Facing the currently unknown

Language World 2011

Last weekend was one of the annual highlights of the language year- Language World. Every year it turns into a crazy dash, balancing catching up with old friends from across the isles (and this year from Canada as well, well done Sylvia for making it over, wow) and trying to navigate the best path through the HUGE number of training sessions on offer by some of the best practitioners in the country.

My session on the Saturday afternoon aimed to look at how ICT can enhance the integration of creative contexts in the curriculum and how it can facilitate creative language use. Apologies for the fact that it turned into a manic gallop.

 

Creative technologies for creative contexts

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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

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Unicef's School Land campaign

At the moment I'm spending a lot of time investigating ways to add extra... depth to the traditional topics. At Key Stage 4 I'm often told by learners that they feel like they're simply rehashing what they did a few years earlier- hardly what I'd call progression.  From my point of view we're not going to persuade our students that learning a language, and continuing to learn a language into post-16 and beyond, is really going to take them anywhere in life if they're constantly learning about more complex ideas in other subjects. 

So when I saw a tweet from @unicef_es just now my interest was very much piqued. They've created a Facebook app to support fundraising for a school construction project in Zambia (form more details and to access the app see here). The idea is that users can play around with the interactive school buildings and think about what they see as being important in a school. Is it the teacher's desk that's important? The training that the teacher's had? The kit in the kitchen, the sporting equipment? What is it that makes a school... a school? Users can then "donate" those items which will be put in place when the school is built for real.

I think this could be a really interesting way to get learners reflecting on items in a school, what their ideal schools would be like, comparing different items, even reflecting on what makes a good teacher. I'm hoping that Unicef will keep updating their information on the project as if they do it could be a really rich source of information for teachers. After all, when studying about school we don't just have to look at our own.

Video shorts- so simple, so effective. I must use more!

Neil Jones' superb posts and resources invariably make me think and get other ideas flow through my head. His recent post about the superb 7.35 de la mañana, coupled with just having read the ever-excellent Isabelle Jones' post about using short clips got me thinking yet again about the power of interpretation. The clip below is a really, really powerful one for me, providing huge and varied opportunities for exploitation. Prediction tasks (actually, with this particular clip there are quite a few opportunities to stop the clip and do further prediction tasks as the story unfolds as it's hard to guess what twist's coming next), writing the script, stating how the person is feeling, using the perfect tense to reflect on what has or hasn't happened to lead them to these positions, using the simple future to write about what they are going to do, comparing and contrasting direct and indirect speech and even, very simply, focusing on adjectives to say how they're feeling. And all with no right and no wrong answers. Love it. All ideas as to how else to exploit it would be warmly received!

My contribution to the great #ililc debate- but is there any debate?

Rather than saying my thanks at the end of this post, I think it’s fitting given that we’re in awards season to put them at the beginning. To Zena Hilton and also to Joe Dale and Jo Rhys-Jones can I please say a huge, huge thank you. Last weekend at the University of Southampton for the ICT Links into Languages conference was the best teaching event I’ve been to in many, many years. It continued the fantastic spirit of the Isle of Wight conferences in that every presentation was relevant, of the highest quality but also, and crucially for me, sparked off learning conversations. Teachers were discussing pedagogy, not just methodology- the why and not just the “how?!”. There was no separation of presenter and delegate and no whizzes and bangs for the sake of it- everything was about the learning. About the impact of the 2 days I don’t think there can possibly be any debate. I just wish I’d got the chance to listen to Isabelle Jones, to Alex Blagona or to Suzi Bewell but alas there really just wasn’t time to be inspired that many times in what felt like an incredibly short weekend. But I think Lisa Stevens sums up that element far better than I could ever express.

Another reason why I enjoyed #ililc , and to some degree the main reason why I feel like I personally benefited, was that I met knew people. I’ve commented many times before that some conferences tend to include the same faces presenting and in the audience, the same conversations take place over a cup of tea and the impact isn’t what it should be. I met some great practitioners who I felt like I knew so well from the community that is Twitter (Alex Bellars thank you for a lot of fun and interesting... exchanges), finally got to meet Sean Terry (honestly, check out his ideas and resources, well worth a few minutes of your time), met folks from the MFL Resources support network and also met many who’d never even heard of either support mechanism, people reaching out to learn. And I loved it. Looking around the room on Sunday morning as Chris Harte presented his inspirational thoughts on Languages: reboot and the SOLO Taxonomy (thanks to John Connor that section can be seen here) I saw a lot of people for whom those words were a total departure from what they’d always been told, but not from what they’d always believed. That was impact. The message had spread. And yet so many people again said to me that they’d be returning to a school on Monday morning where those messages would not be well received. They were prepared to fight, to evangelise and to convert, but could they and should they necessarily have to? So the question we need to ask again is how do we keep spreading the message of dynamic, engaging teaching and learning? And not just to those who are keen to listen right now.

At this point I feel I should step away for a moment. This is a conversation I’ve had many a time and yet I don’t feel like I’ve got any closer to the solution. On Twitter not too long ago I had an impassioned exchange of message with Bill Lord, Dughall McCormick and David Rogers about the very concept of spreading the message- in that case about cross-subject Teachmeets (if you don’t know what a Teachmeet is then don’t despair, just watch this video from BETT). It was suggested, I think by Bill, that we need to initiate a “bring a virgin to a Teachmeet” plan. Taken out of context I could see that being a problem, but the concept was very straightforward- that we need to spread the word about peer-to-peer training and support, and the best way to do this is to keep introducing “new” people into the mix. And yet nothing’s come of it, and it’s very rare that it does, because it always relies on one or two individuals to grab hold of the reins and really slog. Especially where the principle might need to include economic inducements at a time when it feels like we’re having some of the support removed- especially, and sadly, Links into Languages.  And at the end of it all there’s always the risk that we’ll end up with the same conversations when we do get people there because how do we get them involved, enthused and sharing as well? This time, however, I'm hopeful as that concept and the need to talk about how we brake down barriers is spreading. To read a far more eloquent description trust in Alex Blagona.

So as both Rachel, in her really quite moving keynote, and Chris said, language teaching in this country is far from dead, in fact to a certain degree it’s in reasonably good health because of the grass roots... activism of many high-quality professionals. Professionals from across the country who were prepared to give up their free time and come to the south coast to learn and to engage in at times heated (but always open and constructive) debate. I was asked the question a couple of times whether this happens in other subjects, and my answer was that I genuinely didn’t think so (except to a certain degree in Geography!).  Great active-research and experimentation  are taking place in the world of MFL- not just amongst those who were present over the weekend but across the country, including many great teachers who have no desire whatsoever to become "connected", all overcoming some of the many barriers that have been put in our place over the years, and continue to be today. But what I passionately believe we need to do is ensure that this verve and passion can reach the places it needs to more- and that’s where the debate really is and needs to be. I guess I'm just greedy- #ililc was superb... I just want more, especially in the long term.

1- thinking differently

First up in the series is the concept which I’m most passionate about, that of thinking differently, of imbuing lessons and schemes of work with a real “Meaning that Matters”. I’m afraid I do not believe that asking questions about the contents of a bedroom is going to inspire any young individual that learning a language can make a huge difference to their life. Sadly so much of the motivation to learn a language depends on the charisma and inspiration of the teacher delivering the content, not the content itself. How often have we all enjoyed teaching an individual who thrives for a year, then the following September we’re informed by their next teacher that they’re really struggling, not capable or just not interested?

At the moment our pupils walk down the corridor from our classrooms to find themselves in a scenario where debate is encouraged on the proviso that they can back up their arguments, where contributions are welcome if people have an opinion. Yet do we give our pupils enough of those opportunities in MFL where the transactional role-play is still so often king? The great work done by Greg Horton with his Group Talk concept (if you don’t know what I mean, watch the Teachers TV video to be inspired!) is a great first step, but is not the final one- our content must be right as well. So this year I look forward to learning far more from the likes of Rachel Hawkes, Vincent Everett, Chris Harte, Suzi Bewell and Neil Jones with a view to adding a huge level of intercultural understanding and project work to my approach to language teaching.

Spontaneity, challenge and, above all, fun

On Friday I was delighted to be involved with the training day run for Plymouth schools under the PASH banner. I hope that it was a useful day for everyone involved and that some of my comments generated the odd bit of interest and thought. The day was focused on 2 main threads- the roles of spontaneity in our teaching and also that of the actual content that we are delivering. My main goal was to encourage people to think again about why they are delivering certain topics- is it because they always have and because that's what the text book tells them to do or is it because it's the most effective way to teach certain structures, to challenge our pupils and to really make them think. After all, in what other subject can pupils leave an hour's lesson having learnt nothing about the world around them but now being the proud understander of 10 new nouns?

Anyway, a large amount of the day was based on the concept indicated by this video- fun is good!

Spontaneous talk slideshare

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Step away from the textbook

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Encouraging creativity at UIMP, Santander

Last Thursday it was an absolute pleasure to spend a day in Santander, northern Spain at Universidad Internacional Menéndez-Pelayo. I had been invited to take part in a week's course about learning from recent advances in English education. All of the teachers are in some way involved in using English as part of their teaching, either as the central subject or to enhance their main subject, such as part of a psychology course. As such they were spared me presenting in Spanish... phew. My focus was on encouraging creativity and to demonstrate that it is possible to move away from "traditional" approaches and acceptances.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed ideas to these presentations. I tried to attribute as much as I could remember to, but if I've missed anyone out then yell and I'll alter things! A huge thank you to José Antonio del Tejo for organising the event as well, it was great fun. And thanks for organising a La Oreja de Van Gogh gig for that night too!!

What can ICT do for us?

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Creative Assessment

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Thinking about creativity

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Thinking again about the traditional MFL topics

Howdy y'all,

well, with more time on my hands at the moment in my role as a consultant rather than a full-time teacher I've been thinking. Some of you who know me might scoff at that concept, but yes, I've been thinking. And reappraising.

Meanings that matter. Thinking differently. However we brand it I remain convinced that we need to add cognitive challenge to the MFL curriculum. It's such a hard subject and yet do we actually make our pupils THINK? Yes, the PLTS movement is, thankfully, gathering pace (for further inspiration please please have a look at the great Isabelle Jones' presentation on the theme here). But to truly capture the brains of our pupils we also need to ensure that our content is right as well. We cannot expect, longterm, our pupils to walk down a corridor from discussing the dangers of deforestation to chanting ten animals in our room and expect them to be stimulated. Stimulation, enjoyment and confidence are, in my eyes, the route to long lasting motivation and passion. Passion got me through my education and I love it when I see that fire in a pupil's eyes. And that passion's what makes me want to teach.

As a result of that mini-rant, combined with the increased time that I have on my hands, I've been able to spend a couple of days thinking about twists that we can put on those traditional MFL topics in order to increase that level of relevancy. I'm not looking at cross-curricularism here, that's something that has to be worked out in schools according to the practitioners' expertise and interests. What I am talking about is finding a way that a department who's either worried about taking the full plunge, who hasn't got the opportunity to sit down with other departments or even whose other departments have said no (crazy fools!) can make changes. Our (no longer quite so new) KS3 curriculum gives us the chance- please please let's keep seizing it, even though the initial burst might now be behind us.

At this point can I just thank @bibitybob, @dominic_mcg, @valleseco and @joedale and @zaragozalass for some MFL ideas. Can I also say a big thank you to @moodlefairy @olliebray and @geoblogs for contributing some really idea-provoking Geography advice. You're all stars and made the hunt far more enjoyable, thank you.

Anyway, what I now need is advice, on a couple of levels

1) this is NOT a complete list, in fact it's not even that detailed a list- please please help me to grown this list and as such help us all to get it out to departments who aren't sure of where to go. So many people can't get out to training sessions now so the more we can do...

2) how should these ideas be presented? I don't feel like this word document does the job, but am really not sure what's best? A GoogleDoc? Etherpad? Please help!

Righty-ho, I'll stop blathering on- but please do get in touch to answer me. Pretty pretty please. I hope someone actually manages to make it this far down the post to find this, at last...

Download Topics and approaches for reappraisal

Cheers guys, I'm looking forward to hearing your responses soon. Hopefully.