Thanks to Lidija from Croatia, here are some brief highlights of the ‘TeachMeet styley thingy’ at #etwpdw, showing some of the people about whom I blogged earlier this week.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41T8Df33OnY

Thanks to eagle eyed @joedale for spotting it!

Below is my seven minute micropresentation from Teachmeet styley thingy (I think that name could stick!) at the eTwinning Ambassadors meeting #etwpdw.

In my seven minutes (I think the lovely @digitalmaverick gave me a little longer….) I talked about

1. using Wallwisher to collect ideas, have asynchronus discussions and review learning / progress.  I set up an example Wallwisher just prior to my presentation and asked my Twitter pals to contribute.  Thank you!

2.using Google Maps to keep an online track of postcards being exchanged in our eTwinning project Greetings across the miles, as well as cards from Postcrossing.  The actual postcards are displayed on the school wall, but by plotting them on a Google Map pupils get an idea of how far the cards have travelled, the position of countries and much more that enhances and extends the experience beyond a piece of paper arriving in the post.

3.using Storybird to write collaborative stories.  I ran out of time at this point and had to be very brief but my idea was to use Storybird to write stories across countries as follows –

• agree on a set of visuals.
• each group writes the story in their own language -or in a common one.
• stories are shared.

I bet no two stories would be the same!

As soon as I liberate it from @digitalmaverick, i’ll upload the video of my presentation.  But until then, if you have any questions, please contact me.

On Tuesday I was in sunny (yes, it was sunny!) Manchester, delivering my AQA course.

Apart from the problems with the internet, I believe a good day was had by all – lunch was once more a highlight!

Rather than repeat all the links, can I refer you to my last post where you will find all the ‘new’ links about PLL, and also some recommendations from other delegates of sites and learning materials that they’ve found useful.

I forgot last week to put a link to a resource listing many many games and quick activities for the PLL classroom, so here it is.

Today I delivered a day of training entitled ‘Creative and motivational language learning in the primary classroom’ for AQA.

What a lovely hotel and wonderful people!

The materials were prepared well in advance, and things change from day to day let alone from month to month, and I am prone to spontaneity and tangents.  Therefore there are a number of things we discussed or I referenced that were not included.

Where possible, the link is below!

CILT statement – ‘Making Primary language learning compulsory.’ You can download the statement and also the full report here too.

TDA version of QCDA schemes of work – French, Spanish and German downloadable here

DFE statement (August 26th 2010) on the future of primary languages.

People recommended resources –

Linguascope

Tout le monde

Education City

Espresso

If I’ve missed something, please leave me a comment or use the contact form!

Today I was part of an ICT and Creativity in MFL day run by Links into Languages West Midlands at Aston University.

Below is my presentation about free tools that can be used to enhance language teaching and learning.

Here is the Slidecast of my second presentation from Brighton.

Apologies for the audio cutting out before the end – no idea what happened there!  Perhaps the iRiver overheated!

Apologies to @wizenedcrone for forgetting her real name – it’s Fiona Joyce!!!

And the German site I mentioned was called GenkiGerman.

Second of my upcoming ‘gigs’ is in Enfield, London, at London ATI.

Another of my ‘hats’ is as an Apple Distinguished Educator, and it’s in this capacity that I’m taking part in the Apple Teacher Institute (ATI) at Enfield CLC on June 16th-18th.

As the blurb says –

Over three days you will have many opportunities to explore and discuss with Apple Distinguished Educators how digital media and Apple technologies can be used to engage and motivate students. The aim is to promote teacher confidence and develop capacity in a relaxed and friendly manner for everyone, regardless of experience.

There will be workshops on iMovie, animation, podcasting, iWeb, music in Garageband, iPod Touches in the classroom and also a couple of more advanced workshops on Final Cut and Logic.

A great way to start off using a Mac:  you choose several workshops over the first two days then, on the third day,  work with a group of delegates to complete a project of your own devising, using the skills you have learnt – and quite possibly a few more you discover as you go along!

If you want more details you can download the following PDF giving details of how to register – London ATI

And if London is inconvenient for you, there are other ATIs around the country too – Doncaster, Liverpool and Stockton all host an ATI  in June / July.  If you want to know more, send me a message below or  via the contact form.

Last week I was privileged to be asked to speak to MFL teachers from James Brindley, a very special school that covers the Birmingham Children’s Hospital as well as other centres around the city.

Here’s my presentation – possibly doesn’t make as much sense as it might with audio but I didn’t record myself this time I’m afraid!

Hope I’ll get to go back soon – especially as they’ve just got a whole room full of Macs!  And there’s a yellow bus equppied with them too….

Image by Cristóbal Cobo Romaní

Fast forward is the (long awaited by many!) article  published today in The TES magazine about ICT in MFL.

Yojana Sharma interviewed lots of fellow MFL Tweeters a few months back, gathering our thoughts on the use and importance of ICT in language learning.  She’s done a good job to condense all our thoughts as she spent on average 45 minutes interviewing us on the ‘phone.

So, if you’re interested in what Helena Butterfield, Clare Seccombe, Chris Harte, Isabelle Jones, Joe Dale, Alex Blagona, Suzi Bewell, Jo Rhys-Jones and José Picardo think about ICT and MFL, as well as the wonderfully named Norbert Pachler from IOE, check out the article.

Oh, and someone described as ‘widely regarded as a trailblazer for ICT use in Primary Languages’ has a word or two to say as well!