ALL London January Event
Saturday, 16 January 09:30 -13:30
A Report written by Rodney Mantle, ALL London Minutes
Secretary
The Kamran DJAM Lecture Theatre and room G51 at the Russell Square Campus of
the School of African and Oriental Studies proved to be excellent venues.
Registration was rapid; then tea/coffee, biscuits, a linguascope plastic bag
full of goodies and the Branch committee were there to welcome everyone, well
over 100 people - hardly an empty seat!
Branch Chair Helen Myers soon got us all attentive and enthusiastic with her
welcoming talk, thanking Renate Albuquerque
from SOAS for the venue. Renate talked about Routes into Languages, which
promotes language study among young people by training "Ambassadors"
and running projects helping prepare Year 11 students for MFL studies in Year 12
and Year 13 students for university. Vice-Chairman Nick Mair mentioned an MFL
event organised the Sir Robert Taylor
Society in Oxford , inexpensive and pleasant for serving teachers.
Apart from giving an overview of the Branch's activities, summarised in the
Annual Report and the Diaries, Helen Myers thanked Eva Lamb from the Sheffield
Branch for event ideas.
While Daničle Reed helped reduce the space problems by leading some people
off to room G51 for ''Primary matters" by Nadine Chadier & Sylvia
Bartlett-Rawlings, many remained for 'ALL about the new GCSE' by Dr Rachel
Hawkes, Languages Advisor for TES Resources, Comberton Academy Trust. [A
separate report on these sessions will follow]
The new Speaking test
"Glass half full and grasping the nettle,
New GCSE here we come, in fine fettle!
Keeping or tweaking, adapting or seeking
inspiration, in this session you'll find heaven---
ly ideas and resources for seven to eleven."
was Rachel's motto, and we were not disappointed. Admitting that she had
expected the consultation process to have got farther when she accepted the
invitation, she gave an unvarnished account of finished - and unfinished -
business. As only one Board (AQA) had reached draft 2, more change was to be
expected. The biggest shift in emphasis was on spontaneity in speaking -why did
that take so long? Spontaneity would mean the end of memorised speech and a
shift away from stress on grammatical accuracy to communication.
The new Oral test would consist of:
RP (Rôle Play)
TS (Text Stimulus)
PD (Picture Description)
Conversation.
There would no longer be prescribed lists of questions, and candidates would
need to give "extended answers" (in practice, app. 40 seconds, with
3/4/5 sentences). This would mean a shift in class practice, with students
trained to increase the length of their answers as they progressed from Year 7
to Year 11. This was in some ways similar to the 2008 version. It would involve
students asking questions and receiving less teacher support, as well as trying
to ensure by planned revision that students did not forget much of what they has
previously learned.
Teachers as vigilantes
Rachel cited an example (now withdrawn by OCR) of an inappropriate suggested
question: "Is it important to celebrate historical events nationally?"
and urged all MFL teachers to monitor the boards' proposals online and object
rapidly to anything unlikely to work.
How to do it
There followed a dazzling array of ideas for how to prepare learners for these
challenges, including a video of a question practice session. Department
meetings would need to devote time to the progression.
Although Rachel made self-deprecating comments about her knowledge of French,
her examples in French, German and Spanish were equally useful. For access to
her ideas and materials: http://www.rachelhawkes.com.
The heady intensity of Rachel's presentation justified the rush at the start
of the "Comfort break" to enjoy more coffee/tea and biscuits, use the
chance to 'network' and visit the two exhibition rooms. There were stands - all
busy - from Canela Fina, Goethe-Institut, Maison Claire Fontaine,
Languagenut.com, MLG Publishing, Sanako, Studio, thisislanguage.com and Vocab
Express.
How the crowd was persuaded to leave all this temptation is a mystery, but
one group was soon getting the benefit of Nadine Chadier, Sylvia
Bartlett-Rawlings and Nick Mair talking about 'Practical ideas for Primary and
KS3', while the other group was absorbed by 'Getting ready for A Level 2016?'
from Karine Harrington (karineharrington@hotmail.co.uk), a practising teacher,
an SLE for her Teaching Alliance and a consultant. The session covered the main
changes in the new 2016 A Level Curriculum, with a focus on studying film and
literature.
What are the problems?
One of the biggest challenges here will be the discrepancy between the oral
techniques still being taught and learned for the current GCSE and what is
required in the new AS and A Levels, as well as the absence of translation from
the current GCSE. These discrepancies will continue until 2018, when the new
GCSEs start.
The most important changes will include the disappearance of A2: AS is to be a
free-standing qualification, but co-teaching will be possible, and AS will be
the same as the first year of A. Nonetheless, the summer term would be a
problem.
The need for topics/themes to be rooted in the target countries could be a
serious deterrence for lower-ability candidates, was a concern voiced in
discussion, as well as the requirement that the essay should be in the target
language. While AS candidates could choose between a film or an item of
literature, in A level, candidates would have to cover one of each. A Level
candidates would also have to master research techniques and marshalling of
sources.
What are the solutions?
One answer will be familiar to most: "Little and Often." Karine gave
examples of using laminated texts for translation exercises and use of the
online FREE resource "Padlet" (https://padlet.com) for e.g. weekly
press reviews in class; and of viewing film to analyse action/technique and work
out reasons for the director's choice (pair work). She advocated getting
students to look at the "Bigger Picture," asking themselves what they
know about a topic.
All Karine's examples were for French and non-Board-specific.
Mostly younger participants then headed off to
Job Application Clinic for Students. 'What are schools looking for?' with
Vice Chair Nick Mair, Director of Languages, Dulwich College, ISMLA.
A small band of Branch stalwarts stayed for the Branch AGM.
The whole event was a splendid example of teamwork.
