I was invited to speak to the MFL PGCE students at Queen's yesterday on the topic of games in MFL. In a department genuinely addicted to playing games to enhance motivation and improve learning, this was a fairly easy and straightforward task for me. As I started the talk, I thought back to sitting in those same seats, and how much I have learnt and progressed since then.
The list of games we play at Grosvenor is long and varied, and I intend to upload the powerpoint to share with others, but once again, this was an enjoyable experience in my teaching career, as well as a useful self-assessment exercise.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Thursday, 1 October 2009
FLASHMEETING #3 AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Well, we had our third MFL flashmeeting last Monday and whilst I participated less, with a blinder of a headache, it was still a stimulating and enjoyable experience, as well as being extremely benficial for my teaching.
Flashmeetings serve to remind me how much I have come to rely on the support of my online friends whom I have met through Twitter primarily, as well as at Joe Dale's IOW conference. They are a constant source of support and inspiration, and this flashmeeting was no exception.
The two areas I have decided to focus on, arising out of the meeting, are Spanish phonics and Edmodo. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of phonics and pronunciation, but José Picardo has inspired me to set up an account on Edmodo (www.edmodo.com) I have created course areas for each of my classes and have already posted some polls in Spanish and set some assignments.
When I was showing the setup page to the pupils, many commented on its similarity to Facebook, and the trendy look of the site. Several have already posted comments and queries on their course area.
I look forward to using Edmodo and will post soon on the progress we are making.
Flashmeetings serve to remind me how much I have come to rely on the support of my online friends whom I have met through Twitter primarily, as well as at Joe Dale's IOW conference. They are a constant source of support and inspiration, and this flashmeeting was no exception.
The two areas I have decided to focus on, arising out of the meeting, are Spanish phonics and Edmodo. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of phonics and pronunciation, but José Picardo has inspired me to set up an account on Edmodo (www.edmodo.com) I have created course areas for each of my classes and have already posted some polls in Spanish and set some assignments.
When I was showing the setup page to the pupils, many commented on its similarity to Facebook, and the trendy look of the site. Several have already posted comments and queries on their course area.
I look forward to using Edmodo and will post soon on the progress we are making.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Guest posting and my year of web 2.0
I was genuinely flattered to be asked by Ken Royal to be a guest author for his blog http://www.educatorsroyaltreatment.com, although I asked him what he felt I had to offer as I really feel like a complete novice at this whole malarkey! It is true that I have a great enthusiasm for all that I use in my classroom, but I would never profess to be any kind of expert. I work on the theory that if I want to do something, it is surely possible, so it is just a matter of working out how So I settled down to it, and here is my post for Ken's site.
LANGUAGES AND LEARNING - THE PATH I HAVE FOLLOWED
Today I led a whole-day event on ICT & MFL teaching and learning, which included my own department as well as 12 members of staff from several other schools. I have never led such an event before and therefore wanted to keep the numbers manageable.
Why did I even want to run such an event? Believe me, I was asking myself the same question last night, as I prepared the last of the handouts. But yet I am so glad that I did, for it has benefited me as well hopefully as those who attended. As teachers, we are told that we should be reflective practitioners, and yet it is rare that we have time to take stock and really evaluate what we have learnt over a given period of time. The aim of running this day was to show people some of the new stuff I have learnt over the past year, and let them have a go too. It was only when I started to map out the agenda that I realised just how much I have learnt since last July, when I had the extreme good fortune to be sent to BLC 08, in Boston. The November Learning conference was mind-blowing and I came home enthused, armed with a list of of sites to visit and web 2.0 tools to check out.
I followed the instructions of David Truss (http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com) and Ewan McIntosh (http://edu.blogs.com/) who both said that if we did nothing else, we should start a blog when we went home. This I did, with my "Languages and Learning" blog at http://amandasalt.blogspot.com I also joined Twitter, although I found it a lonely and pointless activity initially. I now find it to be one of my main sources of CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and also a place where people are generous with their praise and genuine in their concern.
A visit to the Isle of Wight for a languages and ICT conference, organised by the amazing Joe Dale (www.joedale.typepad.com), added to my enthusiasm, and as I approach the end of this academic year, I have created a wiki for my pupils (http://spanishingrosvenor.wikispaces.com) and also dabbled with Audacity, Goanimate, Voki, ToonDoo, Animoto and Voice Thread, amongst others.Today I ran workshops on all of these as well as an overview of blogging, Twitter and Diigo.
The format seemed to work well, with a very hands-on approach by the participants, and a vast quantity of helpsheets to take home. They were amazed that I did none of this before last summer, ut in a way, I think that reassured them. I do not profess to be an expert at any of these, yet I find my approach to teaching re-energised and my pupils highly motivated. I too have much to learn, and it is a true pleasure to show others all that this brave 2.0 world has to offer us.
LANGUAGES AND LEARNING - THE PATH I HAVE FOLLOWED
Today I led a whole-day event on ICT & MFL teaching and learning, which included my own department as well as 12 members of staff from several other schools. I have never led such an event before and therefore wanted to keep the numbers manageable.
Why did I even want to run such an event? Believe me, I was asking myself the same question last night, as I prepared the last of the handouts. But yet I am so glad that I did, for it has benefited me as well hopefully as those who attended. As teachers, we are told that we should be reflective practitioners, and yet it is rare that we have time to take stock and really evaluate what we have learnt over a given period of time. The aim of running this day was to show people some of the new stuff I have learnt over the past year, and let them have a go too. It was only when I started to map out the agenda that I realised just how much I have learnt since last July, when I had the extreme good fortune to be sent to BLC 08, in Boston. The November Learning conference was mind-blowing and I came home enthused, armed with a list of of sites to visit and web 2.0 tools to check out.
I followed the instructions of David Truss (http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com) and Ewan McIntosh (http://edu.blogs.com/) who both said that if we did nothing else, we should start a blog when we went home. This I did, with my "Languages and Learning" blog at http://amandasalt.blogspot.com I also joined Twitter, although I found it a lonely and pointless activity initially. I now find it to be one of my main sources of CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and also a place where people are generous with their praise and genuine in their concern.
A visit to the Isle of Wight for a languages and ICT conference, organised by the amazing Joe Dale (www.joedale.typepad.com), added to my enthusiasm, and as I approach the end of this academic year, I have created a wiki for my pupils (http://spanishingrosvenor.wikispaces.com) and also dabbled with Audacity, Goanimate, Voki, ToonDoo, Animoto and Voice Thread, amongst others.Today I ran workshops on all of these as well as an overview of blogging, Twitter and Diigo.
The format seemed to work well, with a very hands-on approach by the participants, and a vast quantity of helpsheets to take home. They were amazed that I did none of this before last summer, ut in a way, I think that reassured them. I do not profess to be an expert at any of these, yet I find my approach to teaching re-energised and my pupils highly motivated. I too have much to learn, and it is a true pleasure to show others all that this brave 2.0 world has to offer us.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
MFL Flashmeeting
I cannot believe that I have not posted since the Flashmeeting, and apologies for not blogging about the meeting itself. It was amazing and a fabulous experience, and I am so glad that I took the plunge. I was very nervous beforehand yet once it started, I really enjoyed it. A few technical difficulties arose as I tried to log in, and I fear that I need to read my instruction book for the webcam, as I was in extreme closeup with no idea how to fix it, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The format is brilliant, although it took me a while to get used to listening to whoever was speaking whilst reading the comments at the bottom, and I had a headache after, from concentrating for so long on both!
The ideas were great and it was good to hear people explain things, pulling up websites for us as they talked. I contributed, although I don't know if what I said made much sense and I look forward to the next one. Joe Dale blogged about the flashmeeting with lots of notes, on http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/2009/05/mfl-flashmeeting.html, whilst Isabelle Jones is promoting the next one on
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2009/06/mfl-flashmeeting2-monday-6th-july-830pm.html Sign up here http://lmhtob.wikispaces.com/MFL+Flashmeeting+2
The format is brilliant, although it took me a while to get used to listening to whoever was speaking whilst reading the comments at the bottom, and I had a headache after, from concentrating for so long on both!
The ideas were great and it was good to hear people explain things, pulling up websites for us as they talked. I contributed, although I don't know if what I said made much sense and I look forward to the next one. Joe Dale blogged about the flashmeeting with lots of notes, on http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/2009/05/mfl-flashmeeting.html, whilst Isabelle Jones is promoting the next one on
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2009/06/mfl-flashmeeting2-monday-6th-july-830pm.html Sign up here http://lmhtob.wikispaces.com/MFL+Flashmeeting+2
Sunday, 3 May 2009
FLASHMEETING
My Twitter friends and I were 'chatting' last week and someone asked about Flashmeetings. Quite a few of us were in the dark and so those kind souls who are experienced in these things have set up a flashmeeting for us tomorrow night, Monday 4th MAy 2009 at 9pm. Yes, I know it's a bank holiday and we have school the next day but who cares? This is a first and I am very excited..
Well yes, actually I'm a little scared and freaked out too, but I guess that's part of the learning curve and it does me no harm to experience emotions similar to those my pupils must experience, and much more frequently. My head is buzzing with questions:
Have I book-marked the site? Check - http://flashmeeting.e2bn.net/fm/cc3112-6211
Do I have the necessary equipment? Check - bought fancy webcam with mic yesterday (much fancier than I probably need, but any excuse for a bit of retail therapy, even teaching-related)
Do I have the right software? Check - webcam installed and Flash downloaded thanks to @joedale
Do I know what I'm doing? No, but sure that's exactly why we are doing it!
Will i brush my hair and touch up my lippy at 8.55pm? Check and see!
Well yes, actually I'm a little scared and freaked out too, but I guess that's part of the learning curve and it does me no harm to experience emotions similar to those my pupils must experience, and much more frequently. My head is buzzing with questions:
Have I book-marked the site? Check - http://flashmeeting.e2bn.net/fm/cc3112-6211
Do I have the necessary equipment? Check - bought fancy webcam with mic yesterday (much fancier than I probably need, but any excuse for a bit of retail therapy, even teaching-related)
Do I have the right software? Check - webcam installed and Flash downloaded thanks to @joedale
Do I know what I'm doing? No, but sure that's exactly why we are doing it!
Will i brush my hair and touch up my lippy at 8.55pm? Check and see!
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Speed-dating
A colleague came up with this brilliant idea, and I have been quick to adopt it. Pupils are put into pairs, and sit at tables numbered 1-11. One is the questioner, and the other answers. Each questioner has a set of conversation questions for their forthcomign GCSE, as well as a feedback sheet with columns for name, number of questions asked, comments and score.
Today my Fifth Year and I had a go at 'Multicitas'. They did rounds of 90 seconds, and I rang the bell each time to move the answerer on to their next 'date'. Halfway through the lesson, the questioners and answerers changed roles.
In feedback at the end, using the attached feedback sheet, pupils were quick to realise that the less questions you were asked the better you were at expanding. They were really generous in their praise of each other, and were the most engaged I have ever seen them.
As much as I love using all kinds of Web 2.0 tools, it is nice to remember that good old-fashioned oral communication is sometimes best of all.
Today my Fifth Year and I had a go at 'Multicitas'. They did rounds of 90 seconds, and I rang the bell each time to move the answerer on to their next 'date'. Halfway through the lesson, the questioners and answerers changed roles.
In feedback at the end, using the attached feedback sheet, pupils were quick to realise that the less questions you were asked the better you were at expanding. They were really generous in their praise of each other, and were the most engaged I have ever seen them.
As much as I love using all kinds of Web 2.0 tools, it is nice to remember that good old-fashioned oral communication is sometimes best of all.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Using Wikis in MFL - Language World 2009
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Using Wikis in MFL - Language World 2009
View more presentations from Alex Blagona.
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