Modern Foreign Languages in Wiltshire

What's happening in MFL?

2009-07-07T08:43:00.006+01:00

Too much, I hear you say! Below is a quick update and timeline for what is happening in MFL currently...

Sept 09 - New Secondary Curriculum has been introduced in Years 7 & 8.
- The Revised KS3 Framework will have been published.
- Revised National Curriculum Levels circulated.
- New GCSE courses start with change of emphasis (30% Speaking and Writing).
2 skills short course available
- First year of new A2.
- Next 5 Diplomas on line (including Business)

Sept 2010 - New Secondary Curriculum in Years 7, 8, 9
- Next 5 Diplomas (including Travel & Tourism)

Sept 2011 - New Primary curriculum starts
- Languages, Humanities and Science Diplomas start.

Authentic resources

2009-07-05T16:17:00.005+01:00

If you are searching for authentic resources to help you with cross-curricular subjects, including the environment, the website below will hopefully be of help. It has been created for Candian schools and I believe that some of the resources are truly excellent:
http://www.in-terre-actif.com/fr/index.php

IBO

2009-06-29T14:15:00.003+01:00

If you are introducing IB (16-19) in your school, please feel free to get in touch. St John's will be starting its third year of IB delivery come September.

CLIL

2009-06-29T11:31:00.011+01:00

Interested in Content and Language Integrated Learning? Not quite sure what it is? There are now a number of schools across the country who are experimenting with delivering whole subject areas at KS3 in a Modern Foreign Language - immersion. Chenderit School in Northamptonshire is one such school. This link takes you to a video case study:
http://www.all-nsc.org.uk/nsc/?q=node/94

You could also google Willink School in Berkshire & Elliott School, London to see what they are doing on their webpages.

Schools embark on CLIL in order to engage and challenge learners, to raise expectations, to use language for real purpose, to develop different kinds of language and to develop language learning skills, among several other things. If you are considering starting on a smaller scale, the links to the resource banks below will hopefully give you access to plenty of materials to encourage you and to start you off...
http://clil4teachers.pbwiki.com/Resource-bank

Just choose a subject area and follow the links.

http://www.all-nsc.org.uk/nsc/?q=node/37

Happy working!

SLN update 2009

2009-06-29T10:42:00.001+01:00

The face of the SLN is changing, but not disappearing altogether! For the last 2 years, 3 SLN have run across Wiltshire: West Wilts led by Jenny Coldwell at Clarendon College; North Wilts led by Dave Wicks at The John Bentley School and South Wilts led by me at St John's. The number of SLN running nationally has been reduced but we have just heard that we have been successful in our bid to one run SLN for all Wiltshire Secondary Schools. The first meeting of 2009-10 will be held at The John Bentley School: 'ICT as a tool to motivate and support literacy skills'; in Feb 2010 Clarendon College will host: 'Sharing of ideas and experiences of other MFL courses to encourage uptake of MFL at KS4'; and St John's will host a final meeting: 'Developing tasks to extend speaking and writing skills, with a particular focus on Year 9'.

We are delighted that the new bid was successful and look forward to seeing you at one of these meetings in the new year.

Vocab learning - free application

2008-10-18T15:51:00.005+01:00

Interlex is a free Windows application that helps students learn vocabulary in a foreign language quickly and easily. The program is built around a simple idea: first you compile a list of words and phrases, then you test yourself until you have learnt them. Thanks to Andrew Quilley for this useful free tool! Go straight to the website by clicking this link www.vocab.co.uk or going to the link in the general section on the right. This website is also well worth visiting for the large number of language links which can be accessed from the home page.

FAQs about the new GCSEs for MFL

2008-10-14T14:30:00.001+01:00

Click here to visit the page on the CILT website with questions and answers about the new GCSEs in MFL.
http://www.cilt.org.uk/14to19/gcse/new_2009/index.htm

Freizeit - song from Youtube!

2008-10-14T14:15:00.000+01:00

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0HRO2HYv46w

Songs for Teaching

2008-10-14T13:42:00.003+01:00

A website for using music to promote learning. Click here http://www.songsforteaching.com/ or go to the general section on the right.

Cool German!

2008-10-14T13:30:00.001+01:00

Want to show some street cred? Here is the BBC's essential guide to young German people's slang by Andrea Hoffmann, presenter of their beginners' online course German Steps. The expressions have been divided up so you know what to say and what not to say. Here's the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/cool/

Teacher's Pet

2008-10-14T13:25:00.002+01:00

The Teacher's Pet is a word processor toolbar that can transform any text into fun classroom activities.The software can create crosswords, bingo cards, jumbles, word search puzzles,flashcards,cloze tests, pair-matching puzzles and much more. Go to the general section on the right or click here: http://www.teachers-pet.org/index.html

La Grande Fête du Chocolat

2008-10-14T12:59:00.003+01:00

10 - 19 October is "La Grande Fête du Chocolat" in France. Details can be found here: http://www.lagrandefeteduchocolat.fr/

Hot Potatoes

2008-10-14T12:37:00.002+01:00

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a licence. The website address is in the general section on the right. Click here to go to the site: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

New websites for French and Spanish added

2008-09-23T12:23:00.005+01:00

Two new websites have been added today with resources for teachers of French - http://www.francais-extra.co.uk/ and Spanish - http://www.espanol-extra.co.uk/ . Both websites offer a wide selection of free resources.

Websites for A Level German

2008-09-14T13:15:00.003+01:00

A new group of websites for students and teachers of A Level German is now on this site - please scroll down on the right of the page. These websites are sourced from support material for the new AQA AS/A2 examination specification. Websites in the main German section may also prove useful. If you know of any good websites to add to either section, please email us at the addresses shown and we will be pleased to add them.

Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom

2008-09-09T18:32:00.005+01:00

Joe Dale - featured in the TES in January 2006 - has an excellent blog which covers just about everything you're ever likely to want to know about integrating ICT into the MFL classroom. The blog address is http://www.joedale.typepad.com/ and can also be accessed in the "Other blogs" section on the right. Many thanks to Joe for this hugely helpful resource.

Games for MFL

2008-09-08T09:02:00.001+01:00

Two websites with useful ideas for games which can be used in MFL have been added to the "Websites for MFL (general)" link on the right. They are also accessible here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistant-arc-games.htm and http://www.gameskidsplay.ca/.

Ideas for brightening up a classroom

2008-08-07T10:47:00.004+01:00

This website was suggested by a contributor to the Yahoo! MFL resources forum and contains free materials, including plans for models of buildings such as Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower which are certain to brighten up any classroom! Click here: http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/building/index.html or go to the link in the general section on the right.

Law of Languages

2008-08-03T18:03:00.006+01:00

A Chinese police officer prepares to welcome multinational visitors to Beijing for the Olympic Games, by learning how to greet and welcome people in a range of languages. This could be useful for the European Day of Languages on 26 September.

Developing Teachers.com website for languages teachers

2008-08-03T17:58:00.002+01:00

This website contains much which MFL teachers will find interesting - including a range of useful tips. Click here or go the link on the right: www.developingteachers.com

Vocational Languages resource bank

2008-07-22T08:34:00.003+01:00

"Are you just beginning to offer languages linked to other vocational subjects? Or have you been doing so for some time? Either way, the Vocational Languages Resource Bank (VLRB) offers example resources to help you on your way! The website also presents a wealth of ideas for teachers to develop their own materials." The website can be accessed here http://www.vlrb.org.uk/index.asp?p=home or via the link in the general MFL websites section on the right.

MFL programmes on Teachers' TV this week

2008-07-15T16:43:00.003+01:00

The following programmes may be of interest to teachers of MFL. If you miss them, they can be downloaded from www.teachers.tv
"Starting off this Wednesday 16 July at 1pm is Modernising Urdu, a look at how one Urdu teacher is borrowing techniques and adapting resources from other MFL teachers to modernise the approach to teaching Urdu. (Watch online)
At 1.15pm, we look at one MFL school department that believes dynamic Assessment for Learning in MFL keeps students on task and teachers focused on the next steps for all ability groups. In Secondary Assessment for Learning – MFL, different classes are put under the spotlight as teachers use different techniques to encourage AFL. (Watch online)
The last half an hour is dedicated to our popular From Good to Outstanding series that looks at how teachers can go from being rated as ‘good’ to ‘outstanding'. In this programme, MFL teacher Rebecca Wills wants to improve. Watch as she is observed and then helped to implement positive change. Will she make the grade? Tune in on Wednesday 16 July at 1.30pm to find out or watch online."

ICT case study: Using wikis at KS4 to promote and support exam revision

2008-07-15T14:58:00.002+01:00

The MFL Faculty at Gordano School in North Somerset is developing wikis to support and engage pupils in exam revision and independent vocabulary practice. Click here to visit the CILT page with details of this case study http://www.cilt.org.uk/14to19/ict/gordano.htm

Number of primary schools teaching languages almost doubles since 2002

2008-07-15T14:50:00.004+01:00

There has been a big leap in the number of primary schools teaching children foreign languages.
Minister for Schools and Learners Jim Knight welcomed news that 84% of primary schools now teach children another language, up from 70% on the previous year and nearly double the 44% in 2002.
Research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) published today shows that traditional languages dominate, with French being most popular (89% of schools which teach languages) followed by Spanish (23%) and German (9%). But a small number (under 3%) offer Italian, Chinese, Japanese or Urdu. Read more by clicking here http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0130

White lion cubs born in Germany -arrh!

2008-07-15T14:28:00.005+01:00

Rare white lion cubs have been born in Stukenbrock safari park in Germany. There is a link to the Yahoo.de story here http://de.news.yahoo.com/ddp/20080714/tsc-safaripark-stellt-nachwuchs-der-weis-e24321a.html