Facing the currently unknown

Language World- Thoughtful Contexts, Thoughtful Learners

Thanks to everyone for your positive comments after my session today at Language World up here at the UNiversity of Lancaster. It was very intimidating standing in front of the Lecture Theatre like that, so it's been great to hear your positive feedback!

Anyway, please find 2 things below- the presentation and links to 2 Dropbox folders containing the 2 units that I described- please don't convince yourself that the materials are world-changing, they're really not!

Link to the ShelterBox house and home materials (beware, some of these are very scratchy!)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gizxpkxnzzabuhf/Q-tjL9hFec

Link to the Uruguay health unit:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/62cf7yo2do3sntl/ELYvyNfjx8

 

PLease also have a look at https://www.smore.com/5j3b-the-shelterbox-mfl-challenge to get involved in the year 8 national competition with ShelterBox- the ShelterBox MFL Challenge to allow our students to be creative! 

https://www.smore.com/5j3b-the-shelterbox-mfl-challenge

And if you fancy talking about possibly forming a hub for the European Day of Languages iPad competition, YELL! 

 

Language world thoughful contexts, thoughtful learners web from Chris Fuller

The ShelterBox MFL Challenge is for everyone- a clarification

Hey everyone,

well yesterday was fun. The ShelterBox MFL Challenge flyer got a fairly large number of views, which was fantastic. 

HOWEVER, a lot of people believe that because it has been organised by ALL Devon it is not just for schools in Devon. It really is for anyone who wants to be involved within England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. So please, please spread the word and get involved, wherever you are- be it England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. 

So if you didn't look at the flyer last time round, please have a quick look this time and get involved!

https://www.smore.com/5j3b 

The ShelterBox MFL challenge

Many schools and groups that I have worked with recently have asked me to devise events and competitions to challenge students and also to raise the profile of the MFL department and open students' eyes to the wider world around them. It is with great delight that I can share details of an exciting project which I have been working on for a while. 

The ShelterBox MFL Chalenge, being run by ALL Devon (with massive thanks to Nina Elliott and Caroline Grant), is designed to hand control to the students. It is fully supported by the Cornish charity who do amazing work in disaster zones across the world. Please have a read and then get involved!

 

Cinema speed-chatting events

    

Back in October, at a training session for schools in Plymouth, one of the key recurring themes was the need to build the profile of languages. Schools were keen to see events organised out of school and projects to take place during the normal rhythm of the school year. Both, ideally, should show students the real meaning of learning a language, give some cultural insights and allow learners to use the language creatively.

Phew.

So over the last few months I have been working with The Plough Arts centre in Torrington, north Devon, and the Phoenix, Exeter, to put together speed-chatting cinema events for year 9 students. They've both been fantastic- arts house cinemas work incredibly hard to get young people through their doors to show them that a different world exists from the massive multiplexes and block busters.

Over the last few days we've held up here in north Devon events in Spanish, using the film Voces Inocentes, about child soldiers in El Salvador, and in French using Micmacs, a bizarre but engaging comedy tale of revenge. The feedback has been generally really positive, however I still need to work out a better way to structure the discussions after the film- all suggestions hugely welcome for groups of 100+ 14 year olds!

Anyway, the way the mornings worked...

• students arrive and complete a prediction task based on 6 events which take place in the film
• students match basic questions- "What is he called, where does he live etc" to build up their understanding of the lead characters
• students try to work out key details from a song (Voces Inocentes) and the poster (Micmacs)
• students are encouraged to shout items of vocabulary as suggested by the teacher, using the vocab mat provided, trying to build up to sentences (below)
• the film
• adjust the prediction task to see how much they got right
• Rock paper scissors evolution (slide below) to encourage lots of interaction
• The different groups of students that emerge from that game are then grouped to discuss the next question n the vocab mat. Repeated changes to encourage them to interact with a variety of people (including different schools)
• I need one more high quality game here to get students naturally interacting

Please feel free to use these documents, either in lessons or to arrange similar events in your local area. If I can help just yell!

 

Download Rock paper scissors

Download Voces Inocentes vocab mat side 1

Download Reverse side of worksheet

Download Voces Inocentes vocab mat side 1 DIFF

Download Reverse side of worksheet DIFF

Download Micmacs vocab mat side 1

Download MicMacs reverse

Download MicMacs reverse DIFF

#ilic4- great ideas, great teachers, great hope

#ilic4, otherwise known as the fourth running of what used to be known as the ICT Links into Languages Conference, an idea kickstarted by 3 great people back in 2011 (Zena Hilton, Joe Dale and Jo Rhys-Jones) has grown into the country's leading conference specifically about the use of technology in languages. 

Normally I don't like talking about technology without putting it in context. However this year I was very proud to have had a say in develeloping the conference's title- "Putting the Pedagogy in the Technology". For me technology is nothing without a sound ground in understanding what it is beign used- and that purpose MUST be more than just creating bangs, whizzes and engagement through bright lights.

This time last year I felt disillusioned with teaching and I didn't go. I couldn't see the point, to be honest. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be in education any more. This year I walked through the weekend with a smile on my face. Fascinating people lead fascinating sessions and the learning conversations which ensued were both provoking and intriguing. Just the way I like them.

I have to confess that I went with a selfish shopping list of desires to supplement my previous blog post outlining the basic foundations for the department that I intend to develop over the next few months.

• Sam Broom spoke about the implementation of SOLO taxonomy in her teaching. Sam is someone I've long wanted to meet after many conversations and work on projects together over the years. It was an absolute pleasure to finally meet her, and her session was really stimulating as well. SOLO is something that, since I was first introduced to it back in 2010 by my heroes Chris Harte and Darren Mead, I have been thoroughly intrigued by. Even after having done a fair bit of reading on the subject I still wasn't sure how to use the taxonomy. Now, hopefully, I do.
• Sadie McLachlan - Flipping the MFL classroom. I want to be able to keep my students on their feet, making sure that lessons and lesson structures are varied. The school is also founded on Project Based Learning, so I want to maximise the learning time available for DOING. Flipping is a great way to do that, then allowing the following lesson to be heavily differentiated to allow those students who already understand a concept to be allowed to get on with applying their knowledge whilst extra layers of support can be provided for those who still need it. Sadie is incredibly reticent about the work that they've been doing at Wildern, yet, although she openly admits that what they have been doing isn't perfect, I actually think that it's a fantastic example for departments across the country to follow. Their use of Google Docs to gauge comprehension (many thanks to Rachel Smith as well for Flubaroo for the automated marking of Google Docs, definitely one to explore) is one that I will definitely take on board.
• Dominic McGladdery- differentiation. Dom's take on differentiation was a fascinating one, reminding us how ICT tools can be used to provide access to all. It's good to be reminded that sometimes the old classics really are the best- and I mean that as the highest praise.
• James Gardner- Edmodo. I want my students to be able to work on projects when they are not sat in front of me. I think Edmodo might fill this hole in how I've operated before due to the fact that both our IT savvy and our IT comfortable students are happy with the way that a Facebook-esque tool operates. I'm going to run a pilot group on this and see how they get on.

 

Now to take it all forward and see what I can make of the ideas- so thank you to everyone involved for a fantastic weekend. I just really, really wish I could have been to many of the other sessions- but I look forward to scouring the blogosphere in the near future to keep piling on the ideas!

Route 39 Academy MFL

Well, I’m back in the game.

I’ve been asked to create a Spanish department in the Route 39 Academy, a free school which has been open since September just along the north Devon coast from where I live. The school is driven by a forward-thinking, Project Based Learning environment and the Head has given me a fantastic brief- innovate, push the students forward in a way that makes them think and in turn be creative themselves. Just my cup of tea.

As such, at the moment, given that I am starting on a very limited timetable from after half term as I serve out some of my existing consultancy commitments (I’ll still have 2 days a week working freelance), I’m in the process of creating an ideal world scenario in my head and then seeing how many of those elements I can incorporate in the department which will be growing in September. The students (all years 7 and 8) currently have a very mixed view towards the language learning experiences that they have had previously but are used to working in an independent, reflective way. They have had a large amount of input on the use of Learning Habits / BLP and so these are elements that I have to take into consideration.

 

 

Essentials

• Creative content- I’ll be opening up with a unit on Mexico (thanks @geoblogs for the discussions) designed to encourage students to reflect on “otherness” and through that to reflect a bit about themselves. The conceit is that they will be designing and describing a character who lives in Tijuana, just over the border from San Diego. The long and short of it is that they will have to decide where their future lies and whether they take the risk of crossing the border in search of a different life. This will be accompanied by a technology project to design the wall of crosses which represents those who’ve lost their lives, as well as creating a visual representation of the things that they will hold dear in the country that they choose.
• Phonics- will be at the core of everything. I’m also in the process (thanks @joedale) of putting together QR codes to add to Rachel Hawkes’ Phonics poster to make a classroom display (and a handout for their books) which will enable students to listen to the phonic sounds whenever they want / need them.
• A blog- I want the students to be creating and to be reflecting- for me, a blog is essential. It also presents the department in the right, outward-facing way and engages parents, who play a big role in the school’s DNA.
• Group Talk / arguing- within the first month I want students to be able to pause (pues, a ver, es decir, sabes) and argue (qué va, no estoy de acuerdo) and then justify (porque, ya que). That means, for me, setting up contentious positions where students are able to develop genuine opinions- again, looping back to the content.
• Flipping- in line with the school’s emphasis on PBL I like the concept of Flipping the classroom- giving the students the skills and knowledge in advance and then allowing them to examine and implement those elements in the lesson time where I can then support those who need additional help and enable those who are ready to fly. I think Wildern School in Southampton have been doing some great work on this front recently- see their http://www.fliplearningmfl.blogspot.co.uk/ for some fascinating ideas. Sam Broom’s also come up with some great grammar videos http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXD7mnOYRYNrK58Fszv5ZPw . I’ve created http://route39mfl.wikispaces.com/ to start compiling different materials and give students a go-to space for learning materials.
• Edmodo- this is a possibility, not a definite- I’m looking forward to going to a session at #ililc4 next week about it to make some final decisions- what I don’t want is to overload students from the start but I do want to provide them with a venue to discuss and share ideas, especially relevant for when they’re working on projects when they’re not in the same physical space as each other.
• Wespeke- as soon as possible I want to get students communicating for real- I think Wespeke can provide a fantastic tool to do this, communicating with real classes all over the world, easily and for free. Result.
• Twitter- again, I want to provide real world interaction. Not many of the students use Twitter yet, but I'm hoping that some of their parents do and so can use Twitter as a way of engaging with their children's learning. I also want to use it to provide opportunities to contact the rest of the world. So please follow @route39MFL 
• I've agreed to run a learning evening for parents a few weeks into my contract. Plenty of phonics, plenty of thought generating, probably a cheeky Wordle and the odd glass of wine, all while showing parents how they can support students at home. I'm really excited about this.

Adding deeper meaning- making language learning relevant and engaging, Plymouth schools, October 2013

Last Friday I was privileged to work with MFL teachers from across Plymouth on a subject that is very close to my heart. Those of you who have ever had the misfortune of chatting to me or attending any of my sessions will know that I think that we generally undersell ourselves in the MFL community.

 

How engaged would you be in discussing something which you already know about? My most pertinent anecdote deals with my first week of university (after another birthday this week that feels like a long, long time ago!). In my first small group Spanish session we were asked to introduce ourselves to the person sat next to us. We duly chatted and discovered that my new friend Nats and I came from only a few miles down the road from each other- in fact, our shared attitude to life has now lead us to still be good friends many years later. But when we walked down the corridor to our first small group French class we naturally sat next to each other. When we were told to introduce ourselves to each other again we pretty much sat in silence. Not because of any linguistic issues but simply because it felt like now we had nothing to talk about- any words we uttered felt pointless. I fear that's often the case in many MFL classrooms. So much of our teaching time is spent focusing on words and constructions to describe subjects that our students already know about- the "old school" subjects like house and home, healthy living, local area. Subjects that get dealt with at KS2 in many cases, then again at KS3 and are finally flogged to death at KS3. I know that I've always struggled to vary the content and approaches hugely between the revisitings when I've been expected to deal with them in their traditional forms. If we are to encourage engagement we need, need, need to engage our students with the content that we are dealing with- demonstrating the intercultural elements that undoubtedly grabbed all of us language teachers when we were first learning the language. When we've done that we need to actually give them the tools to get their hands dirty with the content. Language of discussion, of debate, of disagreement, of approval. 

The session also looks at a few ways to build the profile of MFL departments, following 2 strands. The first is my old drum of providing audience through blogs, podcasts, Twitter feeds and even guerrilla QR codes around the school / community. The second is something that in my current freelance role is occupying far more of my time, and which I'm incredibly passionate about- developing projects to motivate students and demonstrate how language really can be used creatively for a real world purpose. If any of the bullet points make sense and you'd like to know any more then please, please get in touch. Equally, if you've got your own ideas washing around in there, I'd love to hear them and see if we can make them become reality!

 

ALL West of England's GCHQ competition

I saw this mentioned on Friday whilst at the Language Show (alas, it wasn't mentioned there- I was distracted and checking e-mails. Not a good sign...).

In short, the fantasticly active ALL West of England branch run by Marie-France Perkins and Tom Hockaday have managed to come up with a superb coup- to develop a project for language departments in schools with the GCHQ. Despite the bad press the organisation is currently receiving, it remains a fascinating centre, one of the principal core uses of languages anywhere in this country. I even applied myself, many, many years ago. You can probably guess how successful I was...

The event is for year 9s, originally as an internal event within schools but gradually escalatingto select 10 schools to compete at GCHQ itself in Cheltenham next March. 

http://www.all-languages.org.uk/community/competitions_at_all/gchq_challenge_all_west_of_england

I'm running an event next Friday on making what we do in our languages departments more real world. And you most definitely can't get more real world than that!

European Day of Languages iPad event- wow what a day!

I'm a very proud individual this evening. Today has been languages in action. Not high-flying linguists, but 11 teams of 6 x year 9 students. Not your A* kind of student, either, but the kind of student who would consider themselves, on the whole, to be fairly low-achieving. Lots of future D-C borderline cases.

But today they were linguists. And boy did they feel proud when they completed their 2 challenges!

OK, a bit of background so you can understand my exhausted whitterings...

The event was run at the real St James' Park- Exeter City FC's football ground. Each team was provided with 2 iPads to work on, loaded with apps and photos from around the city.

They were then given the following briefing:

• They were to create a 2 minute video to convince a French striker to sign for Exeter on a free transfer instead of opting for Leyton Orient or York. The stiker was a 26 year old with 3 small children (aged 7, 5 and 2). In French.
• They also had to create a 3 minute "pitch" to deliver in front of the other students this afternoon- ideally without notes. Obviously, in French. (See where we were going there, language teachers...?)

Students were spoken to about HOW to construct a brief presentation and then how to deliver it, really focusing on strategies that we wanted them to be able to take forward into their GCSE studies and preparation for the dreaded Controlled Assessments. Well, this event, on the whole, was designed to show them that languages can be dynamic and creative, as well as being truly real world. How much more real world can you get- the day included an opening video from a close friend of mine, Dave Stowell, a commentator for MUTV, on why learn a language. Gotta love him- and the teams sure did! (see my other post this evening about the wonder that is Mr Stowell). We also had a camera pop in from ITV (off to watch us on the Westcountry news in a mo!), again reinorcing the message that what they were doing was innovative and, more pressingly, really quite important.

It proved fascinating watchign the teams generally faff for the first hour or so of their 3 hour preparation window. They strolled around the stands, ate crisps and didn't really work that efficiently. On the whole, anyway, I won't generalise TOO much. For the last hour boy oh boy did they graft. And with the help of a basic vocab support mat they generally came up with some really good efforts for their knowledge levels.

We gave a prize today to the team (St Peter's in Exeter) who proved the most persuasive this afternoon. But the main prize will not be awarded for another week...

The students have 1 week, until 12 midday next Wednesday (2nd October) to drive as much traffic as possible to their own videos on the blog www.europeandayoflanguages2013.wordpress.com. So please, please get behind them- the more views they achieve the more impact the project will have on their future motivation, demonstrating to them that languages really can have a purpose in their lives!

The teams also completed a pre-challenge and post-challenge Google Form to gauge attitudes towards languages. If I come up with any interesting stats from that when I manage to analyse them in the morning then I will of course share them with you! 

Boy oh boy what a fantastic day we had- it not only left me buzzing, but I had students come up to me from all over the room at the end of the day to thank me for an amazing experience- powerful words that made the work on the day and prior most definitely worthwhile. Today was a day that some of those kids will remember for a long, long time, and I sure am proud to have been part of it.

More than words- languages in the world of work

I was recently invited to present at an event in Plymouth at Devonport High School for Girls. For once this wasn't me talking about pedagogy or methodology but about the actual end point that languages can take you to in the real world- how do languages contribute to getting a job? What can you really do with them?

I've told so many of the students that I've taught that languages are useful. That they help you get a job. But do they? When I'd agreed to do the presentation it suddenly struck me that I needed some actual information, not just me waffling. So I tweeted and I used Facebook and wondered what would turn up...

The Prezi below was what I used on the day before we launched into an exciting day of "language journalism". The year 8s I was presenting to were working in groups to translate Target Language articles in a variety of languages and collate them into a newspaper, using their own devices and a Language Lab. The groups then also had to prepare a "live" news report, including a foreign language interview from the scene. Alas, as so often happens, technology scuppered some of our plans (the USB ports on the computer we were using decided to malfunction), the students created some great pieces- and did some great ad-libbing as well!

My main focus was that languages are a vital transferrable skill in a world where few people stay in the same career throughout their working lives. What do you have to offer to a potential employer? Which could a business do more rapidly, train you to speak a language or to operate in their business environment? A real no brainer there. But what surprised me from the responses I received to my social media messages was how varied the careers are of my friends, in many cases people I've studied with at school or university. Many of them would not consider themselves fluent, yet have got ahead in their chosen fields as a result of being able to offer language skills.  A powerful motivator, as clearly demonstrated by the impressive statements in the evaluation document below. Journalists, lawyers, accountants, marketing agents, engineers, Human Resources, translators and diplomats. People whose job titles I don't understand but whose jobs look amazing (and terrifying in equal measures!). Generally people who have used their languages- and not just to be a language teacher!

Download Students comments on evaluations