Thanks Joe

I knew I would leave something out of my last post…  Many thanks to Joe Dale for coming all the way from the Isle of Wight on Monday.  His input was really valuable and I think I must now call him the unofficial official photographer!  Thanks for your great pics, Joe.  I would highly recommend his Lead Practitioner event which will be taking place at Nodehill Middle School on the Isle in October 2008.

I’m back!

Finally i’ve got the time to get blogging about this crazy week!  I thought that Monday would be challenging enough, hoping my conference would be a success, however the news that Ofsted were to pay a visit on Weds and Thurs came during the coffee break and was obviously in the back of my mind!  Anyway, I don’t think it affected things too much and overall I was really pleased with the day. When I arrived in Farnborough in September I really wanted to create the same kind of support network that I enjoyed in Southend.  These days it’s so important for MFL teachers to stick together and ensure the curriculum is as effective and compelling as possible.  As the Robert Mays blog points out, workers with good Languages skills are massively in demand, and since numbers taking languages have plummeted, these workers are an endangered species !  It is absolutely our duty to develop our mini-linguists’ skills in a way that takes into account their individual learning styles and need for guidance, confidence and re-assurance.  I was so interested to read the QCA Pupils’ Views On Language Learning document as it says that pupils want to know more about the country and culture, and that above all they need the opportunities in class to develop their speaking skills.  The work of the Strategic Learning Networks is key to investigating and evaluating ways to improve quality of learning, and above all in providing opportunities for personalising CPD for individual schools and even individual teachers. So more than anything else I wanted to mesh together the work of the SLNS with the new secondary curriculum…My first session outlined the new secondary curriculum and “The Big Picture“.  In groups, the delegates discussed what language learners are good at and what they need more practice in, and then they talked about how Languages could contribute to the Whole Curriculum Dimensions.  I was so impressed with the ideas I could hear going round!  It really made me proud to be working in this part of Hampshire, as there is clearly a great deal of enthusiasm and innovation here.  The job for Subject Leaders is now to have the confidence and gusto to run with their ideas and turn them into reality…  I will post the collated ideas here as soon as I have recovered from the inspection and have time to type them up!  After the KS3 Dissemination and Development Programme update I was really happy to sit back and listen to some ideas from the SLNs.  I love Cherry’s Bundesliga idea and Sue’s “rewarding” plans for KS3 motivation and i’d like to thank everybody for their contributions.  It was really pleasing to hear there is such an emphasis on pupil use of the target language in the area.  Next I decided to inflict my (rather scratchy on the day!) voice on everyone with a session on Phonics, rhythm and song.  Many thanks to Lisa Stevens for such a brilliant blog post on this! The feedback was really positive and i’m just sorry I can’t share the music with everyone because of copyright…The afternoon was also a great success.  I was lucky enough to be joined by Lisa Stevens who came all the way from Sutton Coldfield to do a fun and interactive PMFL session, Louise Wornell from Ringwood, Southampton who presented a highly inspirational session on CLIL and Alex Blagona who risked life and limb on the M25 coming down from Ipswich to present fantastic session on blogging and Wikis.  Today I received an email from Sue Marsh at Robert Mays who has already created a fab looking blog.  Think I need some training from Alex myself now!!So as I enjoy this evening “off” i’m on my laptop (beautiful as it is) and looking forward to the next outing to Peter Spain’s ALL event at Bradley Stoke Community School on Saturday, where I will once again be inflicting my voice (ravaged by cold this time!) on the lovely people of Bristol.  I’m off for some well-deserved tea and chocolate now.  See you soon x

Development Day in North East Hampshire

I am currently finalising the arrangements for the development day i’m organising to be held at Fernhill School and Language College, Farnborough on 25th February 2008.  The theme of the event is “Creating a Compelling Curriculum” and i’m aiming to show how great SLN practice can contribute to the new Secondary Curriculum.  I’ve certainly learnt alot from working for ALL at the Regional briefing events, so if you missed your event or need more clarification and inspiration then it would be great to see you!  Click here for the poster and booking info – all colleagues are welcome.