Month: November 2024

I’ve just seen this Christmas advertisement from Deutsche Telekom and it really spoke to me.

In the light of all I’ve talked about over the last few weeks, I think it’s really apposite. In three very different presentations about Favourite activities (Practical Pedagogies), Teaching languages not Spanish (The Language Show) and today, on The importance of the international dimension in language learning (Acapulco) there’s been a common thread. That learners need to feel valued; that they need to see beyond their own experience and that connections are the way to break down barriers. And I’d say this advertisement sums up the importance of that.

As Deutsche Telekom write:

In a time when the world feels more divided than ever, we all benefit from real human connection. By opening ourselves to those on the other side, we realise that we’re not so different after all. Let’s break the barriers we create in our minds.
Connections Begin When Barriers Break. ❤️💙

I’ll be sharing this with my learners in my next Language of the Month assembly, if not before!

Today was the annual ALL Primary Languages Conference, otherwise known as Acapulco. This year the theme was MAKING A DIFFERENCE. The programme was very varied with sessions on SEND, Transition, Using AI, Supporting non-specialists and much more.

I wasn’t able to join the conference until after 11 so need to catch up on the first two or three sessions but all the ones I attended were packed with practical ideas and thought provoking suggestions, and I was certainly inspired.

I was really pleased to conclude the conference delivering a session entitled Making a Difference – Languages and the International Dimension Anyone who knows me, or has read this website will know that this is an absolute passion of mine and consequently I had a lot to say – too much really for the time! However I did manage to briefly share the international journey of my school, explain WHY I think it’s important to explore and promote the international dimension, give some examples of the activities that you could try and signpost ways to find and make partnerships including a few sources of funding.

I promised that I’d make my slides available (you can access them (slightly reacted) below by clicking on the image) and those who bought a ticket for the event will get access to the recording so you can watch again. If you didn’t, and want to know what I (and others!) said, tickets can stioll be bought until 24th November using this link www.tinyurl.com/confpl24

If you want to find out more, I did a slightly different presentation at Language World last year that you can find here, and of course, you are more than welcome to ask questions in the comments section below or by emailing me. I’m more than happy to help!

The Language Show is taking place over the next three days via Zoom. With over 80 sessions available, there’s something for everyone and for £20 you can access all of them – live and also on demand which means you can attend them all in spite of them overlapping.

I was invited to speak as part of the For Language Teachers stream (the other streams are labelled For people who love languages and For language professionals). I took as my theme something that I often say when described as “a Spanish teacher”

I teach languages not just Spanish.

In a nutshell, I explained my rationale – the Why? – and then activities that demonstrate the How.

You can have a look at my slides by clicking below.

Thank you to all those who attended – a lovely generous group of people. Your comments made me smile! If you’ve signed up for the Language Show, you can watch the replay of my session and see what I said. It’s not too late – just go to the website and buy a ticket!

I was really excited to attend the Practical Pedagogies conference in Köln last week. Having attended the previous iterations in Toulouse (2015 and 2016) and Cologne/Köln (2018) I knew it would be an amazing two days of collaboration and learning.

In my previous post I shared my sketchnotes from the sessions I attended. When i counted them I momentarily couldn’t work out why I only had 9 when there were 8 workshops, a keynote and an endnote until I remembered that I presented and couldn’t sketchnote myself!

My session was entitled A Few of Our Favourite Things and in it I shared as many of the activities as I could squeeze in, drawn from pupil feedback on our language lessons. I teach primary Spanish, so most examples that were language/phase specific refelcted this. However, most ideas were transferable to other languages and phase, perhaps with a little adaptation here and there!

As promised, my presentation can be accessed below by clicking on the photo.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments or via my contact details.

Just returned from a wonderful few days in Köln/Cologne at Practical Pedagogies conference. The conference was held at St George’s School and, as the name suggests, was full of practical sessions led by research and pedagogy.

I was privileged to be asked to present, and I’ll share my presentation and tell you all about it in the next post.

Taking out my own slot, I had the opportunity to attend 7 other sessions plus the keynote and endnote. As usual, I attempted to sketchnote my way through the conference.

Sketchnotes are a visual way of capturing ideas on a page. They use words, boxes/clouds, arrows, and simple doodles to organize information. To find out more about the science behind it, you can have a look at my presentation at PracPed18 https://lisibo.com/2016/11/pracped16-sketchnoting-for-beginners/

Below are scanned copies of the #sketchnotes from #PracPed24. Hope they give you a taste of the sessions that I attended. They were all thought provoking, inspiring, practical and immediately actionable. Enjoy!