MFL proposals survey, #SpanishLanguageDay, top 150-word errors, Mr Men adjectives, faster marking tips, how to use Sentencify and more.
Happy Friday!
The weekend is nearly upon us! Here's what I've stuffed into the MFL Weekly for you today:
MFL proposals survey
Top 150-word errors
Mr Men adjectives
Using Sentencify
Faster marking tips
Empathising with students
Keep the noise down please
Switch the kettle on, make a cup of coffee and enjoy! Happy reading!
PS. If a friend forwarded this email to you, you can sign up to the weekly email yourself here.
🌍 NEWS
MFL proposals survey
A University of Oxford research and education programme (focusing on MFL) is responding to the government's recently published MFL proposals.
The team urgently requires the views of MFL teachers to inform their response.
They have shared an anonymous survey to gauge MFL teachers' thoughts on the new proposals, all of which are helpfully summarised throughout.
They need as many responses as possible by Monday, so please share with your colleagues far and wide to make sure your voice is heard
🎬 FEATURES
Today, people all over the world are celebrating Spanish Language Day!
It's the day when people celebrate the world's second-most spoken language, and when people honour one of the most famous Spanish-language writers: Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra.
But have your students ever wondered where Spanish actually comes from? This fun video (in Spanish but with English subtitles) will explain all!
And here are some resources that you could use for even more cultural capital:
GlobalSpain has shared some great educational posters about the Spanish language
ThaisLopezMFL has shared a fab Wakelet of multimedia resources to celebrate the day
Lilma70 has shared a topical "homework choice" PowerPoint slide to engage students
SonrieinSpanish has shared a huge PowerPoint with lots of varied Spanish activities
📂 DOWNLOADS Top 150-word errors
The wonderful Helen Myers has collated the most common errors that students make on their 150-word GCSE essays.
In a blog post with her findings, she links to three excellent resources:
A four-page handout of the most common errors (to go in students' files)
A PowerPoint of the most common errors (to adapt and show as part of whole-class feedback)
A selection of drag-and-drop gap-fill tasks on Textivate to revise each point (to do in class, or to set for homework)
💡 CREATIVITY Mr Men adjectives
We all teach personal characteristics at some point!
Why not use the familiar Mr Men and Little Miss characters to create some sentence builders with images built in?
The template above is editable for all languages and genders!
In addition, why not get some of your creative students to make Mr Men and Little Miss posters to add extra colour to your classroom displays?
🖥 TOOLS Using Sentencify
Keen to dip your toe into the world of MFL sentence builders? Sentencify has your back.
Simply import a sentence builder into the site (or use one of the 100s shared online to get started) and the site will generate as many example sentences as you need.
With the example sentences it gives you, you can instantly create activities and share them with your students online, or screengrab them and print them out for class.
To help you get started, Jérôme Nogues shared the above tutorial on his awesome new YouTube channel. Give Sentencify a go, and save yourself hours!
💡 THINKING Faster marking tips
Marking 30 pieces of written work can take an age.
So it's imperative that all feedback provided is as valuable as possible.
Thankfully, Elena Díaz has an approach that is so efficient and relaxed it could even make you smile.
It focuses on Elena's "20 Keys" – 20 pieces of language (comparatives, intensifiers etc.) which students know will be marked in green in any piece of their written work.
You can download Elena's marking and feedback template here, then watch a video of Elena using the template to mark a piece of student writing here. Reclaim your weekend!
💪 MOTIVATION Empathising with students
The post below really resonated with me.
That's because, whenever I start a new topic, I always confess whether I found it difficult at the students' age.
For me, this is always the case when I teach the perfect tense in French, the case system in German, or even accents in Spanish (and... well... the genders of nouns in all languages).
I don't know whether it helps them. I just like to make sure my students know that I'm nothing special, and that if I can do it, so too can they – they just need to be open-minded and concentrate!
😂 AND FINALLY... Keep the noise down please
Last week, we addressed the MFL teacher problem #001: silent MFL classes. This week, we address the MFL teacher problem #002: "engaged" MFL classes.
Once again, Monica Geldart hits the nail on the head.
As an MFL teacher, have you ever been faced with a wall of silence in class? Thankfully it doesn't just happen to us...
💛 COMMUNITY
Thank you for your support!
I'm really excited to introduce two new MFL Supporters this week who are helping make this email possible. You can find out more about these superstars below:
Britta Alexandra von Rönn – MFL teacher trainee (German & Spanish) in south-east England
St. George's Catholic School – Part of the Cardinal Hume Academies Trust in London
These guys are now personally helping me on my mission to find and share the best MFL inspiration, resources and thinking with you.
If you and/or your department have found today's email useful (and are looking forward to next week!) you too could become an MFL Supporter for £2.
You'll receive a shoutout in next week's email as a thank you, too.
Click here to become an MFL Supporter today for £2!
Thanks so much for reading.
If you enjoyed today's email, why not forward it to a colleague so that they can enjoy it too?
Hope you have a great weekend, and see you again next week!
Blaine
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