iPads and Languages

Back in September, I learned that I had been extremely fortunate because my bid for iPads for the MFL department had been successful. After several hiccups, the much talked about tablets finally arrive in my room on Wednesday.

I was very concerned, that this useful technology would turn up in my room and would just be left unused, thus making it all a huge waste of time and money.  In order to combat that, this week I have spent time with every class I teaching doing "something" with the iPads. Nothing flash, just making sure that each class uses them, is familiar with expectations and protocols surrounding their use and seeing that I'm not afraid for it all to go horribly wrong!

I was lucky, as on Wednesday I had my two year 11 classes. This meant I could start with classes who I know well, who I know are sensible and who I  knew would react positively should I choose to do things that didn't work. I am happy to report that things went very well! 

So, keeping it simple so far what have I used the iPads for?

Consolidating, reinforcing and learning new language with the superb Languages Online.  This has been redesigned recently, making it very easy to use with tablets.  This was great, as normally I'd go into an ICT suite to use this website. The added bonus was, that pupils had their exercises books easily accessible and could make note of new language in their books. They were much more proactive with this, than when I do that kind of activity in an ICT suite. An added bonus was, that "languages" is a tricky word to type (for me!), so to avoid the "mine hasn't gone to the right place" situation, I created a QR code with the link, and pupils accessed the site thought that. Simples!

I also got my y11s using Sock Puppets to talk about what they eat and sports they do (Healthy Living!). They spoke and listened to loads of French.  Much more than had it been a "normal" lesson.

My y8 class used the iPads for a plenary on Linoit.  Much nicer than paper post its, as that Lino is now on the MLF blog for them to revisit!

Finally Socrative. Just fab! I started off creating quizzes from scratch and find it all a bit clunky at first (learning is clunky at first, until your used to it) but after a few goes, it's become like second nature.  I particularly like that pupils can vote on responses, which means they are peer assessing all the time.

I wonder what next week will bring ...

Somethings I am very keen to ensure are...

iPads don't just become and "add on", they become a natural part of a lesson

iPads don't become a hindrance to learn. They need to be used for real learning and not just for the sake of it.

I also think that for them to be successful I have be not afraid to make mistakes, also be prepared to learn from my classes (they've already taught me a lot this week), have faith in my students and trust them to do what is asked of them....but then, don't we do that everyday as teachers, no. After what we are doing in our teaching?

I shall report back more iPad adventures in a few weeks...

Routes into languages Student Ambassadors Training

Once again, I was asked to speaking at the Routes into Languages Ambassador Training at UCL yesterday. Routes into Languages is a fantastic project that aims to raise languages awareness in schools and promote the continued study of languages at all levels.  Each year students of languages at a variety of universities around the country work as ambassadors, going into schools and running workshops for schools in their region.  This event is to give those ambassadors the training they need in order to be succesful.

The day is split into two sections, the first where all of the students are talked to about their role and where people who are involved in careers that use languages talk about their experiences and how they got into their relevant fields, then an afternoon of workshops to equip students to go out and really motivate pupils into wanting to continue with their languages study.

I took part in the first section of the day, by talking about how I became a teacher of languages and what was involved in training to become a teacher and what life is like as a teacher. I left the talk wanting to become an interpreter or translator as Gloria Vessey and John Evans filled my head full of their fascinating experiences of working with languages but I hope that some of the students left having a better idea of what life as a teacher is all about. It's always easy to promote teaching, as it's such a rewarding job with no day ever the same. I love it and, as I said to the students yesterday, I wouldn't want to do anything else really (despite what I wrote earlier!)

In the afternoon workshops, I ran a session on IT tools that the Student Ambassadors might like to use with pupils for whom they run workshops.  All materials can be found on the wiki that I created here. It was really interesting to find out which tools the students thought would be useful for them and also see their suggestions of how they could use them for themselves.  They all contributed to the Lino that is linked to here.

If you have the opportunity, I strongly recommend that you get involved with your local Routes into Languages Ambassadors.  I know I'm going to be speaking to my SLT about getting some to come into school to promote uptake of Languages as KS4 around options time, as although our uptake is fairly healthy, you can never have too many linguists...

ps... Also you may get lucky and get some fabby post it notes like the ones at the start of this post...

pps...I also got some tasty Christmas cake muffins and an iPad cover from the lovely Heather McGuinness, who I hope has recovered from her rodent-related incident!