Eurovision - IRS Style

Yesterday I had the dubious priviledge of being involved in the organisation of my first ever whole year group event.

I chose Year 8 as the unwilling victims of this activity and we labelled it "EUROVISION". Now if truth be told it didn't really end up anything like the real Eurovision, it was more of a day that involved Year 8 finding out "stuff" about Europe and the EU. They did Internet Research, Geography, Art, Music and Languages in a kind of carousel. As far as I can tell, initial responses from Year 8 were very favourable.

In Art, they set to work designing new flags for EU Nations and even for the EU itself (well the stars are a bit boring...) and I've seen some wonderful designs that really the capture the nature of Europe, bringing in flavours of many member countries.

Music involved comparing various European National Anthems and, in particular listening to two very different versions of Ode an die Freiheit, the traditional version and this one:

They were then charged with the task of creating their own EU Anthems on the keyboards. All of which was really enjoyed by many Year 8s.

Geography saw them learning the names of key European countries and doing some Independent Learning in groups, researching physical and economic geography of chosen countries. Pupils found it fascinating to learn that the UK is so small in comparison to many other countries. I think some were quite surprised at just how big some countries are.

For Languages they had two possible activities, one involving learning about the origins of European Languages, which went down really well with the pupils and the other involving Spanish and designers. Both activities were really well received by the Year 8s.

The ICT Research project was rather chaotic, being the first activity of the day and involving lots of shared computers. Oh, and of course the old "blocked" problems (which was curious, as I'd checked them on Friday!).

I made a little plenary activity at the end. The pupils had to watch the video below and list which countries they recognised as being represented. There are 14...go on, see how many you get!


www: pupils seemed to like it and most staff seemed positive by the end of the day.

ebi: better organisation of the first ICT activity and don't put them all in to do that at once, don't get so stressed, check websites again and again and again.

Will it happen again? I hope so! (I believe so, with the introduction of project weeks next year!)

Race for Life - Ormesby Hall 2009

For the third time in a row, I headed to Ormesby Hall on Saturday morning to take part in Cancer Research UK's Race for Life. This year was a little bit different, as I had my favourite 7 year old taking part with me. Alice was desperate to take part this year, since one of her friend's had done it last year and she likes to do the same thing as her friends (of course).
We made no pretence of trying to run this year and duly lined up with the "Walkers" to cross the start line about 10 mins after the first runners. It was most disconcerting to, having only just completed the first kilometre, see the winner heading for the finish line. Alice couldn't believe it!!!
We finished the race in a record 56 mins and have been challenged to run it in 35 mins next year by Mr. Langwitch - he said he'd sponsor us £100 if we did.
I don't think you can tell by the picture, but on our backs we wrote "I race for life for Pauline's mum". Pauline is my closest friend and her mum is currently in the final stages of ovarian cancer, so we felt it was very important to race for her.
All in all it was a good morning, we didn't get too wet and my hand didn't quite fall off after being held onto very tightly for 5 km by a 7 yr old girl :o)

ps. You can still sponsor us online here

TeachMeetNE - eTwinning in Practice

On Thursday evening, I went up to Newcastle to the Tyneside Cinema to attent the first ever TeachMeetNE.

This was a whole new experience for me, as I'd never attended a TeachMeet before and also I decided I'd take the plunge and do a presentation. I spoke about eTwinning in Practice and promised that I'd put the presentation on here, together with useful links.

As this was an event for teachers from all curriculum areas, I decided to focus on how eTwinning could be incorporated into all subject areas, not just MFL. There are countries from all over Europe desperate to work with schools in the UK in English and in particular, many Primary Schools want to work with Primaries here. I looked at projects involving History, Citizenship, Maths and Geography. It's also good to know where eTwinning can lead. It is an ideal way of finding Comenius Partners and getting to know them before applying for funding projects and also eTwinning Projects can contribute to the International School Award - a subject on many schools' agendas at the moment.

Well the presentation is below...I decided to create a Wordle all about what eTwinning means to me and there is also the slide show that I used. Anyone who wants to know more is welcome to contact me via this blog. I have also written in other posts about my school's projects and a presentation about that can be found here. In addition, I have a page on there dedicated to setting up eTwinning Projects here. You can also see two of the projects that I've work on in the past online. Je blogue, tu blogues...let's bog was a project with a French school last year ( I let you guess what it was about!) and How Green is your World is a Wiki-based project that I and my Tutor Group have worked on this year in Citizenship lessons.

To register for eTwinning go to eTwinning.net it might also be useful to read the eTwinning UK Blog which always has lots of information about what's going on in eTwinning around the UK and beyond. You can also find out about local eTwinning Ambassadors on the British Council eTwinning Ambassadors page

eTwinning In Practice Uptodate

View more OpenOffice presentations from Langwitch.

It was also really great to see other presentations from people I'd met virtually and people I'd never met. To find out about all of the other fab presentations you can watch the Flashmeeting and visit Chris Harte's blog where he has given details about other presenters such as Darren Mead, Ian Hardy, Fergus Hegarty,  Régine Schneider, Steve Bunce, Holli & Mike (from Tyneside Cinema Education), Mark Clarkson and Dominic McGladdery

On a personal level, it was really nice to finally put some faces to names such as Mark Clarkson (@mwclarkson), Dominic McGladdery (@dominic_mcg) , Doug Belshaw (@dougbelshaw) and of course Chris Harte (@charte). All of whom have blogged about the even as well.

Can't wait for the next one...

Cologne again

Wow, I can't believe it's a year since I wrote my last entry about our Cologne visit! Where has the time gone?

Anyway, last Thursday evening came around and I once again found myself waiting at school for a coach to arrive with 39 Year 7s and another 3 staff. Things hadn't really changed, we were more or less the same "team" as last year, except we had out fab GTP accompanying us this time, so we all know what to expect! I was rather apprehensive about the trip, as this time we decided to book everything ourselves, rather than go through a specialist travel company (thus saving ourselves hundreds of pounds!), but of course, me being me, I worried that something would go wrong with my booking system.

All was well until we arrived at Folkstone at about 3.00am for our Shuttle...to discover that our booking was for the ferry! So we trundled off to Dover...to discover that no-one from the coach company had confirmed the booking so it had been cancelled!! ("Miss" started to worry-no surprises there then!). No problem though, we finally made it onto the Pride of Dover just as the sun was rising over the Eastern Docks, and beautiful it was too! I did worry a little that this wasn't on  the risk assessment, however at times, one just has to do what's best for the kids and that was one of those times!

Finally, after 18 hrs, we made it Cologne and headed to the Cathedral. Now, I'm very lucky, in that my balance problems caused by me deafness in one ear, do not allow me to climb the cathedral tower (shame), so  had to have a coffee instead! 11 Euros for TWO coffees I nearly fell over!!!!!!

The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. Boat trip on the Rhine, visit to the (very warm) Chocolate Museum (don't they have air conditioning) and even a stop in the Pandora Shop to by a commemorative bead - unfortunately they didn't have one of the cathedral :o(

It was a great trip made even better by the wonderful staff who, again, agreed to gave up their weekend to come with me and make the trip possible. It just wouldn't be the same trip without them. It's so great when you go on a trip and are able to get on so well with the other people there and enjoy the experience for yourself as well as for the children. Thank you one and all (specially Claire who ran the Race for Life in Darlington on Sunday after no sleep...oh no, she was the one who did sleep!)

TeachMeetNE

I was very please to learn that there is to be a TeachMeet Northeast later on this month. I've read about TeachMeets before, noteably the Midlands TeachMeet which took place recently and hoped that there would be one more locally that I could attend.

As far as I can tell they are informal get togethers of like-minded teachers from all curriculum areas. There will be 7 minute presentations, 2 minute nano presentations and learning conversations. In addition, "enthusiastic lurkers" are also welcome (of course).

The action will happen on Thursday 18th June from 7.00 pm - 9.30 pm in the Tyneside Bar at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. If you want to attend you need to sign up on the TeachMeetNE Wiki. I have decided to take the plunge and give a nano presentation on "eTwinning in Practice". No idea what I'll talk about or how I'll get everything in in 2 minutes. I'd also like to add that I'm terrified but we all need to start somewhere!!!

I am, however, really looking forward to meeting many fellow Twitterers in real life!

Eurovision

Saturday night was one of my favourite nights of the year-The Eurovision Song Contest. I've always loved it ever since I was very young, I think even back then I was fascinated to listen to all of the different langauages.

Over the years it has gone in and out of fashion, leaving me feeling sometimes "dead cool" and other times "a bit odd" (no surprises there then!). All of a sudden it seems to be back "in", I don't know whether this is because of Lord Lloyd Webber himself wrote this year's ditty for the UK, whether it is the change of host - although I did find some of Graham Norton's comments quite similar to the whit of Terry Wogan in previous years!. Whatever the reasons, I sat down last night, with several fellow Twitterers (virtually, of course) feeling not quite so "odd" as in other years, looking forward to a night of cultural diversity and linguistic delight.

The event itself offered up its usual oddities with Gladiators in the Ukrainian set and opera singers from Sweden and, as ever I was able to learn some new languages. I was, however very disappointed in several entries who sang in English. How can we ever encourage our pupils that it's important to be able to speak different languages if all they see is speakers of foreign languages singing in and speaking in English? It just adds to the arrogant English attitude of  "everyone speaks English, so why should I learn a new language". Even at an event which celebrates cultural diversity! Why can't they celebrate linguistic diversity too?

That said, the competition was won by an English Language song...however, I didn't like the entry for the song, it has to be said.

I don't seem to be able to embed the video so you'll have to follow the link below to see why I like the song!

Alexander Rybak

 

(I also annoy me husband by getting cross with the news for dubbing over foreigners speaking their own languages, instead of giving subtitles!)

Snail Mail

Sometimes it doesn't have to be all about the technology...

There's a lot to be said for hearing the post plop through the letter box at 2pm and finding you've got a lovely letter to open...and then opening it to find some beautiful letter that has been thoughtfully and carefully crafted just for you.

Well, this is how I and my top set Yr 7 French class feel when we receive our letters. We've set up an exchange of class letters with our partner school in France. It's such a simple idea and hundreds of people have done it before but this is the first year I've ever set up a letter exchange as a class. It's easy, we just do our extended writing tasks at the end of units as proper, real letters for proper, real people and then we get replies. The great thing is that doing it in class time means no-one's penfriend trails of and is never heard of again and everybody sends something and receives something. The excitement that goes round the room when I arrive with a package fresh from France is amazing! And the pupils acutally WANT to write in French and make it right etc, etc... Which is what it's all about at the end of the day, isn't it? Using languages for real communication.

Now I know that there are some who might say "can't this be done via email? It's quicker" etc...but, personally I have to admit that nothing beats a real letter in real handwriting with lovely drawings and pictures etc..., yes , I'm sure that, in time we will graduate to some emails and even the odd video-conference but for now we are still enjoying our lovely old-fashioned letters and keeping them safe to look at in years to come and remember our French penfriends by!