question: how often do your classes (even your beginners) do extended writing as opposed to drills and sentences? This is one very obvious stretch and challenge opportunity which should be done regularly. If the most talented are shown how to use dictionaries and verb tables, they can really fly with regular practice. Remember all those strategies you use with GCSE classes? Are you using them in KS3 to promote a range of language. If not, why not? Our learners often feel very constrained by what they feel they can say, but a learning mat with prompts and suggestions can help them develop and extend their ideas. Most pupils don't want to say that everything is "super", it's just that it's the only thing that occurs to them. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Creative writing and poems also give pupils a change to experiment and learn to love the language.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Translation is going to become ever more present, given the changes to KS3 and GCSE, and it's true that it does help pupils do some detailed work, and can be an opportunity to meet new language. It is important, however, that the pupils then get to use some of that new language in their own work. One of the best pieces of advice I was given as a young teacher was to exploit one text in as many different ways as possible. Too often I have seen opportunities wasted to help pupils build on their knowledge by not doing that final additional step where they produce something of their own based on the language. As linguists, we are magpies, nicking lovely shiny expressions and using them for ourselves. We should help the next generation do that too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong><u>Listening</u></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">There can be more to stretch and challenge for listening than simply giving out a differentiated worksheet, although that still has its place. Songs are a rewarding place to start, and give some cultural flavour too. If you are working with a textbook's recording, why not get pupils to make shorthand notes/ draw symbols, then <strong><u>use</u></strong> the language to report back to a partner? <a href="http://www.rachelhawkes.com/PandT/TandL/Teaching_and_Learning.php" target="_blank">Rachel Hawkes</a> suggests giving pupils a transcript, then saying it out loud to the class with some changes. Pupils then need to identify where the differences are, transcribe the new words and then they can use them for themselves. Listening is often a bolt-on task or a task to see if they have retained the new vocabulary. Why not integrate it into the lesson more completely?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I have to admit to feeling a bit exhausted after writing all this. This is not a tick-list for every lesson, but using some of these ideas some of the time can help you provide challenge for all.</span><br />
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Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-59420558023759250382014-10-12T08:45:00.002-07:002014-11-18T05:22:56.715-08:00essay writing - structure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<img alt="comic-fish-md.png" src="http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/pc5/Rnn/pc5RnngcB.png" title="978 views" /></div>
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I'll come to the fish in a bit. In the meantime, here are some thoughts on helping sixth-formers plan essays.<br />
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Building a cogent and coherent argument in essay form is an essential skill at AS for MFL, and it takes a lot of care to build up the skills. For AQA, the essay has 20 out of the available 35 marks for content and structure. How can we help our sixth-formers to write these essays?<br />
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<strong><u>Planning and preparation</u></strong><br />
Encouraging planning is essential. In the early days, I used to insist on the sixth-formers handing in their planning as well as their essay before I realised that they often did their plan after they had written their essay. Now, especially in the first few months when we are embedding good habits, I get my sixth-formers to hand in a plan, a word-bank and their planned examples before I let them write the essay. This can either focus minds or highlight any potential mistakes.<br />
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If they don't get into the habit of planning, they will forget to do it in the exam, and probably find themselves with a wobbly blancmange of an essay. It is all the more important, as the AQA essays are often in 2 parts, and failure to answer one part of the question is penalised.<br />
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<strong><u>Why the fish?</u></strong><br />
Well, that is what the essay structure should look like. I saw this demonstrated many moons ago when I was just starting out, and I've used it ever since - the image is clear and really gets the point across.<br />
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The head is the introduction, preferably with a hook to get the reader's attention.<br />
The main body with the spine is the development - with a clear line of argument (the spine) running through<br />
The conclusion is the tail.<br />
The proportions also roughly correspond.<br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
<strong><u>Paragraph structure</u></strong><br />
There are many acronyms for helping to structure a paragraph, and although sticking slavishly to them can limit students writing at this level, there are some elements of these acronyms that are helpful. The most acronym for supporting students who struggle with structure is: <br />
P -point<br />
E- example<br />
E- explain<br />
L- link to the question, link to the next paragraph<br />
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An example of the usefulness of acronyms: a student, who had done a rather shabby essay was reviewing his work, and when I told him that he hadn't explored the implications of the essay said, "Oh -so I've done P.E. rather than P.E.E.L."<br />
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<strong><u>There are some key principles of a paragraph:</u></strong><br />
1. The first sentence should tell you the theme of the paragraph<br />
2. Once you have made a point, you need to explain and explore it, preferably using an example<br />
3. It should be clearly linked to the question<br />
4. If you give a statistic, you need to explore all the implications<br />
5. It is expected that you will analyse as you go, rather than waiting for the conclusion, as in other subjects,such as history.<br />
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A great little exercise for emphasising the importance of the first sentence is to present the pupils with several paragraphs with the first sentence removed, and a choice of possible replacements. This focuses the pupils on the key elements very effectively. I'll post an example in the next post. <br />
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A few of my resources for essay-writing are on the TES <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Support-for-essay-writing-for-German-AQA-AS-6446253/" target="_blank">here</a>. I'll be adding to them in the next few weeks. Here is the <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/AS-German-essay-feedback-sheet-6446397/" target="_blank">essay feedback sheet</a> - designed for AQA. Here is the <a href="https://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/AQA-AS-German-essay-plan-6450988/" target="_blank">essay plan template.</a>Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-61535919802072161512014-10-12T05:14:00.003-07:002014-10-12T05:14:39.136-07:00Essay writing in sixth form - Miss, what's an example?<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post is prompted by a question which stopped me in my tracks. When giving feedback on an essay, I told a student that he had to use more examples, to which he replied, "Miss- I don't know what you mean by an example." This had me stumped - how can you not know what an example is? Although this may be a rather extreme case, I'm pretty sure that there are lots of students who could use some sharpening up in the area. I get too many essays in at the start of the year where pupils make a point (usually a sweeping generalisation) and simply name their example with no further explanation as if to say, "BOOM! Impressive, huh?" Um, no - not even close.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, after recovering myself, I came up with this:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why
use examples?<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span><br />
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<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They allow <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you to demonstrate use of other
tenses/voices e.g.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>past<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They back
up your point by providing evidence <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 173.25pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY..<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use them to
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">explore the full implications of
the point</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">you’re making</b> –
remember you are getting most of your points for the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">development of your ideas</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Types
of examples<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A
fact or statistic</span></b><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> : e.g. 1/3 of children have their own TV<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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concrete example</span></b><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">: e.g. Sesamstraße is able to help children to read
and count whilst also having fun<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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personal example:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> e.g. I used to watch Bob the Builder with my
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Although backing up your argument is, of course, essential, I think that leads many students down cul-de-sacs which they then can't get out of. The key thing is whether it helps you to demonstrate depth of understanding, and whether it helps you to explore all of the implication of the point you're making. <br />
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<strong><u>Getting students to understand examples</u></strong><br />
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We have only just set our first proper AS- style essay. So, what have we been doing in the meantime?<br />
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<strong><u>Using the examples in texts - and making the most of them</u></strong><br />
The first task is get students to recognise that each text is also presenting an argument, and a set of ideas. Once we have battled through the comprehension, I get them to find the examples in a text. I then ask them to summarise what these points can show. This is especially useful for statistics. Take the example that 1/3 of German children have their own TV. We came up with a long list of implications: parents can't supervise, parents don't have control, children can watch unsuitable programmes, children may watch TV too late and not get enough sleep. This acts not only as a great way of re-using the language from the text, but really gets them thinking about the ideas, and gives them practice in thinking about how to use examples. Asking students to summarise the key ideas in a text is also a great homework /starter for the next lesson.<br />
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<strong><u>Guided analysis of concrete examples</u></strong><br />
The TV topic is such a great one to start with. The students were given links on Edmodo to lots of different German TV clips and asked to write about them using a series of prompts to help them think about how they may or may not benefit children. All students produced some great analysis of the pros and cons. This will then help them with their essays. Well, that's the hope, anyway.<br />
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In my next post, I'll look at structuring the essay<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-32794827376525929622014-10-12T04:29:00.002-07:002014-10-12T04:29:42.391-07:00Welcome to sixth form! Bridging that gap I started this post a few weeks ago, having met my new year 12 group for the first time. I've taught these pupils since they were in year 9, and they have achieved great things at GCSE, yet this transition into sixth-form is potentially more difficult than the transition from primary to secondary or even from sixth-form to university, so it takes some longer to adjust than others. We need them to be independent learners, have the maturity to manage their own study time, and for A-level German, they need to discover a love of learning tables very quickly. That's before we even start on the more sophisticated thinking skills required for A-level. This has been in my thoughts a lot in the last few weeks, so it felt right that the first blog of the new academic year should be dedicated to them.<br />
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<strong><u>Vocabulary learning</u></strong> <br />
When I first started teaching sixth-form, I was surprised at how many of these high-flier students admitted that they had spent very little time on learning the vocabulary for the weekly tests I gave during GCSE. The shock, then, of the volume of vocabulary learning was huge, and every year I have pupils who struggle to get to grips with this.<br />
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Of course, much comes down to the structure of the teaching and homework tasks set, so this is where the teacher planning comes in. I try to diferentiate in my planning between "core" vocabulary and "nice-to-use" add-ons. I still think the core vocabulary is worth teaching actively, and there are many ways to do it. Breaking words down (especially in German), matching the definitions, Call-my-bluff style guess the definition, looking at all the words associated with one verb (prefixes, suffixes, nouns, adjectives), using key words to describe a picture. Once you have done a listening or a reading text, it is important that the pupils actively use the language from that text - cloze text, translation, match the 2 halves of the sentences, free-range speaking activities. This will help to cement much of the learning, but I find that there is still a need for learning - especially when it comes to genders, plurals, irregular verbs. <br />
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Helping pupils structure this is important, and the "learning conversation" I find needs to be revisited to keep the momentum going, and to help those students struggling. Some students really get into quizlet.com and make their own sets, especially if they have a tedious commute by public transport. Others use spreadsheets, some simply keep lists.<br />
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I'm not a fan of lists that have no rhyme or reason to them - I don't think they help students focus their efforts. We use a word bank template divided into nouns, verbs, adjectives/adverbs and useful phrases. This also has the benefit of making them look for words other than nouns, as a non-directed search for vocabulary seems to end up simply being a big list of nouns at the expense of everything else.<br />
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<strong><u>Generating a buzz and curiosity</u></strong><br />
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I am often astounded at the number of pupils who come into sixth-form who think that after one trip to Germany and a good grade at GCSE means that they have this German thing all sewn up - that they have this thing sussed and apart from getting better at German, they have nothing else to learn. This is by no means the majority, but I do get more than I would wish for.<br />
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So - what to do? This is where edmodo.com has come into its own. It allows the teachers, and importantly the students to share videos and websites that they come across, and it allows us to generate a bit of a buzz. It takes a while before the students want to put their heads above the parapet, but with encouragement, they will. We start the topic of advertising next week, and it is always a good one for beginning the sharing process. <br />
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We also do weekly scrapbooks, an idea which I know quite a few schools use. The pupils have to find an article of their own choosing, look up the vocabulary which is new, and summarise it. I have also started asking the pupils to post their choice of article onto Edmodo.<br />
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<strong><u>Speaking skills</u></strong><br />
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Speaking - ah. I think students used to large groups suddenly feel rather exposed in smaller groups, and with the amount of grammar thrown their way, it can leave them tongue-tied. This needn't be the case, and there is much to be said for adapting the strategies we use in earlier years. Group talk? perfect! Speaking bingo? perfect! Speaking mats for debates? Why not?<br />
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In the early days, it is about getting them to enjoy the speaking. If we let them get too hung up on accuracy, they will never speak!<br />
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In the next post, I'm going to consider essay-writing *groan*<br />
Essay writing skills<br />
Getting them involved with younger pupils<br />
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<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-56026095147036342182014-06-15T13:38:00.000-07:002014-06-16T13:15:51.245-07:00MFL show and tell York 2014 - afternoon sessionsThe theme of the afternoon for me was speaking, or rather, getting the kids to speak.<br />
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First up, Dominic McGladdery on low-tech ideas for encouraging speaking.<br />
His first, and crucial point was TEACH EM PHONICS. They need to be able to de-code the letters they have in front of them. He gave various ideas for places to go for ideas: <a href="http://www.languageswithoutlimits.co.uk/phonics.html" target="_blank">languages without limits</a> is a great starting point, and I love their strap line<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I<span class="style184">f we fail to teach phonics, we are condemning many of our learners</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="style184"> to be quasi-dyslexic in the foreign language.</span></span></span></div>
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There is also <a href="http://www.lightbulblanguages.co.uk/" target="_blank">lightbulb languages</a>, previously MFL Sunderland resources. Suzi Bewell wrote a 10 minute guide to phonics to be found <a href="http://www.linksintolanguages.ac.uk/resources/1775" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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One great tip: 1-15 has most sounds that beginner learners need. After a few years of teaching no French, I will be back teaching French in September, and the thought of tackling French phonics is daunting, but this is something I'm going to follow-up.<br />
<strong><u>Here's a quick list of other things to try:</u></strong><br />
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<li>Get the pupils to think about the phonics - how about venn diagrams? For German, one side would be "ie", the other side "ei".</li>
<li>How about words that rhyme?</li>
<li>Tongue twisters</li>
<li>rhyming dictionaries - <a href="http://www.alcor.com.au/french_rhyming_dictionary.asp" target="_blank">this</a> website has many different languages - fantastic!</li>
<li>Describe the picture</li>
<li>Spot the difference</li>
<li>puppets - especially for shy pupils, or better still, masks from poundland. Dom described the fun to be had with Alan Sugar or Simon Cowell masks. Pupils may be reluctant to argue, but once they take on these personas, there's no stopping them!</li>
<li>Hats are also great.</li>
<li>Dice can also be used in many different ways to select what the pupils talk about</li>
<li>Cluedo</li>
<li>Dom also told us about blogs by <a href="http://www.boxoftricks.net/2008/08/podcasting-in-five-easy-steps/" target="_blank">Jose Picardo</a> who sets out how to podcast and use audacity.</li>
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Suzi Bewell presented the possibilities for combining both listening, speaking, reading and writing using Sonocent.com's Audio Notetaker software. The presentation, which explains it more eloquently than me is<a href="http://yorkmflsat2014.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> here.</a><br />
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Finally an tip for apps, thanks to @misstdunne and @GermanistGLS: Vocab battle. Battle it out on your phones via bluetooth. The winner gets to put stickers onto your opponent's photo.<br />
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Finally, thank you for such a great day. Lots to think about - just as well the summer hols are coming up soon ;-) <br />
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Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-46547520062663599552014-06-15T12:50:00.000-07:002014-06-15T12:50:10.844-07:00MFL show and tell York 2 - 14th June 2014 Just the morning sessions!Oh wow! Another day jam-packed with ideas. 60+ teachers and trainees gathered on a Saturday (yes - a Saturday) in Harrogate Grammar School to get a monster-sized chunk of CPD organised by Suzi Bewell from the University of York and William Strange. My head is still spinning! This is the morning's whirlwind of ideas. I'll do a separate post on the afternoon.<br />
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Firstly, if you're on twitter @suzibewell, is beginning to tweet links to the presentations which the presenters gave. <a href="http://yorkmflsat2014.wordpress.com/">http://yorkmflsat2014.wordpress.com/</a> has some of the links to the exhibitors and some of the presentations. Secondly, I must apologise to the presenters whose names I didn't quite catch. I think I had Saturday brainPlease let me know so I can update my blog!<br />
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There was a keynote speech shown by Rene Koglbauer, who shared a couple of great links. <br />
<a href="http://aufdeutsch.co.uk/">http://aufdeutsch.co.uk/</a> is a site for German learners and although I've not explored it, it looks like it has lots of useful videos and resources.<br />
The other great website is courtesy of Newcastle's own Tyneside Cinema, which has study guides for lots of foreign language films. <a href="https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/learn/14-19/resources">https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/learn/14-19/resources</a><br />
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It was great to see so many successful PGCE students presenting the results of some of their work. It just goes to prove the valuable work universities are still doing in teacher training, and long may that last! <br />
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Lucy presented an introductory lesson on sport in Spanish. This was one of the activities she got them to do combining a sport (choosing between hago or juego) and a time phrase.<br />
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I liked the plenary where there was enough prompts and support for the weaker ones, but there was room for the more able to expand.<br />
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Jan McCann (@biscuitsmccann) talked about how to use a full day when the timetable is collapsed and you have a whole year group for the day. As we come close to the end of term, this may be of interest to some colleagues! She gave examples of simple projects, such as making board games, up to weekend trip to Normandy. I was impressed by the way they had made the most of the days to really enrich the learning. I loved the idea of the joint project with the art dept about the film Kirikou, where the pupils learned about Senegal and then make lolly-stick puppets and write a dialogue to perform with them. The stop-motion filmed commentary of football matches also really appealed.<br />
My favourite idea was an idea for Year 10, where they learned advertising language to plan and film an advert for a German product. She also had some valuable advice:<br />
1. Pace yourself- they are long days<br />
2. Consider using form groups, as the more able can help the less able<br />
3. Get ex-pupils to support<br />
4. Make sure the pupils have something to show for it at the end, and do a celebration show and tell at the end<br />
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The next presention (sorry - I think it was @MFLCanonLee but I'm not sure!) had a topical world cup theme. Find "sticker" images, make a fantasy team, setting them out like the in the coverage on the TV before the game and then use as a basis for talking about the players. <br />
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William Strange (@GermanGLS) demonstrated something for all busy teachers - the joys of mail merge. I liked the way it could work for giving pupils good feedback from CAs without having to write everything out again and again. <br />
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The next presenter had us in giggles as she presented some cultural knowledge of Switzerland she had done with her pupils before setting up a penpal exchange. Getting us to say Chäschueche (cheese cake). The serious point about cultural awareness, however, was really important.<br />
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Dominic McGladdery (@dominic_mcg) showed us how to reanimate a corpse..or rather how to get pupils to convert a powerpoint into animated gifs. Save the powerpoint as JPEGS, find a website such as makeagif.com, upload the images and create create et voila!<br />
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Barbara Gleave demonstrated some lovely ideas for songs to do with primary schools. My favourite was a song called ou est pere noel set to the tune of frere jacques to teach prepositions:<br />
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Ella talked about a fascinating E-twinning project on the topic of school set up by her mentor in the school in Wetherby. The pupils took photos of their meals in their respective cantines and of the contents of their school bags and used that as a basis for work ranging from labelling contents to writing recipes and comparing the contents. They then made questionnaires about the school day which they sent to their partners. These are great ways of getting really rich cultural knowledge as well as linguistic knowledge from what can be a very dry topic. We are just coming to the end of blogging project with our partner school, and I think it would be great when we re-run it to include some of these ideas.<br />
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Adam (I think it was Adam - I can't quite make it out!) talked about a joint history and French mini-series of lessons on the French Revolution. The first lesson set out the background and how it affected France today. The next lesson got the pupils to work out the theme of the lesson from the following key words hidden round the classroom. Can you guess what it is?<br />
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The guillotine and the Reign of Terror. This next part I thought was inspired. The class had to decide which of the following people would have been "coupable" or "non-coupable". There was then a panel of judges selected from the class - complete with false moustaches who then decided the fate of the accused, also represented by class members. If they were executed then had to eat a sour sweet ("poison"). Of course, if the judges got it wrong, they were traitors to the cause, and were themselves coupable. Have a go yourself.<br />
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Who was spared? Only Sophie!<br />
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Frances presented 2 activities to encourage co-operation and speaking. The first, below, is Rally Robin, put I just know it as test your partner, but is a great way of reinforcing language and getting them involved quickly.<br />
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The next created much amusement: "would you rather.." - a good starter activity. She demonstrated on us, getting us to respond to the questions "Would you rather live by the beach or in the mountains/ be a snake or an elephant?" and then asked those who would like to live by the beach to stand up. We then had to justify our reasons, and believe me they were very revealing!<br />
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Diana Keszler (@Diana_Keszler) entertained us greatly presenting a lesson getting the pupils to learn about places in the town using what looked like a bbc french clip about Guadeloupe. The clip was great and had a few bits that are great for mimicking. She then got them to compare Basse-Terre and Paris - a great way to get some "il n'y a pas de" practice in. This gave them a great base for writing work.<br />
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Martin talked how to approach the use of literature. <br />
1. Using poetry to reinforce a tense. Rather than asking pupils to do gapfill from a listening exercise, he suggested asking the pupils to predict which verbs go in which gaps. He used a poem which I'm not familiar with, not being Spanish, but it looked a perfect one. It was called "Instantes" by Jorge Luis Borges, but it can apply to many others. He then said that listening to a clip from Youtube would make it much more pleasurable and the pupils would get more out of it.<br />
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2. A poetry reading competition. They chose "Maripose del aire" by Lorca because it emphasises the rhythm of Spanish well, and is good for adjective variety.<br />
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3. Use songs - use the same technique as number 1. The song for practising the preterite in Spanish was "La historia de Juan".<br />
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4. How about translation from English to the TL? How about Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" because it's full of the present continuous. I think it might well work in German, and it's great for emphasising that the present tense is both "I play" and "I am playing".<br />
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<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-41814894659700324012014-06-15T10:07:00.001-07:002014-06-15T10:07:47.358-07:00Get connected! Connectives and slow writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been on a mission this year - to try and coax my pupils out of their tiny comfort zone, where the reason for everything is "parce que c'est super" or "Weil es lustig ist". I swear, a little piece of me dies when I see that. Now, I'm not talking about the pupils for whom these sentences are a real achievement, I'm talking about the pupils who hang onto the their one "weil" phrase and refuse to venture beyond them.<br />
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So, what to do?<br />
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Step 1: colour-code my connectives learning wall - I mainly teach German, and so the perfect way to order them was as follows:<br />
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This in itself has had a big impact. Firstly, my previously ignored display was suddenly noticed by the pupils. I had beginner pupils asking how to use the red connectives. My GCSE groups, even more reluctant learners would give them a go. Why? In part, the clarity of the display made it so much easier to use and the colour-coding scheme showed clear progression. I also used the display regularly as a teaching tool. And it became a means of feeding back to pupils on their variety of word order. Self-assessment of variety was also made easier. It has also become a short-hand way of referring to the different word-order rules, and less of a mouthful than "subordinating conjunctions"<br />
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Of course, it doesn't happen by magic, and the usual regular teaching / reinforcement has to happen. This has also been in conjunction with a big push on group talk this year. I use speaking bingo grids like the one below quite often for ensuring that a range of language is used in the course of the group discussion.<br />
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I really felt that I needed to push things further. Some pupils reluctantly and begrudgingly stuck in a red connective to stop me nagging them, but I felt that the quality of ideas hadn't really improved for those pupils. This is where the wonder of twitter and the blogosphere played its part.<br />
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David Didau (@learningspy) has devoted <a href="http://www.learningspy.co.uk/literacy-2/theory-writing/" target="_blank">several blogs</a> and now a<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Secret-Literacy-implicit-explicit/dp/1781351279" target="_blank"> book</a> on improving writing. Some of his ideas really resonated with me. One of the things he writes about in his chapter on writing is the idea of producing more sophisticated responses to exam questions, and the use of discourse markers. As linguists, we know the power of words, and words can unlock ideas as well as framing them.<br />
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Take a typical starter - picture prompts to help pupils discuss their opinions of maths. What happens if we then ask them to use obwohl (although) or deshalb (therefore) to answer the question? <br />
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I tried this with and without the prompts with my year 10 class, and the difference in the sophistication of the ideas expressed pleasantly surprised me. During the task, some pupils hunted out phrases that we had talked about from a reading comprehension so that they could say what they wanted to say. We discussed the difference as a class, and one pupil's remark I found interesting - it was like I can given them permission to use things they do in English.<br />
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And this brings to another point. Ask your pupils about their opinions about, for example, school rules and they are opinionated and often funny and perceptive. So, we need to harness this, rather than limit them to the "weil es ungerecht ist". <br />
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Another David Didau idea is that of <a href="http://www.learningspy.co.uk/english-gcse/how-to-improve-writing/" target="_blank">Slow Writing</a> - getting the pupils to slow down, appreciate every word, and produce beautifully crafted sentences. This is one example from a lesson on school rules. I told the pupils we were going to play with the language we'd been learning and I was setting them a challenge. On A4 paper I asked them to create the following sentences:<br />
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They then worked in pairs either to produce a combined version, or to improve their own. I then asked them if they wanted to re-order the sentences, and use them to produce a paragraph. The rhetorical question and the 3 word sentences produced some real crackers, and of course the boys argued over the 22-word sentences. The pupils seemed to enjoy the exercise, and it did allow them to play with the language, and got them out of the rut. Anything that helps them do that is a good thing.<br />
<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-89315776156878200572014-04-02T13:48:00.003-07:002014-04-02T13:55:05.189-07:00First flipping steps I have finally managed to take my first steps in flipping my German Year 9 lessons. These are my experiences so far.<br />
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Firstly - why bother?<br />
This is a beginner "express" course, with 2 lessons per week. Not a lot of time, and I wanted to maximise my use of class time. I want to do more speaking, and have time to do more interesting reading tasks, and also have the time to support them with extended writing.<br />
Although some are good at learning vocabulary, some are not, and I wanted to promote more active ways of learning vocabulary, and nudge them into using sites such as quizlet.com, which I had used with great success in class.<br />
This class also has some very able linguists who are desperate for more stimulation, and will willingly go away and learn things for themselves, and I wanted a way to give them links and to push them forwards.<br />
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How did I set it up?<br />
Until my exam classes go on study leave, I have limited time, but this class can't wait till mid-May. So, for the initial stages, I have used a combination of edmodo and quizlet.<br />
Edmodo - Edmodo looks like facebook, works a bit like facebook, but is designed for schools. It's pretty easy to use (<a href="http://mfltricks.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/edmodo-cpd/" target="_blank">with the help of this wonderful guide to Edmodo</a>), and if the pupils add in their email address, the lost password issue is also less of a headache. For me, I have the chance to share files and documents, links to quizlet and other useful sites, but most importantly, I have the ability to set quizzes to check whether they had understood and learnt the work and I can make them do something active with the learning they do.<br />
Quizlet- flashcard games on the computer, complete with pronunciation to learn vocabulary.<br />
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<b><u>Step-by-step</u></b><br />
I got the pupils to join Edmodo, after talking about behaviour online and getting them to sign a code of conduct form which I made - which turned out to be important. With Edmodo looking like facebook, the lines between a "school" site and "fun" site were blurred, and a couple of pupils needed reminding. There is also a setting to allow the teacher to moderate all posts before they are published. I have opted for this.<br />
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We did the first Edmodo lesson together, and I showed them the link to their learning homework on quizlet, and told them and messaged them on Edmodo to learn the words first with quizlet and then do the quizzes. In my head this made perfect sense. What happened? Well, many completely ignored that instruction and simply did the quizzes, meaning that they got low scores. Luckily, because we were in class, we discussed in the plenary why that hadn't worked. The instant feedback from the quiz when they saw their score is something the pupils really liked, and they looked at which answers they got wrong, and I could hear some really good comments, such as "I didn't put the endings on the neuter adjectives" or "I've forgotten my capital letters".<br />
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They were set loose with a homework to do a similar thing - use quizlet.com to learn the names of clothes and then use the Edmodo quizzes to test whether they knew the vocabulary and to get more practice on adjective endings which we had been practising in class, and which I suspected were not fully secure.<br />
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<b><u>The result</u></b><br />
The quiz scores were really mixed, but it sparked a few interesting reactions. Several pupils, and not necessarily the "keen" pupils sent me direct messages to say that they didn't understand a certain aspect of the topic, could we go over it again. Some asked questions which showed they had completely the wrong idea. These pupils were showing a sense of responsibility for their own learning and a degree of reflection which was new and encouraging. <br />
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The planning for the next lesson was therefore tightly based around the results I had seen from Edmodo. Rather than having to find out during the next lesson that the pupils were not sure about adjectival endings, I had been able to see this in advance, and save myself some time, and pupils had been able to ask questions without losing face in class.<br />
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The boys who had done well were "experts" at various stations in the breakout space, and their job was to help the other pupils get to grips with the adjective endings for masculine nouns etc. They took this role very seriously, and I was then able to reward them with school merits and badges on Edmodo. This took the first 20 mins, and meant we could then do some more rewarding speaking and writing work based on what we wear at the weekend.<br />
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There were some issues with access to the internet. Some pupils only had a tablet, and the Edmodo app didn't allow them to do the quizzes, and one boy quietly came and told me that he only had a rubbish computer. I have a week till my next lesson with this class, so he has arranged to do some of his work one lunchtime. It's not perfect, but I bet he will still spend more time on the vocabulary than with a standard vocab list.<br />
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<b><u>Initial conclusions</u></b><br />
This allows me to be more responsive to the pupils, and it has nudged them towards taking more responsibility, and I think the boys respond well to the format of Edmodo, and are more open to asking questions. It did allow me to circulate and talk to the pupils, and the boys who were "experts" also felt they understood the rules better after explaining them and helping others. The language which I heard from the boys in the rest of the lesson also convinced me it is another tool in the box which is worth exploring. I intend to flip one lesson each week. I will keep you posted!Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904284511060715746.post-28565796211507715012014-03-13T11:30:00.002-07:002014-04-02T13:10:08.522-07:00Learning for the GCSE German controlled assessmentHow many times do hear statements like this?<br />
"I'm good at revision, I just go blank when I go into the exam" or maybe<br />
"It won't go in. I can't learn it"<br />
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The constant battle to help pupils learn for the controlled assessment goes on and on. We are also battling against panic and bad revision technique. It boils down to 3 things: they don't understand the language they are trying to use, they use limited strategies which aren't really fit for purpose, and they don't review the learning they have done so far to see if it has worked. This then translates into the following disasters:<br />
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1. In an attempt to get the best grade possible, lots of pupils resort to either using impressive looking phrases from worksheets or texts which they don't understand, or they use the dreaded google translate, believing that these things are the magic keys to the kingdom. Some of this comes from them not having faith in the language that they know, and believe that mysterious phrases which look impressive must be better than what they can come up with on their own. Oh, and it's faster. Job done.<br />
2. Despite all efforts to help them in class to learn strategically, they ignore all these strategies in favour of "just reading through" because it's easier.<br />
3. They try to learn too much too fast, ending up in them learning nothing properly.<br />
4. They rarely test themselves to whether they have, in fact, learnt any of it, meaning that they're blissfully unaware that it hasn't worked.<br />
5. If they do test themselves, they don't actually do anything about the weak bits that they have found.<br />
6. They try to use complex phrases without really understanding them or having a "feel" for them - especially subordinating conjunctions such as "weil" in German, where the verb gets sent to the end.<br />
7. They try to learn it parrot-fashion without really knowing what they're saying. Are we the teachers to blame here? I do get exasperated, and sometimes I do say, "Well, you've just got to learn it." I wonder how that is translated in the teenage brain.<br />
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Certainly, websites such as <a href="http://www.textivate.com/">www.textivate.com</a> help, although that has now disappeared behind a pay-wall. I'm sure there are others around that you can suggest.<br />
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How do you get pupils to try to slow down, really look at the work, and improve their understanding of their work? I teach all boys, and most of them are in a rush to finish and tick the work off their lists. I certainly don't have all the answers, but here are a couple of things I've done recently. Nothing spectacular, but I thought I would share.<br />
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<strong><u>End of topic test</u></strong><br />
Obvious, really, but I've been guilty of being in a rush, and assuming they would learn it during their revision. Um -no! I like to test those key structures that I know they'll need, as well as key words. If they know these already, they're getting there. The difference between "meine Familie" and "mit meiner Familie" - they need to know this. Have they really understood? Pick up the problems and deal with them before starting the task.<br />
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<u><strong>Breaking down their learning into 3 phases:</strong></u><br />
1. words<br />
2. small phrases<br />
3. sentence / paragraph level<br />
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This seems to give them focus<br />
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<u><strong>*Top 20 difficult words*</strong></u><br />
This is my favourite. I ask pupils to pick out their top 20 difficult words, whether that's for spelling or for meaning, and I ask them to write a list in English and German.<br />
This works a treat, especially with the complacent ones who simply want to get on and "just learn" it, because suddenly they realise that they don't know what "feierlich" means, and..oh ..what does that mean again?<br />
Why 20 words? It's a manageable number, it's not too scary, and gives them a do-able revision list.<br />
<strong><u>Highlight the complex phrases</u></strong><br />
The highlighters come out, and they highlight their complex phrases. I get them to test themselves and each other, both on meaning and on correct German. They take that pretty seriously.<br />
<strong><u>Emphasis on communication rather than parrot-fashion</u></strong><br />
I then get them to choose 10 key content words from a paragraph, and get them to practise communicating their points, rather than doing it word-for-word.<br />
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Finally, I tell them that to get a good GCSE they need<br />
<strong><u>A</u></strong>djectives <br />
<strong><u>L</u></strong>inks especially WEIL<br />
<strong><u>O</u></strong>pinions and reasons<br />
<strong><u>T</u></strong>enses - past, present, future, conditional<br />
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<b><u>*UPDATE*</u></b><br />
This got quite a response on twitter, with other members of the wonderful #mfltwitterati contributing their ideas. Here is a summary:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Textivate got a well-deserved big thumbs up from many, and is a great way of managing the active learning. Other active learning ideas:</li>
<li>@JaneJaneheg suggested memorizenow.com</li>
<li>Other IT-based ideas from @kec974 were cueprompter and visioprompt</li>
<li>@Langwitch, @missmaclachlan and several others make good use of mini-whiteboards, getting the pupils the gradually erase words and take the support away, and this also forces them to break things down into chunks</li>
<li>Post-its with 1 side in the MFL and the other side in English was suggested by @zaragozalass</li>
<li>@rhwilko has started making them do an English version of what they have prepared. She finds that this also helps them see if their language is too basic</li>
<li>Others tweeted about discouraging script writing to avoid the pitfall of mindless learning, but maximising the time to practise with a list of key vocab and verbs.</li>
<li>@SJBarnes suggesting speaking to the drama dept about techniques</li>
</ul>
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<br />Frau Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07514019622412519261noreply@blogger.com7