Choose_Three_Topics_from_the_Languages_Review_Final_Report_2008_and_Discuss_Their_Importance_to_Language_Teaching

My aim here is to present three of the recommendations made in The Languages Review Final Report , presented in 2008. In doing so I acknowledge that many of the recommendations may have in fact already been actioned, however I will be presenting the report's recommendations as if they are still contemporary and relevant. 1) The first recommendation I would like to advance is from section 3.10 on Transition Coordination. The the proposal of the Training and Development Agency to develop an ages 9-14 training course I suggest would be greatly beneficial in facilitating the transition from Key stage 2 to key stage 3. The important need to do so is of course to harness the evident success of the introduction of MFLs at primary level in order to arrest their decline in uptake for GCSEs. Such a training course is essential to promote the smooth transition from Junior to secondary level by enabling teachers to coordinate activities between feeder schools and the secondary school. Questions about which languages are taught at the schools and be posed and how these can be accommodated. It will be possible to look at whether teaching staff and materials can be shared. And ideas can be discussed such as the possible introduction of a language passport for each student, so that each teacher can easily identify the current linguistic skill levels and of a student, which languages are have been learnt or are already spoken and the be better able to tailor lessons to individual needs. As stated initially the fundamental challenge is to maintain the momentum gained from the students' positive experience of language learning at primary level and promote this through key stage 3 and ideally into key stay 4. 2)The second recommendation I am advancing is from section 3.52. on Information & Communications Technologies.The proposal that the Department continues provision of information on languages & ICT & finds ways to support and disseminate innovations in this area. This will allow teachers to keep up with the ever innovating information and communications technologies through timely training and sharing of information. Students today have wide access to and are broadly familiar with ICTs. Quite often they may have more knowledge in this sphere than some teachers. Certainly more than me. What better way to engage them than through these media with which they are so at home' Once upon a time we were encouraged to make pen friends across the seas to practice our language skills. Now, we can create Facebook groups with students in other countries. With resources such as this and skyping and video conferencing we can create joint projects also, with a view to deepen understanding of global citizenship. The availability of online resources for both students and teachers will further make learning more flexible and engaging for students. We can use them to teach skills in the target language such as how to book a hotel or even create a whole itinerary for a trip on which we may actually go. Further usage of interactive whiteboards and interactive projectors will also make lessons more dynamic, getting students out of the from behind their desks and playing participatory rolls. It is of course vital that teacher are kept up to date on the latest technologies and resources in order to maximise their exploitation for the benefit of the students. 3)The final recommendation I am advancing is from section 3.37 on Content & Language Integrated Learning. The proposal is that the Department increases its support of Content & Language Integrated Learning and ensures that existing experience is disseminated more widely. I believe there is wide scope for using the target language to teach other parts of the curriculum in consultation with other departments. This provides the opportunity to submerge students in a language whilst at the same time teaching them they are studying a subject pertinent to the curriculum elsewhere in their studies. In geography for example we can teach the usage of map grid references and scales, whilst at the same time learning the names of places in the target language. Learning symbols on maps provides other useful sources of vocabulary, river, road, church, post office and small scale maps can provide us with shop names. This could lead us nicely on to a home economics lesson on shopping incorporating weights and measures and of course products.... leading to a practical cookery lesson of a from a country of the target language. Moving us nicely on to a science lesson on energy: calories, kilojoules and methods of heat transference, conduction, convection and radiation. The possibilities are many fold, but they do require a great amount of coordination between departments to ensure that the required elements are covered thoroughly , but also that the appropriate vocabulary is also learnt in English as many specific terms are in fact new to students in their native tongue also. Content and Language Integrated learning is a truly bilingual experience that can really kill two birds with one stone.