Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

With 'A'-Level, GCSE and KS3 curriculum changes looming, MFL teachers are currently facing all the challenges involved with the implementation of new schemes and assessment measures. This post looks at how we are currently dealing with the implementation of the new GCSE so that our learners are ready and raring to go when it rolls round in September 2016.

Directing DIRT

DIRT (Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time) has become a huge feature in my lessons over the past year. I'm sure many of you have these routines embedded into your classroom but this post aims to show just a few ways in which you can ensure that every student gets as much out of this time as possible.

Diversifying Differentiation

Languages aren't an easy subject to study and sometimes it can be difficult to make them accessible for a whole range of different learners in your class. In this post, I hope to show you how you can differentiate effectively for a range of abilities supporting those who need it while pushing those most able.

Perfect Plenaries

I won't lie, plenaries aren't my strong point. I'm frequently caught at the end of the lesson with 3 minutes until the bell with homework to dish out and a plenary still to go. However, I've picked up a few techniques for checking pupil progress quickly and effectively throughout the lesson.

Stimulating Starters

How you start your lesson can often have the biggest impact on pupils engagement and behaviour. Pupils have come from another room, another subject and another teacher. How do you welcome them into your classroom and tell them that you mean business? In this post, I hope to show you some ways in which you can engage learners from the minute they step through the door.

Spicing Up Speaking

Speaking can often be the hardest skill to get pupils involved in and to assess on a regular basis. With many of our teenagers being shy and not overly confident with their speaking and presentation skills in English (never mind in another language!), it can be quite a hard barrier to overcome.

Interactive Objectives

Objectives are something that are instilled into the UK classroom with the firm belief that if pupils know what they are aiming for, it will help them navigate the route there. However, objective sharing can become a stale, necessary evil rather than an integral introduction to the lesson. In this post, I hope to show you how you can make objectives a little bit more interesting for yourself and your pupils.

WAGOLL

With Easter assessments looming, I have been providing a lot of model texts for my pupils to work with. While these act as an aspirational target for pupils, they also provide  pupils with a working text that they can adapt and use for themselves.