frenchteacher updates

It's been reasonably busy at Frenchteacher Towers recently, though not quite as frenzied as at the start of the academic year.

Recent additions to the site include the following (in no particular order - can you tell I watch Strictly?).

A gap fill based on a simple little song sung by Laurent Voulzy. It's called Derniers Baisers and is an alternative version of Sealed with a Kiss. Nice little tune and captures teenage holidays rather well. This would be a good 20 minute filler activity for a lower sixth class (low advanced for non England-Wales readers)
A film review of Gravity which I am quite excited about seeing soon. I have heavily adapted an online review, added vocabulary, true/false/not mentioned, oral activities and a grammar task. Again, this would suit a Y12 group.
An article and exercises on homelessness in France. This is the story of a homeless woman. I wonder if stories of real people are more motivating for students than discursive articles.
A homework task on the imperfect tense which would work with low intermediates (Y9-10). This is one where pupils need to interview a grandparent or parent about life when they were young. The write-up could be a summary, news feature or dialogue. I have used this in the past to good effect.
A story and worksheet based on Les Trois Petits Cochons. This is actually a rewrite of an existing worksheet, made a bit more accessible.
A crossword for Y8-9 on the near future.

There is now a good set of listening tasks, especially for intermediate and advanced level. If you use these do check the online videos are still there.

P.S. I hope Natalie wins.

Comments

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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