Effective strategies for developing oracy in the classroom with @speakwithsimon1 @researchEDChesh -inspirational and practical. Also many applications to MFL teaching - the only subject where students are examined while speaking and the marks count for their exam!
#MFLTwitterati The Speechki plugin in ChatGPT plus is really amazing for language teachers! Try this prompt "Can you create individual text to speech file for each of these phrases, use Tatiana Huber" and paste a list of
The average lifespan of a teacher in an English state school is approximately 13 years.
🙌🏼 Hands up if you've passed this threshold and are still going?
What one thing should the DfE do to keep those who leave early, for longer?!
Sadio Mane, a Senegalese soccer star, earns approximately $10.2 million annually. He gave the world a rude awakening after some fans were flabbergasted when they saw him carrying a cracked iPhone 11.
His response was awesome:
"Why would I want ten Ferraris, 20 diamond watches, and two jet planes? I starved, I worked in the fields, played barefoot, and I didn't go to school.
Now I can help people. I prefer to build schools and give poor people food or clothing. I have built schools and a stadium, provide clothes, shoes, and food for people in extreme poverty.
In addition, I give 70 euros per month to all people from a very poor Senegalese region in order to contribute to their family economy.
I do not need to display luxury cars, luxury homes, trips, and even planes. I prefer that my people receive some of what life has given me."
Languages are about communication & interaction, not perfection. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. You'll still be understood & appreciated & you'll learn from them. Whether it's your speaking exam or a chance encounter in Paris, Berlin or Barcelona, you'll be glad you tried.
If your school offers a language, seize the opportunity. It's your ticket to a wider & more diverse world. It's an upgrade to whatever you're interested in. It unlocks other people, languages, music, food & cultures. It's the adventure that will take you in many new directions.
German is an official language of 6 European countries, a sister of English, Dutch & Swedish, the most widely spoken native language in the EU, a language of science, engineering & technology, a common language in eastern Europe. If you have the chance to learn German, grab it.
A point I often make in my workshops from a 2020 interview with Professor Robert DeKeyser, one of the biggest proponents of grammar teaching following the PPP approach in Applied Linguistics Circles.
A degree of gamification in the MFL classroom is a must with teenagers. However, each activity should serve a clear pedagogical rationale and ought to be as inclusive. The time spent on a game should be justified by its learning outcomes. #EPI#mfltwitterati. 1/2
Teachers are working before & after school, into the evenings, at weekends & during holidays.
It's not fair & it's not sustainable.
We are campaigning for a contractual, enforceable limit on teachers’ working hours.
#nasuwt23
https://t.co/Vd24aMJhdE
The more children interact with textbooks, exercise-books, worksheets & machines, the more we pull them away from our key aim: human interaction in the L2.
Make it your main goal, for them to interact with you & peers in the L2 at least 50% of the time as we do in #EPI
I like this, by Gareth Rogers. Especially the bits about 'Forced fun"/mandatory wellbeing activities, Minimised written marking (especially true about MFL) and the Protected Planning, Prep & Assessment time (so IMPORTANT!).
For those who don't fully understand what is up with the NHS, here is a thread for you that might help.
I'm a consultant physician working as a doctor in the NHS in Yorkshire and Wales for 32 years now. I have experienced the NHS at its best (2008) and its worst (2022).
@mrlockyer I’ve made a video about it for languages teachers, but might be useful for other subjects as well (especially the part about teacher uses outside the lesson) https://t.co/VNXKdTUYWa
"Post-16 results - let’s forget the scaremongering and celebrate the achievements of students and staff": superb blog by @ASCL_UK's curriculum specialist @Tom_Middlehurst: https://t.co/GCT8li3v0P
The night before any results day is always nerve-wracking – for students, their teachers, and for parents. Here are my 5 reflections tonight ahead of tomorrow’s post-16 results: 1/2
New research of mine now published open access 🔓 in Critical Inquiry in Language Studies: 'Word rich or word poor? Deficit discourses, raciolinguistic ideologies and the resurgence of the ‘word gap’ in England’s education policy'. A short thread below 👇https://t.co/fW8ytYRWTF
Here's 3 misconceptions I think exist about *memory* 🧵
We might have them or our students might have them.
I give it a go at explaining what they are, how they manifest, what we could replace them with and why.
See what you think 👇