Category: languages

Make it real 

Liz Fotheringham, 

Use authentic materials to make it real! All sorts of reasons why online resources are particularly useful – one might be that textbooks are out of date as soon as they’re published!

See http://lizfotheringham.wordpress.com for slides and links

Skills –

• odd one out
• skimming and scanning
• looking for similarities – cognates, near cognates
• Venn diagrams
• matching text and pictures
• statistics – making links with maths skills
• thinking skills – card sorting
• longer texts – blanking out words – you need to look at context, grammar (what part of speech is needed)
• reordering texts requiring looking at numbers, dates, sequencing words (trois ans plus tard)
• fortune lines – high and low points of a career
• colour coding texts / jigsaw reading

When using video

• using cards to match to stills from clips eg songs  (Gregoire – Toi plus moi)
• songs (on video) can be used as listening as well as audio
• McDonalds advert  – made into a sound file using RealPlayer – and then slow it down in Audacity to make it more accessible

Languages:Reboot

Chris Harte, Cramlington Learning Village

Chris’ presentation is on his website so I’m not going to recap blow by blow – just some notes! Needless to say, he was brilliant and will be missed when he goes Down Under.
3 preconditions to learning

• Ganas – WIIFM
• Belief – I can’t do it yet….
• “Do something differently – if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”

Jeff Petty – Evidence based teaching  – recommended reading

Learning is …

• social
• about making connections]
• a lifelong process

Chris has a number plate to encourage independent learning – C3B4ME – try 3 other sources of info before me

Do we want our pupils to be engaged?

Yes, but you can be engaged without being challenged.

Harry Potter clips – OWLs – watch this clip from about 2 minutes and substitute the word ‘spells’ / ‘magic’ for languages. Sound familiar?

A failed GCSE is a lost life chance so we want them to pass but how soul destroying to feel you have to stick to learning chunks of language to satisfy an examiner who wants to test what you CAN’T do.

A textbook exclusively endorsed by an exam board means that I will follow it slavishly because I want my pupils to pass. Where’s the room for creativity?

Testing what you don’t know is not fair.

Look at www.hooked-on-thinking.com to investigate SOLO taxonomy – and also  Chris’ post on SOLO taxonomy http://chrisharte.typepad.com/learner_evolution_chris_h/2011/04/solo-im-ridin-solo.html

10 words at word level is not enough in a lesson for our talented linguists

If you want learners to make connections between language, you need to provide them with something with which to make the connections, so we need to give them texta not just words.

Having taught KS3 with films, murder mystery etc, why should we have to go back at KS4 to teaching pencil sharpener!

If you want to see Chris in action presenting on the same theme a few months ago, check him out here and here.

Following on from last year and Bricklaying for beginners,  and 2009 with Absorbing language learning, I’m once more presenting at ALL Language World.

This year Language World is entitled All together now. Here’s the invite from ALL:-

Join us ALL Together at Language World 2011, 8-9 Jul 2011 @ Imperial College, London:

It’s a conference: A packed programme of over 60 speakers from around the language teaching world…

It’s a training event: It’s only 2 days out of your busy schedule… great CPD for a fantastic price!

It’s an exhibition: A large and varied exhibition showcasing the latest in language learning resources and support.

It’s a real boost to your teaching: A great way to recharge your batteries – a two day shot of ideas, advice and inspiration!

It’s a celebration! Get together with other language teachers from around the UK, and around the world… and in the lead up to the London 2012 Games, celebrate language teaching and learning with your community!

For more information, and to book, go to: http://tiny.cc/LanguageWorld2011.

My session this year will be called Entitled to enjoy Primary languages.

Here’s the blurb!

This session will consider the position of language learning in the primary curriculum

(currently as an entitlement) and give practical examples and ideas about how

language learning can be more than a “bolt on”.

It will consider:

• why PLL is so important

• the current position re primary languages

• what is an entitlement?

• what does it mean to me?

• PLL integrated into the curriculum ? learning journeys, cross curricular

activities and CLIL

• international dimension (ref to Comenius Reggio, eTwinning projects)

• motivation to learn

• creativity let loose!

The session will include practical ideas including storytelling, song, dance,

drama, physical activity, international projects, cross curricular links and

exploiting ICT. Examples will be mainly in Spanish with some French ? other

languages may appear!!

I always have a great time at Language World, whether running around the Quad in Oxford, nearly missing the bus in Leicester or dodging goose poo in York, and this year I’m really looking forward to the conference being in London at Imperial College.

Flickr CC by jurvetson

Supporting the ‘less confident‘ is the theme of my 7 minute presentation.

Some ideas I may or may not throw out there!

1. embed sound in presentations

eg El granjero tiene una granja

El pequeño petirrojo final

2. make sound files – and encourage their use

eg BGFL website

3.have ‘expert’ pupils who you train to support

4.point out ways of teaching languages that are less stressful

eg Ideas for support and embedding of language learning by class teachers

calendar

5.use  websites to ‘present’ things

eg Babelzone; LanguageNut; BBC Primary Languages site; Lingo Show; favourite games

As I’m full of cold I may be more random than normal so this is just a guide ;o)

My two minute presentation is about Postcrossing. I have mentioned it before but it’s worth mentioning again as it’s always so popular when I do!

In its simplest terms, you “send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!”

Really easy! Writing a postcard is a short focussed activity that can be done anytime there’s a spare five minutes – even the most reluctant writer can manage a few lines. Pop it in the postbox and off it goes. Then you wait – and you receive a postcard from somewhere in the world! It’s a surprise!

We made an actual display of all the postcards with pins on a world map – but as we have 3 buildings at our school this was a bit ‘exclusive’ so we made a virtual map too on Google Maps.

And the postcards themselves are artefacts that we have used for all sorts of activities to enhance international awareness and ICU. One example is year 6 making fact files based on the cards with famous people from tht country, language, music and so on, plus an impression.

And I LOVE the motto!

A lovely song / rhyme about a little bear playing hide and seek. Not the best singer ever but a sweet song!
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/19335416 w=400&h=300]

Thanks to a lovely FLA (foreign language assistant) who attended my course yesterday I’ve discovered Semillitas de Aprendizaje. And I love it!

Semillitas de aprendizaje (little seeds of learning) is part of RiF (Reading is Fundamental), a non profit organisation with the aim of nurturing a love of books and a rise in literacy across America.

OUR VISION:
Our vision is a literate America in which all children have access to books and discover the joys and value of reading.

OUR MISSION:
To motivate young children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8.

 

Semillitas de aprendizaje is a bilingual site – in English and Spanish – aimed at children 0-5 years old and their parents. It’s full of games, stories, songs, rhymes and activities in two sections – 0-36 meses and 3-5 años.

Favourites so far include

Explorar where you can find out about animals in short clips with simple notes down the side

Juegos digitales which doesn’t mean digital games but finger rhymes! Particularly like the fact that the girl presenting them isn’t a’professional’ singer – much more appealing. My favourite is Las ruedas en el bus.

Cuentos – some very simple stories – particularly like La mascota perfecta (link to Querido Zoo?) and No me quiero bañar – a common cry in many homes!

Rimas infantiles is also a great section with lots of rhymes – and they’re read to you so you get the right rhythm which can be a bit of a problem.

Some lovely things to see and do on the site – also has pictures to download and colour (love the animals!)

And the adults section gives advice on good books, activities that you can do with your children and also general advice.

So, thanks for the tip off! I love it when other people share things with me!

This week sees the launch of a really lovely offering on the CBeebies website aimed at 4-6s – and I’m very excited that I’ve been involved in it (along with many others!)

As the blurb from the BBC says –

‘The Lingo Show’ introduces different languages to a pre-school audience, sprinkled with a bit of culture.  Play fun games and learn new words whilst helping ‘Lingo’ the ultimate show bug and his performing bug friends prepare for the ‘Big Bug Show’. Featuring French, Spanish, Mandarin, Welsh, Urdu, Punjabi, Somali and Polish. It’s a bug-lingual adventure!’

This week the site is launched with French, Spanish and Mandarin to be followed by Welsh on St David’s Day, Urdu and Punjabi on 14th March and Somali and Polish on 28th March.

I am really excited that the site is finally live and hope that it is enjoyed as much by the users as it was by the four children in Reception on whom I tested it in its early stages. And I look forward to seeing what may happen to Lingo, Queso, Jargonaise, Wei and the other bugs in the future!

bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/lingoshow

I had a lovely time with some delegates this morning talking about storytelling using ICT – ‘digital storytelling’

Here’s my presentation – possibly won’t make much sense until it has the sound added, but you’ll have to wait a bit for that until I get the file back from Joe Dale’s iRiver.

Also, there is a document containing all the notes from the session.

Tell me a story session notes

Tell me a story presentation

Links that I missed off the list – MFL animation themed!

Catherine Elliot – www.twitter.com/catherinelliott

http://ssclc.wordpress.com

http://bit.ly/efSmim – Joe Dale interviews Catherine

Oscar Stringer – www.twitter.com/ostringer

http://www.animationforeducation.co.uk/ – go to Film examples – MFL

Any questions or queries, feel free to contact me

The third of the tools I may or may not have time to mention at ICT Links into Languages conference in Southampton is DomoAnimate.

Below is an example in French, German and Spanish of how this tool has been used in other languages. Note lack of accents :o(

DomoNation.com: Mes Prochaines Vacances by Alex Olds

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It’s free and fun!

DomoNation.com: Schule by Sheridaan

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It’s free and fun!

DomoNation.com: Las Aventuras de Domo:El encuentro con los aliens1 by AlejoCortes

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It’s free and fun!