Facing the currently unknown

Smore.com- multimedia reading / listening creator

At the moment my Stretch phase students are working on a project, alongside STEM and Geography, to develop an eco waterpark. As part of the project launch we had a session with Richard Hammond, founder of the green traveller website and a writer for the Guardian, where students began to map out waterparks packed with environmental features, albeit they were working on squared paper and with a strict budget for their designs. 

 

 

Recently in Spanish students have looked at the massive issue of forest fires in Spain and reflected on the importance of wise water usage. This week a number of my groups then used bit.ly/ParqueParaiso to discover the waterpark which I had "proposed" for development near Valencia,which they have been examining in a web-quest style of task- responding to questions, matching elements and finding key phrases before debating whether they feel we ought to approve the park or not.

However, the cool thing about Smore is that a) it's free and b) you can include, thanks to soundcloud.com , not only text, but also audio- creating a truly multidimensional task, absolutely ideal for both in session work and homework. 

Uruguay legalisation- a lesson update

Sometimes you teach a lesson and it restores your... hope. It reminds you of why you love doing the job that you do.

Pleasingly, I had one of those lessons last week- the last session I taught on the Thursday- ideal timing given that I was out of school on Friday for the Newton Abbot conference. 

As such, I thought I'd share it. 

It was an updated version of a session that I love- discussing the legalisation of marijuana in Uruguay with a group of mostly year 9s. The number of misconceptions that I could challenge was fascinating (in TL), their cultural knowledge soared and they were really drawn in to the central debate- should we legalise or not, and what might the arguments be? To add to this, when students realised that the very first slide was from a real governmental campaign really left them surprised (this was a fairly low ability group) and buoyed.

The fact that after the session, as I was walking a few students up the lane to their next session, they wanted to carry on the discussion (including using elements of TL), demonstrated the success of the session. So please feel free to use the materials below, and let me know what changes you make so that I can add them myself!

Download 3- Uruguay drug legalisation C1

Download Drug opinions speaking frame

Download Uruguay highlighting deductions C1

Download Uruguay highlighting deductions diff C1

PE in Spanish- a reflection of our ongoing programme

I've just been playing around adding some videos to my departmental blog, www.route39.typepad.com/spanish and it's made me reflect that I haven't really written any updates for a while. Like so many of us, I've hardly stopped for a pause at all since Christmas, so half term gives a suitable opportunity to think about how things have been going, and what changes I need to be making moving forward. Being a 1 person department has a lot of massive positives, but I'm really looking forward to having some company to talk things through with from September. Let's just hope the recruitment process works out well- and from early signs I'm sure it will!

 

Anyway, one of the main things that every visitor to school (we have lots, be they DfE, Mocksted, or other agencies interested in the tack that we're taking) wants to ask me about is the way that we are using PE as a medium to drive communication both for our higher ability students and some of our lower ability students. So far we've covered football, rugby, table tennis, health and fitness and now gymnastics. Sessions are pretty much exclusively in the target language, enabled by the physical elements of the sessions. Crucially, during the course of the units students build familiarity with the feedback grids that we use, both for peer to peer praise and feedback but also in self target setting. 

 

Positives so far

• really strong engagement- the type of students who normally protest at both TL use and at using the TL themselves use it and accept it as a standard part of the sessions. In fact, the lower ability group has recently requested classroom sessions as well in order to develop their PE in Spanish sessions- demonstrating that they're viewing the active sessions as more important, a real vindication of the policy.
• lower ability students in particular are really using their physical Spanish sessions to develop their sentence making abilities (neatly dovetailing with the work they are doing in their morning literacy sessions- every student has 30 minutes per day, Monday to Thursday).
• higher ability students see the session as a really fun part of their week- giving languages a great profile. They are then really transferring the language (in particular the grammatical elements that we use for feedback and also for peer and self target setting.

 

To develop

• More interaction / banter language for during sessions
• Opportunities for higher ability students to transfer their classroom knowledge across. A number already exploit their existing knowledge throughout sessions, but I need to find ways to structure this more adequately.
• I'm still desperately trying to get the school in Madrid that I've been having discussions with to tie down a date for a football / netball tour. When done I think this will really cement the motivational elements of the programme.

Newton Abbot conference 2015- a review

There's something very special, and very enjoyable, about being in a room packed with determined, enthusiastic language teachers. Friday was one of those special days for the second (now annual!) Newton Abbot language conference. With about 65 language teachers in the room from across the area, including both primary and secondary colleagues (and 2 head teachers) there was a really positive, determined attitude. In most cases teachers had requested to come on the course, something which I always find sets a great tone for the day.

 

I had been asked to present 2 sessions- 1 about how we have built engagement at Route 39 Academy, principally stemming from conversations that my Principal, governors and I had with a number of students before I began actually teaching in the school in order to find out how they viewed languages and how we could then improve their attitudes to the subject and to their learning.

Doing it differently, building engagement with languages (Newton Abbot conference) from Route39MFL

 

 

I was also then asked to run a session on the "new" National Curriculum, which, for me, is more about freeing up teachers than restraining them- trusting the professionals to develop an effective system for their own schools. Anyway, if there are any things that you'd like to see in more detail then yell and I'll add the relevant documents to the post.

 

 

 

Newton Abbot conference- 13th February 2015

Memrise- independent learning that works

I love great tools. I especially love great free tools. As for great free tools which really do the trick and support students to learn? Unsurprisingly, that's a massive tick on my list. 

I was first introduce to Memrise at #ililc4 in a really intriguing session by Dominic Traynor, who I'd gone to listen to as a result of the fact that he uses PE to teach Spanish. I wasn't expecting the main nugget that I took away to be something which would really support my students in a structured academic way.

Memrise is, in its very simplest way, a great independent learning tool to support students with practising new language. You can search for courses which have already been made (including full AS spec vocab) or you can create your own containing the precise language that you want your classes to be working on. It takes no time at all to type it in, press tab for the translation then press save. Personally this, at the moment, is the route that I'm taking as I want my students to be working on fairly precise things.

Memrise then cycles between introducing new language and testing the language that's been introduced. My students find it massively addicting- especially as they soon realise that the more they practise the more confident they feel in sessions. Even my top groups are discovering that the language I want them to be using in their Controlled Assessments is all packaged up ready to practise within their Memrise course. Feel free to have a look at http://www.memrise.com/course/401042/local-area-challenge/

One of the elements that I put a lot of emphasis on in sessions is HOW we learn new language. Not how we learn chunks of language, because that's something that we try to avoid at all costs. One of the main skills we practise is thinking of stories to associate with new words. Memrise offers this function as well- students are rewarded with points towards their learning leaderboards for creating "Memes"- ways of remembering the words whcih can then be shared with others.

It's the leaderboard function, split into week, month and all time, which really captivates many of my learners- and in particular those in the lower groups. We have monthly prizes in school for the top 3 per course, and I've been startled how, at the end of both September and October, I've been pestered on the first day of the month to print out the leaderboards which I display in my classroom.

Real positives I've discovered

• Parents are fascinated. I've even had a few sign up to their own accounts and join in, thus causing a massive sense of determination to beat their mum (on the leaderboard, not physically!). So I've started sending a bit.ly shortened web address for the courses home on newsletters.
• It's a great Flipping tool- students arrive confident with the language that we're then going to be using. Some of my older students are also going back and using the new entry course (we're stage not age), whilst some of my new students are also going away and working on some of the more advanced courses.
• I sent the link to my Principal, whose sons are in year 7. She got addicted. Which gave me massive power to force my groups to do more- because if the Principal's beating the students then surely they need to work harder!
• Some of my students have started creating their own courses and sharing the link- mainly EAL students wanting to celebrate their own language. Brilliant says I, let's celebrate them!
• Maths have started creating their own Memrise courses- a massively unexpected bonus, but the kids who are in the lowest Maths group in the school are completely hooked, leading to massive repetition of the learning and a strengthening of their understanding. Bonza, says I. Have a look- http://www.memrise.com/course/453989/times-table-legends/
• I'm aware that they're in the process of recording audio and video material to go with 1000s of Target Language words across a variety of languages- big bonus there (although there are already a mass of sound files which pop up as options when you are creating a course.

So the long and short of it is, engagement with the tool (and the app) have been fantastic (including some students, not even those who are traditionally your determined / want to do more type) are asking me to create / tweak courses to allow them to concentrate on specific elements to further their learning. Aye aye, says I. It really is well worth a try to see if it sparks in your school.

PE in Spanish- an update

The last few weeks of implementing PE in Spanish have been a steep learning curve, but fascinating with them. Of our 6 classes in school we currently have 4 who are receiving some or all of their PE in Spanish. It really is a fantastic opportunity to be able to grow this from nothing- this is a massive chance to do something differently, something which it would be virtually impossible to do with an established PE department. Our high quality (he's the coach of the GB U20 Ultimate Frisbee team) PE teacher has committed to trying to learn Spanish alongside our students and using it to deliver sessions alongside myself. 

Our main goals / methods at the moment. I'm writing this because we'd really love some feedback, please!!

• a determination not to compromise on the quality of the PE skill development. I, however, still need to do a lot of learning for myself in order to become a really high quality PE teacher in my own right. Plans are in place and observation trips planned!
• a focus on developing student to student interaction in the Target Language, using their language for a real purpose.
• Independent Study (homework within the extended school day) videos to highlight key techniques, vocab + develop Spanish listening skills, shared with students through Google Drive accounts.
• an emphasis on peer feedback in the target language. Even students who are "off games" are expected to use the learning mats for each skill to provide feedback to their peers, in Spanish.
• in line with the school's policy of reflecting on Learning Habits, students are supported to do this every lesson, with a Learning Habits grid on each skill mat and a phonics chart to support students.
• Download Shooting feedback grid + LH
• Download Shooting interaction vocab
• Download El fútbol feedback mat
• Download Skipping interaction vocab
• phonics, phonics, phonics. All students work on this every session.
• Lots of repetition from week to week and sport / skill to sport / skill to build up knowledge through familiarity.
• an openness that Sam, our PE teacher, is not a Spanish speaker, but is a Spanish learner. As part of his planning we work on the key language for each session (leading to him being able to run sections of sessions without my input). However, there is then an expectation that people can challenge him with his language outside of sessions- but he can also challenge them to remember key phonics or new words / phrases. Seeing students testing each other and him whilst eating their lunch, students who might traditionally be disconnected with language learning, has been incredibly uplifting.
• differentiation and groupings partially based on student reflections on their own ability and confidence. Students have completed the Google Doc below as part of their Independent Study during the course of the week and will be completing it again regularly to track their progress and attitudes.

Learning Habits- Building Learning Power at Route 39 Academy

With thanks to the amazing Hattie.

A large element of the academic side of our school life is built on the TLO's concepts of Building Learning Power. Having recently spoken to another Head of Department, who I trust and whose practice I fully respect, who has recently received training from the company, it is something which a lot of MFL departments do already, to a certain degree. We encourage our students to reflect on HOW they learn, not just what they are learning. We ask our students to reflect on the skills that they have used to come to their answers. With BLP these are known as Learning Habits. A simplified explanation, but...

Anyway, at the start of each session students are encouraged to reflect on what Habits they feel they will need to do in order to best reach the stated objectives. Lots of useful language to exploit there, so I've attached the Objectives and Habits slide that I use.

However, the crucial thing that I've done at the start of this term is to tape to all of my tables a learning mat containing all of the crucial language to suggest what Habits students feel they will need to use and then which they feel they did use or need to work at. It also contains the key phonics grid provided by the amazing Rachel Hawkes. And was has been fascinating is how even beginners have found the grid easy to start building reflective sentences, self-differentiating using the extension column at the end. All in all, it's been darned useful- and will hopefully only get more so as students become familiar with the core language.

Anyway, I know that some people out there already adopt the BLP stance in their schools, so I thought it might be useful for some people!

Download LH LO slide

Download Los hábitos de aprendizaje table mat

Duplo sentence building

A while ago I read a cracking blog post by the fantastic @dominic_mcg, who was describing an idea that he had learned from the wonderful @bellaale in this post. Duplo. Something that I spend a massive amount of my time playing with at home with my kids. And sentence building. Something that I spend a massive amount of time working on with my students at work. At the time I read it I put it to the back of my head. In most classroom settings that I've been in the idea would've been nigh on impossible.

Bam!

Thank you, gents.

At school we are encouraged to really push our practice, to get students exploring rather than us explaining. So when I was stuck for how to get new students building their Target Language usage in the classroom, and as such building short sentences, Duplo popped up. And I love it. Please, please go buy some Duplo blocks.

OK, the way it works...

1) Colour code the language you want students to use (our first week was spent working on key verbs in order to start sentence building from the outset).

 

2) Print it (in colour) for each table / group.

3) Each table needs the word sheets, some whiteboard pens and some baby wipes.

4) Get building!

 

Initially I challenged the students to build as many 4 word towers as they could- basic requests. I then gave them 10 minutes to build as tall a tower as possible (1st word at the top then build down). You write the Spanish on one side and the English on the other (which also then helps when we look at word order). 

Next stage: peer feedback on how to improve- write "La frase fue"+ an opinion and then tell the other team how to improve it on a post-it for them to respond to, using the spontaneous language mats in each table box (see a screenshot below)

And then get building again. The biggest tower? 54 blocks- almost as tall as one of its makers! Way to go for week 2 of Spanish learning! 

I love it, I love it, I love it- and so did the students, who all felt that they were now able to create and develop short sentences. In fact, the only colour of block that we ran out of was orange- connectives!

 

ShelterBox Spanish Challenge- a competition for schools across the country!

Last year it was a pleasure to team up with the fantastic charity ShelterBox to develop the ShelterBox Challenge. We've made some key changes in 2014 to make it more user-friendly, more effective and, hopefully, better for departments and for students during the year ahead! 

So please have a read of the details below, which are also available at www.smore.com/5j3b   and then share it with as many people as you can before getting involved yourself!