Facing the currently unknown

Exeter PGCE- "Voting with their feet- why vote MFL"

Over the last few years I've always enjoyed providing the finale for the Exeter PGCE course. However, the feedback was that groups would have liked the session earlier in the year and that they just want ideas, ideas, ideas.

So this year I ran a session earlier in the year (this afternoon) and crammed it with ideas. So, apologies to anyone who's brain hurt by the end of it, or whose yawns were starting to get painful! However, I hope it helped.

If, as many of you indicated, you were keen to get on to twitter, start off by signing up and writing a bio piece EXPLAINING THAT YOU ARE AN MFL TEACHER. Important, that bit, because none of us want to interact with the banana eaters on twitter. Then get following the people on the list at http://tweepml.org/joedale/MFL-Twitterers . It's also worth downloading a free programme, TweetDeck, which makes it all make a lot more sense.

Anyway, the presentation...

 

Exeter pgce voting with their feet, why vote mfl slideshare

View more presentations from Chris Fuller.

Rethinking the I, the C and the T- #Linguascope conference

On Friday, despite my current state of baby brain, I had the privilege of presenting twice at the Linguascope conference in Brighton. I used a title that I used when presenting for Neil Jones last December, but my own learning journey made me want to really change it to focus on the kind of learning I want to be able to facilitate. The first element was to look at ideas for use with an IWB for encouraging group work with no right or wrong answer, rather than encouraging the use of an IWB for just one learner at a time, with the others just expected to sit and watch- not my favourite style of lesson. The second element was to show a few tools that learners can use to create creative, open tasks using ICT, releasing the neat control that we all often insist on in favour of a slightly... messier form of learning where making mistakes is cherished, and to a certain extent encouraged. Nothing groundbreaking, I'm afraid- especially as in one session I felt incredibly humbled to have the likes of Eva Lamb and Lesley Welsh sitting in and, for which i was really grateful, chipping in as well.

Anyway, I also said that I'd suggest a "starter list" of blogs for some new Google Reader accounts. Well if you look on the side of this blog you'll see a list of some great ones to add- and if you want any help with anything just give me a shout.

So there we go... thanks for a great day yesterday, everyone.

 

Thinking again about the I, the C and the T

View more presentations from Chris Fuller.

Language World 2011- go on, you know you want to...

Anyone who reads this blog probably knows my attitude towards the Association for Language Learning. Living in a fairly rural area, when I first started teaching I felt a bit... isolated and in need of fresh inspiration and input after the constant drip drip of my PGCE year. ALL gave me that input. I still remember one of the most eye-opening days I’ve ever been to as being an ALL Spanish day at Canning House in London, probably in 2007, maybe even 2006. The keynote was given by Paul Keogh, the then teacher of the year. And wow did he blow my mind, showing so much relaxed enjoyment in what he did, and I have no doubt whatsoever that his learners loved it too.

Living down here in Devon means that sadly I don’t get to many of the superb ALL London days. This year I was honoured to take part in the brilliant ALL West of England conference alongside such luminaries as Chris Harte and Greg Horton. And in the near future I’m really excited to be giving my first Language World presentation.

Last year was the first time I’ve managed to make it for the whole weekend of a Language World, partially thanks to the very kind accommodation provided by the lovely Suzi Bewell. And I loved it. With sessions by the mighty Rachel Hawkes, Juliet Park, Wendy Adeniji and my former PGCE tutor, Anna Lise Gordon I came away refreshed and reinvigorated.

But Language World’s more than that. It’s also about the people. It’s about meeting likeminded individuals and sharing experiences. It’s about demystifying some of “the greats”- actually getting to talk to some of our language-learning heroes like Helen Myers, Linda Parker, Joe Dale, Lisa Stevens etc. And it’s about having fun. The conference dinner last year was one of the most amusing evenings I’ve had in a long time. Many a cup of coffee was accompanied by many a biscuit and many a laugh was shared. So thanks again to everyone who was there- and thanks in advance for those on Friday 7^th July and Saturday 8^th at Imperial College, London. With the likes of Vincent Everett and Isabelle Jones adding to some of the names I’ve already mentioned above it should be a great couple of days. I'll be running a session about creative technologies for creative contexts, about how ICT can enhance our efforts to move away from the "traditional" topics- but if I were you I'd actually skip my session (I know, what an admission!) and go to Vincent's. I'm gutted I can't go as it's on at the same time as mine. Hey ho.

If you haven’t already signed up, click here for lots of details, and if you’re still not sure, have a look at the programme below. And please, please come and say hi.

Download Programme Language World 2011

 

3- The integration of technology

The title of this post is very deliberately not just “ICT”. ICT by itself, for itself is pointless to me, yet so often I get asked about what I can teach people to add “bangs and flashes” into their lessons. I just really hope that in the near future we can start to use tools with a more long term perspective, from the blogs to provide a platform for the world, with the classroom becoming a transparent space for anyone who wants to look in to a certain extent, to my beloved podcasts, but also to using tools such as Voicethread to help develop purpose for speaking and writing, especially when harnessed using a creative context. But thanks to the inspirations provided by Steve Bunce and Suzi Bewell I really want to investigate the potential of storytelling more, something I used to have great fun with in a unit where I got my year 10s to write a Christmas fairytale to perform for a primary. Again, the concept of writing and creating for a purpose with an element of the performance, all of which I see as being crucial to developing engagement levels. Although Xtranormal has introduced a charging scale, it still remains an excellent free tool even with just the basics available. The other thing that I really want to learn more about this year is Edmodo, the concept of reaching out beyond school walls using tools which are familiar to our pupils, exactly the kind of concept I’ve been presenting about for the last 4 or so years and building on my interest in using mobiles for that same reason- if that’s how they want to communicate, let’s enable them to do so.

Thinking again about the I, the C and the T- Devon MFL Conference

It was an absolute pleasure to present at the annual Devon MFL conference for the second time on Friday. The opportunity to have great teachers come together from across a huge county always provides for a stimulating day and Friday most definitely delivered- so thank you very much indeed to Chris Wakely, Tracy Adams and the rest of the Devon MFL team.

I was asked to present about using ICT to effectively stimulate pupil creativity and to develop a purpose for learning, so followign something I overheard a short while ago I decided to look again at those three little letter, I, C and T and to think what they should actually stand for these days. What would they stand for in your classroom?

Thinking again about the i, the c and the t

View more webinars from Chris Fuller.

For those of you who are starting a Google Reader account can I encourage you to check out all of the blogs in the list on the right of this page- alll of which are sources of fascinating ideas.

The 2 books I mentioned were:

Thinking Through Modern Foreign Languages

and

Curriculum Now! (by Rachel Hawkes)

If you are thinking of starting a twitter account then I recommend reading this how-to guide by @stuartridout  http://bit.ly/9GY35B

Edutalk

David Noble is a fascinating man. And that fascinating man is working on what I see as a fascinating project- edutalk. Edutalk aims to bring together the voices of educators, telling one story at a time, every day of the year. Some of these may be in the form of presentations that David has recorded, but he's also encouraging people to get in touch and use one of the ways which edutalk have set up to add material to the site. This could be through a Gabcast account set up for the purpose, an audioboo from an iphone, ipadio or alternatively using Skype and the recording tool Pamela.

Given that the project is based around the use of mobile devices for recording I decided to give David a quick call to talk about my interest in integrating mobile phones into the classroom and beyond. So, as @joedale put it, I gabbed. I hope you find it interesting.

So now I've done my bit- so over to you, get involved!

EDUtalk #17

SSAT conference with Louise Crossley

Firstly, apologies for how many times I say the word "ok". Oops.

Secondly I don't seem to be able to count. All of the numberings on the slides seem to start at . Mmm.

Thirdly, Juliet, I am NOT a geek.

ICT- thinking outside the classroom box

BETT 2007

Having blagged 3 days off school, i was really looking forward to BETT. However, I was distinctly disappointed. Following Joe Dale's article, "Is MFL adequately covered at BETT", my eyes were open for all things potentially MFL. It's always difficult to say, "this is MFL" when you're talking about new advances, but actually, what was on offer for MFL was undoubtedly limited. Following the discussion of the benefits of the "fabulous 4" (blogging, podcasting, videoconferencing and interactive whiteboards) after the above post, I was looking forward to finding out something new. Nothing on the blogging front. Podcasting, well, nothing that looked anything better than the blissfully free Audacity. Interactive whiteboards. Well, yes, there were plenty of those dotted around, but noone looking to offer anything for MFL. Video-conferencing- hugely expensive, far too much for a humble budget, especially when its benefits are so slim when simply compared to Skype. Things can look glossy, but actually not take us any further down the road to successful teaching.

Ok, so in which case, how about ideas and software for MFL? Talking pens, great ideas. BBC Jam- hey, have you read the rest of this blog? Of course I'm in favour, I'm contributing to it! (Yes, I'm still far too excited about that, and I'm not changing!) Espresso education, looked good, but with tens of people and a really slick marketing machine in place (thanks for the water), would it have been too much to ask for someone who understood the MFL software to be around?! Channel 4, fantastic product, but it's not new, so...

As you can probably tell, I WANT MORE!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I'm impatient, demanding etc. But sometimes if you're not, nothing gets done. If the MFL seminars are only going to be open to a very limited number of people (Joe, that room's ridiculous- thanks to Christmas excesses I could probably fill that by myself!), we should be able to expect more. MFL IS at the forefront of ICT in education. Let's celebrate that. And BETT, please can we have something more scintilating next year?!

Joining the great ICT debate

Having just read Connected 16's interesting "The toxic childhood debate", I thought I'd just throw my particularly unlearned hat into the debate- laying my cards down so to speak. Because actually I think that if we are to find the best path for us as teachers and educators, that is what every single member of our community needs to do. I genuinely believe that ICT needs to be handled well or it risks undermining its own strengths.

ICT isa not for everyone. For a lot of people, the thought of standing in front of a class and attempting to use a piece of technology in which they are far more familiar than you are is terrifying. However, as Lynne Horn persuasively argued at Joe Dale's Isle of Wight day in OCtober, that presents a huge learning opportunity. Pupils learn best when they have the opportunity to explain things to other people. If we can wheedle some MFL in there, hurrah! Even the most reluctant learners sometimes show signs of spark if they think they're showing sir or Miss something new.

But ICT does need to be used appropriately. If not, it will ultimately destroy one of its principal attributes- the power to motivate far far more than paper will ever manage. As I discovered last week, no matter how many times, and using ever wilder resources, grammar points often hold no merit for many learners, especially boys. But the podcast I got back from one of my best grunters last week when confronted witht he tricky Spanish preterite was awe-inspiring. And what made it better was that he had recorded it and edited it at home the night before the final lesson I'd given them for the project. I'm chuffed when he normally hands work in on time, so early?!

ICT should also not just be about furthering the learning of our individual subjects. When pupils leave our cosy surroundings, real life is not just about Spanish, or History, or Biology- it's about using practical skills to the best of our abilities. As I realise everytime I walk into a DIDA lesson in school, that is a huge gift that we MUST give our pupils.