Category: MFL

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.

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.

More information and free registration (before the 25th February): https://bit.ly/talleres-andalucia-feb-marzo-2024

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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.

Free registration and programme: https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/reinounido/convocatorias-programas/formacion-profesorado/historico-formaciones/edinumen-marzo-2024.html

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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.

Further information and programmes: https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/reinounido/convocatorias-programas/formacion-profesorado/historico-formaciones/cursos-verano-espana-uned-uimp-2024

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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

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Immersion and methodology courses in Palencia, Salamanca, Burgos, Valladolid, Burgos and Segovia. Different dates throughout March, July, August and October 2024. https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/reinounido/convocatorias-programas/formacion-profesorado/historico-formaciones/2024-cursos-mester.html

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·  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. 
 
·  Action-Oriented Teaching – Practical Approaches and Strategies (Online professional development): Discover the advantages of digital tools to actively engage students in this practice-oriented online course. Register by 12 February 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. 

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.
 
More information: https://ukgermanconnection.org/pp/programmes/professional-enrichment-programme/
 

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.

More information and registration here

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!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of presenting at the PSB MFL conference via Zoom.

My presentation was entitled More than words with the subtitle Language learning is about more than learning lists of vocabulary. In it, I discussed my ‘idea of what ‘list of ingredients’ for language learning, particularly in the primary context. After discussing OFSTED’s 3 pillars and 3Is, I moved on to present my 7Cs!

And what are my 7Cs?
Context
Consolidation
Confidence
Communication
Culture
Celebration
Connection

I was thrilled with the response to my presentation and want to thank all the attendees for their kind words; I was floating on air all day despite an afternoon of stircrazy 10 year olds who’d not been out to play all day followed by parents evening!

If you’re interested in what else I shared, my slides can be viewed below.

What do you think? Have I missed a C? Let me know!

It’s nearly time for the annual ALL (Association for Language Learning) conference Language World. I first attended Language World in Oxford many many years ago and it’s remained an important date each year ever since.

After a year online in 2021, Language World returns to being face to face this year. Taking place in Sheffield at The Quays Hotel, it promises to be two days of discussion, thought and learning and I for one am really looking forward to it.

This year the theme is Language Learning for Social Justice, and sessions relate to the theme of ensuring that ALL learners have access to high quality language learning opportunities, irrespective of age, gender, socioeconomic (dis)advantage, mother tongue or heritage.

The programme looks really interesting and I’m particularly looking forward to sessions by:

Hannah White
5.1 Use the work you do to support EAL pupils in the Primary Languages classroom to create an inclusive curriculum and improve teaching and learning for EAL pupils throughout your school

Eleanor Chettle Cully
1.3 Isn’t it time we moved beyond ‘diversity’? Practical strategies for decolonising the primary MFL curriculum

Marion Devons
8.2 Don’t take me out! Why children with SEND or EAL should stay in your language lessons and how all children will benefit (I feel passionately about this as you can see here.)

and this really interesting looking session
4.1 Inspiring Young Multilingual Activists through Digital Technology and the Arts

In fact, there are so many session that interest me that it’s quite tricky choosing sometimes!

I’ll be speaking on Friday at 215 about “Literature”
3.4 Using ‘Literature’ to support Primary Language teaching and learning This session will consider what is meant by ‘literature’ before moving on to explore how it can be used in the primary languages classroom as a great way to support language learning. Whether as a way into a topic, to support phonics or prosody, as a sample text to be adapted or as a way to support inclusion and challenge insularity, allowing learners to see themselves in their learning, literature is a powerful tool in our toolbox.

Want to join me? You can find out how here

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Find out about my experiences at previous Language Worlds by following the links below!

Reflections on Language World 2008
Absorbing Language Learning 2009
Language World 2010 and various posts following including Raising Global Awareness and Creativity talks as well as sessions by Clare Dodd, Liz Black Cynthia Martin Oh, and my session – Bricklaying for beginners!
Language World 2011 – my session Entitled to enjoy Primary Languages and many other sessions by Chris Harte, Jan Lewandowski and Liz Fotheringham
Language World 2014 overview     Session on apps
Language World 2015 in sketchnotes
Language World 2016 in sketchnotes  Session on Sketchnoting
Language World 2017 in sketchnotes
Language World 2018 in sketchnotes My session Using Technology for collaboration 
Sue Cave’s session – Language Detectives Primary Show and Tell
Language World 2019 – The Sketchnotes My session on Supporting learners’ understanding and enjoyment of stories in the primary languages classroom.
I was briefly at Language World 2020 but didn’t blog it as it coincided with a particularly stressful time – including lockdown beginning a few days later!
Language World 2021 My session on Take One Book v2 My sketchnotes

At this time of year, I’m normally gearing up for my annual ‘weekend away’ at Language World. It’s taken me to York, Lancaster, Leicester, Rugby, Nottingham, London, Newcastle, Manchester, Loughborough and of course, Oxford where Language World and I first ‘met.’ This year, things are a little different as I won’t physically be going anywhere as the conference is coming to me in my home via the wonders of video conferencing. And it can come to you too if you sign up!

Language World is the annual conference and training event of the Association for Language Learning (ALL).
The theme of Language World 2021 is “A rich curriculum for ALL”.

As the blurb on their site says:
“Schools are currently exploring how they can offer rich, exciting education for all their pupils. Ofsted encourages schools to make positive decisions to preserve or develop richness of experience along with breadth and depth of curriculum – for example, giving pupils the opportunity to learn a number of foreign languages and arts subjects, recognising local ambitions.  We look forward to sharing ideas and best practice from among our languages community about these kinds of curricular aspects, and about learning that goes deeper into content, motivates learners of Languages, culture and communication, and is broader than the exam specifications.”

Keynote speakers this year include:

• President of ALL (2020-22), Kim Bower;
• Dr. Michael Wardle, Language Lead for OFSTED;
• international expert on CLIL and Professor of Languages Education and Classroom Learning at university of  Edinburgh, Professor Do Coyle
• Professor of Applied Linguistics at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London, Professor Li Wei

Im particularly looking forward to hearing from Professor Li Wei on Friday talking about Multilingualism, Language Learning and Social Cognition and then from Jane Driver on Saturday talking about Using CLIL and MFL strategies to maximise the curriculum for EAL learners.

And then there are the talks and presentations from which you can choose. Each session is 30 minutes long with a 20 minute presentation followed by 10 minutes for questions. Easier for concentration but challenging when you’re planning a session and always have too much for 45 minutes…

Some sessions that caught my eye as a primary languages practitioner include:

• Promoting intercultural understanding through cross curricular and extra-curricular activities in the primary classroom – lots of practical ideas led by Bernadette Clinton and Raquel Tola Rego
• A recipe for success! Creating a bespoke scheme of work – Clare Seccombe
• Engaging, enriching, inclusive: ensuring a primary MFL curriculum which delivers for SEND pupils – Eleanor Chettle Cully
• Celebrate your bilingual learners and promote linguistic diversity in your school with an International Mother Tongue Day project – Hannah White

As usual, I have a problem! The first two are at the same time as each other AND I’m speaking at the same time! And the second two are also concurrent. I’m hoping that with the online nature of the conference we might be able to catch up… but I’m not sure so don’t quote me on it!

Other sessions I’m looking forward to:

• What does an anti-racist, decolonised MFL curriculum look like?
• Embedding languages into the curriculum: practical examples from Scotland and Wales
• Teaching Phonics – Mapping, Method and Moving on

Another innovation this year is that some 30 minute slots split into 3 mini talks and I’m looking forward to many of those too including Dr Judith Rifeser talking about Nurturing intercultural understanding and celebrating pupils’ diverse and multilingual voices through creative projects, Bryn Llewellyn sharing Learning Languages on the Move – Developing Language Vocabulary using Physically Active Learning Approaches, Helen Stokes talking about Making connections between languages with translation skills: for easier transition between KS2 and 3 and How MFL teaching can boost whole school literacy led by Clare Caio.

So much that it’s hard to choose! You might even want to ‘attend’ my session entitled Take One Book in which I’ll explore how to make full use of a storybook (a different one from the one I shared at PHOrum!) You can find further details on the Language World 2021 website and the programme can be found here.

I am very much looking forward to a new experience and whilst I’d rather we were meeting together as usual, I’m excited for the new format and will still be wearing LiPS themed clothing and sketchnoting!

Find out about my experiences at previous Language Worlds by following the links below!

Reflections on Language World 2008
Absorbing Language Learning 2009
Language World 2010 and various posts following including Raising Global Awareness and Creativity talks as well as sessions by Clare Dodd, Liz Black Cynthia Martin Oh, and my session – Bricklaying for beginners!
Language World 2011 – my session Entitled to enjoy Primary Languages and many other sessions by Chris Harte, Jan Lewandowski and Liz Fotheringham
Language World 2014 overview     Session on apps
Language World 2015 in sketchnotes
Language World 2016 in sketchnotes  Session on Sketchnoting
Language World 2017 in sketchnotes
Language World 2018 in sketchnotes My session Using Technology for collaboration 
Sue Cave’s session – Language Detectives Primary Show and Tell
Language World 2019 – The Sketchnotes My session on Supporting learners’ understanding and enjoyment of stories in the primary languages classroom.
I was briefly at Language World 2020 but didn’t blog it as it coincided with a particularly stressful time – including lockdown beginning a few days later!

I’ve just got back form London and the Language Show at Kensington Olympia. A lovely couple of days catching up with people, finding out about university courses and qualifications for Stevens Junior, visiting stands and learning from others – and then some more catching up with people!

Below are sketchnotes of the seminars I attended – minus the EU one as I only attended half of it! I was travelling light and using my mini notebook plus a limited palette of black pen and six coloured highlighters so apologies that they are a little more squashed and monotone than normal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year at Language World I was invited to present some ideas for using technology for collaboration in language learning. I teach primary so the focus was on that age group but there are many ideas and tools that are equally applicable for young and old! In spite of some technical hitches and running out of time as there was so much to share, the ideas were well received and I hope that this will serve as a reminder/update for those who attended, and a snapshot for those who didn’t.

Below is my presentation. Whilst all the links work, the videos don’t I’m afraid but you’ll find some below to give you a taster.

This time last week I was mid sketch note at Language World 2018, the Association for Language Learning annual conference. After a jam-packed, fun filled inspirational weekend, my mind was spinning with ideas and coupled with the last week of term, it’s taken this long for me to get my head together and get posting! So here goes a blog-fest over the next few days!I was thrilled to be asked to be Language World’s official Sketchnoter for a second year. Armed with pens, pencils and paper, I ‘live sketch noted’ each session I attended, before the finished product was whipped away to be displayed for everyone to see. I was pleased to see that there were lots of people looking at the notes as the conference went on, and it was really amusing to hear people talking about them in the dinner queue, not knowing that I’d done them!

I took photos of (most of) the sketch notes before they were displayed, but below are my sketchnotes or visual notes that ALL have now scanned and published on their site.

 

 

 

 

 

You can view all of Friday’s sketchnotes in one place by downloading this  – Friday PDF

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can view all of Saturday’s sketchnotes in one place by downloading this – Saturday PDF

I loved sketch noting the conference. I hope that those who attended enjoy the reminder of sessions you attended and that those who didn’t get a flavour of what they ‘missed.’ I’ll certainly be having a look at Clare’s notes too as there were several clashes that meant I couldn’t attend sessions I would’ve chosen (Nigel Pearson for the second year running was speaking at the same time as me for example!)

You can also catch up with the Twitter buzz from the conference via this Storify .

 

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I received an email on Thursday from a young man called Matt J at Tutorful:

My name is Matt and i’m getting in touch today with some great news – ¡Vámonos! has been featured in our Top 50 Spanish Learning Resources.

As you know, there’s hundreds if not thousands of sites offering Spanish resources, but we love yours! Which is exactly why you were chosen – you give great tips and tricks to teachers, allowing them to find new ways to spread their knowledge and passion – this is why we wanted to share it with our audience.

Well, that was a surprise!

I headed straight over to the article in question and discovered that I’m in good company alongside sites like OneThirdStories, Rockalingua, Spanish Playground, Duolingo and Calico Spanish that are very familiar to me as well as some new discoveries. For example  Spanish Blog 365 that has a Spanish language podcast of about ten minute each day. I think the episodes about festivals are particularly helpful – for example, the folk art of La Catrina dolls  and El Día de Reyes.  I found an interesting post about Why teach your child Spanish? on Alhambra Spanish site and another on World Language Cafe about challenging stereotypes. It was also good to be reminded of sites like Spanish Games and Spanish Town.

I’m very touched by the description of my blog:

 ¡Vámonos! is an enchanting and enlightening collection of blog posts sharing teachers experiences and expertise, telling tales of techniques tried and regaling us with how they worked and failed, as well as ways to think about things differently, so as best to become better teachers.

And I’m especially grateful to Tutorful for going to the trouble of explaining to readers why my latest post is about Lithuanian not Spanish!

Have a read for yourself and see if you find a gem that could help you!

And if you don’t find what you want there, why not try Zapatito Inglés, LightBulb Languages, Changing Phase, or Rachel Hawkes.

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My husband often has to travel abroad with his work and, knowing my love of books, has been trained to look put for things I might like to use in the classroom. This last week, as usual, he texted me from the airport to ask about books I might like. Only he wasn’t in Spain or Germany, Switzerland or Austria, countries that speak languages I teach (or love!); he was in Lithuania.However, I am always up for a challenge and when he sent a picture of the front of the book, I decided I liked his choice and said ‘why not?’ I think he fell in love with the covers too as he bought me two.

And so I met Kakė Makė! I couldn’t understand a word of the books, but I immediately loved the bright pictures and quirky character of Kakė Makė that comes through the illustrations.

From the pictures I decided that Kakė Makė ir Netvarkos Nykštukas was about Kakė Makė getting up to mischief, and making an incredible mess, and an elf taking her toys away. Kakė Makė then follows the elf and tries to get the toys back by completing some tasks including a maze and fighting a monster. I also worked out that Kakė Makė is a nickname and the girl’s real name is Kornelija

I’ve since found this video that tells the story in English – and I wasn’t far off! It seems that Kakė Makė translates as GooGoo MooGoo!

And then I looked at Kakė Makė ir didelė Tamsa and concluded that it’s about a shadowy monster that scares Kakė Makė and her friends, and Kakė Makė sets off to find it, capture it in a bag and dispose of it. * What do you think? Here’s a video of the story with no narration!

I think that, as a language teacher, it’s good sometimes to put yourself into the place of a learner who has very limited or no understanding (as was my case) of the language being presented. Not only does it help you to understand the level of panic that can arise when faced with a page of unfamiliar and apparently unintelligible  words, but it also clarifies how you have to rely on all the clues you can find to help you.

• Pictures – very helpful here
• Cognates – virtually non existent; I found laberintas and bibliotekininke
• Punctuation like capital letters for names  – I worked out that Tamsa is the name of the monster and Pipiru is the dog. So some help but not a great deal!
• Knowledge about stories – there’s usually an opening before a build up to a problem, the problem gets fixed and there’s a conclusion.

I also looked at the text and noticed a couple of things:

1. Kakė Makė is written Kakėi Makėi a couple of times, both times at the start of a sentence, and once Kakės Makės; what do those suffixes mean? I wonder if it’s to do with subject/object of the sentence? Or possession?
2. Speech is denoted by – – as in Spanish, and quotations by ,,    ” which I found interesting.
3. I’m fascinated by the diacritical marks and accents. I want to know how they work! Does it alter the sound of the letters as in French, or the stress pattern as in Spanish? And is Lithuanian like Swedish (which I’m trying to learn on Duolingo)

I’m still not sure how, if at all, I’ll use them in my classroom but I’ve certainly enjoyed ‘reading’ them and exploring the world of Kakė Makė which, judging by my online searches, is quite extensive in Lithuania with product endorsements, themed parties, toys and much more! There’s an app you can download or you can play online (although cleaning her teeth isn’t the most exciting activity ever..) You can even be her friend on Facebook! I’m holding out to meet a Lithuanian speaker to help me read it properly!

*(After working this out, I did resort to GoogleTranslate to find out that the title means Kake Make and Big Darkness so I think I’m on the right lines!)

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Now that term is at an end I have finally got around to uploading my presentation to Slideshare and writing this post!
As I said previously, it was a very successful day and I hoped that what I had planned to share would live up to that which had gone before! There were lots of encouraging noises made as I was speaking and also some lovely messages afterwards so I think there were at least a few nuggets of gold!

You can find supporting links on this wikipage (link also on the penultimate page of the presentation) including the URLs of the quizzes that we didn’t have time to complete including my Classtools bin sorting and my Kahoot Schwytzerdütsch quiz!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment or send me a message via Twitter, LiPS or email!