Autumn 2014 - The Independent Schools` Modern Language

Transcription

ISMLA
NEWSLETTER
Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association
www.ismla.co.uk
Autumn 2014
Enfocus Software - Customer Support
Contact the Committee
Chairman
Nick Mair
Dulwich College
[email protected]
Awarding Bodies Liaison Officer
Alex Frazer
Mill Hill School
[email protected]
Vice Chairman and Membership
Secretary
Geoffrey Plow
University College School
[email protected]
Liaison with Prep Schools
Anne-Marie Williams
Bilton Grange Preparatory School, Rugby
[email protected]
Exhibitions Organiser
David Cragg-James
[email protected]
Treasurer
Peter Ansell
Stonyhurst College
[email protected]
Other Committee Members
Secretary
Jenny Davey
Glenalmond College
[email protected]
Jane Byrne, King’s School, Chester
Duncan Byrne, Cheltenham College
Kevin Dunne, formerly Ampleforth College
(Liaison with ALL, ISMLA representative on
Executive Council )
Newsletter Editor
Davina Suri
North London Collegiate School
[email protected]
Jim Houghton, Highgate School
Peter Langdale, North London Collegiate School
Reviews Editor
Melvyn Bardou
Mill Hill School
[email protected]
Astrid McAuliffe, Alleyn’s School
Richard Oates, Sherborne School
Daniella Mardell, St Paul’s Girls’ School
Website Editor
Thomas Underwood
University College School
[email protected]
Helena Matthews, Godolphin & Latymer
Duncan Peel, Hampton School
Ben Pollard, Eltham College
David Sheppard, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
Julia Whyte, formerly St Francis’ College
John Wilson, Cheadle Hulme School
2
Contents
Page
From the Chairman
4
From the Editor
8
Das Experiment
10
First impressions of the proposed new A Levels
13
Exchanges & Safeguarding: What’s new?
16
It’s a long road to ab initio
20
What does German even mean? And how to teach it...
29
Hispanic Theatre Festival 2014
39
Reviews
42
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Friday 14th November, 2014, ISMLA NQT Day, Mill Hill School
Saturday 31st January 2015 ISMLA National Conference, St Paul’s Girls’
School, London
The image on the front cover is Drei Invaliden (Three Invalids) Heinrich Hoerle. Oil on
canvas, 1930. In this painting Hoerle depicts three wounded veterans of World
War I.
3
From the Chairman
Enfin un soupir de soulagement se fit entendre
There are things afoot you must know about. Our membership may not be serial
readers of Ofqual reports; but it is as well to be aware of the current threads in
any debate. In that spirit, may I invite you to consider what Ofqual have to say
on modern language A levels? Let’s use, as we so often would in a GCSE oral
exam, the following elements: Past/Present/Future/Facts/Opinions.
Past
The extensive Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) report on the state of modern language A levels (A review of Modern Foreign Languages at A level: A* grade and
low take up), published in July 2014, is weighty at 200+ pages – but the executive
summaries of the five chapters are a good indication of the reasons why Modern
Languages as a school discipline has encountered problems. The research is thorough and well-conducted; the reports are highly readable and surprisingly frank.
It may in one sense contain few surprises; but many will derive relief from the
knowledge that what has been articulated in so many of our own informal conversations actually turns out to be a reasonable overview of the situation. The
report can be found at: http://www.jcq.org.uk/media-centre/news-releases/mflreview-press-notice
Present
Ofqual have conducted an in-depth investigation into issues surrounding the
marking of A-level examinations. ISMLA has maintained since the days of Duncan Byrne’s chairmanship that A-level modern language grading has been unsatisfactory. Our specific concerns have focused on: low numbers of A* grades;
severe grading; and the unpredictable nature of grading. You can find the link to
the Ofqual report and to David Blow’s short and extremely informative synopsis
of it on the ISMLA website. Statistical chapter and verse can be found on the
ALL-London website.
For all the surprise expressed by exam boards that there should be problems
with modern language examinations, I would want you to know that in 2010, in
addition to criticisms voiced publicly by ISMLA, we made determined efforts to
open up a ‘behind-the-scenes’ dialogue with the (then) three main exam boards.
To this end, we targeted known links and individuals in influential positions.
These moves, ratified by the ISMLA committee, were either rebuffed outright or
met with the comment that the issues we were referring to were known about
and would be addressed in the near future. We can only regret that this was the
response we received then, but it was so. We want members to be aware of our
actions at that time. For all that, we remain convinced that all teachers should
4
take part in future initiatives designed to inform and shape the new qualifications.
Future
The A Level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB) have produced their collaborative Russell Group view of what should be included in the new A level and many
of you have responded to their recent consultation. Professor Stephen Parker of
Manchester University deserves your support for the efforts he has made in the
mammoth task of bringing together a number of approaches in a very limited
time. The input you can give to exam boards will be welcome and to this end the
four key contact emails are given at the bottom of this piece. ISMLA is adamant
that the opinions of teachers and the information and experience they are able to
provide should be made available to all examination boards in the aim of reforming and developing the A-level modern language qualification.
What have ALCAB recommended that is new? They have said that there will be
no essay in English (you might be interested to know that in responses HoDs
sent to ISMLA, 25% of schools which might broadly be described as ‘academic’
were in favour of an essay in English with the remainder in favour of a more
language-based task).
Facts
Many will claim that the situation of modern languages is dire; independent
school numbers are declining at A Level, the EBacc (for all its laudable aims) has
not maintained the state school GCSE increase and pupils may take some time
to find a single honours German undergraduate course. Few among us would be
unreservedly optimistic but ISMLA will keep a weather eye on the commendable
commitment of Ofqual to follow up on their report into the grading of A level
examinations. If, however, you need evidence that will allow you to continue to
believe in the value of modern languages, just look at the phenomenal take-up of
undergraduates who bolt a modern language onto the pre-existing subjects of
their degree. They are right – but it would be a shame if these students felt that
they had to repair omissions dealt on them by a secondary education system that
had not taken their modern language learning seriously.
(Future Perfect)
You know that both Geoffrey Plow and I will stand aside at the end of the 2015
ISMLA National Conference (at St Paul’s Girls’ School – see ISMLA website!).
We both feel, after six years’ tenure, that the way forward is (as always) with new
blood and new approaches. Both Geoffrey and I will remain on hand to continue
with those areas in which we have, over time, gained some expertise. This is in
keeping with the lead taken by Duncan Byrne with his ongoing work on exchanges and safeguarding. We have both valued our time as Chairman and Vice5
Chairman respectively and undertake to support unreservedly future iterations of
ISMLA.
(Future prefect)
Dulwich College has developed a gappie scheme for A2 students wishing to
work in a French school during a gap year. Given that this is a new initiative (in
its second year) the understanding is that schools will propose only their best
students - this defined not necessarily as best linguists but as those best suited to
rising to the challenges of such an experience. There is a 'contract' but in short
the gappie receives board and lodging in return for gappie-style work. Please
email me if you would like further details - and remember that it has taken some
time to introduce the concept!
Opinions
I think we should ditch the ‘foreign’ in MFL. I urge you to consider a small but
significant change – call your department ‘ML’ or ‘Modern Languages’. Given
the global nature of our world, I maintain there is no such thing as a ‘foreign’
language.
Parting Shot
An election looms. Not all of us are engaged with the political process but I urge
you to lend the weight of your shoulder and that of your pupils to the initiative
of Speak to the Future: the campaign for languages. The conceit is to ask every MP to
express their views on the importance of languages and language learning to the
UK. Their replies are posted on the Speak to the Future website. Storms are
formed from the flap of a butterfly’s wing – add your impetus now at http://
www.speaktothefuture.org/
Nick Mair
Write to the exam boards here :
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]
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Rapid Vocabulary Expansion for
Foreign Languages
From the Editor
I am delighted to have joined the ISMLA committee, not least because, even in
these first few months, I have been so inspired on finding out about so much
good work in the Languages teaching community, whether politically, academically or, of course, in the classroom. We are committed to circulating creative
ideas, successful initiatives and new perspectives so please do get in touch if you
have something to share.
Inspiration certainly strikes when least expected. I took a Year 10 group to Madrid this
half-term on the annual exchange and, for the
first time, we included a visit to the Casa Museo Lope de Vega on the itinerary. The girls
were captivated by this glimpse of seventeenth
-century Madrid; the wonderful history of the
casas a la milicia is unique to the Spanish capital
and certainly now sounds like something out
of fiction. Our guide gave a vivid account of
Lope’s colourful life and times and, for one
girl, the visit was the highlight of the trip
which, given the more obvious attractions of Madrid and the clemency of the
weather (it was 25 degrees), both pleased and surprised me. Cue the quest for
some suitable El capitán Alatriste excerpts; the novels (and subsequent film) are
allegedly based largely on the adventures of Alonso de Contreras, Lope’s friend
and lodger whose exploits also appear in several of the playwright’s works.
Speaking of which, our Lower VI students’ imagination was equally fired up by
Rakatá’s very welcome production of Castigo sin venganza at the Globe this September. The two experiences have reminded me of the riches of the Spanish
Golden Age; Rakatá’s three-day residency was the first of its kind at the Globe
and I very much hope that the theatre continues the trend; just like visiting
Lope’s refurbished home, there is nothing like seeing one of his plays in a similarly restored sixteenth-century setting to breathe life into history and drama.
8
Our job at the moment is of course to commemorate World War One in a way
that is appropriate to our respective languages.
Some ideas floating around at School at the moment are: a seminar on German Expressionist representations of the war; the use of Hemingway’s A
Farewell to Arms to bring Italy’s involvement to life;
a competition for younger pupils to submit a short
story written in French about life in the trenches
and various film showings. We may not be history
teachers, but the centenary provides a welcome
opportunity to be creative with the contemporary
cultural and historical resources for our respective
languages. At ISMLA, we would love to hear what
members are doing, or are planning for the next
three years, that is World War One related, so do please get in touch and let us
know.
Onto another war: the new exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester ‘Conscious
and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’ promises a stimulating
outing for all Sixth Formers studying the literature, art or history of Spain 193639. And for all those who can’t make it to Madrid to see Picasso’s Guernica, a
collective of artists has remade it as a large-scale textile banner which should
prove a thought-provoking second-best.
Davina Suri
9
Das Experiment
A couple of years ago, the Director of the RSC sat the A2 English paper on
Shakespeare. I think he scraped a B. Many colleagues will have experienced the
frustration and disappointment we feel when some of our brightest and best
pupils fail to achieve their predicted grades. These poor results are seen by pupils, parents (and SMT) as failures and have disastrous consequences for university applications, not to mention confidence in ourselves and the system. The
well-heeled can ask for a re-mark or even appeal. The commercial examination
boards’ obligations are to their shareholders, so they are on to a nice little earner
here. The costly process appears just as arbitrary in its outcome as the initial result. Further enquiries generally yield the helpful advice from the examination
boards to “refer to the criteria”. What precisely do these criteria represent? They
purport to be objective and to lend themselves to the quantifiable as readily as do
those of Maths or Science. A top grade should be within the reach of a nonnative speaker. Nevertheless, when assessing Camus or Schlink, two examiners
are bound to have different ideas about what constitutes satisfactory or excellent
understanding of the text. Following on from last year’s conference at Dulwich
College on subjectively severe/unfair grading at AS and A2, there seemed no
better method of testing the system this summer than to enter the examination
(Edexcel Paper 4, Research, Understanding and Written Response) alongside the
pupils I had taught. If, after over 30 years of teaching French and German at all
levels, including IB Language A, I could not apply the criteria correctly and
achieve a top grade, what chance would my pupils stand?
To cut a long story short, the German was fine, the French was not.
I approached both the French and German papers with equal seriousness. I went
to bed early the previous evening. I did not whizz through the questions and
leave the examination room early. I took sips of water at regular intervals. I
planned each response clearly, wrote on alternate lines and in my neatest handwriting. Everything was arranged to make the markers’ job logistically easy. My
script was “accessible”. I confess to the odd slip in the heat of the moment. I
forgot the second accent on “événement” in the prose. I wrote “Sie sagte,
daß…” instead of “dass”. I gave the exercise my best shot.
10
In the German Research Based Essay, I linked the historical theme of
“Vergangenheitsbewältigung” in der Vorleser to issues wider than the Second
World War, such as social attitudes and legal questions that have arisen since
reunification. This seemed to go down quite well. By way of contrast, in French,
my linking of lethal violence in L’Etranger with Daru’s rage against “la folie des
hommes” in L’Hôte was less successful. Admittedly this paragraph was quite
brief, as the limit of 270 words must be respected. In the rest of the essay there
was, nevertheless, extensive quotation from, and analysis of, a specific, significant
episode from the longer work. The mark I achieved was just one point better
than “Adequate understanding; some evidence of reading and research.” Obviously, I had failed to demonstrate any trace of “Clear evidence of reading and in
-depth research” (my emphasis). Hmmm. Evidently, I am a beta minus man and
lucky still to have a job.
The re-mark brought about no changes. A copy of my paper was requested and
then assessed by the rest of the department at Fettes, along with Heads of Department from other schools. The response can be summed up as follows: even
allowing for some degree of subjectivity in Reading, Research and Understanding, the mark achieved for Quality of Language and Organisation and Development in French was ridiculous. God help our students!
The marks I received are given below.
11
The irony of the situation is that an examination, originally constructed to be
more attractive to potential candidates, seems to be driving the best away.
Among those who do persevere with languages, some very weak pupils have
achieved quite respectable grades, far surpassing expectations, so perhaps we
should not carp too loudly. However, the perceived reluctance to award the top
grades (which so many universities require) is a factor which prompts our ablest
pupils to opt for subjects with more predictably successful outcomes. Fortunately, Oxbridge entry depends far more on performance at interview and in-house
language tests than the elusive A*. Let us hope that other universities adopt an
equally benign (enlightened?) approach, at least in Modern Languages, and that
the current decline in entries can be halted.
By the way: I have not been sacked for incompetence and have just applied for a
job as an A level examiner when I retire next year.
Jeremy Morris, former Head of Languages at Fettes College
12
First impressions of the new A Level
From: Peter Thackrey, Head of Modern Foreign Languages, Bedales School
To: Ofqual, ALCAB, ALL, ISMLA (also submitted to the Department for
Education via their Website).
Subject: GCE AS and A level Reforms in Modern Languages
Date: 10th October 2014
Dear Sir or Madam,
The Modern Foreign Languages Department at Bedales School would like to
provide feedback about the Department for Education’s proposed changes to
GCE AS and A Level Modern Languages based on the their consultation
document and the report of the ALCAB panel for Modern and Classical Languages. I am aware that I have missed the deadline for feedback, but I would
like to record our views nonetheless.
Below are the main bullet points my colleagues raised as we worked through
the documentation and discussed the proposed changes. However, I would
like to outline our key concerns first. One frequently hears Government and
businesses lamenting the lack of linguists in the UK and yet we feel that the
proposed changes will mean that even fewer students will study a modern
language beyond GCSE level.
First, the sidelining of the AS exam is a serious concern. In our experience,
the AS exam has really boosted the number of students taking Modern Languages on at AS and A2 Level. Under the proposed changes, Bedales School
is now advising students to take 3 A Levels, rather than the previous 4 AS
subjects, and then 3 A2 Levels. With the loss of the fourth AS subject I fear
that those students who would have continued their Modern Language to one
year beyond GCSE, but perhaps not through to the full A2 Level, will be lost
and these are both students who worked very hard in the past to achieve a
well-deserved C grade at AS, as well as the stronger students who achieved A
grades at AS, but then opted to focus on other subjects for A2. Our serious
concern is that both sets of students will stop their study of Languages at
GCSE Level under the proposed changes.
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The second key concern is the lack of creativity in the new proposals. Once
again, if we are looking to develop more linguists in the UK then we should be
building a more exciting and innovative syllabus - the proposed document and
especially the advice from ACLAB mirrors very closely the first year undergraduate course in French which I studied at Durham University in 1998. While we
agree that Universities should have an input into the new A Level syllabus in
order to help prepare students for university (the inclusion of a personal research
project in the new syllabus is an excellent idea), we strongly feel that the proposed syllabus from ACLAB risks making Languages even more elite as the reforms appear to be targeted solely at those students who will study a language at
university. This is an excellent opportunity to build a more innovative learning
experience which will continue to challenge the top students while encouraging
others to take their languages beyond GCSE.
Please find the bullet points below which my colleagues and I have raised:
• Writing essays in English will hinder students’ progress as they will not develop
their communication skills in the target language to the same extent.
• There will be a risk of putting students off studying Modern Languages at university by following such a traditional model for A Level, as by copying the university course in the A Level course, linguists would go on to repeat a very similar course in their first year of university.
• By having less language content, students will not be properly prepared for
university.
• The current proposals have the serious possibility of making Languages even
more elite, rather than broadening the range and number of people studying
Languages to a higher level in the UK.
• If students are to write essays in English it will take away the expertise of native
speaker teachers if they are to mark essays in English.
• The proposed literary texts are disappointingly narrow and to a large extent
traditional. These restrictive lists lack creative opportunities which the current A
Level syllabus allows.
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
Pre-U exists as an option if we really do not like the final format of the new
A Level, as it has the literature paper with questions both in the target language and in English, as well as the Short Course to equivalent to the AS.
Shouldn’t the new A Level differ more from the Pre-U?
With the opportunity to create a new A Level, the present proposals are very disappointing in terms of simply mirroring traditional first year university modules. We
are constantly hearing about the dearth of linguists in the UK. This is the opportunity to create a more inspiring and more relevant Languages A Level which will
prepare students to use language in the modern world, focusing on communication
and language skills (listening, speaking, reading) as well as giving students a strong
grounding in the cultural and historical elements, writing about the latter aspects in
the target language to help develop overall linguistic skills. The A Level should not
solely be seen as preparing linguists for study at university, it should be broader
than that and the current A Level Boards we study prepare students very well for
higher education.
• We should be aiming to make it more accessible and relevant to today’s communication needs while maintaining high expectations.
Thank you for taking the time to read our feedback. I would be happy to discuss
this further or be involved in any future consultations.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Thackrey,
Head of Modern Languages, Bedales School
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
ISMLA would like to invite readers to share their own views of the proposed new A Levels. Do you agree with the staff at Bedales? Are you in
favour of the suggested changes? Please write and let us know
([email protected]) by 31st January 2015. Letters will be published on
the website and / or in the Spring edition of the newsletter.
15
Exchanges and safeguarding: what’s new?
The quick answer to this question is ‘virtually nothing’. However, a poorlyworded safeguarding update from the Department for Education last April
(‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’) set the cat among the pigeons by appearing to suggest that schools running exchange visits (languages or otherwise)
would have to obtain DBS checks for all host families.
This idea was first mooted in 2009, when the recently-formed Independent Safeguarding Authority announced proposals for an enhanced Vetting and Barring
Scheme (VBS), largely as a response to the Soham murders, where the perpetrator might have been prevented from working with children if different agencies
had shared information better. At this point, ISMLA saw the potential threat to
the future of the language exchange. Would UK host families agree to all over16s in a household undergoing a DBS check? Could the administrative burden be
met by schools? Would families accept that it was impossible to do the same
with the French or Spanish families hosting their own children? It was clear to us
that this significant extra hurdle in the way of languages teachers would reduce
drastically, if not eliminate totally, the number of genuinely reciprocal exchanges:
the experience with by far the greatest linguistic benefit to learners.
Thankfully, the Labour government of 2009, after weeks of negative press reaction, realised that the proposals were excessive, and Sir Roger Singleton was
commissioned to review whether “the Government had drawn the line in the
right place in relation to the requirement for adults to ISA register”. ISMLA,
with the support of the Independent Schools’ Council (ISC), lobbied the DCSF
(as was) to explain that the future of the language exchange was under threat
from the proposals, and ISMLA was delighted that one of the recommendations
of the Singleton Report read as follows:
“Exchange visits lasting less than 28 days, where overseas parents accept the responsibility for the selection of the host family, will be regarded as private arrangements
and will not require registration.”
The precise wording of this statement will require some unpacking a little later in
this article.
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Unfortunately, when the DfE’s regular safeguarding update was issued in April
2014, an official who had not been involved in the 2009 debate regarding exchange, wrote carelessly that exchange visits could be considered a “private fostering” arrangement, and would therefore require DBS checks for host parents.
ISMLA knew of no reason why this guidance would have changed and, with the
support of the Independent Schools’ Council, met with senior DfE officials in
early June, who clarified that this was a mistake. Indeed, the ISC has since circulated a DfE letter to all headteachers, in which Dr Peter Swift, a senior DfE official clarifies:
“I can confirm that the policy is unchanged – that there is no expectation that the school should
check the host parents”
There is, however, a significant ‘but’, as I alluded to above. Singleton’s 2009
statement mentions that checks will not be required on UK parents “where overseas
parents accept the responsibility for the selection of the host family”. What does this mean?
As I wrote in my article for the ISMLA Spring 2010 newsletter (available at
www.ismla.co.uk), Singleton had misgivings about making this concession for
exchange visits. He (and the DCSF) considered that placing foreign students
with British host families could constitute a safeguarding risk, even if he
acknowledged that there have been no known instances of a child having been
abused in a host family on a school exchange. The extent to which parents could
have the final say about the choice of host family was a particular concern for
Singleton in 2009, and ISMLA contributed the following points of ‘good practice’, which helped to convince him to make exchange visits of under 28 days an
exception:

Pupils are paired a considerable time in advance following e-mail and telephone contact between organising teachers, and pupils and parents are encouraged to make contact (usually via e-mail) with exchange partners, through which
they can assure themselves of suitability of the host family.

During the exchange, accompanying teachers and their pupils have each
other’s contact details at all times.

Pupils tend to meet their teachers daily (except weekends) when they attend
the host pupils’ school or go on organised visits or trips. (If there are still exchanges
where the pupil spends a week unsupervised in the family, the presumption should be that parental DBS checks will be required.)

In reciprocal visits, ‘Child A’ stays in the home of ‘Child B’ and vice-versa
on the return visit.
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
Parents can ultimately insist that hosting arrangements are changed.
This last point is controversial, but I would argue that this is already a de facto
reality for us. I discussed this in 2009 with a number of colleagues, all of whom
had been in the situation where a parent was unhappy with our pairing of pupils.
In some circumstances, a partner swap had been achieved; in others, the parent
had withdrawn the pupil from the exchange. Although this course of action
leaves the exchange organiser with a headache, the possibility of withdrawal can
be considered something that safeguards a pupil. A letter to parents, asking them
to let us know urgently if there are concerned about the partner and family selected, will meet this requirement. Of course, we are talking about foreign children staying with British families, so we need to explain to our partner school
colleagues that their parents should be given this option.
ISC is currently working with ISMLA on an official (and longer) good practice
document that will be acceptable to the Department for Education’s safeguarding unit. I realise that some ISMLA members may not appreciate an attempt to
tie exchanges to a uniform set of rules, but I regretfully believe that we don’t
really have the option. In the current safeguarding climate, we have to be seen to
be doing everything possible to protect children, whether our own pupils, or
those staying with our families. If we are taking measures approved by the government’s safeguarding experts, we will ultimately be protecting ourselves if anything were to go wrong with visitors or our own pupils when abroad. I hope that
you will take the same view, because the linguistic and cultural value of the language exchange is worth fighting for.
18
It’s a long road to ab initio...
We want to be able to support all of our aspiring Languages students in their
applications but, as smaller departments in particular may find, we don’t always
have the expertise to give detailed advice to applicants who wish to study a language ab initio. The best advice of course is always to read and watch widely; the
more cultural references students have at their fingertips, the more ideas they will
have for their personal statements and the more informed they will be for a productive discussion at interview.
To give you some fresh ideas to share with your pupils, here are some pointers
for those wishing to study Russian, Arabic, Italian and Portuguese.
Preparing to apply for ab initio Russian
The more links that students can make between Russian culture and language the
better. Since Russian is arguably one of the toughest European languages to
learn, students must demonstrate that they are ready for the various challenges
posed by a Slavic language. Do they relish unravelling complex grammar? Do
they enjoy pronouncing difficult words? Are they adept at identifying similarities
between words to guess meaning?
Perhaps their enthusiasm has already led them to decipher the alphabet. A logical
next step is to read parallel texts to get under the skin of Russian culture. The
edition Russian Stories: A Dual Language Book (ed. Gleb Struve) is an ideal place to
start, and will demonstrate familiarity with some of the most well-known short
stories by writers such as Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy and Bunin. Nikolai Gogol’s
The Nose is a surreal and much-loved classic that perpetually confounds the reader with its unexplained events and oblique references. Ivan Bunin’s Sunstroke
covers similar thematic ground to Chekhov’s The Lady with the Little Dog, featuring a couple who meet whilst on holiday and embark on a torrid affair. Bunin
won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1933 for his achievements in prose writing.
For contextualisation of these writers, A History of Russian Literature by Victor
Terras comes highly recommended. The later chapters (6-9) on the Romantic
Period, the Age of the Novel, the Silver Age and the Soviet Period give an excel20
lent overview of the key literary movements and their exponents from the nineteenth century through to the collapse of the USSR.
For a flavour of contemporary Russian literature, much of which deals with the
chaos and uncertainty of life in post-Soviet Russia, students could read Ludmila
Ulitskaya (Sonechka: A Novella and Stories) Viktor Pelevin (Omon Ra, Babylon, The
Blue Lantern), Dmitry Bykov (Living Souls) and Olga Slavnikova (2017). These
stories deal with such diverse themes as poverty, love and loss, the arrival in Russia of ‘wild capitalism’, nostalgia and apocalyptic visions of the future. Such stories, set as they are against the backdrop of a country still searching for an identity after seventy years of communism, will almost certainly kindle an enthusiasm
for contemporary Russian culture, not to mention a desire to read them one day
in the original!
Without doubt, the best collection of Russian films online is the website of film
company Mosfilm (mosfilm.ru). The company recently made a huge number of
Soviet and post-Soviet films available for free online. Pleasingly, there is even a
collection of films with English subtitles (http://cinema.mosfilm.ru/films/
comp/Podborki/Filmy-s-subtitrami), some of which are undisputed classics.
Students would do well to watch the classic 1967 adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna
Karenina, the socialist realist musical comedy Volga, Volga, Karen Shakhnazarov’s
nostalgic 2007 look back at Soviet youth culture of the 1970s, Disappeared Empire
or the 1979 Oscar-winning classic Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears, which deals with
the everyday trials and tribulations of a group of female friends who come to the
capital to study.
Many universities offering ab initio Russian will expect students to have mastered
the Cyrillic alphabet before starting the course. Some beginners’ grammar books
take students swiftly through the alphabet in the early chapters. However, most
students benefit from a more comprehensive study of the alphabet, and for this I
recommend Daphne West’s Beginner’s Russian Script from the Teach Yourself series. This book provides a series of logical, focused exercises to ensure that the
letters of the alphabet are learned thoroughly as they are introduced.
Once familiar with the alphabet, reading practice is the next step, and this can be
gained whilst getting to grips with the basics of Russian grammar. A popular
book with universities is Svetlana le Fleming and Susan E. Kay’s Colloquial Rus21
sian: The Complete Course for Beginners, which uses texts and dialogues to present
new language and grammar in a clear and systematic way.
Students may also want a separate grammar book to refer to in the early stages,
and Daphne West’s Essential Russian Grammar – also from the Teach Yourself
series – is an excellent place to start. As students’ knowledge of grammar becomes more sophisticated, they need look no further than Terence Wade’s A
Comprehensive Russian Grammar – the definitive guide to Russian usage. This can
be bought with the accompanying Russian Grammar Workbook which contains
exercises designed to test the grammar learned.
The internet is also an excellent source of learning materials for beginners. There
are several websites which provide comprehensive introductory courses, including russianforeveryone.com, russianlessons.net and masterrussian.com. The most
attractive and user-friendly of these websites is russianforeveryone.com, designed
by Dr Julia Rochtchina at the University of Victoria, Canada. Rochtchina has also
helped construct the fun and engaging site languagemetropolis.com, a ‘virtual
city’ which enables students to learn Russian through scenarios that unfold in
different areas of Moscow and St Petersburg. For online grammar drills, the best
resource I have found is Sergey Fadeev’s rus-on-line.ru, which offers clear, comprehensive explanations for grammatical concepts at elementary and basic levels.
Students are advised to keep up to date with current affairs in Russia, and there
are some excellent English-language websites devoted to the political and cultural
life of the country. Russia Beyond The Headlines (www.rbth.com) and Russia
Profile (www.russiaprofile.org) provide a wealth of interesting articles on politics, business, science, art and culture.
If students have the opportunity to go to Russia before their course starts, they
may want to combine their sightseeing with a language course in either Moscow
and St Petersburg. In Moscow, recommended courses are offered at the Moscow
State University Russian Language Centre (mgu-russian.com), whilst in St Petersburg, the Derzhavin Institute (www.derzhavin.com) runs courses designed specifically for beginners.
Nick Massey, North London Collegiate School
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Preparing to apply for ab initio Arabic
The first thing to do if you are interested in studying Arabic at university is to
take a substantial bite from one of the rich array of dishes that Arab culture has
to offer. This will help you decide if you fancy more. Try any of the following:
- Learn the alphabet. You can use the first six chapters of Mastering Arabic by
Wightwick and Gaafar or work through The Arabic Alphabet by Nicholas Awde
and Putros Samano. There are also sets on Quizlet and tutorials on YouTube.
- Pick up some conversational Arabic. There are two books I highly recommend: Routledge’s Colloquial Arabic of Egypt by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud
Gaafar; and BBC Active’s Talk Arabic by Jonathan Featherstone. Either will do.
Each is well designed, and gives you a great sense of progress after completing
each unit. Everything is transliterated, so you don’t need to know the alphabet.
Be sure to make full use of the audio (on CD or MP3) – one of the main challenges (and joys!) of Arabic is learning to make some new sounds.
- Read some Arabic literature in translation. Egypt’s Naguib Mahfouz won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988 and, since then, his novels have been widely
available in English. Many candidates read Palace Walk
(1956), which is the first part of his Cairo trilogy. However,
I would strongly advise venturing further afield. I have
spent ten years working with pupils, from all sorts of
schools, applying for Arabic at university. The first thing I
do is ask them to send me their personal statement, and
almost every one mentions having read some Naguib Mahfouz. Nothing wrong in that, but there needs to be something else which helps you stand out from all the other
candidates saying the same thing. Alaa al-Aswany’s The
Yacoubian Building (2004) is a more recent depiction of Cairene life. You can
compare this with Rajaa Al-Sanea’s Girls of Riyadh (2007), written in the form of
e-mails between four friends, which portrays life in a very different city. And
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then the great translator Denys Johnson-Davies has produced a couple of dazzling anthologies of modern Arabic literature: Under the Naked Sky, which contains short stories by authors from Morocco to Iraq; and the longer Anchor Book
of Arabic Fiction, which contains short stories and extracts from major novels. If
you are more classically minded, there is nowhere better than Professor Geert
Jan van Gelder’s Classical Arabic Literature, which contains clearly explained and
readable translations of some of the best offerings of medieval and early modern
Arabic prose and verse (and rhymed prose, which is a genre in itself!), going right
back to the sixth century.
- Read one work of non-fiction that analyses an aspect of the Arab world. Galal
Amin’s Whatever Happened to the Egyptians? (2001) is accessible, with short chapters
and helpful insights which will set you on the road to a better understanding of
social trends in the Arab world. Joumana Haddad’s I Killed Scheherazade (2010)
and Superman is an Arab (2012) are vivid, stimulating essays on gender in the Arab
world, dealing with femininity and masculinity respectively. If history is more
your thing, read Amira Bennison’s The Great Caliphs or anything by Hugh Kennedy. His The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates is a great introduction to the medieval Arab world, and then Eugene Rogan’s The Arabs: A History will bring you up
to the present. You might also like to tackle Amin Maalouf’s The Crusades Through
Arab Eyes or Edward Said’s Orientalism, which are challenging but groundbreaking.
- Travel to the Arab world. This would work especially well if you attended a
language course, as that would put you into direct and daily contact with people
(your teachers and other language centre staff) who could guide you through the
local culture. At the moment, the best places to go to are: the Qasid Arabic Institute near Amman, Jordan (www.qasid.com); the Ali Baba International Centre in
Amman, Jordan (http://www.alibaba.jo); the Arabic Language Institute in Fez,
Morrocco (http://www.alif-fes.com/); and the Gulf Arabic Programme, which is
Oman, but right near the border with the UAE (http://gapschool.net/).
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Once you have decided that you would like to proceed, contact me
([email protected]) with a draft of your personal statement, and I
can provide a more tailor-made advice.
Haroon Shirwani (Eton College)
Preparing to apply for Italian (ab initio) at university
Once the student has decided to apply for ab initio Italian, the first call is almost
inevitably “What should I read for my personal statement and/or interview?”
Of course, applicants may have an interest which has led him or her to choose
the course in the first place. So what should he or she read in general terms?
Some literary work may appeal, in which case I go through a list, discussing the
student’s interests and making recommendations on that basis. Self-evidently, the
works are in translation. You will get some keen to read Dante, but otherwise
some classics to suggest might include Il gattopardo, Il giardino dei Finzi-contini, La
coscienza di Zeno, Il giorno della civetta, or Fontamara, nothing perhaps very original,
but the main point is that the suggestion should fit the candidate. I have also
found that short stories are appealing and one could suggest one of the several
dual language publications available, which would expose the student to the Italian as well. Maybe he or she would enjoy some Boccaccio or has expressed an
interest in poetry? There are available dual language poetry editions if the student
is that way inclined.
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Whilst it is important to get the students reading something, the problem is that
launching into a novel, for instance, may require some context. Therefore, I always recommend some background reading such as Professor Robert Gordon’s
Introduction to Twentieth-Century Italian Literature, especially the first chapter which
outlines the importance of language and geography when trying to understand
the literature (Svevo or Sciascia, the north-east versus Sicily for instance). Some
historical reading is not a bad idea either, so Christopher Duggan’s Concise History
of Italy is fine for the generalist (or his Force of Destiny which covers the period
since 1796 would be perfect for the serious historian).
Watching some films is often an appealing idea and is a good start for those who
might be more daunted by launching straight into a novel. Apart from the obvious more recent successes like Il postino (especially if they are also studying or are
applying for Spanish), Cinema paradiso or La vita è bella, I also suggest films which
are based on classic novels (such as Il gattopardo or Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini) or
others which deal with more recent social issues (La meglio gioventù). Then again,
they always appreciate a classic neo-realist film such as Ladri di bicicletta. Television can also provide opportunities in the form of imports such as Montalbano.
Even if the university does not expect any prior knowledge of the language, any
ab initio course will be made a lot easier by some prior study. Naturally, a course
in Italy over the summer or during a gap year would be beneficial, though not
always affordable. Italy is full of excellent language schools which cater for all
levels, including the Leonardo da Vinci group in all the major cities, The British
Institute in Florence (though closed in August) or Torre di Babele in Rome.
For some absolute conversational basics, the BBC Italian pages (despite a banner
at the top proclaiming “this page has not been updated for a while”) offer a
course called “La Mappa Misteriosa” and another called “Talk Italian” as well as
some useful links, some of which still work. Some might like to have a go at
Teach Yourself Complete Italian.
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Lastly, some advice about dictionaries and grammar reference books may be
provided by universities, but I thoroughly recommend Soluzioni, A Practical
Grammar of Contemporary Italian to anyone studying Italian seriously; it could certainly be studied individually by the most motivated. Indeed, several universities
(including Cambridge and Southampton) suggest acquiring it before arriving.
Peter Langdale, North London Collegiate School
Preparing to apply for Portuguese (ab initio) at university.
Based on my experience over the last seven years, Portuguese is becoming an
increasingly popular ab initio choice for students choosing to study Languages at
university. I have had almost one applicant per year (all for Cambridge and all
successful) and I imagine that this growing interest in the sixth most commonly
spoken language in the world is reflected in other schools also.
So, what do you advise your students to do in order to prepare? My first step
has always been to ask them if they have read ‘The Alchemist’, to which the
answer has always been a proud ‘yes’. I have then told my pupils to stop immediately. This is regularly greeted with scepticism, but largely the book is not regarded in high esteem by Portuguese academics; I can vouch for this, having
made this mistake in my second year at university. Instead, my advice is that they
read the English translation of ‘The Crime of Father Amaro’ by Eça de Queiros.
This excellent, controversial send-up of the Catholic Church will give them
plenty to consider. They can also compare the original work to the Mexican film
version of the same name, starring García Bernal, and to the artist Paula Rego’s
series of unique and, at times, startling paintings inspired by the novel.
There are many other literary works worthy of attention, and I can especially
recommend Fernando Pessoa’s poetry collection ‘Mensagem’ which students
should attempt to read in Portuguese (especially if they already have Spanish)
and any short stories by the renowned Brazilian writer, Machado de Assis.
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To best prepare and develop their linguistic and cultural knowledge without
spending vast amounts of money on chunky textbooks, I recommend students
visit the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/portuguese/. This gives
them an overview of basic, transactional language and provides them with much
needed access to hearing spoken Portuguese. Many an astounded student has commented to me during one of my Portuguese enrichment lessons that ‘it sounds like
Russian! I thought it would be just like Spanish!’ For those who are keen to extend
their language beyond the basics, there are textbooks available in the Grant and
Cutler section of Foyles and I can vouch for ‘Vamos lá Começar’ if students are
keen to start independent study.
These are just a few ideas that should help your students to feel more confident
about their choice of ab initio Portuguese at university. I am always interested to
hear about new resources and ideas and would welcome any feedback or advice!
Daniella Mardell, St. Paul’s Girls’ School
28
What does “German” even mean?
Germany: Memories of a Nation reviewed
On arrival at the British Museum, the first sign that the Germany: Memories of a
Nation exhibition exists is a Volkswagen Beetle in a prominent position in the
Great Court. It’s a bold initial statement. The exhibition proper is hugely informative and a rich source of evidence of Germany’s cultural legacy and diversity. The drawback is that the event never again employs space and bravado
with the same flamboyance as in that first Volkswagen gesture. Evening Standard
reviewer Ben Luke goes too far when he calls the exhibition ‘a bit of a
mess’ (16 October 2014), but there is a lot to process in a small space and visitors need to take their time and prepare their visit (more on which anon).
Proceeding from the notion that Germany has often been more of an idea than
a single state, the displays bring together much that does not habitually sit side
by side in the British consciousness when one thinks of the country. The
quotation from Goethe and Schiller’s joint work Xenien, ‘Deutschland? aber wo
liegt es? Ich weiß das Land nicht zu finden’, applies here. Königsberg, Strasbourg, Prague and Basel are all enlisted as cities which have had claims to call
themselves ‘German’ at some point or other; each has a feature in the exhibition. My ignorance was put to the test (and then, I suppose, assuaged) by the
revelation that Basel had effectively opted to join Switzerland as late as 1501.
That, plus the revelation that one of the headquarter cities of the Hanseatic
League was Ipswich, was the Aha-Erlebnis of my visit.
Each exhibit is an example of ‘an object that opens up a subject’, as Miranda
Sawyer put it in the Observer (19 October 2014). The visitor’s attention is made
to fix on strictly demarcated centres of interest through a series of idiosyncratic,
individual German artefacts. One is not required to arrive with extensive back29
ground knowledge, but instead is encouraged to contemplate the particular
carefully and let the general take care of itself.
This is all very modern. After all, the Internet fosters the rapid establishment of
a wide range of connections from a single request for information, setting up
bifurcating paths of inquiry at lightning speed. This exhibition does something
similar by drawing the viewer in to one object or issue and then multiplying the
connections with other cultural phenomena either in the same room or elsewhere within the viewer’s range of experience.
For example, Dürer’s drawing of the rhinoceros that arrived in Lisbon on 20
May 1515 is placed next to a porcelain version of the rhino originally sculpted
by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner around 1730. The juxtaposition causes the realisation to dawn on the viewer that neither Dürer nor the sculptor ever saw the
rhinoceros.
Thus, the name of the exhibition is carefully chosen. We are not witnessing a
‘history’ of the German nation, nor an account of its ‘reputation’ or even of its
‘impact’. Instead the installation trades in ‘memories’ (and not just false memories of rhinoceroses). Collective memory may be the new en vogue concept but it
is particularly well applied in this exhibition. Indeed, there is frequent reference
in the exhibition to German reevaluation of past concepts of its own nationhood and to periodic attempts to redefine the icons and models of the German
past (King Ludwig I of Bavaria’s Walhalla memorial, intended to honour great
figures and events in German history, being among the most striking).
The Evening Standard review makes the point that each exhibit ‘needs lots of text
to explain what we’re looking at and its significance in the wider narrative’. The
exhibition ‘crams multiple themes into small rooms, bouncing you around in
time’. If that threatens to make you confused, the answer – to which Ben Luke
willingly signs up – is, simply, to listen to the radio. Luke describes Neil MacGregor’s thirty-part series of fifteen-minute Radio 4 broadcasts on the exhibi30
tion’s themes as ‘visionary stuff’. It pays to ponder on the visions that MacGregor produces – of Goethe, Gutenberg, the Hanseatic League, Charlemagne,
sausages, 1848 and much more – before you get into the exhibition room (go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/germany to do just that). They are just
what is needed to allow Germany: Memories of a Nation to make the best possible
sense.
Geoffrey Plow, University College School
The exhibition Germany: Memories of a Nation is at the British Museum until 25 January
2015; open daily 1000-1730, Fridays until 2030; adults £10, children free; for details of
group rates: 020 7323 8181/[email protected].
Sommerfest der Deutschen Sprache &
German Teacher Award 2014
ISMLA were delighted to learn of successes achieved by teachers from two
member schools in the national German Teacher Award 2014: Sara Davidson
and Helen Smail.
The German Teacher Award is jointly organised by the Embassy of the Federal
Republic of Germany, Goethe-Institut London, UK German Connection,
Deutsche Schule London, Department for Education, CfBT Education Trust
and Association for Language Learning. The German Teacher Award recipients, who are nominated by their Headteacher or Deputy Head, each received a
personal prize of £750 and a certificate. Over 200 teachers and representatives
from the education and language teaching sectors from all over the UK joined
the celebrations this year, the eleventh year of the awards, and Ambassador
31
Ammon was delighted to welcome the Rt. Hon. Baroness Coussins of Whitehall Park, Head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Modern Languages,
as the keynote speaker for the event.
The purpose of the various awards is to recognise outstanding achievements by
individual teachers of German in primary and secondary schools in the UK, to
highlight and pay tribute to the work of German teachers in the UK, and to
encourage the commitment of the winners' schools to modern language teaching.
The full list of prize-winners for the year is as follows. Main awards went to
Sara Davidson (Oundle School, Peterborough) Susan Prichard (St. Bonaventure's School, London), and Helen Smail (Haberdashers' Monmouth School for
Girls, Monmouth). The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Sheila
Hakes of Sharnbrook Upper School, Sharnbrook, while the Goethe-Institut
presented the Peter Boaks Award recognising an exceptional teacher at the start
of their career to Angela Ridsdale of Ponteland High School, Newcastle upon
Tyne.
Below we include Helen’s and Sara’s thoughts on the event in which the awards
were presented, plus some details of what they have been doing at their respective schools to promote German so effectively. Many congratulations to both
Helen and Sara.
Geoffrey Plow, Vice Chairman of ISMLA
Helen Smail (Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls)
I was both surprised and delighted to receive a German Teacher Award in July
of this year. The ceremony, generously hosted by the German Embassy and
held in the impressive Locarno Room at the Foreign Office, was a wonderful
opportunity to meet fellow German enthusiasts, to exchange ideas and to confirm that there is a good deal of positive work going on in the world of German
32
language teaching. This positive feel was highlighted by the uplifting speech of
Baroness Coussins, who underlined the need for more linguists.
Sustaining a positive approach to language teaching, however, has not been
easy of late, especially in the case of German: dwindling pupil numbers, a perception that German is ‘too difficult’ and the claim that all Germans speak excellent English are some of the problems with which we are faced. So how do
we engage and motivate pupils to learn German? Many of us will already have
drawn our pupils' and parents' attention to the need for German in the workplace, the strong German economy and the fact that employers value competent German speakers. Moreover, Germans may well have excellent German
skills but there are also distinct advantages in understanding not only the language itself, but more particularly the thought processes of one's trading partner. We may also have emphasised the huge cultural impact of German literature, philosophy, art and film. Additionally, we may have made clear that if
German is a more complex language than some of its European counterparts,
this must surely work in favour of learning it, since the high degree of problemsolving, the level of analysis and the eye for accuracy required when learning
German are skills which are advantageous to both pupils and employers.
Maybe, however, pupils need to understand why the languages on offer in their
school are being offered. This involves schools having a clear rationale which
underpins the languages on offer in the curriculum. If a school believes in
providing a broad language platform at Key Stage 3, for example, this needs to
be understood by pupils. At Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls, by the
end of Key Stage 3 we try to ensure that our pupils will have been exposed to
the two main language systems of Europe; the Romance languages of the south
and the Germanic languages of Northern Europe. To reflect this, pupils will
study French in Year 7, German and French are studied in Year 8 and finally
any two of French, German and Spanish can be taken in Year 9. At Key Stage
4, all pupils study one language or more.
33
A wider approach to language learning was highlighted this year when we embarked upon an especially creative and innovative project which united the departments of Dance and German. Pupils danced to express key points in German history, from 1930 to 1990, such as the Book Burnings in 1933, the Holocaust and the post-war German Economic Miracle. The project culminated in a
spectacular show over three nights, in which 120 pupils across all age groups
were involved. As pupils researched this era the project became increasingly
cross-curricular in nature, involving History, Art, Drama and DT.
We have found, then, that if pupils have an understanding of the wider context
of the language, they will find the language-learning experience more engaging
and motivating.
Sara Davidson (Oundle School)
On 3 July this year I was absolutely thrilled to receive one of three German
Teacher awards, presented by the German Ambassador, Dr Peter Ammon, at
the Sommerfest der deutschen Sprache, this year held at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London.
I have been teaching German for twenty years now and this was the third time
I had been nominated for the award, which made finally being successful all the
more special, as it felt like it was not an award given lightly. Despite being the
head of a large modern languages department, I have always felt that I am first
and foremost an enthusiastic modern languages teacher and am passionate
about the German language and culture, so to have had the work we do in the
department at Oundle School acknowledged by the German Embassy is a real
feat.
We have worked extremely hard at making German a popular language choice
at Oundle. Key to this has been excellent, varied and lively teaching and we
34
have achieved this by incorporating film and literature into our Year 9 schemes
of work, teaching grammar rigorously and not skirting around the issue, encouraging lots of spoken German in class and demanding high standards. Exam
results have been excellent at all levels and this has encouraged exam-savvy
pupils to opt for German as they know they can get good grades.
Introducing the Pre-U six years ago has done German a lot of good as it is a
flexible and wide-ranging course that pupils enjoy, whatever their ability. Celebrating every German event possible with pupils, entering them into lots of
external competitions and bringing in lots of outside speakers have also helped.
Popular events have been our mini ‘Oktoberfest’/meal and beer-tasting event
for the Sixth Form, the annual German Declamation competition and a visit by
a Germanist-In-Residence for a day who used songs by the latest groups and
film-clips as a motivational tool. Talks from a wide range of speakers from the
German departments of several top universities have also been well-attended
and inspiring. We have a keen group of Lower Sixth Formers who run our German Society and we use pupil ambassadors to talk to younger pupils about the
benefits of learning German, choosing it as a GCSE/Pre-U option or going on
the various German trips.
We still run a well-subscribed German exchange and took 17 pupils to Hamburg last year. We have recently set up a Year 9 trip to Hamelin to explore the
Grimm’s Fairy Tales and we also run a Sixth Form Study Trip to Berlin. We use
our German Assistentin in class at all levels, not just for individual or smallgroup conversation, and she helps to run extra activities. The promotion of
German is a full-time job and it is necessary to keep really up-to-date on everything happening in Germany regarding current affairs and culture. All members
of the department need to be on-board with this because it is this immediacy
with Germany that keeps German attractive. I have been lucky to be working
with a dedicated team of Germanists.
Also key to the recent popularity of German, and indeed all modern languages
at Oundle, has been our new building for Modern Languages, the Adamson
35
Centre. We have also recently set up an ALL Network from our new centre (the
Peterborough branch of the Association of Language Learning). The creation of
the Adamson centre was a four-year project, initiated by a legacy left to the Languages department by an old boy, which came to fruition in September 2013.
Working in the state-of-the-art surroundings of our new Languages Centre is a
source of inspiration and dynamism for both the teaching staff and our pupils.
Internationalism is important to Oundle; today’s pupils will be competing for
jobs in a highly competitive and global world. Our aim is not only to be at the
cutting edge of teaching and learning, but ultimately to enable Oundelians to
learn and appreciate any language of their choosing.
36
Oxford German Olympiad:
calling creative talent!
The Oxford German Olympiad was established in 2012 by the Oxford German
Network, an initiative also set up in 2012 by Oxford University’s Faculty of
Modern Languages. It is designed to encourage young learners to explore areas
of German they might not otherwise encounter. The first competition focused
on the Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tales, published in 1812, and it culminated in a
prize-giving event in the magnificent Divinity School in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, with some 40 prizes being awarded by David Cornwell (aka John le Carré).
He talked about his fascination with German literature and language and their
role in the work that gave rise to his Cold-War spy thrillers. A display of first
editions and letters relating to the Grimm Brothers from the Bodleian’s holdings
afforded the prize-winners and their guests glimpses of the pathways taken by
the tales.
The 2013-14 Olympiad then delved into the depths of German history with the
theme “1914”. It encouraged participants to join the debates about the First
World War and range beyond the political sphere to find out about the contemporary culture produced in that year. The quality of entries was impressive and
included inventive posters, news reports and a fascinating website produced by a
group of participants which offered insights into a whole spectrum of daily and
cultural life. Alongside prizes awarded for entries on the central theme, there
were prizes sponsored by the business software company SAP (“Networking in
German”), the Goethe-Institut (“German for the Future”) and the Oxford Kafka
Research Centre (“Kafkaesque Stories”). The prizes were awarded by Michael
Steiner, Kafka’s great-nephew.
This year’s theme is “Von Pop bis Poesie: Poetry and Music”. Information on
the competition tasks and some music and poetry to explore are given on the
Oxford German Network website: http://www.ogn.ox.ac.uk/oxford-germanolympiad-2015. The competition is open to individual entrants and groups from
Year 5 upwards.
The closing date for submissions is Monday, 2 March 2015. We look forward to
receiving your entries!
Katrin Kohl, Oxford University
37
Cuenca – The True Spanish Experience
The UNESCO world heritage town of Cuenca in Spain has launched a unique
initiative in which the institutions and people of the town have come together to
create an exciting and really immersive language stay package, which offers:
A stunning location and a safe environment for students
→ Built by the Moors in a defensive position at the heart of the
Caliphate of Cordoba, Cuenca is an unusually well-preserved
medieval fortified city. Full of interest it is at the same time small
enough to make exploring a safe and easy experience.
Full Immersion in our ‘Experiencias’
→ Activities to build fluency provided by local businesses, local high
schools, the town council, chamber of commerce and specialist schools of
music, drama, ceramics and sport in which students can use the language
in real-life situations including flamenco dance, a TV studio, sports, theatre,
ceramics and arts, and can take part in activities with their Spanish peers
from the town.
Language practice classes
→ Fully designed to your specifications by the Universidad
Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
Hand-picked local host families
→ With full Spanish CRB/DBS-equivalent checks providing the
experience of an exchange without the arrangements
Optional daytrips
→ Madrid, The Prado, The Bernabéu Stadium, Warner Park
Cuenca Region, Roman mines and Archaeology.
Valencia, Grenada
For an information pack,
Please contact our London agents: on
…[email protected] I 0203 092 5951
The Hispanic Theatre Festival
North London Collegiate School
As a spectator at the inaugural Hispanic Theatre Festival
in 2013, I was immediately
inspired to get involved this
year. As well as the obvious
linguistic benefits of the experience, the huge advantage
of preparing a five to ten
minute scene with a limited
number of pupils is that you
St. Paul’s Girls’ School
can experience the ‘buzz’ of theatre
without spending hours rehearsing
and thinking about props, lighting, make-up and costumes. Equally, the pupils
readily take the challenge into their own hands so the onus is on them. The result on the night is that you experience drama at its most intimate and personal:
this year we were treated to a snapshot of Hispanic theatre from the last 80
years. The programme demonstrated the wealth of plays in existence in the
Spanish-speaking world to be read, studied, seen and performed.
The festival began with an entertaining and captivating performance of Los Figurantes by Highgate. Whitgift followed with their fast-paced and politicallycharged Chilean drama: La Muerte y la doncella, which they delivered in original
and powerful style. I was most intrigued by Harrow’s chosen play: El Cero transparente, a great example of theatre of the absurd. Eton’s well-timed scene from
Los Invasores reminded me of the classic ‘down-and-outs’ scene in Buñuel’s Viridiana. The scenes from La Zapatera Prodigiosa and Las Bicicletas son para el verano, by
NLCS and King Alfred’s respectively, provided excellent representations of family life in Spain in the 1930s. Mill Hill’s final scene from En la ardiente oscuridad
was an example of subversive theatre during Franco’s dictatorship. St Paul’s
Girls’ provided a comedy highlight with a hilarious scene from Mujeres al borde de
un ataque de nervios, where they delightfully captured the kitsch of the film. Finally,
Bedford with La Llave en el desván and UCS with ¡Más respeto, que soy tu madre!
39
showed us how the
financial crises in
1950s Spain and early
2000s Argentina affected ordinary people.
Ultimately, the festival
proved that pupils in
the UK studying
Spanish have the ability to pull-off some
Whitgift School
most convincing performances in
a foreign language. I have to confess that I am already thinking about my chosen
scene and cast for next year...
Melvyn Bardou, Mill Hill School
Results of the competition:
Mejor actor: Frederick Haslam (Highgate)
Mejor español individual: Ines Sousa (Highgate)
Mejor español grupo: La Muerte y la doncella (Whitgift School)
Mejor obra: Los Invasores (Eton College)
Mejor actor de reparto: Henry Eaton- Mercer (Eton College)
Mejor experiencia teatral: Las Bicicletas son para el verano (King Alfred
School)
40
French language immersion in
beautiful Burgundy
At Maison Claire Fontaine we are completely focussed on
providing amazing French immersion trips for school groups of
8 – 18 year olds in a safe and intimate environment.
We offer:

Exclusive use of our
centre for your visit.

All lessons and activities
led by bilingual native
French speakers.


A small, enthusiastic,
professional and experienced
team.
A uniquely individual and
tailored service which is
recommended by many
leading independent schools.
We are also looking for UK gap year students to work with
us from September 2015. Do you know anyone who might be
interested in a French experience before University?
For more information please contact Alex at
[email protected]
or visit our website at www.maisonclairefontaine.com
French Theatre Festival
We are delighted to announce the launch of the First
French Speaking Theatre Festival, largely inspired by Xiomara Yerbury’s Festival Hispano de Teatro (NLCS).
The French Department of King Alfred School would like to invite you to the
First French Speaking Theatre Festival which will take place on Wednesday 4
March in our Phoenix Theatre. Participating schools will be sending their best
Year Eleven and Sixth Form Students to perform an extract of a play in French,
written by a French speaking playwright (or even by the students). If you would
like to enter your students into the competition, please send an email to Pauline
Moloney ([email protected] ) to register your school.
Reviews
thisislanguage.com
We started using thisislanguage.com two years ago, and have been extremely impressed with all aspects of the resource. For those not familiar with it, it is essentially an online bank of over 3000 short videos (typically thirty seconds in length),
in French, Spanish and German, each one featuring a young native speaker answering a GCSE style question. Although the focus is on GCSE and IGCSE,
many of the topics covered also overlap with AS courses, so the resource can just
as successfully be used at this level too. The videos are arranged by topic and
question, come with full transcripts and are easily found. Accompanying each
video is a series of activities, ranging from vocabulary exercises to gap-fill (either
requiring words to be typed or using a ‘drag and drop’ multiple choice) to comprehension questions in English. New videos are added twice a year so the content is always fresh.
42
We firstly set up all Year 10 and 11 pupils with usernames and passwords but
have since decided to allow AS pupils to retain their accounts, as we feel it has
lots to offer them too. We were then able to start setting pupils work to complete individually, initially for homework or holiday tasks. All of our Year 10
pupils for example, were set a series of videos to work on over the summer
break, relating to the Tricolore Total / Mira topics they had covered during the
year. I was amazed at the amount of work that they did on the site! I was also
thrilled by the ease with which I was firstly able to set these tasks and then to
monitor who had done what, when and with what success. All of the exercises
are automatically marked for you, making your life as a teacher significantly easier. Our pupils were clearly motivated by the nature of the resource (and on seeing their names on the various leader boards that feature within the site), and
were certainly exposed to more language over the holiday than if traditional textbook based holiday tasks had been recommended.
Classes can also work in the Language Lab on videos pre-set by the teacher, relating to the topic being studied. The focus with which my group worked last
lesson last Friday was testimony to the value of this website. I rewarded my class
with five minutes at the end on Nutty Tilez, an addictive multi-player on-line vocabulary game that also features on the site (after having asked each of them
share with the class two new expressions or words that they had just learnt).
During a lesson such as this, monitoring who has done which activities and with
what level of success couldn’t be simpler.
My other experience of such an online resource has been Kerboodle, and, while I
like many of its features, I can certainly say that the administrative tasks of managing and updating class lists, setting work, assigning pupils to teachers etc. are
far simpler with thisislanguage. George Van den Bergh, a former Languages teacher at Rugby School, has made many improvements to his site over the past couple of years, particularly in the range of activities on offer and through allowing
teachers to ‘set as an exercise’ many more tasks. Teachers can also now access a
document that suggests which videos could usefully accompany each chapter of
the various textbooks we all use.
43
Is there any room for improvement? I do think that more ‘one star’ (easier) videos could be produced. Without wishing to remove the key feature of the site,
that of ‘real language’, I wonder if some more videos that are more accessible to
younger or less confident learners could be added?
All in all, however, this is a great resource, which is well worth its annual subscription.
James D. Burnet, Loretto School, Musselburgh
To subscribe, go to http://www.thisislanguage.com/contact
Once you have subscribed, you can set up your pupils with usernames and passwords by sending
an email to [email protected]
French B Course Companion (OUP): Christine Trumper and John Israel ISBN 978-0-19-839006-0
The IB community has been crying out for a quality French textbook for years.
Certainly, when I started teaching the qualification a decade ago, the lack of interest from any publisher meant that my colleagues and I spent a busy summer
creating our own resources for every single type of IB text. Since then, the
French B syllabus has changed, and the stipulation of three Core topics
(Communications and Media; Global Issues; Social Relationships) has allowed
OUP to adopt a structured, thematic approach in this textbook.
The only downside of this book appears to be the lack of a title! This will make
my task as reviewer rather challenging; rather than referring endlessly to the
bland ‘French B Course Companion’, I will just use “the book” and similar formulations. Grudgingly, I would admit that ‘Course Companion’ is a good description. The book does not claim to be a foolproof guide which will cover each
topic in full (as if that every existed), but acknowledges that teachers will want to
supplement their own resources wherever possible. As a teacher, this has always
44
been the joy of IB teaching: the ability to plough your own furrow when the urge
takes you, without worrying that your students will be undermined by the sort of
narrow exam focus promoted by AS/A2. The book, however, will provide all
teachers of IB, whether at Standard or Higher Levels, with an excellent back-up
plan when inspiration and time are in short supply.
The variety of texts is very good indeed. There are shorter Standard Level comprehension passages, accompanied by the sort of lengthy passage that features
on the Higher Level paper, and the comprehension questions are in the precise
format used in the final examinations. Pleasingly, there is a fascinating range of
texts dealing with la Francophonie (Sénégal, Congo, Québec and le Maghreb all
feature) that is very much in the spirit of the IB syllabus. Interestingly, each subchapter contains suggestions as to how the topic might relate to students’ CAS
requirements and also to TOK. This is not something I had thought of doing
previously, but I can see how an experienced IB school that is determined to link
up the curriculum according to the IBO’s ideals could adopt these.
I would also point out that, in buying this book, you certainly get a lot for your
money. It has 376 pages, as well as a website which gives teachers the answers to
all the comprehension questions. Furthermore, it does not just cater for Paper
One. There are written tasks requiring students to produce the full range of text
types, and collaborative oral activities that I can imagine using ‘off the peg’. Finally, although I’ve also been sceptical of textbooks that claim to provide a
shortcut to the delivery of literature, there is a section that provides an imaginative collection of literary extracts, again with full suggestions as to how a teacher
might explore them.
In conclusion, if I were still teaching the IB Diploma, I would want this resource
to hand. It is pricey at £29, but, as mentioned, it is incredibly broad in scope. If
you can’t afford it for the entire cohort, maybe a class set for use in filling the
gaps in your own resources could be the solution?
45
Allez (for details go to global.oup.com/education/content/secondary/
series/allez)
‘Allez’ is a new course developed by Oxford University Press to cover the teaching and learning of French to 11-14 year old pupils of all abilities. There are two
each of the Student books, Grammar and Skills Workbooks, Teacher Handbooks and the sets of Audio CD packs. The course is accompanied by Kerboodle: Lessons, Resources and Assessment. The course claims to cover the new
National Curriculum and to meet the new Ofsted requirements, with an emphasis on independent learning and progression for all.
Significantly, the course aims to appeal to all learners, from the beginner to the
pupil who has already been exposed to some French at Key Stage 2. Thus, the
course employs differentiation through Bronze, Silver and Gold activities, particularly online through Kerboodle. However, there is a clumsiness to the introductory pages of the Student book which starts with a mixture of assumptions about
previous knowledge and little effort to scaffold the pupils’ learning. The first
page, for example, shows a map of Europe with masculine and feminine countries, nationalities both masculine and feminine and the introduction of je m’appelle and j’habite. The grammar point on the page is focused only on masculine,
feminine and plural countries, without any real explanation of en and au, which
are used to say where people live.
This example is representative of the whole course; the level of difficulty is often
too high for beginners and scaffolding is lacking. Equally, the pages themselves
are very busy and contain lots of new grammar and structures crammed onto the
page. The layout of the textbook is also familiar, failing to stand out from existing publications.
Some of the advantages of the course are the videos at the end of the modules
which add a great interactive and current aspect to the language and to the teaching of pronunciation. In addition, the general tips on the pages of the Student
book are very useful.
However, in an already very competitive market, Allez sadly falls short of the
mark.
Chris McRill, Belmont School
46
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47
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Autumn 2014 - The Independent Schools` Modern Language

Transcription

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