Routes Live - Routes into Language Teaching

Last Friday, I was asked to take part in a Routes into Languages live webinar about Routes into Languages, along with wit Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, Director of Routes into Languages North East, René Kogelbauer, Acting Head of the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences and Director of the North Leadership Centre and President of ALL and Karl Reid, a current trainee teacher. 
It was a fantastic experience, not least because I was able to use Google Hangouts from the computer in my classroom and all of the technology worked!
Here is a link to the webinar, I hope that it proves useful to prospective MFL teachers.

Routes Live - Routes into language teaching

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!

Using Google Apps for Education #ililc3

At the weekend I was extremely lucky to have been a speaker at the ICT and Languages conference 2013.  Having attended as a delegate last year, I bit the bullet and submitted proposals to present 2 sessions this year and was over the moon when my submissions were accepted.

Session 1 was my first talk of the day about GoogleApps for Education.We have this in our school and it's used extensively between staff for sharing information, good practice and general communication, and also it can be used with pupils.

Over the last year I have tried a variety of activities using Google Docs to help my pupils communicate and collaborate more easily and thought that others deserved to know how totally amazing it is.  We have a Google Edu account so we have greater security settings and we can share from outside of or to that account from elsewhere.  If you have a similar set up, you may not be able to see the presentations made by the delegates if you are logged into your school Google Apps account at the moment.

My presentation (made in Google Docs) is below, together with a link the wikipage where delegates could access presentation documents to collaborate on.  Please look at them - I found the innovative ways that their schools were using ICT fantastic and also gained lots of ideas from them...including mobile learning envy!!

Additional notes are below the presentation...

Firstly, here is the link to original google doc presentation

Now here is a copy of the presentation, as I had problems embedding the original presentation for some reason...

Google apps for pupil collaboration from Helena Butterfield

For the pupils, one of the best things about using Google Docs is that they don't have to keep saving their work. Once it's created a document is automatically saved every few minutes, no "Miss, I forgot to save my work" at the end of the lesson!

Diagnostic marking is also very easy via Google Doc as you can give general feedback through the "comments" at the top right of a document AND highlight individual words so that pupils can see where corrections can be made.  Furthermore through the threaded comments a dialogue can be established between teacher and pupil, as a document is edited.

However, for me the most powerful thing about Google Docs is that you can have groups of pupils working on the same document at the same time and it updates in realtime.  Therefore pupils on opposite sides of the classroom can collaborate...in fact pupils on different sides of the world can collaborate at the same time, without having to attach, download, upload (and forget to do all of that as well!!!)

My top tip; if pupils are creating a resource themselves, get them to create, give it atitle then share immediately to me (otherwise they forget to share!!)

We didn't get onto Google Forms as I had hope but suffice to say that they are brilliant for pupil voice and extremely versatile and easy to use!

Here is a link to the Wiki where the presentations can be found and I think you'll agree that the delegates did a wonderful job of collaborating - in fact I think that two of the groups didn't even physically speak about their presentation at all, it was all done via the comments (you'll have to sneak a look at the comments as well!)

Oh I almost forgot...I'd also set up a Google Spreadsheet for the delegates to suggest uses for Google Apps in their (or anyone else's classrooms) but we also didn't get round to the plenary (I hope Mr Wilshaw or anyone else from Ofsted doesn't see this!!!). There's a link on the wiki and now here as well. Please feel free to share your ideas.  Again, if you are a school Google Docs user, you may have to log out of that account in order to view or contribute.

Routes into Languages New Ambassadors' Training

Yesterday I felt extremely lucky to invited to take part in the Routes into Languages New Ambassadors' training even at UCL.  For those who don't know who Routes into Languages are, they are a fantastic organisation who work via various regional universities to promote languages is schools.  In particular they have Student Ambassadors who go into schools to promote languages or run workshops at their universities, all with the aim of increasing uptake at all levels of language learning.

After an early start with a 6.08 am train from Yarm (who knew that time existed on a Saturday) I arrived in a wet London and took part in my first activity for the day.  Alongside 4 other fellow linguists, I was part of an employability panel.  Each of us spoke about our passion for languages and where that has taken us in our careers.  I have to say I did feel a little uneasy as "just a teacher", following a business consultant who had loads of experience in lecturing and working all over the world using her languages and someone who worked as a translator with the European Commission and had worked as GCHQ and being followed by a journalist who worked for the BBC World Service.  However I managed to make them laugh and, I think, convince them that teaching wasn't full of lazy, good-for-nothings who are only in the job for the holidays, as some would have people believe and that actually teaching is a great profession to be in. So, I survived the employability panel (which, just for the record was 100% better than having a lesson observation!) and we moved to the afternoon session.

I ran a workshop on Social Media and ICT in MFL.  I wanted the session to be as interactive as possible so spoke for very little of it and created a wiki with all of the information for the session on it.  The wiki can be found here and you can find presentation and everything else from the afternoon there.

All in all, it was a fantastic day.  I met some brilliant people and it was nice to be in the company of so many people with such a passion for languages and all of the opportunities that they can open up for you.

Active Learning - Clouds

I've also heard this activity called trap doors or otra vez and am sure that others call it by many other things - and my pupils probably call it something entirely different (!)
Some people have asked what it is so, although I know that many use this already, I thought I'd do a blog anyway.
The first thing to know about clouds is that it cover loads of different skills such as Speaking and Listening (literacy), Reading (literacy), active learning and lots more. It gets pupils talking in the target language straight away and I love it that as soon as I set my classes off doing this activity the classroom is buzzing with the sound of French/German and the sound of happy pupils!
So, this is how it works. You have a text and every so often you have a little cloud image / square with a choice of 3 words in it. Partner one chooses what their text will be, choosing one of the three words in the cloud/box whenever they get there. (They should not tell their partner what they have chosen). Partner 2 then tries to work out what their partner's text says by reading it aloud to their partner. When they get to a cloud/box they say 1 of the words in it. If they are correct, their partner says oui/ja/etc... and they can continue, however if they are wrong their partner says non/nein/etc... and they have to go right back to the beginning again. The best thing is when a pair really want to test each other and they get right to the end and quite deliberately say it's wrong so that the whole thing has to be read out again!
 Below is a simple screenshot of what one of my cloud activities looks like, incase you're struggling to envisage what it would look like...

Active Learning - Infinite Scrabble

Here's another one I've just recently started using again and I really like it for Key Stage 4.

This one is really simple and takes next to no preparation, another reason that I love it!

Give out a grid like the one above to pairs or trios of pupils, depending on how they're sat. The grid should be empty apart from random number in some of the squares, just like the one above. Pupils play against each other in a scrabble-like game.

Allocate a topic (this week mine have been descriptions and holidays-not at the same time, combined with connectives/opinions) and it works like this; pupil 1 starts in the middle of the square by writing a word in the TL, pupil 2 then writes another word that has to connect in some way to the first word and so on. Points are scored when a word goes through one of the squares with a number in it and that square can earn points every time a word goes through it.  You can make is as easy or hard as you want by allowing words horizontally, vertically, diagonally and sometimes backwards. I then had double point scores for letters that had accents on. The games could have lasted the whole lesson, if I'd allowed it!

I didn't know how competitive my pupils could get!

My next task is to work out how it can be less wasteful on paper, maybe laminate grids and use mini whiteboard pens...

Little update on how I'm using Infinite Scrabble to ensure more engagement (although there's already lots there!). I give rewards not only to the winner in each pair / trio and have also started to reward the highest scoring team a reward as well, so not only are they playing against each other but also against the others in the class. Who know that there could be scores of over 100! I also no longer need to explain, just hand out and the buzz starts straights away.

Active Learning - Quiz, Quiz, Trade

Since I'm on a roll, I thought I'd put together another little Active Learning post on one of my favourites.

As ever, I though "everyone" knew about Quiz, Quiz, Trade (a lovely activity taken from Kagan Structures) and I was late to jump on the band wagon. So, last Tuesday during our Active Learning INSET I mentioned it and actually found myself explaining how it works at several tables .  Anyway, I thought I'd explain it here too...it's a good way to avoid real work.

Give each child in the class a card with the TL at the top and English meaning at the bottom. Ideally, each child should have a different phrase which can prove quite difficult in a big class, I know.

Pupils stand up hand up pair up and work their partner, asking them to tell them what the TL phrase means.  If one partner can't do it, the other partner should support and coach them to help them. Once done, the other partner does the same and then they swap the cards and put their hands back up to move on to work with someone else.  This means that pupils work with a wide variety of language and also reinforce their language learning skills, whilst listening to, reading, and speaking in the TL.

For extension more able pupils could be asked to say the phrase in the TL rather than English and even...particularly if you're struggling to find enough phrases with a big class...give out a few blank cards for more able pupils to make up their own. You could also have differentiated cards of different colours and ask pupils to work with people who have the same coloured cards as them.

Instead of "stand up hand up pair up" you could play music and ask them to pair up with the nearest person when the music stops, or even have and inside and outside circle, the inside circle moves and stops when told to, then works with the person opposite them. This would work particularly well if you want to avoid certain pairings ;)

I have it on good authority that Quiz, Quiz, Trade can work in just about any subject area which is always good news.

Active Learning - Follow Me Cards

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a hot topic at our school at the moment, since Ofsted told us that there were too many "passive learners".  In fact, Active Learning was the topic of our INSET on Tuesday.

Fortunately, I am a huge fan of Active Learning. I hate that feeling (and I have it way too often) when I'm doing an activity and I'm aware that only about 5 of the class are actually working hard, whilst the rest just sit back and let them.  I try to build in as much active learning as I can (although I'm sure some of my pupils would disagree) and luckily, Languages has loads of activities that we do as a matter of course, which are classes as "active learning".

Going back to the INSET on Tuesday, I think you can measure the success of any training session by what you can take away and use immediately.  Tuesday was one of those occasions.

I am an enormous fan of the TARSIA software, which I was introduced to by Clare Seccombe who has blogged about it here for example, and often use it for creating Dominoes and Jigsaws to introduce new language and to get pupils acquiring and using new language independently. I've also created "Human Dominoes"  sets, although both times have been a disaster (I think I must be doing something wrong).  I'd never, however, used the Follow Me cards as they *should* have been used, preferring instead to use them to create sets of dominoes or questions and answers.  On Tuesday our AHT responsible for Teaching and Learning explained how she used the Follow Me cards in Maths and I decided to have a go on Wednesday morning as follows:

I created a set of (larger than normal) dominoes as normal, with French phrases to match to English, with a variety of known language, cognate rich text and new structures.

Instead of asking pupils to to match them together on table, pupils had to stand up and read out their French phrase, then the person with the corresponding English phrase on it would stand up and say their English meaning, followed by their French phrase and so on...

It worked really well! All pupils spoke some French, all listening to and read some French and they all had to concentrate to make sure that they stood up for the correct phrases. What's more, they wanted to do it again and beat their original time...and wanted to make sure I did it with my other class to see who was the quickest!! AND they want to do it again another lesson!

I've done it with 3 different classes so far and it has been successful...it took me an age to think up 20+ phrases that were on topic, but it was worth it and I've got them now for other years!

ps. You can download Tarsia here (go on, it's great!)

Lingo Bingo

I always presume that activities I do to practice vocabulary are old hat and everyone already knows about them. Therefore I often don't tell people about activities I do, or don't expain them.

Lingo Bingo is one such activity. I know that many people do play this game in their classrooms already (because otherwise how would I know about it), however I also know many others have never heard of it before or struggled to understand my garbled tweets trying to fit an explanation in to 140 characters on Twitter the other day. I'm also pretty sure that it could be use in subjects other than Languages.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know how to play it here it is:

1. Give out plain paper - it doesn't have to be plain.


2. Pupils split the paper in half and draw a 6 / 8 / 9 square grid on each piece of paper - I'm thinking of making a ready made grid and sticking it in the back of pupils books or even laminating it, in order to save paper.


3. Number each box (1-6, 1-8, 1-9 depending on number of squares) on each grid but make sure there is still enough space to write in the squares.


4. Now put one of the grids to one side so that you are just working with 1 grid.


5. On the grid you are working with write 6 / 8 / 9 phrases - 1 in each box. I do it in TL but could also be in English, depending on skills you want to practise. This week I worked with connectives other than et and mais and opinions other than A mon avis.


6. Tear / cut up that grid so that you have 6 /8 / 9 little cards with individual phrases / words on them now.

With me so far?

Good ;-)

Now pupils work in pairs 1 partner will say a number (in the TL of course) and the other partner asks "Comment dit-on ....en anglais" (or similar). If they get it right they can place that card onto the corresponding number on their grid. The aim is to get 3 or even more touching squares for a full house. They can then swap and then move round the classroom playing other class memebers ad inifinitum...

The nice thing about this activity is that pupils get to experience a wide range of vocabulary and structures, including ones they wouldn't never have thought of using before. In addition, they can differentiate for one another. Allowing use of books if they feel their partner needs support or removing and hiding books, if they are feeling very mean! They get very competitive and are much stricter than I am! They can even switch and ask for the TL phrases as extension.

Of course at the end of the lesson you're left with lots of little bits of paper so don't forget to remind them to put them into the recycling as they leave...

Nummerwang!

You can tell it's getting near to the end of term, as I'm using more and more videos to keep me going! Yesterday whilst teaching my Y9 afterschool German class numbers I remembered Mitchell and Webb's Nummerwang.

Not that much to do with numbers really but good German and a nice bit of fun for 5 pm on a Friday!

Let's see if it works this time (4th time lucky!)

Maybe the link will work since the video won't embed :(

Nummerwang!

L'histoire du poussin

Last night, as I was looking for inspiration to make the Perfect Tense with être more interesting, Kath Holton pointed me in the direction of L'histoire du poussin. It's a lovely little story about the short life of a little chicken, using the MRS VAN DE TRAMP verbs.

My classes liked it today maybe yours will too...

L'histoire du poussin

As for the QR Code. QR Codes are cool, they're what I do now!

Linoit vs Wallwisher

I am a keen advocate of Wallwisher as it it an excellent tool for pupils to use both inside and outside of the classroom both for collaborative work and showing me what they have learned and enjoyed. However, since September I haev found it to be more and more unreliable, particularly in the early evening when most of my pupils would be doing homework (I hope). I therefore stopped giving Wallwwisher activities as homework for some time.

Feeling that my pupils were missing out on an opportunity to share their work quickly and easily I set about finding an alternative. Someone from my Twitter PLN (I'm afraid I can't remember who now, sorry!) suggested I try Linoit. I did and found it really user friendly too. I have used it a few times recently both with pupils as plenaries/homework and for crowdsourcing ideas for a CPD session I ran on Web tools to use in MFL.

How do the two tools compare? Well, I really like Wallwisher as I can set moderation, which I like to do if setting homework (cough...wasn't working ealier!!)...it means that all of the pupils don't just then copy the first person's piece of work as I can moderate it all once the homework deadline has passed, it also means if anythere inappropriate were to be posted it wouldn't appear at all. Linoit on the other hand doesn't appear to have a moderation feature (unless I'm missing something). Therefore, I'm loath to set it for homework. I love it in class for plenaries etc..., but am not sure whether it would be quite as good for homeowords.  However, I do really like that you can lovely brighly coloured stickies on Linoit and also easily add images. There also seems to be more space

Whichever tool I decided to go for, one thing is for sure...my pupils really like both and love that they can give me feedback...or just say "hi"!!

What do you think?

Have you used either?

Have you used both?

Have you discovered a good way to moderate Linoit?

Let me know...and maybe we can learn together!

 

Go animate 4 schools

 

A few weeks ago I recieved an email from Go Animate about their new education site Go Animate 4 Schools. I signed up for a "Teacher Plus" Account which gives me unlimited access to all Go Animate 4 Schools features and my pupils access to creating 2 minute videos, Text2Voice, Voice Recording and own music uploads all for free! You can get a "School Plus" Account, but as I am as poor as a chrurch mouse I decided to go for the free version.

Last week I got confirmation that my account was now ready to go, so I set up a class with Usernames and Passwords (really quick and easy to do) and took the opportunity to make very short "Love Stories" on Valentine's Day with on of my Year 8 classes.

The results of the lesson can be found here

I was pretty pleased with most of the classes results, specially as most of the class had never used Go Animate before! Obvioulsy in the future I will be looking for much more French!!

Some reflections on Go Animate 4 Schools:

• I like it! I find it much easier having all of those animations in 1 place rather than having to get pupils to email me the embed code. I find this much more convenient.


• The pupils like it! Some were keen to have a go at home (not sure how many will...we'll see after I show them the animations tomorrow and try to enthuse them for half term!)


• There is a text-to-voice feature. I didn't know there was one on Go Animate. Unfortunately only in English as yet :( However...this confused my class a little as some typed their French in there reather than in the speech bubbles so we got a garbled odd kind of language coming though!! This was probably my fault, as , had I realised about the text-2-voice beforehand I would have guided them in the right direction.

Also there are many other features for teachers, a lesson gallery for those who may want some inspiration as to what to do with their classes on Go Animate.

So, all in all, a positive experience! I can't wait to get back doing some more, both with that class and will many more. Thanks, Go Animate 4 Schools!

Controlled Assessment - an interesting idea!

 

When the GCSE Exam for MFL was reviewed and changed, someone in their wisdom decided to invent something wonderful called "Controlled Assessment".

Designed to move away from Coursework, which was open to "interpretation", Controlled Assessment was supposed to give teachers and pupils more control I suppose, and also take away pressure of the final all or nothing exam (particularly the Speaking Exam). In MFL Controlled Assessment accounts for 60% of the final grade; 30% for writing over 2 pieces and 30% for speaking over 2 pieces.

I have to admit, when I first heard about Controlled Assessment, I thought it was a wonderful idea. I had it clear in my head how I would teach the GCSE and how I would make sure my pupils performed well at their CA...then the complications began...

Pupils were allowed a 40 plan or prompt sheet or...call it what you like, really. Good idea thought I, naïvely. Then it started.

Some exam boards allowed pictures, some didn't.

Some discussed conjugated verbs...were they or weren't they allowed for some they were, for some they weren't.

Then there was the moving of the goal posts half way through the course.

Then there was the changing of job half way through the course, thus changing exam boards and a whole new approach to CA, quite different from what I had imagined.

This is all alongside the poor, almost forgotten about, GCSE pupils who are being subjected to Controlled Assessments and Modular exams every other week of their KS4, stressed out permanently and actually not gaining much in terms of linguistic skill...in languages at any rate. We find ourselved teaching to the test more than ever and what's more, wasting valuable lesson time in the preparation of CA tasks, where we are not allowed to have any input so just supervising while the more diligent pupil prepares but several see it as an opportunity to catch up on the latest gossip.

Over the last few weeks I have been engulfed in the delight that is Controlled Assessment with my Year 11 classes and all I seem to have spent the time doing was apologising! Apologising for not being able to help, apologising for the way the exam is structured, apologising that I'm not prepared to bend the rules, apologising for apologising... I even spent one lesson reading the teachers' guidance for CA out to my Y11 so that they knew I wasn't a big bad (Lang)witch who made up the fact she couldn't help and couldn't correct what they were doing now.

I have heard that there is a plan to go back to the final all or nothing exams and that these Controlled Assessments are on their way out as quickly as they arrived. I have also heard some people (not many) praise CA and others saying that a final exam is the best way forward. I'm not sure I'm the best person to make judgements on how Languages should be tested but I do know that anything is better than what we have now...isn't it?

Time to have your say

[caption id="attachment_506" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Image: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net"][/caption]

On Thursday, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, announced the review of the Primary and Secondary National Curriculum in England. The Department for Education, apparently, wants our opinions and evidence about the National Curriculum...so now its our chance to give our views through the Call for Evidence.

Whether they decide to listen to us or not, I think it's still important that we give our views, as teachers, parents, students...infact anyone who has an interested in the education of our future generations, it maybe our only chance!

If you wish to contibute you can do so by following this link. You can do it either online, or download it as a word document and fill in a hard copy instead. I've already started mine and have found I have some pretty strong views, not only about my own subject buy also about every other subject on the curriculum! I just keep typing everywhere I can that I believe MFL should be statutory at Primary Level and that I would like Languages for All at KS4 but not  necessarily GCSE Languages for all! Maybe they'll get the message...eventually...

Linked Up Update

In my last post I talked in particular about the Linked Up project that I had been involved in. There have been a number of projects running around the country dealing with a wealth of strategies, phases and topics.

If you are looking for inspiration, or for something different then look no further than the Linked Up projects that are curently up on the website. There have been so many running up and down the country that I sure many more resources will be uploaded in the coming weeks and months. They can all be viewed here on the Linked Up Award Scheme page of the Links into Languages website.

Linked Up Resources now available online

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have been working on a project funded by the Linked Up scheme developing resources designed to encourage independent thinking amongst KS4 pupils, in particular. The project, lead by Zahida Hammond, ran between networks of teachers in the Northeast and in the Middlesbrough and Stockton Networks we worked on the topic of the environment, in particular using Yannick Noah's Aux Arbres Citoyens as a starting point.

The project has now come to its end and the final results, including resources, learning plans and evaulations (including one by Helen Butterfield!) are also available. These are particularly helpful, if like me, you have an idea that you'd like to do some Thinking Skills activities but don't really know where to start! They can be used as stand alone activities within the topic of the environment, or over a series of lessons. Personally, had I not been doing this for the project I would have mingled the activities in with more "traditional" activities, however the pupils got a lot out of the project and were able to produce some fantastic French...and eventually they will be ready to do their Controlled Assessments on it as well, if we don't have anymore snow disruptions...

The project, together with all resources can be found on the Linked Up pages of the Links into Languages website here. You will have to be logged in with your Links into Languages account to download.

Hello MYLO!

About a year ago I was asked whether I would be interested in becoming a MYLO Ambassador. I was intrigued, having heard about the new My Languages Online website that would be a free online resource for language learners so, naturally I agreed, always keen to use technology with pupils to motivate and engage them.

From Easter through to the summer holidays I trialled the website with my Year 8 top set French class and also a lower ability Spanish class. I have to say that they absolutely loved using it. They really liked the points aspect of the activities both for the sense of achievement of amassing points and also from the competition point of view of scoring points against their fellow classmates and also...against others schools!

I was therefore extremely pleased to hear today that the MYLO site is now finally out of the trial phase and live. You don't need to register to use it, however if you do, you can set up school groups and class groups and they can compete against one another. Maybe just the ticket for those who have go the competitive bug after the Language Olympics!

Visit the site here: http://mylo.dcsf.gov.uk/ to create an account or just have a play around and think about how you could use it!

Think German

As a German specialist I often feel dismayed when I see and hear my first foreign language being sidelined in favour of other languages.

I have therefore been very pleased recently to find out about the Think German website. It's all about raising the profile of German and promoting the learning of German to both adults and children. Even better I am loving the adverts on Real Radio promoting the website stating "Think German, you already speak it!"

In an era where times are hard for us Modern Linguists - particularly we Germanists - it's nice to know that people are promoting languages!

If you haven't aready visited the Think German website, you really should! It's packed full of information about learning German, online German links, quizzes, competitions and ideas for teachers. I've just ordered a the free magazine from UK-German Connection that I'd never come across beforeand hope to be able use it for authentic texts, helping my pupils gain an insight into German youth culture and much, much more! They also have a Facebook page so that you can keep up with what's going on, why not "like" their page and join in.

Go on..."Think German...you already speak it!"

Spicing up your Y7 Scheme of Work

Well hello there! Long time no see ....!!!

I have had a manic half term and may have time to blog about it over the half term break.

Until then I hope this will interest some.

Today I am doing a short presentation about Spicing up Y7 Schemes of Work. There are lots of hyperlinks to other things so will try to upload them all either to here or will find somewhere else to share them.

All of the documents referred to, together with many other resources are now available here on my new Wiki!

Hope you find this useful...

Spicing up your y7 sow

View more presentations from Helena Butterfield.