frenchteacher updates

I've been on a bit of a roll of late, so there have been plenty of new additions to the site. My main focus has still been listening, so to the A-level page I have added a useful (and mildly amusing) video interview with a coaching expert (un coach professionnel) who talks about creating a good impression at your job interview. There is also a video on national stereotypes to which I have added some oral discussion points. This topic is always quite fruitful! There is an interview with a forensic pathologist which advanced studenst might find interesting. That one is quite technical, but a very good standard for upper sixth classes (advanced). Lastly, I have done a sheet based on a nice scene from the film Etre et avoir.

Always check that links to the videos work before you use them in class! Let me know if any don't.

In the Y10-11 (intermediate) section I have today added an easy listening task based on a Youtube video (from loeschervideo). This is a teenage magazine report on roller blading in Paris. There are a few of these loescher videos on Youtube, including one on school which I have put in the Y8 section of the site. They are professionally produced with very clear, graded French.

As well as listening, I have added a grammar drill sheet for oral and written work on the conditional perfect tense. For near beginners I have done a cross on ma maison, whilst for intermediate level i haev done a reading comprehension based on a remarkable story of a First World War British POW who is allowed home to visit his dying mother.

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What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought. ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a language).

The 2026 GCSE subject content is published!

Two DfE documents were published today. The first was the response to the consultation about the proposed new GCSE (originally due in October 2021) and the second is the subject content document which, ultimately, is of most interest to MFL teachers in England. Here is the link to the document. We are talking about an exam to be done from 2026 (current Y7s). There is always a tendency for sceptical teachers to think that consultations are a bit of a sham and that the DfE will just go ahead and do what they want when it comes to exam reform. In this case, the responses to the original proposals were mixed, and most certainly hostile as far as exam boards and professional associations representing the MFL community, universities, head teachers and awarding bodies are concerned. What has emerged does reveal some significant changes which take account of a number of criticisms levelled at the proposals. As I read it, the most important changes relate to vocabulary and the issue of topics

La retraite à 60 ans

Suite à mon post récent sur les acquis sociaux..... L'âge légal de la retraite est une chose. Je voudrais bien savoir à quel âge les gens prennent leur retraite en pratique - l'âge réel de la retraite, si vous voulez. J'ai entendu prétendre qu'il y a peu de différence à cet égard entre la France et le Royaume-Uni. Manifestation à Marseille en 2008 pour le maintien de la retraite à 60 ans © AFP/Michel Gangne Six Français sur dix sont d’accord avec le PS qui défend la retraite à 60 ans (BVA) Cécile Quéguiner Plus de la moitié des Français jugent que le gouvernement a " tort de vouloir aller vite dans la réforme " et estiment que le PS a " raison de défendre l’âge légal de départ en retraite à 60 ans ". Résultat d’un sondage BVA/Absoluce pour Les Échos et France Info , paru ce matin. Une majorité de Français (58%) estiment que la position du Parti socialiste , qui défend le maintien de l’âge légal de départ à la retraite à 60 ans,

Language Teacher Toolkit: Steve Smith's blog

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