Language Teacher Toolkit: Steve Smith's blog

On frenchteacher.net I have produced several sets of 50 signs (some based on real ones we photographed wandering around La Rochelle, others made up), in either Microsoft Powerpoint or Word format, which can be used at any time, but in particular in the run-up to exams such as GCSE and IGCSE. They are pitched at a fairly easy level: foundation to overlap standard in GCSE terms. I am posting an example below from my Free Samples page - using Slideshare for the first time! Cor! You could use them as you wish, but one suggestion would be to display each sign for 30 seconds, ask students to write down in English what it means, then review them after. Keep the pressure on students and don't compromise on the time limit or they might get bored! Some teachers have printed off sets of these signs for revision.

I've just been looking at the Cambridge IGCSE French writing paper (2015 specimen paper 4) .*  Have a glance at questions 2 and 3. It is a reminder of the dangers of writing task questions in the target language. Good candidates will understand what they have to write, weaker students will be confused, not recognise tense cues or may just carelessly misinterpret the question. The result in both cases will be that they write irrelevant material which will produce a low mark unrepresentative of their writing skill. Now, in general, if you are going to assess each skill separately (listening, reading, speaking and writing) I tend to favour the use of target language where possible. I know this may not be a majority view! My reasoning is that if you set questions in English, the backwash effect (test dictating teaching) will mean that textbooks and teachers will inevitably overuse English in lessons as they do their best to prepare ther students for the exam. Pedagogy will suffer and...

The Schools Minsister Liz Truss and Sir Michael Wilshaw have been pushing for schools to make greater use of textbooks, Wilshaw even using the phrase "death by a thousand worksheets". I suppose they feel that textbooks are weightier and somehow more serious than worksheets. They assume textbooks are better. My first response to this is that a book is just a collection of resources. If you bind together lots of worksheets you get a book. You might also argue that worksheets are more closely tailored to the needs of a particular class - this was certainly one reason I have produced my own resources over the years. I would also imagine that teachers may be more committed to teaching with their own carefully prepared materials than with imperfect ones produced by a publisher. These days, in the field of modern languages, the quality of textbooks (or more strictly speaking course packages including worksheets, online materials, CDs etc) is variable. At A-level the quality is d...

Anne Swainston and Matthew Thomas-Peter teach French and Spanish at my former school Ripon Grammar School, a selective mixed grammar school. They have been kind enough to write about how the school currently uses the frenchteacher resources: "We use frenchteacher.net across our whole 11-18 age range to complement our Tricolore course at KS3-4 and particularly the OUP/Kerboodle A-level courses.  At KS3 the free powerpoints (both French and Spanish) are great for introducing new vocabulary and there are numerous imaginative, stimulating and varied worksheets which also help develop vocabulary knowledge and reinforce grammar points. At KS4 we like to use the grammar worksheets, comprehension material and, leading up to GCSE exams, we make use of the powerpoint and Word signs for revision. We like the fact that most texts are based on authentic sources and that the material is constantly being updated. The advanced level section has a wealth of activities which complem...

I am grateful to Martin Heeley, a PGCE student at York University for reminding me about how useful checklists can be in improving students' performance on tasks and I shall use an example of his below to demonstrate the point. Example one: for advanced level conversation practice When I used to prepare A-level students for their AQA oral examination which included 10 minutes of conversation on the two cultural topics they had been studying, in the run-up to the exam I would pair off students to practise questions I had provided them with. I would periodically change the pairings to keep up interest and provide a slightly different focus. To improve their range of language I would then write up a checklist of expressions they had to include in their conversations. So, let's say they were preparing for a discussion on the films of François Truffaut, I might write up: Un élément clé de la nouvelle vague... Ce qui est important, c'est le fait que... Il va sans dire que...

In pre-internet days I used to occasionally record programmes from French satellite TV to use in class. The game show The Price is Right had a long run in France with the title Le Juste Prix and, I read on Wikipedia, is still running. If you are too young to remember it, contestants had to guess the price of household consumer goods and could win prizes. Well, the simple language game below would be great for practising numbers and prices in the target language. You could get the class to compete as individuals, pairs, small groups, or, if you wanted to make it more of a spectator sport, you could get students to come up to thr front and be contestants with you as the host. You could use real items brought in (food, drinks, toys, household items etc) and individuals/pairs/teams would have to guess the correct price. Alternatively you could do a nifty powerpoint with items shown as pictures with a reveal slide for the actual price. You could offer alternative prices or just get...

Ever get confused at the fish counter or in the restaurant in France or other French-speaking places? I still do, despite writing this list some time ago. It seemed to have disappeared from my blog, so I am publishing it again. Apologies for any obvious omissions. It is worth noting that soem fish names vary according to region, so it's easy to find unfamiliar names. I have not included seafood in my list. Do comment if there are any obvious ones I may have missed. Fish markets and fish counters in supermarkets are so much more interesting than British ones, aren't they? But I wonder why the French eat so little haddock ("églefin/aiglefin") when it is good and so plentiful? On the other hand whiting is common in France and deserves to be more so in the UK. The French eat a lot more ling/sea burbot ("julienne") than we do, but I do find that a bit short on flavour. They also consume quite a bit of dried salted cod ("morue"). Anglais         ...