The Young Language Learner Award (YLLA) is an exciting story-writing opportunity aimed at 6-11 year olds. Children are encouraged to send in a story or comic written in a language of their choice, other than a mother tongue. bSmall will provide a template, notes for teachers/ parents/ tutors and a downloadable entry form for entrants to submit the finished story. All entrants have the chance of winning up to 10 books of their choice from the bSmall website.
More details of YLLA will follow as it opens on 15th April 2024. You can sign up on the bSmall site to stay informed, and also look at last year’s three winning stories all on the theme of Celebration to tie in with King Charles’ coronation as well as read a two page review of last year’s competition. You can also read about YLLA 2022 here.
This year the theme is…
TEAM SPIRIT
Image created using AI
Start date: Mon 15 April End date: Mon 10 June Winners will be announced: 24th June
I’ve once more been asked to help judge YLLA and am really looking forward to reading all the entries. So encourage your children to start having a think about the theme and get ready to enter!
After a six year hiatus, Practical Pedagogies returns in 2024. To say I was excited when Russel first floated the idea would be an understatement!
Practical Pedagogies is a conference like no other. Over to Russel Tarr to explain:
Educational conferences can be prohibitively expensive for ordinary teachers, and often focus on abstract theory rather than real-world ways of immediately improving classroom practice. In contrast, “Practical Pedagogies” believes the best training is delivered by practising teachers, sharing effective and creative strategies and resources at an affordable price.
Three successful Practical Pedagogies conferences took place in 2015, 2016 and 2018 at the International School of Toulouse, France and at St. George’s British International School Cologne. At each event, teachers from all over the world delivered upwards of 100 sessions in a vibrant, friendly and enriching event over two days. Lunches, refreshments, and evening gatherings provided social opportunities for carrying on the conversations with old friends and new acquaintances.
After a COVID-imposed hiatus, we hope that the next conference in November 2024, once more in Cologne, will be the biggest and best so far… and delegates will be encouraged to purchase their tickets from March onwards.
Having been at all three previous conferences I immediately signed up to present and am looking forward to talking about A few of our favourite things! Activities for the Primary Languages classroom
You can find out what I thought about and learned from the conference in 2015, 2016 and 2018 by clicking on the dates and reading my reflections accompanied by my sketchnotes (subject of my 2026 presentation!) If you want to know what others think, check out the testimonials here including mine. I stand by my assertion that you can’t leave unchallenged and unchanged! One of the things I particularly value is that, as it is an international conference, you get a wider view of education and a different perspective on familiar topics. I love picking up wisdom from other education systems and curricula as well as debating the current issues facing us all.
This year I’m looking forward to finding out about Using Thinking Maps to enhance instructional experiences for variable learners, learning more about AI (no point burying your head in the sand!) and also catching up with Laura ‘smiley’ Riley-Genton who has had a busy time since I last saw her (getting married, becoming a Mum and changing job!) and attending her session More than just a language:ideas to teach foreign languages to mixed nationalities. I’m also looking forward to catching up with Carol Allen although I unfortunately won’t be able to attend her session as I’m speaking at the same time. You can check out the programme for yourself here.
125 workshops have been confirmed, led by educators from all over the world – including me! – and delegates can pick 8 to attend over the two days. There are a limited number of Early Bird tickets available if you’re quick! It’s worth it as the price rises after that.
I’m also looking forward to visiting Cologne/Köln once more.It’s a wonderful city and this time I can even speak almost passable German! I’d love to see you there. Lisa x
In the morning primary aged pupils (years 5-6) with little or no experience of German were introduced to the German speaking world via an introductory presentation by Sara Davidson, learning that German is spoken in a number of European countries but also in an African one, and discovering that some familiar things originated in the German speaking world as well as having a go at decoding some German words. Following on from that, they took part in two workshops, a language led by Frau Marshall who taught them some basic German, and a cultural workshop which I led during which they learned about and made a Schultüte.
Flying the LiPS flag!
In the afternoon, secondary school pupils (years 7-9 pre-options) were introduced to the German speaking world by the wonderful Laura Lewis from Durham University who shared some typically German concepts like Spaghettieis and Flachspüler as well as sharing information about where German is spoken and by how many people. The students then moved on to a pair of workshops – a German rap workshop with Sara and a workshop all about pioneers and influencers lead by ALL PresidentLiz Black which ended with chocolate tasting!
In my Schultüte workshop we talked about our memories of our first day at school, in my case a looong time ago so I recalled my sons’. My lovely assistant Jonas told the children about his first day at school in Germany, throwing in the word Schultüte which led nicely into the rest of the workshop. Using information and images gathered by Marian Devons, Liz Black and me, we explored how a German (also Swiss in my experience!) Schulänger spends their first day at school, homing in on their Schultüte or enormous cone of school supplies and sweets that they receive to soften the blow of starting school. After a bit of language work during which children had a go at working out what goes into one from the German words, the children made and decorated a (small) Schultüte which was filled thanks to the Goethe Institut with all sorts of goodies like pens, badges, bracelets, Gummibärchen and stickers. The wide eyed joy of the children as they received something else to put in their Schultüte was wonderful: “I can keep it?” “I can have that as well?” “Wow! This is brilliant!” And the multiple cries of Danke and Dankeschön as they left was lovely too.
The intention is to hold further events in the next couple of terms, and some of the materials will be uploaded to the British Council website – I’ll post the link when it appears! So keep your eyes open if it’s something that you fancy for your learners.
Each meeting and conference I attend, I take my notebook and pens, and attempt to sketchnote proceedings. It helps me listen carefully (and sit still!), enables me to recall what was said after the event in a way that taking notes doesn’t, and also enables me to share with those who weren’t there.
I do my notes live and therefore tweeted them as soon as the sessions were over – you may have seen them on Twitter/X over the weekend, but I like to publish them as a collection after the event. It also enables me to make sure I haven’t missed anything and check I haven’t made glaring errors – like adding an s to the ALL Twitter handle @ALL4Language Oops!
Here they are, in order that they happened!
Opening Keynote – Liz Black, ALL President
How to teach languages effectively at KS2 as a non-specialist and successful transition to KS3 – Anneliese Yafai
Poetry please! – Angela Smith
We’re all ears! Developing listening skills in the primary classroom – Ellie Chettle Cully
Youpi et cocorico: celebrating primary language learning at St Jerome – Nadine Chadier
Implementing a KS2 curriculum to support Progression, Practical solutions and Personal experiences – Jane Wood and Jenni Bindon
How can we develop an effective model of practice for coordinating the experience of primary language learners and their trasnition to becoming secondary language learners? – Dr Jon Merrison
International projects in schools? Yes we can! – Jane Harvey and Richard Tallaron
Culture: Community: Connectivity. How universities can and should support KS2 and 3 language learners – Dr Charlotte Ryland
Language Research Review – HMI Bianka Zemke
Primary German. Resources, ideas and teacher support to inspire and motivate – Marian Devons
Point, à la ligne: Dictation across the Key Stages – Clare Seccombe
Language Education in an AI enabled world – the challenge, the opportunity and the future. – Professor Kate Borthwick
University Challenge – Jane Driver and Sarah Schechter
Celebrating multilingualism: supporting home and community languages – Almudena Martínez
Translation: the key to growing flexible, independent imaginative linguists – Jess Beeton
Building foundations for the future of languages – Hon. Professor Bernadette Holmes, NCLE Director
Possibilities and practicalities of ChatGPT in languages teaching and learning – Joe Dale
The ? of language teaching – Steven Fawkes, ALL Trustee
I was really pleased to be asked to present at the annual Association for Language Learning national conference, Language World. This year it was held in Kenilworth with the title Languages – a unique ingredient of learning. There were several threads running through the weekend including parental engagement, AI, transition and international partnerships. It was on that latter topic that my presentation focussed.
My talk was on Saturday afternoon, and over the preceding 36 hours I attended several presentations that celebrated and promoted international links including one by Jane Harvey and Richard Tallaron of LFEE entitled International projects in schools? Yes we can! as well as a session delivered by Almudena Martinez entitled Celebrating multilingualism – supporting home and community languages. In addition, conversations with exhibitors and other delegates meant that I was adding to my presentation until the last moment and ended up with too much to say in the given time. Therefore, as well as uploading my slides, I’ve made a recording of my presentation (click the image.) All the links in the PDF are clickable but I’ve added a few key ones below.
Please feel free to ask questions in the comments below, in the comments on the video, via email or on social media. And if you attend the GSA 5th birthday event in Liverpool, please say hello!
