The annual conference of the Association for Language Learning (ALL) is fast approaching. This year Language World will be held in Kenilworth on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th March. The theme is Language – a unique ingredient of learning.
As the website says:
We will consider together many aspects of education today in multilingual Britain. What is unique about our subject? In what ways does the learning of a language support learners today beyond the classroom – from being a child to becoming an adult? What are the ingredients of a healthy learning experience?
Culture and International Contact
Curiosity and Observation
Connection at a personal level
Communication through all skills and modalities
A strong outward looking curriculum and external examinations
Following on from our conference last year we will continue to consider how the brain affects learning and how this can inform curriculum planning, the impact on teaching of the new GCSE and the importance of developing the intercultural agility needed to promote and support tolerance and respect for others. We are living through changing, somewhat challenging times and collaborative work is essential. We all benefit from access to research from around the world and collaboration across the key stages to university or training and jobs post 16 enables progress as we learn from each other. https://www.delegate-reg.co.uk/lw2024/
Keynote speakers include HMI Bianka Zemke and Professor Kate Borthwick, and there are more than 70 talks offered over the two days with something for every type of language learning. You can have a look at the programme here
I’m presenting on Saturday afternoon about how to make International links, something about which I’m really passionate; as a British Council Ambassador for many years and Global Schools Alliance Ambassador I do all I can to promote the value of the global dimension. You can see what I said last year when I shared the importance and impact of international links and global learning at Whitehouse Common Primary.
Whether you attend for one day or for both, I hope to see you in Kenilworth. If you can’t, be sure to follow events on Twitter/X – look out for the hashtag #LW2024 and I’ll try to give you a flavour of the event in a post at the end of March.
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.
I once more had the pleasure of presenting at Language World, the annual conference of Association for Language Learning (ALL). My presentation was entitled Take One Book and was the sequel to the presentation I did at PHOrum in November (you can read about it here) this time choosing a book that was originally written in Italian and has no English translation.
I really enjoyed sharing my ideas of how to use ¡Ojo Oso! and was pleasantly surprised that I managed to finish in time and have time for questions. I experimented with using subtitles/captions during my presentation after comments by Helen Simpson on LiPS made me think about accessibility. I need to watch back the recording of my session (which has just been made available for those who registered for the conference but missed the session) to see exactly how accurate they were but I know that when I spoke Spanish they definitely had trouble as they were set to English! For example un agujero became ‘all alcohol’ and una madriguera became ‘mother together.’
Below you can find a PDF of my presentation. I’ve removed the story slides due to copyright but you can find links to versions of the story read online, as well as to where you can purchase a copy.
At the end there is a link to my Pinterest where I collected together materials for the talk, some of which I didn’t use! You can also access it via this QR code.
http://bit.ly/OjoOso
Perhaps you have ideas that spring to mind? Or you have a book that you could use in a similar way? If you have any comments or questions, do leave a comment below.
Postscript – you can watch the ‘standby/rehearsal’ recording of the session here.
Here are my sketchnotes from Language World 2021. All done live so please excuse the slight untidiness at times as I tried to get everything written down! I tweeted most of them after the sessions and was really glad to see many tweets saying how helpful people found them.
There are more to come as I have several sessions that I want to catch when all the recordings are posted later in the week. If you want to see sketchnotes of some different sessions (and many of the same ones!) have a look at Clare’s blog.
Opening keynote – A rich curriculum for all: the pressured yet pivotal position of languages Michael Wardle, HMI, Ofsted
What Languages can learn from Coding Mark Pallis ——- Stimulating curiosity and developing students’ investigative skills also leads to greater international thinking. If this is important how can we develop this? By sharing intercultural understanding using authentic materials? Liz Black
Multilingualism, Language Learning and Social Cognition Professor Li Wei, UCL Institute of Education, University College London
An introduction to Language Teaching: Learning from the Past Prof Nicola McLelland, Dr Simon Coffey & Dr Lina Fisher, History of Modern Language Learning and Teaching in Britain (HoLLT)
International partnerships and exchanges – the latest on what programmes exist and on travel advice for teachers and pupils Vicky Gough and Brian Stobie https://twitter.com/schools_british
British Council Language Trends England 2021 – Interim Results Vicky Gough, British Council and Ian Collen, NCILT
Engaging, enriching, inclusive: ensuring a primary MFL curriculum which delivers for SEND pupils – Eleanor Chettle Cully
Day 2 Opening Keynote – Challenges and Rewards in the CLIL unit design process Dr Marie Petersen, Coburg West Primary School, Melbourne
Making connections between languages with translation skills: for easier transition between KS2 and 3 Helen Stokes ——- The Missing Link – transition between KS2 and KS3 Suzanne O’Farrell Transition toolkit
Consolidating Knowledge with Meaningful Practice: An Introduction to NCELP Resources Professor Emma Marsden, National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP)
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!
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!
Decisions decisions!
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!
As I reported in February, at this year’s Language World conference in March I was asked to be Resident Sketchnoter and record all the fun and excitement as well as as many sessions as I could possibly attend. It was a challenge as I normally go back to my sketch notes later to ‘pretty them up’ but in this case the sketch was immediately posted on the display board so I had to just go for it! I was really pleased that people took time to look at the display and there was a buzz of discussion and excitement as people paused to discuss what they’d seen. My hand was really struggling by the end of Saturday but it was all worth it!
I’ve deliberately delayed posting them until ALL had done so (although they were all tweeted as I finished them!) and today I received notification that they are now uploaded and ready to view! And they’ve kindly made them into a PDF!
And here they are individually with comments and links to the presentations where available!
DAY 1
Tried to capture a few of the exhibitors before the conference started in the top section then AnnaLise’s opening words in the bottom section.
Assessment without tears – Jackie Rayment and Yvonne Kennedy
Now here was a challenge – sketch noting and presenting simultaneously! Also presenting with me, Jesús Hernández from the Consejería de Educación and Sara Montero, Primary Language Teacher of the Year 2016 Presentation
Mary Glasgow Plenary A period of calm and stability – Bill Watkin Presentation
Julie Prince talking about primary language learning supporting Grammar Punctuation and Spelling (not navigation as the title might suggest!) Presentation
Suzi and Lynn presented AIM methodology to us in this session. presentation
The poster sessions – lots of exciting projects were highlighted here – I suggest you check out the ALL site to find out more! (scroll down to Poster sessions then click on the + for the abstracts)
How do you sketch note a wine reception? Thanks to Vicky Cooke for my inspiration, and to all my vox pops!
The national treasure that is Steven Fawkes had us all crying with laughter at his witty speech including references to jelly, taxis, triangles, and of course, his trousers!
The Conference Dinner – scribbled on a napkin then ‘done in neat’ later 😉
A summary of The Teaching Schools Council Review of Languages Pedagogy, delivered by Ian Bauckham. Very interesting! (Not often I have to use another sheet, and as you can see, a little hard to represent very visually! Presentation
ALL President AnnaLise Gordon was up again to talk about Progress and present the awards for Language teacher of the Year.
The super fantastique Richard Talleron went fruity in his session on embedding languages across the curriculum. Presentation
Starr Green spoke about Languages for ALL and gave advice on teaching languages to pupils with SEND Presentation
The always inspiring and incredibly clever Dr Rachel Hawkes helpfully talked about creating a positive learning environment, pointing out that sometimes staff can not give or do any more than they already are so something else has to change! presentation
Lovely Nathalie Paris aka Nattalingo shared some ideas and research on the important two way relationship between literacy and languages. Presentation
And finally it was time for thanks yous, AnnaLise’s quiz (foiled on the last question!) and the revelation of the date and venue for next year – March 23rd and 24th at Jury’s Inn Hinckley Island near Leicester. presentation
If you want to access any of the other sessions at the conference, many of the presentations have been uploaded to the ALL site Friday and Saturday, and you can read more about it here (also more sketch notes) and here. If you were there and have any reflections, please leave a comment and I can update the post!
It’s one month to go until the annual Association for Language Learning conference, Language World. Have you signed up yet?
This year the theme is Progress for All (like the clever logo!) As the ALL website says:
Progression in the teaching and learning of languages is a priority for all teachers and ALL as a professional association as we respond to significant curriculum changes and developments at all levels. Progress for ALL is a deliberately broad title, as we aim to serve the needs of all conference delegates. For example, we are including sessions on promoting progress in all aspects of pupils’ learning of languages, ensuring progression in curriculum planning, sustaining progress in curriculum leadership and celebrating progress in building a culture of language learning in a school.
During the two days there will be a mixture of plenary sessions, major talks and workshops with something for everyone from primary to higher education, and this year there is a slot for poster presentations which looks really interesting too.
This year the conference takes place in Nottingham at the East Midlands Conference Centre which is very convenient for me living in the Midlands and once more in the ‘middle’ of the country.
I’m not speaking this year (apart from a contribution to the Primary Spanish Show and Tell) but I have a special (albeit rather daunting) role to fulfil:
I’m looking forward to attending sessions and trying to capture them ‘live’ ready to post to the timeline in the exhibition area; a shame I can only be in one place at a time though as there are several slots where I’d like to attend two or even three sessions at the same time.
If you’re interested in attending, the programme is below, and booking details can be found here.
Bernadette Holmes – President elect – absent so we had a ‘supply president’ in the form of Steven Fawkes
Looking back to look forward
Whilst KS2 entitlement still stands, it’s uncertain and as yet there are no clear messages from the coalition about whether they will or won’t be statutory. We’re also in the middle of a huge curriculum review of both secondary and primary education. But change can provide us with opportunities to reassess and reflect.
Change often happens simultaneously, sometimes across sectors too.
Many issues that arose with Nuffield are seen replicated now – developing languages vertically down from KS3 but also horizontally across ability range at time when languages were elitist. At the same time, comprehensive education began.
National curriculum – Languages for all September 1992 with all children 11-16 studying languages led to questions about approaches to teaching all abilities. This had an impact on dual linguists as FL2 got squashed out (although people studying language and …business / development etc increased)
National Language Strategy brought some coherence to languages in England – many success stories especially in primary phase, widening of choice post-14 etc.
KS2 Framework has been a key document in bringing coherence to primary provision. In 2009 92% primaries offering language in KS2 and 70%+ offered throughout the school.
MFL KS3 Framework arrived with an emphasis on understanding pattern, structure and grammar, but lessened target language in the classroom.
Building for the future – what do we need?
contact time – more needed across the board – not adding at one end and taking away at the other
coherent language learning experience – a continuum across KS2 – KS4 and beyond
consistency of teaching approach, again across the phases
content – creativity – cognitive challenge even in years 5 and 6
continuing professional development
cultural dimension
NSC/CLIL4Ts/LinkedUp
collaboration at local regional and national level – cutbacks but still the need for support
Resetting the foundations
A policy for the future
“Languages are vital for the personal professional and economic growth of all UK citizens”
“Language learning and teaching must take their rightful place in Britain as educational and social priorities”
“All British pupils must have full open and equal access to language learning to ensure a level playing with their peers abroad”
“The professional status of language teachers must be of equal standing compared to teachers of other subjects.”
We believe that language learning and teaching are an essential part of rounded education for all UK citizens.
“languages are not about labels, they’re about people” ECML Graz
We believe that all learners should have the opportunity to learn their first language and at least one other language, including English, if this is not their first language.
Our education system should provide:
access to the range of languages existing in the UK including recognition for the languages of new communities
coherent learning programmes from primary to secondary
We believe that languages teachers should have access to high quality initial teacher training and continuing professional development.
Policy makers should ensure that
languages have a settled curriculum with a favourable time allocation in comparison to other successful jurisdictions
decisions relating to how children are taught should remain as close to the point of learning as possible
We advocate statutory status for languages from 7-16.
Opportunities through the Curriculum Review
the position of languages at primary needs urgent clarification
there should be continued language training for primary class teachers
adequate time allocation should be provided in the curriculum to allow pupils to elarn to a similar standard to their peers in other major jurisdictions.
(At this point my RSA Typing1 couldn’t keep up with the note taking so I took pictures instead)
Why do we need language skills?
Languages employability and entrepreneurship
Tolerance and challenge
Changing hearts and minds
All human beings can enjoy a language learning experience
All pupils should learn languages
Language learning has significant educational benefits
Language learning brings invaluable personal benefits
ALL pupils from KS2-4 should have the right to learn languages in the school curriculum
All citizens should have access to lifelong language learning
Reframing languages – presented by Dr Shirley Lawes , subject leader PGCE languages at Institute of Education; Mark Reid, Head of Education, British Film Institute and Muriel Huet, Lampton School
This talk reported on project funded by Esmee Fairburn Foundation carried out with 4 schools in conjunction with Institute of Education and the British Film Foundation
Why use short films?
short (5-6 minutes)
subject matter often wacky, outside learners experience
introduces to film technique
Why do the project?
revitalise the KS3 curriculum
optionality means we need to attract learners in Y9 onwards
what it means to learn another language
PGCE MFL experience proved it a great way of learning
Aims
to improve motivation/attainment
develop interest in film as a cultural form
develop cultural knowledge
Learners experienced 3 sequences of 5 lessons over 3 terms.
The project marks a development of work done by the BFI on using film in literacy, moulding it to the needs MFL teachers in mind – Cine-minis a DVD of short French films is the result.
One of the techniques used was “Tell me” grids with boxes for story / mood / character / setting – en français, qu’est-ce qui se passe? / ambience / qui? / où? ou quand? The soundtrack of the start of the film is played and learners fill it in with their ideas.
This encourages learners to build up pictures from sounds in their head, drawing on their knowledge of the world and of film / narrative / text.
Once the first part of the film is shown, another grid considers surprises – is it as you expected? And what’s going to happen next?
I’m not going to spoil it, but we watched Les crayons and it was very unexpected!
Muriel was one of the four teachers involved and she shared the outcomes for her and her pupils.
It motivated her pupils greatly, leaving them more willing to take risks without necessarily realising it. It took them out of their comfort zone whilst easily linking to curriculum, using the lack of prescribed content to an advantage.
For teachers, Muriel reported that the project gave an opportunity to
develop new pedagogical knowledge / approaches
develop their knowledge / confidence in exploring film as a cultural medium
change of their expectations in terms of attainment
integrate more ICU into teaching
Muriel reported that you need to have confidence to take risks professionally, to try out new ideas, be original and develop yourself professionally -and that this was an opportunity that she was given and took.
The third of a trio of presentations that I should have posted earlier (and I’ve still got a day of Language World to finish blogging too!)
My presentation at Language World this year took it’s theme from the fact that Primary language learning is an entitlement rather than statutory as we had expected a year ago. In it I explored what an entitlement meant and shared some ideas of how it might look and what it should include. Thanks to the people who attended on a hot Friday afternoon in the 6th session of a long and exciting day. I’ll put the audio with the Slideshare once I have time to edit it!
