Language Teacher Toolkit: Steve Smith's blog

I see that the old Teacher's TV videos are now available at a new site hosted by the team behind Teacher's TV! They say: "Teachers Media is the new professional development service for everyone working in UK education, brought to you by the team behind Teachers TV. This site contains a free library of over 3500 high-quality videos to help you and your team develop your professional skills, and support teaching and learning in your school and classroom. Whether you're looking for great lesson ideas, how to take teaching from good to outstanding, or help with behaviour management, we have something for you." http://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/ It did occur to me that there just might be something positive in the slash and burn approach of the government. Many of the best intiatives which have helped teachers have come from teachers themselves or private organisations. In the MFL field I think of languagesonline.org.uk, mflresources, TES Connect, for example....

Interesting story from Oxfordshire which is upsetting modern language teachers. "An Oxfordshire head teacher has said she should not be forced to teach foreign languages to her pupils. Dr Fiona Hammans from Banbury School said a 12-year-old with a reading age of six did not benefit from learning French or German. She said: "They are so left behind and my real concern is that we don't leave them even further behind."" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-13502909   I'm slightly reluctant to pass judgement on this story without knowing the precise circumstances and context. I do know that the school is a comprehensive with a wide range of abilitites, home languages and social backgrounds.   It is no doubt worth mentioning that MFL teaching contributes to a child's literacy development. I would also ask why the children should drop language learning rather than, say, a humanity, R.E. or technology. Could one argue that these childre...

Dans sa rubrique cuisine ce matin dans le Guardian Magazine Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef célèbre,  prétend qu'il est plus moral de manger certains types de veau que de n'en pas manger du tout. Les Anglais sont relativement frileux à cet égard, considérant l'élevage du veau comme inhumain. Selon le Meat and Livestock Commission en 2006 1% seulement des Britanniques consommaient du veau. Vu qu'on abat 250 000 veaux à la naissance puisque il's ne servent à rien dans la production laitière, vaut-il mieux les élever d'une manière humaine pour les consommer? Hugh F-W ne fait que nous rappeler ce qu'il avait dit en 2006, avec Janet Street-Porter, dans un article de l'Independent. Il a également fait campagne sur la question dans sa série télévisée. En Angleterre il existe des producteurs de "veau rosée" ( rosé veal or rose veal ) qui élèvent du veau humainement, même en leur donnant dans certains cas un peu de place à l'extérieur pour er...

Thanks to Dom of Dom's MFL page for posting this. In my ignorance I had not come across it before. It is a good starting point for teachers. Dom goes on to talk about how he tries to incorporate these needs into his teaching by making sure the classroom is comfortable, safe, supportive and so on. This all makes sense and is implicit in the practice of successful teachers. It might not solve the needs of the novice or experienced teacher who is trying to master "crowd control" (who said "teaching is 90% crowd control"?) and it may not be a panacea model (what is?), but it's a good starting point in establishing a supportive and productive learning environment. If you can get that right you can then refine your practice with all the technical requirements such as use of target language, effective questioning, stimulating resources and the like. Dom points out that to achieve the higher levels in the hierarchy the conditions of the lower levels must be achie...

From Telegraph blogger Benedict Brogan: "...it’s worth noting why the images of DSK in cuffs are causing such consternation in France. First, there’s the obvious enormity of seeing the main rival to Nicolas Sarkozy brought low in spectacular style. Second, there’s the cultural shock of seeing a wealthy member of the ruling elite, who was thought to enjoy what the French media often refer to as impunity, put in a position that would be unthinkable in France. The impact on how France thinks about its leaders will be long-lasting. Third, there’s a very specific legal reason to explain why commentators such as Agnès Poirier on Newsnight described the image as ‘violent’. Since 2000 it has in fact been illegal to show suspects in detention when they have yet to be charged let alone convicted. The loi Guigou sur la présomption d’innocence was in part designed to protect the dignity of the accused. As Richard Malka a French expert in media law explained, the media’s right to information...