I’m very much looking forward to the Talleres de español at Instituto Español Vicente Cañada Blanch in London. This yearly event organised by the Consejería de Educación en Reino Unido e Irlanda and la Junta de Castilla y León is always well worth attending not simply for the learning but also for the delicious lunch! I’ve attended many times before and always look forward to it.
As you can see, there are streams for secondary and primary contexts as well as general sessions. This year there are several based around the arts – acting, dancing, music, fashion – and I am particularly looking forward to rounding off the day with some Zumba!
My session will be entitled Animania and will take, as the name suggests, animals as a theme and look at how they can be used in the primary classroom. Ideas will include using fiction and non fiction texts as well as music, movement and poetry, and discuss grammar, phonics, progression and motivation along the way.
And if you’d like to get a taste of previous years’ Talleres, there’s an archive here or you can find out my thoughts on previous events in these posts 2022202120162011a2011b
I’ve noticed quite a few opportunities for upskilling in recent days, shared by the various cultural organisations, and thought I’d share some for those who may not have seen them. Some opportunities are cross phase and others are phase specific with several specifically aimed at primary practitioners.
First from the Consejería de Educación
SPANISH DAY FOR TEACHERS IN LEEDS – Sat, 16th March: The Spanish Embassy Education Office, the University of Leeds, and the Junta de Castilla y León are organizing a Spanish day in Leeds aimed at teachers of Spanish and future teachers from secondary, university, and further education.
There will be presentations and workshops with practical ideas for the Spanish class. A Spanish lunch will be served.
Registration is free, but places are limited (on a first come, first served basis). Information and free registration: https://bit.ly/spanish-day-in-leeds
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Series of online workshops: from February 6 to March 19, 2024. 4 independent and online workshops.
-Next workshop, Saturday, February 27, 2024 (16:30-17:30): «Elemental querido Watson: misterios y enigmas en la clase de ELE», organized jointly with Andalucia TRADE and with the collaboration of CERVANTES ESCUELA INTERNACIONAL.
Face-to-face training days in collaboration with Edinumen:
– Saturday, March 2, 2024 (9:30-13:00) in Newcastle, organized jointly with the University of Newcastle and with the collaboration of the University of Alicante.
– Tuesday, March 5, 2024 (16:00-17:30), in London, in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes.
Grants for an immersion course in Spain (Ávila, Segovia and Santander) – Summer 2024
14 one-week immersion courses in July or August 2024 in Ávila, Segovia or Santander aimed at British/Irish teachers of Spanish.
The grant covers the course, accommodation and meals, as well as the cultural programme. The grant does not cover the journey to Spain or the return to the UK. Travel and/or health insurance is also not included
This call is not for Spanish nationals. Application period will be announced from March.
Immersion course in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), April 2014
Registration is now open for the Spanih teacher training course “Curso de actualización para el profesorado de ELE: lengua, cultura y didáctica” organised by the University of Santiago de Compostela.
Details
Dates: 8th – 12th April 2024
Number of hours: 20 (face-to face)
Contents:
• Nuevas tecnologías en el aula de ELE
• Dinámicas de proyecto, actividades cooperativas y pedagogías innovadoras
• Lengua y cultura española( literatura, cine y música)
• El Camino de Santiago en el aula el ELE
• Actividades culturales incluidas en el curso:
• Visita guiada a la ciudad monumental
• Visita guiada al Patrimonio Histórico artístico de la Universidad
More information about registration, prices and accomodation: gene.gonzalez@usc.es
· Let’s Get Started with German in Primary School (Berlin, 21.04.2024- 27.04.2024): This opportunity is fully funded and aimed at non- specialist primary teachers and their headteachers (England/ state school only), who intend to introduce German or strengthen the status of German at their schools. The programme consists of two strands: A combined language and pedagogical training course (A1/A2level) and a specially curated incentive trip. Participants can apply for this fully funded course by submitting a motivational letter (application deadline: 04.03.2024).
· German Teachers’ Day for secondary school teachers (Saturday, 24 February 2024): Join us for the German Teachers’ Day “Engaging Learners – Keep them keen” in London, organised by the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with ALL Association for Language Learning. Registration Deadline: 12.02.2024.
· DLL – Deutsch Lehren Lernen: New courses starting in March: Would you like to expand or refresh your didactic knowledge, try out new things and expand your teaching skills? Two DLL courses (Deutsch Lehren Lernen) will be starting in March: DLL 2 “How do you learn German as a foreign language?” and DLL4 “Tasks, exercises, interaction”. Registration deadline: 27.02.2024.
And from the UK German Connection:
Applications for Professional Enrichment Programme are now open The Professional Enrichment Programme offers qualified UK teachers a funded opportunity to visit a German school for 1-2 weeks during the 2023-24 school year to develop skills and knowledge through intercultural exchange.
The programme is open to teachers of all disciplines and you don’t need to have an existing link with Germany to take part. Teachers can either visit their partner school or be matched with a German host school.
Application deadline: 1 March 2024
On Tuesday, 27 February at 4.30pm we are hosting a Q&A webinar to answer your questions and provide guidance. You can register to attend via our website.
2024 French Summer School for Primary School Teachers
Location: Alliance Française de Normandie, Rouen, France Date: Sunday 28 July 2024 to Sunday 4 August 2024 Eligibility: Primary School Teachers teaching French Content: General French language group courses will be offered (20h) as well as 2 workshops focused on French phonics. This summer school is intended to help teachers upskill their proficency in the language in order to feel more confident in the classroom. Please note that the course will not cover the pedagogy of teaching French and will not provide any teaching materials or techniques. Fees: Training fees, breakfast, dinner and accommodation in a French host-family are covered by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni. Travel expenses will be incurred by the participant.
And finally the Qatar Foundation are offering the following opportunity for teachers of Arabic:
Arabic Language Teacher Training Bursary Programme
QFI will begin accepting applications for its 2024-2025 Arabic Language Teacher Training Bursary Programme in mid-February 2024. The bursary will provide £2,000 towards the costs of a language teacher training programme that offers placement in the Arabic language. In addition to these funds, QFI will provide accepted candidates additional support that includes mentorship and attendance to CPD events and conferences.
Interested applicants can apply here in mid-Feb or contact ukarabic@qfi.org with any questions.
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Hopefully there’s something there that has caught someone’s eye. Perhaps I’ll highlight some other CPD opportunities in another post in the near future. There are certainly a few ALL opportunities in the next few weeks!
On Saturday I was once more at InstitutoVicente Cañada Blanch in London for the annual Talleres de español run by the Consejería de Educacción. It had only been 9 months since I was last there as the 2021 edition was postponed thanks to the C word and I was once more privileged to be asked to speak. More of that later!
The day started with a keynote to get you thinking by Crista Hazell who talked about The Joy of Language Learning.
My tweets at the time summarise the bits I particularly liked:
‘If you feel joy inside, you can’t help but share it!’ @CristaHazell talking about finding that joy in language learning. 100% agree! #talleresdeespañol
“You are adored!” @CristaHazell There are challenges but there are learners to whom you’re making a difference and bringing joy. And a world that you are doing your bit to change. #talleresdeespañol
Following this, I attended a marvellously active and fun session led by Eva Rodríguez Moya entitled «JugaÑol: el poder del juego como herramienta de aprendizaje» during which she shared a number of ideas and techniques that are used in her classroom to enable learners to recall and use Spanish as the language of communication. I loved the energy and pace of the delivery as well as the great ideas, and it was good to see that others use gesture as a key way of embedding vocabulary and structures. I will certainly be using “Hola Año x” with my classes – a simple way to keep the class on their toes. I recommend you check out Eva’s presentation when it’s available!
My presentation was entitled A few of our favourite things and highlighted as many of the things that my pupils say they enjoy as I could fit into my time slot! As is often the case, I had far more to say than there was time to share, and below you can find my slides (minus a couple that can’t be shared which unfortunately means you can’t see the videos of my class retelling El Nabo Enorme or reciting Doña Pito Piturra)
I did manage to share that I see myself not a Spanish teacher but as a languages teacher and that whilst the language in which my pupils should have made ‘substantial progress’ by the end of Y6 is Spanish, I am also teaching them how to be language learners which is just as important if not more so. What i ran out of time to share was the range of things that we do to celebrate languages as well as our amazing Erasmus+ project that is just coming to an end. Perhaps I can share that next time… hint hint 😉 You can see the slides anyway.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment. I’d be happy to answer!
Thanks to the rail strike I couldn’t stay for the afternoon sessions but I did enjoy a lovely lunch and a good chat with lots of enthusiastic joyful people. at the end of the day, I shared the tweet below which I feel summed up my experience. Here’s to the rainbow unicorns! 🌈🦄
Early in October I took part in the Talleres de español at Instituto Español Vicente Cañada Blanch in Portobello, London. It was quite a treat to attend and participate in a face to face conference, and I thoroughly enjoyed the day in spite of the pouring rain and general exhaustion!
My presentation was entitled Take One Book, considering how one book can be used as the inspiration and impetus for a wide variety of activities in the primary language classroom. You can read a little about it and view my slides in a previous post.
When I was asked to speak, the organisers asked if I would be willing to write up my talk for publication in a special edition of TECLA, the Consejería magazine. I agreed and the magazine has just been published. I am really proud to be part of such a prestigious publication, and hope that it is well received and useful to readers.
Below is the first page and you can download the whole article below that.
Other contributions include an interview with Baroness Coussins, an article on using important artists as the vehicle for Spanish learning, and a report on using MFL projects to build bridges at QKA in Peterborough where 52 languages are spoken by the school community. The full list of articles is below. I’m looking forward to reading through the articles over the holidays when I have time to digest.
Today I had the pleasure of presenting at the Talleres de español in London. It was lovely to see people in real life rather than through a computer screen, and it was definitely worth the trip from Birmingham. As always Instituto Español Vicente Cañada Blanch was buzzing with chat and the food was delicioso. Not many conferences where you are given a glass of wine with lunch, or finish the afternoon dancing or learning about jamón y vino! Thanks to the Consejería de Educación and Junta de Castilla y León for facilitating the day and to Baroness Coussins for her inspiring start to the day. It’s good to know that there’s someone passionate about languages fighting hard and trying to make change in the corridors of power. “Talking about languages in Parliament often feels like wading through treacle. [But it’s about] doors opening and horizons widening. The beauty of languages is that there is a win-win waiting to be claimed.”
As promised here is my presentation. I spoke about Take One Book in Spanish and my presentation is below. In a future edition of TECLA you’ll be able to read a summary of what I said in Spanish (I hope!)
All the videos and activities I mentioned in the presentation are bookmarked on a Pinterest page. A warning – Pinterest may be blocked in your school (it is in Birmingham schools) so it may be that you have to access the links at home and save them elsewhere, but this is the easiest way to collate them. And here is the vocabulary for the Tesoro o basura activity.
Postponed from their usual Saturday in June thanks to COVID and travel restrictions, this Saturday (2nd October) sees the annual Talleres de español at Instituto Español Cañada Blanch in London.
The programme will begin with Baroness Coussins speaking about the importance of languages for the future of the UK which will be followed by presentations (predominantly in Spanish) in three strands – primary, secondary and general interest – on a variety of themes including gamification, ICT, culture, history, literature, motivation and projects. Lunch is always delicious and an integral part of the experience, and the day will end with dancing or wine and jamón!
I’ll be presenting straight after Baroness Coussins (no pressure!) and sharing my ideas entitled Take One Book.
The programme is below and you can find details of how to sign up here . I’m looking forward to it; please say ¡hola! if you’re attending!
I’m Secretary and ‘web guru’ of the ALL Spanish Committee and would like to bring your attention to the following event that’s fast approaching.
¡Vida Latina! will be held at Aston University, easily accessible by road and public transport, and will be a day of celebrating all things Hispanic.
As you can see from the flyer, there are a variety of sessions covering travel, dance, literature and teaching ideas. Guaranteed to be a good day with things to entertain and also make you think.
I was very privileged to be invited to present this year at the Primary Languages Show in Liverpool, not once but twice!
I promised at my two sessions that I would post my notes and resources on my blog for people to download and use.
So here’s my first presentation. If you download it, the hyperlinks all work – or did when I tried them. However, if they don’t, remember that I have bookmarked all the sites to which I referred (and more) on Delicious tagged PLS09 – http://delicious.com/lisibo/pls09
I have blogged this unit previously here and you will find my worksheets, the SoW and more ideas here and a fuller description of how we animated our animalshere.
A couple of things I mentioned but didn’t put in the presentation – the masks were downloaded from Sparklebox and the animation was done using FramebyFrame on my Macbook. You can also use SMAnimator (free to download on a PC) or ICanAnimate (for PC or Mac costs about £40)
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to leave a comment below!
Long time no blog, eh? Life’s been rather hectic over the last week or so – and I really should blog about it!! However, thought I’d flag up this opportunity as it has just arrived in my inbox and looks great!
The Consejería de Educación, in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes Londres, has arranged a full day of activities for teachers of Spanish in primary schools. Taking place on Friday March 27th at The Instituto Cervantes, the day looks packed like ‘una lata de sardinas’ with fun and examples of good practice, with workshops on things like storytelling, food, CLIL, .. showcases and a performance of a play written and produced for children who are learning Spanish in KS1 and KS2. And all for £25!
It doesn’t matter if your Spanish isn’t brilliant as the email stated –
‘The whole event will be friendly to teachers with a limited competence in Spanish.’
Despite living in Birmingham, I’m seriously considering going, as the sessions on storytelling, extending writing, five minute activities and starters for the Spanish classroom all look very interesting – and that’s just from a curspry glance. Added to which, I’d love to see El viaje de Matilde presented by A cuerpo as I blogged about it a while back and, now that we have a new Head at school, now might be the time to plant my suggestion…
Closing date for applications to attend is March 16th so if you fancy it, why not ask your manager if you can attend?
