Spring 2013 working.pub - The Independent Schools` Modern

ISMLA
NEWSLETTER
Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association
www.ismla.co.uk
Spring 2013
Contact the Committee
Jane Byrne,
The Manchester Grammar School
Chairman
Nick Mair,
Dulwich College
Tel: 0161 2247201
[email protected]
Tel: 020 8693 3601
[email protected]
Duncan Byrne,
Cheltenham College
Vice Chairman and Membership
Secretary
Geoffrey Plow,
University College School
Tel: 01242 265604
[email protected]
Jim Houghton,
Highgate School
Tel: 020 7433 2302
[email protected]
[email protected]
Treasurer
Peter Ansell,
Stonyhurst College
Liz Hughes
[email protected]
Tel: 01254 826345
[email protected]
Astrid McAuliffe,
Alleyn’s School
(Responsibility for German)
Secretary
Jenny Davey,
Glenalmond College
Tel: 020 8557 1506
[email protected]
[email protected]
Richard Oates,
Sherborne School
Newsletter Editor
Peter Langdale,
North London Collegiate School
Tel: 01935 812249
[email protected]
Tel: 020 8952 0912
[email protected]
David Sheppard,
Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
Reviews and Website Editor
Thomas Underwood,
University College School
[email protected]
Julia Whyte,
St Francis' College
Tel: 020 7435 2215
[email protected]
Tel: 01462 670511
[email protected]
Awarding Bodies Liaison Officer
Alex Frazer,
Mill Hill School
Liaison with ALL, ISMLA representative on Executive Council
Kevin Dunne,
Ampleforth College
[email protected]
Liaison with Prep Schools
Gillian Forte,
St Christopher’s School, Hove
Tel: 01439 766000
[email protected]
Tel: 01273 735404
[email protected]
ISMLA Representative on AQA
consultative committee
Patrick Thom,
The Manchester Grammar School
Exhibitions Organiser
David Cragg-James
Tel: 0161 2247201
[email protected]
[email protected]
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Contents
From the Chairman
4
Languages: the State of the Nation
6
Notes from the Editor’s Diary
7
ISMLA National Conference 2013
11
Inaugural ISMLA Spanish Day
20
Changing the Shape of Languages Provision
22
Training the next generation of teachers
25
The Times Stephen Spender Prize
27
El Festival Hispano de Teatro Intercolegial de Londres
29
British Academy Schools Language Awards 2013
32
Junior German Assistant
33
Reviews
37
Dates for Your Diary
⇒
ISMLA German Day: Saturday 16th November, 2013, Goethe-Institut London
⇒
ISMLA National Conference 2014: Saturday,
1st February, City of London School for Boys
The image on the cover is by Edouard Manet, Spring (Jeanne de
Marsy), 1881. Private Collection
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From the Chairman
How wonderful to see so many of you at St Peter’s, York! The content and
delivery of lectures was matched by the earnestness of the conversations
between delegates and, as ever, by the range of products on offer from the
exhibitors. There can have been few teachers who did not find something of
interest or of use from such varied fare as ‘ways to improve oral participation’
from Amanda Barton, a glimpse of future examinations from Barnaby Lenon
or an introduction to British Sign Language from Teacher of the Year,
Amanda Smith. All of the conference offerings are summarised elsewhere in
this Newsletter. You can also find accompanying PowerPoints available as
downloads from the ISMLA website.
Particular thanks for their organisational skills go to Mike Duffy (who hosted
us as Head of Modern Languages at St Peter’s), Geoffrey Plow and David
Cragg-James – and in anticipation, our thanks to Robin Edmundson at City of
London School for Boys, who welcomes us on Saturday 1st February 2014
(there will be no clash with BETT which has moved forward a week).
No issue would be complete without some update on the place of MFL in the
curriculum – and here follow three important items – changes to the EBacc,
the design of future GCSE and A level examinations and the Language Trends
Survey.
Changes to the EBacc - Recent changes to the EBacc mean that MFL no
longer find themselves inside the famous five of English, Maths, Science, a
Humanity and MFL – but nesting amongst the three subjects that must be
taken in addition to the compulsory English and Maths.
Future GCSE and A Level examinations – We can only hope that numbers
of those taking the new GCSE MFL examination will rise. You will probably
know that the likelihood is that all the new GCSEs will become half a grade
harder and so some will claim that this will put it on a par with the IGCSE
examinations that have proved increasingly attractive to independent schools
(my own included).
We lament the reduction in the range of languages that can be examined
using OCR’s excellent Asset qualifications – only French, Spanish, German,
Italian and Mandarin remain.
No languages teacher would think it right to see the decline of languages at A
level that has occurred in recent years. There are very real dangers if MFL
are seen as the preserve of ‘the privileged few’ – I understand that 60% of
A/A* grades come from pupils in independent schools. We would all list numerous reasons why we believe language learning is beneficial – though few
of us could manage the 700 listed at www.llas.ac.uk/700reasons .
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Language Trends Survey – You should be aware that the results of the
annual national update on MFL become public at the end of March when the
2012 survey is unveiled at the ALL national conference at Nottingham Trent
University
www.all-languages.org.uk/events/language_world/
language_world_2013. Having read the draft report can I suggest that you
will want to read at the very least the (eight or so page long) executive summary and either dip into or read the full report.
What then should we do? My attempt, with ISMLA’s support, has been to
start a campaign under the Speak to the Future – the campaign for languages banner. I urge you to write to your MP and to ask them their opinion
of the importance of languages and language learning to the UK. With their
consent we then post your letter and their reply on the Speak to the Future
website. Should they fail to reply we can post your letter – and their conspicuous lack of a reply. With option choices for GCSE and A level close at
hand you can encourage pupils to do the same. There are 560 MPs – we
managed to contact over 600 of the 1600 prospective MPs at the last election.
Whatever you may think about the value of language learning the recent
Employers Taskforce study estimated that UK plc loses out by some £7 billion
yearly because of our lack of language skills. If ever there were a time to
fight for languages for all, that time is now.
Nick Mair
Contributions to the Newsletter
We value all articles, letters or reflections in any form which
contribute to enriching the debate about modern language
teaching in our schools. Contact the editor, Peter Langdale
([email protected]).
The Reviews Editor, Tom Underwood, would be happy to hear
from anyone wishing to review books, websites and other
teaching
materials.
Contact
him
at
[email protected] if you are interested.
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Languages: the State of the Nation
Required Reading?
A recently published report by the British Academy makes useful and interesting reading and, what is more, will provide plenty of ammunition if you
want to follow the utilitarian line in persuading parents, pupils or SMTs of the
virtues of languages in general and of the relative importance iof each in the
‘marketplace’. (See Andrew Hunt’s article on page XXX where he takes a
quite different line as to the value of language learning!). To whet the appetite, see the table taken from the report of languages requested in job advertisements in the UK below.
The report highlights the UK’s ‘market failure’ in language learning. Drawing
on new research – including a survey of UK employers and labour market
intelligence to identify the language skills required by employers – Languages: the State of the Nation provides strong evidence that the UK is suffering from a growing deficit in foreign language skills at a time when global
demand is expanding. The report argues that a weak supply of language
skills in the job market is pushing down demand and creating a vicious circle
of monolingualism. It calls for concerted and joined-up efforts across government, education providers, employers, language learners and the wider community to ensure that language policies respond to new economic realities.
The full report (or a summary) can be downloaded from the British Academy
website: www.britac.ac.uk/policy/State_of_the_Nation_2013.cfm
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Notes from the Editor’s Diary
17th November, 2012
Keen followers of these pages will recall my excitement that BOTH texts I had
chosen for my A2 students to study were going to be staged in London. The
first I saw with my pupils was the production of Bérénice by Racine at the
Donmar Warehouse, in a translation by Alan Hollinghurst. Perhaps the problem is that my pupils and I actually knew the original French quite well, and
maybe the intimate space of the Donmar does not lend itself to Racinian
tragedy, but we came away disappointed. I generally admire Michael Billington’s reviews in the Guardian, but for once I was forced to disagree with him
when he wrote that ‘the evening, as a whole, is quietly compelling. It certainly breathes what Racine called "that majestic sadness which is the whole
pleasure of tragedy" ‘. For us one of the main barriers to feeling that
‘tristesse majestueuse’ was a translation which seemed to deny the majestic
in Racine and occasionally slipped into the absurd (since when does one
translate the French ‘ingrat’ with ‘ingrate’?). Charles Spencer, writing in the
Daily Telegraph wrote of the translation ‘Even Alan Hollinghurst …. sometimes struggles here to make Racine sound fresh and vigorous. His English
version of Bérénice is certainly lucid and sometimes elegant, but I never
found myself ravished by the beauty of the language.’ Lucid, yes, elegant,
rarely. Indeed, is it ever possible to render in English the pain and poise of
these immortal lines?
Que le jour recommence, et que le jour finisse,
Sans que jamais Titus puisse voir Bérénice,
Similarly, one wonders why in British versions or productions of Racine it is
almost de rigueur to want to make the audience laugh on occasions, as if to
want to break the unremitting tension between Love and Duty that is at the
heart of this French classical tragedy. We want to like and admire Racine but
rarely manage to stage his works without (wittingly or unwittingly) injecting a
dose of the Anglo-Saxon.
12th January, 2013
I was invited to take part in a round table discussion
at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the
Society for Italian Studies (SIS). I joined Claire Dodd,
the Chair of the ALL Italian Committee (who leads a
thriving Italian Department at Gosforth Academy) and
two current students from Bristol and Leeds Universities to explore take-up of Italian at University and
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levels which are most commonly required for entry to our leading universities
and will seek the views of universities outside of the Russell Group, as well as
engaging with relevant learned societies and others.” So which body should
one approach with views on the design of the new A Level? Given that universities have in my experience shown little knowledge or interest in the content of the A Level modern languages syllabus, what can we expect from
them? What is more, Mr Gove in his letter states that in his opinion “the primary purpose of A levels is to prepare students for degree-level study”, but
for many of our pupils, the purpose of the study of a language at A Level is
quite other. He also states that “Linguists complain about the inadequacy of
university entrants' foreign language skills”, while we get a pat on the back
when he states “the best private schools routinely teach beyond A levels,
giving their pupils an advantage in the competition for university places”.
Interesting times ahead.
February 2013
It is time to choose which language(s) to study for GCSE. One of our ablest
pupils is doing the rounds seeking advice as to whether to continue with Latin
or start Russian. A false dilemma maybe, but one which in one form or another many of our pupils face. Latin GCSE was attractive in part because of
the literature content compared to an MFL equivalent - a reminder that we
need to ensure a proper intellectual content in our courses which challenges
pupils and gives them a sense of achievement which goes beyond ‘my last
summer holidays’ or ‘what I do to protect the environment’!
February Half-term
Finally made it to the Manet exhibition at
the Royal Academy in London. A real
treat, with the chance to see many of
his finest paintings in the flesh for the
first time. The exhibition is primarily
designed around Manet the portraitist
and what struck me most forcibly was
the warmth and affection that came
across in his family portraits and those
of his friends and supporters (Mallarmé,
Zola, and Antonin Proust in particular).
Ends 14th April, 2013
Peter Langdale
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9
10
ISMLA National Conference 2013
The ISMLA National Conference took place on Saturday, 2nd February and
was generously hosted this year by St Peter’s School, York. Here follow the
customary reports on the talks.
AMANDA BARTON: Motivating Pupils To Speak (In The Right Language And
At The Right Time): Overcoming The Wall Of Silence.
We all know that sinking feeling when we pose a question to a group of
learners and there is no response whatsoever; even worse if there happens
to be an inspector or your line manager in the class. It can bring the best
teacher to his or her knees and cause great self-doubt. Remembering my O
level days when the oral was only worth 5% of the whole examination,
speaking the language was not that high on anyone’s list of priorities. Cue to
2013 when the current examination system has an oral that counts for anywhere between 25 and 30% of the overall grade, we have to get our pupils
motivated and wanting to speak and do it as spontaneously as possible without them feeling shy or embarrassed. But how?
Dr Amanda Barton’s talk provided all present with some very good, practical
advice on how we engage our pupils more in the talking process. It is important to bear in mind, for example, that girls and boys approach speaking differently. Boys are risk takers and do not always care about being wrong; the
funnier the better, no doubt. This attitude diminishes with age. Girls, conversely, want to be right or are fearful of looking foolish and this is possibly
more marked in mixed schools. Her findings that pupils do not view speaking
as work as such, makes it even more imperative to get pupils motivated to
speak.
Creating situations where pupils can speak in pairs is to be encouraged as
this means pupils do not feel so exposed to the ridicule of their peers.
Amanda suggested we get pupils to cup their ears thus creating their own
private language booth so they can hear themselves speaking. We should
question whether we are getting them to speak just for the sake of speaking
or whether we are actually getting them to produce utterances for a reason.
(After all, there is not much point in asking a chid you know what his or her
name is!) However if a pupil assumes a different personality (which is a more
creative situation) a real information gap is created and questions can be
posed to elicit meaningful and not already known answers. Amanda showed
us how we can get the whole class taking by simply creating dominos of
unlinked questions and answers whereby one child asks the questions on the
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card and someone else with that answer has to reply and, in turn read the
questions printed on the domino. Everyone has spoken and also had to listen.
A very important point that she made was that we should, as teachers, think
of how much we are talking in class. Do we talk too much? Do we delude
ourselves that the pupils will just intuit what we are saying and become good
speakers? How about teachers learning a new language themselves to put
themselves back into a situation where they might find it all rather difficult?
I did this myself: it was not easy!
My lingering memory of the day was being persuaded to get on my feet and
join in as Amanda got us to sing along – Gangnam style – to German lyrics.
Great fun, highly undignified, but something that might motivate our charges
to say more. Readers might be interested to know about Amanda’s book:
Getting the Buggers into Languages.
Julia Whyte
JOE DALE: Keeping Your Learners `Appy! - iPods And iPads In The Language Classroom
Independent language and technology consultant Joe Dale gave a humorous,
fast-paced and informative talk to a packed lecture theatre. Using his iPod
touch as a remote control and the Keynote app, Joe led the audience through
a wealth of up-to-date and valuable information and examples. He began by
summarising the background to iPods in the classroom and by giving us a
rundown of the current language movers and shakers who are online. The
emergence of Twitter, web chats, blogs and webinars have all given teachers
a chance to swap ideas and techniques in pedagogy more frequently than in
the past; the MFL Twitterati scene is also currently thriving. Joe emphasised
his confidence in iPads for creating content in lessons and the idea that pupils
are on learning journeys. He proceeded to outline a number of useful apps,
which could be used for the purpose of creating movies, e-books, comics and
voice overs etc.
There is a great deal of research being completed at the moment and Joe
highlighted various projects and online essays, including those on his blog.
He finished by examining how to set up rules for the use of iPads in the classroom and a case study involving QR codes. Everybody in the room appreciated Joe's boundless enthusiasm and passion for IT and languages and we all
left for lunch with plenty of food for thought. Joe’s PowerPoint of the talk is
available on the ISMLA website.
Tom Underwood
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AMANDA SMITH: Thumbs Up To BSL
Amanda Smith is programme leader for British Sign Language (BSL), Senior
Lecturer and teaching fellow at York, St John University. In 2011, Amanda
was named National Teacher of the Year for her work in Modern Languages in
the Signature Awards which seek to recognise those making a significant
contribution to improving access to society for deaf and deafblind people.
Amanda’s presentation, “Thumbs up to BSL” was absolutely fascinating. She
gave us a very clear history of the development of the language and made us
aware of how hard its users had to work to ensure that what we now see as
the natural way for a large community to communicate was not stamped out.
In this respect, its experience was not unlike that of Welsh: those in authority deeming that groups should conform to communication methods imposed
upon them. Now however, it is clear from the statistics she showed us,
Amanda is leading the way in training new users of BSL and this trend is
growing exponentially.
My personal passion for languages is nourished by the exploration of questions about what systems different groups of individuals develop to allow
communication of the messages they need to communicate. Amanda took us
into precisely this territory, asking us to distinguish between “deaf” (the state
of being unable to hear) and “Deaf” the cultural group of people whose communication needs must take being deaf into account. Immediately this distinction was made, BSL’s identity as a language changed for me from a kinetic translation of English into a very three-dimensional physical code. This
is a language with intonation - where emphasis can be added to an idea by
facial expression and by the force, speed, placement and expansiveness of
movement. Earlier in the day, Amanda Barton had asked us to practise an
exchange using different intonation with our neighbours with just the two
words “please” and “no”. I asked Amanda to show us the same exercise in
BSL and was delighted by the evident variation in expression we saw. We
asked lots and lots of questions of Amanda: her talk clearly firing up linguists
and showing us through the door of what for many of us was uncharted territory. Sign languages vary across the world; there are equivalents to poetry
and nursery rhymes; there are dictionaries; you can spell out words of vocabulary if you don’t know the signs; there are even dialect-like variations.
Amanda Smith brought a community language to light for her group and the
debate was lively and inspiring. We are grateful to her translators for keeping up with our questions and answers and grateful to them for the lesson
that they were indeed “translating” into and out of a quite independent code.
I left the room determined to explore BSL in more depth and to introduce it
to school for those interested in the structures of language.
Jane Byrne
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HAROON SHIRWANI:
Arabic in Schools
Haroon Shirwani from Eton College gave us an entertaining and very informative talk on the arguments in favour of introducing Arabic into schools,
including practical advice and no shortage of essential information about the
language itself. He adduced four principal reasons for considering Arabic as
an option in schools: that the study of Arabic provides a different way of seeing the world (not least via the alphabet), awareness of an important world
culture, the breaking down of traditional cultural narratives and essential
cultural literacy in the modern world. After making the case for starting the
study of Arabic in schools rather than at university ab initio as he had done,
Haroon went on to outline some of the “good and bad news”. The bad news
included the lack of cognates and the script, while good news included only
28 letters in a script which is fun to write (with the attendant excitement of
cracking the code), how it is based on 3 letter roots, its 2 tenses, its grammatical regularity and its ‘neat case system’. There is also the fact that Arabic has many variants, but he argued that this only increased the attraction
and the opportunities for cultural awareness He gave us a brief outline of
resources available in the course of which me mentioned that many teachers
of Arabic in the UK are of Maghrébin origin and primarily teachers of French.
There are excellent summer schools he can recommend for teachers wishing
to learn it themselves, in Cairo and in Jordan. For certification he uses the
ABC Awards which are centre based certificates in practical language. GCSE
and A Level are available but suffer from Arabic being seen as a ‘community
language’. Of course it is also available as an ab initio language at IB.
As ever, Haroon reminded us that he is very willing to answer any teachers’
enquiries and to advise any pupils considering reading Arabic at University. .
His email is [email protected].
Readers ar also reminded of Haroon’s ‘Diary of an Arabic Teacher’ in the Autumn 2012 edition of this Newsletter.
Peter Langdale
NICK HARRISON: The ‘Civilizing Mission’ comes home: reflections on
Laurent Cantet's Entre les Murs
After lunch on conference day there was a real treat for delegates interested
in the frayed edges of contemporary French society and the filmmakers representing what life might be like in those ragged, shifting spaces. Our digestif
was provided by Nick Harrison, Professor of French and Postcolonial Studies
at King’s College London, whose research interests look at the legacy of
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how universities and schools can cooperate to promote it. It is clearly impossible to divorce the take up of Italian from the wider question of the health of
Modern Languages in general, but there is a keen awareness emerging of the
need on the part of universities actively to promote the further study of Modern Languages, to better inform potential students of the nature and content
of courses and of the benefits for students’ future employment prospects. In
time expect to see SIS being proactive in engaging with students and
schools.
In this context, I would like to hear from any member school that
teaches Italian as together with SIS and ALL we are aiming to put together
a register of those schools (State and Independent) which teach it with a
view to more efficiently reaching them when organising events. A simple
email to [email protected] basterà.
22nd January, 2013
Vercor’s Le silence de la mer is both a much loved text, often taught or
read at A Level, and has the peculiar position for a work of literature of itself
being a participant in the history from which it emerged. It was published
clandestinely in 1942 in German-occupied France and its fame and circulation
spread far beyond the borders of France and, to quote Frances M . Edge, “the
work continues to fascinate long after its post-Liberation glow has faded”. As
well as the well-known and remarkably faithful film version by Jean-Pierre
Melville of 1949, it has more than once been adapted for the stage in France.
Our hopes were high that Anthony Weigh's “adaptation” at the Trafalgar Studios would at the very least give us a new insight into the work to complement our understanding. Alas, we were sorely disappointed. Had the author
misunderstood the work? Had he deliberately chosen to distort it? How had
the flawed but noble German officer von Ebrennac been transformed into an
awkward, clumsy, bumbling fool? One could go on, but it is enough to say
that at the end one of our pupils was in tears at the way the work had been
betrayed. It was broadly approved of by the critics, but it was not Le silence
de la mer.
23rd January, 2013
We learn that Mr Gove has written to Ofqual outlining the future of A levels.
From 2015 we will be back where we were before Curriculum 2000 with linear A levels (and an AS qualification which does not contribute towards the A
level). This has had a very mixed reception, with Cambridge University admissions tutors citing it as a severe blow to equal access. We also gather that
the Russell Group Universities will have an input. However it is less than clear
exactly what precise role the universities will play. To quote the letter “the
Russell Group is planning to create an organisation to provide advice to
Ofqual on the content of A levels. The advisory body will focus on those A
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France’s imperial presence for both the countries left behind and the modernday métropole. His conference paper on the film Entre les Murs provided
much to chew on in that wider context; the film would also suggest itself as a
challenging and rewarding Cultural Topic at A2.
Professor Harrison’s current research project focuses on education in Algeria
at the end of empire and what we can learn from writers of Muslim backgrounds who had the disorientating experience of attending French senior
schools. Indigenous children were in an infinitesimal minority in schools
above primary level – perhaps three or four in an average lycée of 1500 –
and those who made it through felt their otherness keenly. At the time, the
French used the notion of the ‘mission civilisatrice’ to justify colonialism in
their own culture. Looking back, two strands appear when trying to assess
the impact of French education in the colonies: that it was a crudely assimilationist tool of domination which disseminated prejudice; and that the French
acted in bad faith by not educating indigenous children seriously – in other
words, to functional levels of Maths and French at primary school so they
could fulfil ‘their’ place in society, but not risking greater levels of understanding and independence of mind by taking more children through secondary education. It is noteworthy that the separation of church and schooling
did not occur in the colonies as in the métropole, so imported Roman Catholicism continued to be a part of the education of children of Islamic and other
faiths. Considering the role of education in preserving hierarchies and the
foreign nature of French as a language of study for Arab children, the question is raised: for whom might it have been better if more of them had gone
to school for longer?
Echoes of this colonial material can be found in modern work – particularly
what the purpose might be of learning French among other humanities. A
case in point is the film Entre les Murs which is based on a novel of the same
title by François Bégaudeau who taught French in a tough collège on the
edge of Paris and wrote up his experiences in autobiographical style.
Bégaudeau was a somewhat accidental teacher who left education when the
novel did well; he collaborated with director Laurent Cantet on the screenplay
and plays a version of himself, François Marin, in the film. The action focuses
on the teacher’s shifting, difficult relationship with his multi-ethnic class as he
strives to explore with them the complexities of the imperfect subjunctive –
rejected by the pupils as being of limited use in everyday speech – the Diary
of Anne Frank – none of them read it – and their own word self-portraits capturing their aspirations, dislikes and pastimes. Entre les Murs won the Palme
d’Or at Cannes, becoming the first French release to do so in 21 years, and
received positive critical reviews in France and the UK. However, the film was
socially controversial in France, with commentators at all points on the political spectrum using it as a pretext to air their views on education and the
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state of the suburbs.
Something in the filmmaking decisions lends itself to this kind of analysis,
though. The flavour is deliberately akin to documentary. The film was shot in
a real school, mostly in a single classroom, with three handheld high definition video cameras recording simultaneously. One was trained on the
teacher, one filmed whichever pupil was speaking and one scanned the room
picking up on side interactions. Bégaudeau was an ex-teacher effectively
playing himself. The other teachers were teachers in the school where the
film was shot. The children were not actors but ‘real’ children, although they
were from another school. A significant proportion of the script was improvised or adapted; the screenplay can be bought, but it’s markedly different.
Overall, the film is designed to feel ‘unstaged’ with a focus on ‘reality’ rather
than ‘aesthetics’.
However, film is created as an art form in itself and not merely as the carriage of social ideas. Entre les Murs is not a documentary and it is useful to
pinpoint the elements of the filmmaker’s craft that prove it. The
‘documentary’ style is an aesthetic choice, of course, just as artificial as another look and feel would be. The children, while not drawn from a pool actors, were nonetheless cast and rehearsed for months before filming began.
The film was scripted, with approximately 20% improvisation. The
‘autobiographical’ novel on which it is based is partly fictional, with
Bégaudeau on record as saying he wanted to write a “funny” book. No child
is really playing him- or herself, although several are playing characters with
the same first name as themselves. The plot around one boy, Souleymane,
and the limits of Marin’s empathy for him, was invented by Cantet and does
not appear in the novel. In real documentaries, people are camera-conscious;
this is not a feature of Entre les Murs. Cantet plays with the nature of the
classroom as a theatrical space for both teacher and pupils.
Entre les Murs fits into the French tradition of films about school and, while
Cantet has said he wanted to avoid the cliché of the hero teacher, he has
been extraordinarily warm in interviews about Bégaudeau’s ‘pedagogy’ –
quite a claim, considering the latter had left the profession by the time they
started working together, so what Cantet would have seen was Bégaudeau
the actor playing the part of a teacher in the controlled surroundings of a film
-set. Some critics bridled at Cantet’s use of stereotyped ethnic-minority characters. However, the way they position themselves is an important reflection
of postcolonial identity as observed by Bégaudeau when he was teaching.
Esmerelda states she is not at all proud to be French. The boys are much
taken up by the Coupe d’Afrique des nations de football and support teams
according to their ethnic origins, suggesting a strong sense of loyalty and an
identity they can enjoy more than their legal French nationality. By contrast
Carl, whose family roots lie in the French Antilles, supports France but is in-
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terested only in black players.
Cantet suggests that the liberalism of the teachers, including Marin, goes
only so far when put under pressure. Souleymane becomes the object of a
disciplinary procedure after a confrontation in class turns violent. Souleymane and Marin have used the same questionable language against one another but, while the boy is held to account, the teachers close ranks to protect their colleague. The adults know that, if expelled, Souleymane will be
sent “back” to Mali by his father – which they all assume, in rather patriarchal form, would be a disaster for him.
Professor Harrison closed by linking Entre les Murs to a 1965 essay by
George Steiner in which the critic explores the loss of our cultural attachment
to written languages, the myth that literature might manage to capture a
‘national spirit’ and the blown assumption that the studying the humanities
‘humanises’ – Steiner was particularly thinking of Germany.
Alex Frazer
ROMA FRANZISKA SCHULTZ:
Goethe zum Anfassen
This year’s German offering was a wonderfully interactive workshop entitled
“Goethe – Up Close and Personal ” run by Roma Franziska Schultz, Advisor
for German at the Goethe Institut London. The aim of the workshop was to
explore ideas for integrating biographical information into teaching, using
Goethe’s life as an example. Frau Schultz showed, or rather asked us to participate in, a variety of activities, including for example using the Deutschlandposter (a collage of German people and things: http://www.goethe.de/
lhr/mat/lkd/de8444030.htm) to discuss which of the things depicted would
have been available in Goethe’s time; showing the trailer for 2010 film about
Goethe to talke about clothing and society; using a board with milestones in
Goethe’s life to practice listening to numbers. We presented family members
and their biographical information and explored Goethe’s many fields of expertise. Most of the activities could equally be used with different personalities could be easily adapted for use with pupils in different year groups. All
in all a very enjoyable and useful session.
FRANCISCA GARCIA-ORTEGA: Revitalicemos la enseñanza de literatura
española en las aulas
To give a talk entitled ‘teaching literature through technology’ at a school
with technology with which one is not familiar was an ambitious task but
18
delegates were clearly interested by the various ways Francisca GarciaOrtega had found of enlivening our literature teaching with some 21st century whizz-bang. Her talk, while focussing in on two particular texts, was
intended more as a general idea of what one might do with interactive whiteboards, youtube and the like to allow students to engage with literature. The
warmth with which she spoke was most engaging and I’m sure many, like
me, were prompted by the talk to reassess the ways in which we use (or
don’t use!) technology to bring literature to life in our classrooms.
Jim Houghton
BARNABY LENON: Trends In Education In The UK
At the end of the conference, Barnaby Lenon, ISC chairman and recent appointee to the Ofqual board, conducted what he called a series of 'thought
experiments' based on what he had been hearing and what we were likely to
learn soon about the future shape of public exams.
He was speculating about what might end up happening, what Michael Gove
& Co could be planning and how we as an association were likely to need to
respond. All highly conditional, if not subjunctive. His rallying call centred on
the fact that in the next ten months (from February 2013), consultation periods for both the EBacc (now shelved - Ed.) and the new, reformed A level
would need to be completed. While he was healthily sceptical over the extent
to which all this consultation would get done on time, he still stressed how
essential it was that associations like ours should be involved, whenever the
consultation happened. We probably left Barnaby's talk with that advice
ringing loudest in our ears, and it was something which the ISMLA committee
would surely take up.
Most intriguing in Barnaby's account was the change in ethos that seems to
be at the heart of much of Gove's thinking: the revision of the idea that may
have existed that aptitude and notions of intelligence are destined to underpin measurement of performance; the increased esteem in which sheer effort
is held; the belief that such effort should be expected to enable the majority
of pupils to achieve success; the regard felt by the government for education
in Singapore and the Far East in general as models for Britain.
These statements remained necessarily abstract, since the programmes of
study to which they would give rise were not yet in existence. But certain
principles were nonetheless already clear:
•
By the time all of Gove's reforms were in place, it was going to be
harder to get top grades, but we as independent schools should welcome the fact that academic rigour was being foregrounded.
19
•
The development of new A level criteria was largely being handed over
to universities.
•
We and our candidates should prepare for the return of long exam
papers; the days of the three-hour test might soon be back.
•
Last but not least, we should entertain the possibility that an ABacc
might be generated - a rumoured sixth-form extension of the EBacc
principle.
This talk attract an encouragingly large audience at the end of a lively conference. To say that it left questions unanswered is by some measure to highlight a blindingly obvious - and unavoidable - state of affairs. We were very
grateful indeed to Barnaby Lenon - the right man at the right time - for making us aware that the questions existed at all.
Geoffrey Plow
Inaugural ISMLA Spanish Day
The inaugural ISMLA Spanish Day, kindly hosted by Canning House, took
place on November 17th last year. The majestic surroundings of Grosvenor
Square were accompanied by a similarly fascinating and informative variety
of talks. Having all arrived alarmingly punctually, the 60 or so hispanists
were welcomed by the Costa Rican Ambassador to the United Kingdom who
spoke warmly of links between the two countries and of the two education
systems before answering an array of questions concerning the difficulties of
British immigration for many Spanish-speaking countries. Professor Chris
Pountain then took the stage to give a masterfully clear yet profound assessment of current changes in the Spanish language. An example to whet the
appetite is the way in which Spanish is tending to drop ‘de que’ for ‘que’ in
informal register (e.g. me doy cuenta que – known as queísmo) but also hypercorrecting ‘que’ to ‘de que’ in formal register (e.g. pienso de que…). The
slides for the presentation are available on the ISMLA website.
Impossible as it may have seemed to follow such an excellent presentation,
the Canning House education liaison officer Joe Mulhern and our Honduran
cook Bertha Rodriguez did a fine job, respectively answering questions on
what Canning House stands for and does in the 21st century and taking us
through the Honduran cuisine we were about to eat. It is worth noting that
much of the positive feedback for the day mentioned the food as a particular
highlight.
Suitably nourished, Cambridge PHD student in Latin-American Prison Literature Joey Whitfield then gave us a brief overview of current trends and nota-
20
ble texts in Latin-American literature. He leapt effortlessly from Bolaño’s Detective Novels to Fuentes’ Ghost Stories to Aira’s peculiar yet fascinating
cuentos and was impressively unperturbed when our chef dashed in again
distraught at having forgotten to serve pudding.
If Joey’s talk left us simultaneously distressed at how long our Christmas
reading lists had become and enjoying a literary reverie unknown to most
since our university days, then the following session brought us back to earth
with a bump. Representatives from the departments of Spanish at KCL,
Queen’s College Belfast, Durham, Newcastle, Oxford, Southampton and
Queen Mary’s gave a quick idea of the distinctive features of their particular
courses and then, in a Question Time format, answered a host of questions
on topics such as Pre-U, literary content and the difference made by rising
tuition fees. They must be thanked for the honestly and candour with which
they addressed the various issues and gave delegates a good idea of the kind
of differences between courses with the same name.
Thus the day finished and delegates headed off to marvel at Mayfair real estate. It only remains for me to thank our speakers most warmly for the effort
that went into their presentations, all delegates for contributing to such a
wonderfully Hispanic atmosphere and Canning House for putting their facilities at our disposal.
Jim Houghton
21
Thinking Outside the Boîte
Changing the Shape of Languages Provision
Which languages we offer and at what level within our schools is very often
not in our hands as Heads of Languages. We inherit Departments where a
certain structure exists and that structure often exists as a response to things
largely beyond our control, such as the provision extant in feeder schools,
the preconceptions and fears of our SMT, existing staffing and the expectations of often conservative parental bodies.
Few of us have the opportunity to take a step backwards and reconsider the structure of our provision based on what pupils really need
from language-learning.
Whitgift offered me just such an opportunity in 2010. With a Languages Faculty of thirty-three teaching eight languages, an SMT which is open to change
and willing to experiment, and a Headmaster who is a strong supporter of
Languages, the possibility was there to implement something radical.
Previously French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Mandarin and Latin were
available as options on entry to the school (Year 7). Pupils chose two in any
combination except Japanese with Mandarin. This was already an impressive
structure but one which caused timetabling nightmares, and where the two
most frequent combinations were disappointingly cautious from a pedagogical
viewpoint; French and Spanish dominated with French and Latin as the
second most frequent combination. The combination of French and Spanish in
particular was meaning too much similar content, too much overlap in staff
(Mr X teaching a pupil French and Spanish in Year 7, Spanish in Year 8,
French in Year 9 and Spanish again later on, for example) and a general lack
of linguistic stimulation for our pupils. French results were consistently well
below the Whitgift average. As it was by far the largest language within the
Faculty, this was clearly disastrous for us as well as for the pupils.
My background may be revealing when it comes to our solution to this problem. Having graduated in French and German I spent a year at a Japanese
university learning Japanese and, since starting to teach, I have also learned
some Mandarin – Whitgift sent me to China for a period. I am a firm believer that the main purpose of learning languages is to gain an understanding of language itself and the interplay between language and
culture (in the Sapir-Whorf sense not the cheese-and-wine tasting, let's make
paella, do origami, go to German Christmas markets, get the canteen to
make something Chinese for Chinese New Year sense). I become very cross
when I hear lots of fuss made about the ostensible practical reasons to learn
individual languages. To my mind that misses the point entirely.
22
If an English-speaking pupil learns only a Romance language (or Romance
languages) they are learning far less about the nature of language than if
they learn something more different from their mother-tongue. The more
difference in language structure we are confronted with, the more
our brains become adept at linguistic gymnastics. In my opinion this is
likely to have a long-term beneficial impact on pupils' general thinking skills,
their understanding of their own language and their ability to acquire new
languages in the future wherever life may take them.
Pupils arriving in Year 7 all now study three languages and are guided
in that choice. They must choose a Romance language - either French or
Spanish, an Oriental language - either Japanese or Chinese, and an inflected
language - either Latin or German. In Year 8 they continue with two of these
three languages and take them up to GCSE* with the possibility for gifted
linguists of adding Italian or Ancient Greek.
We have had our first year-group move into Year 8 and the shift in
numbers has been fascinating. The choice is now much more firmly in the
hands of the pupils - previously their two GCSE languages had been decided
before arrival to the school and parents had cautiously opted for French and
Spanish or French and Latin as previously mentioned. French had therefore
dominated in Year 8 with over 70% pupils studying it, whereas Japanese,
Mandarin, German and Latin had been "minor" subjects with only around 1020% students tending to study them.
My hope was that the new structure would even up the distribution of languages, meaning around a third of pupils would study each of the 6 languages (remember they do two!). This is close to what happened although
interestingly French has now become the second smallest language.
This will have a long-term impact on the structure of staffing within the Faculty. Currently the Heads of French and Spanish line-manage the lion's share
of staff and look after the lion's share of pupils but we are likely to replace
French teachers who leave with Classics, Chinese and German teachers, and
see a shift to roughly equal staffing levels between the individual Languages
Departments within the next two or three years. Our Heads of Classics, German, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese are looking forward to rising to the
challenge of a fairer distribution of responsibility, work, resources and pupils.
No system is perfect and there are disadvantages to this structure - we are
unlikely to be sending as many pupils off to university to study French and
Spanish for example (although we do offer all our languages again as ab
initio IB languages for those who feel they missed out).
* For info: Edexcel IGCSE for French, German and Spanish. Edexcel GCSE for Italian,
Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. OCR GCSE for Latin and Ancient Greek.
23
I am also sad that the combination of German and Latin is not possible because the choice of Latin has often supported our best Germanists. However,
I am convinced that the strengths outweigh these problems. I hope that it
will create pupils with a greater understanding of language and a deeper passion for the individual languages they have opted for.
There is scope for improving the system further. My personal preference
would to be to make Latin compulsory and place it outside the threelanguage framework. Instead pupils would have the choice of Russian or German.
I suggested earlier that I had been free to consider languages provision from
scratch. That's not quite true. Given an entirely free rein I would move away
from the languages currently taught almost entirely and all of our pupils
would learn Sanskrit, Mandarin, Arabic and Finnish....... but that might be a
step too far even for Whitgift!
Andrew Hunt
Whitgift School
24
Training the next generation of teachers – can
you help?
Many ISMLA departments are already involved in initial teacher
education (ITE) in various ways,
possibly through the GTP route or
in partnership with a university
provider for the PGCE route. The
current landscape for initial
teacher education is changing fast,
as the GTP route is about to end
and the School Direct initiative is
established as another route to
train as a teacher.
Whatever the landscape, there is absolutely no doubt that partnerships with
schools are central to the successful development and progress of trainee
teachers. As Furlong and Maynard (1995) stated: ‘…the quality of the next
generation of teachers will, in large part, depend on the quality of mentoring
support they are given.’ This is as true now as it was when it was written
almost two decades ago!
Two main benefits are cited by teachers working with trainee teachers:
•
Mentoring is a really good way to reflect on one’s own practice and to
draw on new and innovative approaches from the trainee;
•
Working in partnership with a university provider gives a direct route
into a job supply source – great when vacancies arise in your department!
Suitable MFL placements are often very difficult to find for ITE providers, so
please consider becoming involved in some way, even if only for one PGCE
placement each year. A full list of ITE providers (and information about other
routes into teaching) can be found at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching
Just contact your local ITE provider for more information about working in
partnership to train the next generation of MFL teachers. We’d love to hear
from you!
Anna Lise Gordon MFL PGCE Tutor / PGCE programme Director, St Mary’s
University College, Twickenham, London.
[email protected]
25
26
The Times Stephen Spender Prize
Once again the Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation is inviting
entries. Entrants are asked to translate a poem from any language, classical
or modern, into English. In addition to an adult category, there are two categories for young people: 18-and-under and 14-and-under (which would include young Year 10s whose birthday falls after the 24 May closing date).
There are cash prizes in each category, with the winning entries being published in a booklet and on the Stephen Spender Trust’s website.
Last year Stephen Walsh, an English teacher at Christ’s Hospital, used the
competition as a springboard for a school-wide translation initiative. Pupils
with relatives who spoke a language other than English were encouraged to
find a poem in that language and work with family members to produce a
literal version to bring back to school for further development and entry into
the 2012 competition. Students following the IB diploma course translated a
poem in preparation for their World Literature module, and senior classicists
and linguists were also encouraged to have a go.
At Dulwich College, Nick Mair organised an internal competition. The winner
went on to scoop joint second prize in the 14-and-under category with his
joyful rendering of Quevedo’s ‘To a Nose’, described by George Szirtes as a
27
‘gorgeous tease of a poem’. The EAL department at Malvern St James also
ran their own version of the Spender competition: the girls had to translate a
poem and then put it on a poster or illustrate it, which gave rise to a lovely
depiction of swimming bacteria by Chris Wong, a Year 9 Chinese pupil who
translated a poem from Japanese.
The accompanying commentaries from the young translators are always illuminating. Many of last year’s 18-and-under entrants mentioned that this was
the first time they had read a poem in another language, let alone translated
one. They had instinctively worked in stages, first using their knowledge of
the original language to make a word-for-word translation, then deploying
their skill as a writer to shape it into a poem that they felt worked well in
English. Of course the first hurdle is to choose a suitable poem. You don’t
want one that is very simple or fiendishly difficult, nor one so well known that
you’re competing with the masters. It helps too if you like the poem. It is
often said that no one reads a text more closely than its translator and it’s
true.
Details, entry forms and a poster can be found at www.stephen-spender.org,
where you can also read all the winning entries since the competition began
in 2004. Email [email protected] for free booklets of past winning
entries and 2013 entry leaflets.
Robina Pelham Burn
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EL FESTIVAL HISPANO DE TEATRO
INTERCOLEGIAL DE LONDRES
Un evento clave al que no puede faltar
¿Cómo motivar a los alumnos para que estudien español con entusiasmo? Es
la pregunta del millón de todo profesor y la que yo me hago cada vez que
preparo una clase. Y pensando en ello, se me ocurrió organizar el Festival
Hispano de Teatro Intercolegial de Londres, una idea inspirada en la monumental labor que realizó Fanny Mickey, la ya fallecida actriz argentina nacionalizada en Colombia y empresaria cultural, al fundar en 1988 el Festival
Iberoamericano de Teatro. Este evento se lleva a cabo cada dos años en la
ciudad de Bogotá y se ha convertido en uno de los festivales de artes escénicas más grande del mundo.
“¿Por qué no crear y organizar un festival de teatro anual que inspire a los
29
estudiantes y permita que se sumerjan en la literatura de la lengua española?”, le pregunté a Mark English, el jefe de los departamentos de Español y
de Lenguas Modernas del colegio North London Collegiate, donde trabajo. A
través de la catarsis dramaturga, los alumnos viven por unos minutos (de 5
a 10 máximo) experiencias nuevas de una cultura completamente diferente a
la suya, expresándose en español. Los incentiva a leer y dramatizar trabajos
literarios escritos en español. Promueve el estudio de esta bella lengua y la
cultura de los países de habla hispana. El Festival Hispano de Teatro Intercolegial crea una plataforma de expresión que exige del estudiante un esfuerzo
excepcional de sus talentos linguísticos, dramáticos y creativos. Reconoce el
trabajo duro de los estudiantes participantes galardonando a los mejores en
diferentes categorias. Además, celebra la riqueza cultural de los países hispano hablantes a través del teatro. Fortalece los vínculos con los colegios privados participantes.… “Me encanta la idea”, interrumpió el señor English.
“Organízalo”, dijo.
Fue así como nació el Festival Hispano de Teatro Intercolegial de Londres,
que inaugurará su primera versión el miércoles 9 de octubre de 2013 en el
Centro de Artes Escénicas del North London Collegiate School a las 6pm. Es
un proyecto ambicioso pero tengo la gran fortuna de contar con la colaboración de mi colega Davina Suri para que este sueño se vuelva una realidad.
El panel de jueces, que escogerá a los ganadores en seis categorías, contará
con la presencia del Embajador de Colombia en Londres, Mauricio Rodríguez
Múnera; el veterano examinador de OCR Charles Netto, y Juan Blas Delgado
Ramos, jefe de actividades culturales del Instituto Cervantes. Ellos tienen la
responsabilidad de escoger al Mejor Actor, Mejor Actor de Reparto, el Mejor
Español Hablado, la Mejor Obra, la Mejor Experiencia Teatral y el Mejor
Guión Original, si la obra ha sido escrita por uno de los estudiantes.
El Festival Hispano de Teatro Intercolegial de Londres es patrocinado por
Canning House, Instituto Cervantes y Soliman Travel, entre otras empresas
con nexos con España y países hispanoamericanos. Si usted desea que sus
estudiantes participen en el primer Festival Hispano de Teatro Intercolegial
de Londres, por favor escríbame a [email protected] Todavía tiene la
oportunidad de registrar a su colegio, pues se aceptan inscripciones de un
grupo por institución hasta el 17 de mayo. ꜟEste es un evento al que no puede faltar, si realmente desea motivar a sus alumnos para que estudien español con entusiasmo!
Xiomara Yerbury, North London Collegiate School
30
31
British Academy Schools Language Awards
2013
The British Academy has
launched the 2013 edition of
its Award scheme, which offers
£4,000 for projects promoting
excellence in language learning. This year the focus is on
activity which encourages more
students to take language
learning to higher levels – i.e.
to A level and through into
university. This is because the
British Academy is concerned
about the increasingly vulnerable status of language study
in universities, and a decline in
A level take up which particularly affects the independent
sector. It wishes to encourage
schools to find imaginative and
effective ways of improving
take up and enthusiasm for
language learning beyond the
age of 16, and of addressing
the social imbalance in the profile of language learners at higher level.
The Awards are open to all schools and colleges, and cover all languages
other than English. A total of 15 Awards of £4000 each will be made to
schools throughout the UK. Application is via a simple online form, with a
closing date of 31 May 2013.
Full information about the Awards including details of last year’s winners and
Frequently Asked Questions are available at: www.britac.ac.uk/policy/
basla2013.cfm
The Awards are offered as part of the British Academy’s programme to support and champion the learning of languages. The Academy has spoken out
strongly about the importance of foreign languages not only for life chances
of the students themselves, but for the health of the UK economy and society as a whole.
32
Junior German Assistant
For a number of years we have had a 'Junior German Assistant' from the
'Gudrun Frey Stiftung' in Germany. As we don't have enough German students to make it viable to employ an FLA via the 'British Council' programme, this has been the perfect solution for us. Their candidates
have just passed their 'Abitur' (usually with outstanding results), and have
gone through a rigorous selection process to be given the opportunity to live
and work in a British boarding school where they are given board & lodging
& some pocket money.
All the girls (as we are a girls' school) who have come to us have been quite
mature, intelligent, full of initiative and keen to be fully involved in school
life. They live in the boarding house & boarding activities (e.g. organising
activities for younger boarders, accompanying trips) are part of their duties.
They also perform the role of German FLA & have impressed me with their
excellent ideas for their German conversation lessons. Any spare time on the
timetable is then filled with whatever the school requires, in our case helping
in the prep dept (where their help is much appreciated), some admin assistance for HoYs, etc. All the girls have also been keen to get involved in extra
-curricular activities, such as choir, school play etc.
The Gudrun-Frey-Stiftung currently work with 8 English boarding schools
(and a handful in other countries) and would be keen to extend their conta c ts .
Mo r e
d e t a i ls
can
be
f o und
on
the
w e b s i te :
www.juniorgermanassistant.de
or
from
[email protected]. I am also happy to be contacted
by anyone with further questions.
Anette Corbach St Margaret's’ School, Bushey
33
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Available as an app on smartphones and ipads
‘The Sony software has provided us
with a reliable and future proofed
technology platform that can support
and develop language learning across
the school’ Nadine Del Volgo, Head of Modern
Foreign Languages, Clitheroe Royal Grammar School.
[email protected]
‘For me, SANSSpace represents an
important milestone in the development of effective teaching methods for
language learning.’ Will Harvey, languages and
enterprise specialism coordinator Didcot Girls School
Tel: +44 (0) 844 800 9375
‘If you would like more information about Sony Virtuoso
or an online demo of SANSSpace, please contact us quoting ref ISCSLMAR13’
www.connectededucation.com
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 use of one of our two centres for your visit with all lessons
led by bilingual native French speakers. We are a small, enthusiastic, professional and experienced team that pride ourselves on the
relationships we develop with our visiting teachers and pupils.
Our uniquely individual and tailored service is recommended by
many leading independent schools.
We specialise in :
•
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Preparation for common entrance and scholarship papers.
Cultural, language and activity trips for all ages.
French immersion for small 6th form groups (accompanied or
unaccompanied).
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Now taking bookings for 2014 and 2015
For more information please contact
Alex at
[email protected]
or visit our website at
www.maisonclairefontaine.com
35
36
A level French conference/workshop
with focus on literature and using cultural/vocational material
to improve take-up.
Friday, 24th May 2013
(Charge £100)
Steve Glover from Alevelfrench.com is organising this conference/workshop
in conjunction with University College School, Hampstead to provide a forum
for younger teachers embarking on A level teaching to look at effective, motivating ways of teaching French literature using a mixture of time-honoured
and up to the minutes techniques. Preparation for the written and speaking
papers and taking advantage of new technology will be a key parts of the
processes outlined; sharing of successful practice will also be encouraged. In
addition to this, Steve will be leading discussion on looking at ways of improving uptake of languages at A level using a range of techniques. The context of the literature part of the day, although largely generic, will be focused around L'étranger, Un sac de billes, Thérèse Desqueyroux and Bonjour
Tristesse. Participants will be going away with a range of immediately usable
resources and techniques for the classroom.
You can download the
or alevelfrench.com sites
programme
and
details
from
the
ISMLA
Reviews
Cantando s’impara
Linda Inniss with Mat Fox
Available from www.splendoursoundsandlanguageresources.co.uk
(£24.00 plus p&p)
On the home page of the website, Linda Inniss introduces her range of resources entitled “Songs For Learning and Fun” with these words: “Singing,
whether in English or in a foreign language is sociable, calming, motivating,
fun and best of all, not perceived as work! Indeed, singing provides contrasting and legitimate light relief and variety in the (MFL) classroom.” One certainly would not quibble with this statement and the resources she has prepared and which are now available in French, German (reviewed in the Autumn 2012 Newsletter), Italian and shortly in Spanish provide a rich vein of
37
material to exploit in the classroom and maybe even beyond. It is especially
pleasing to find a resource in Italian as there is so very little around which
specifically relates to the topics as defined by the examination boards for
GCSE.
It comes on 2 CDs. The first has the CD audio of 14 songs, followed by
Karaoke versions of the same. The songs cover a wide range of ‘topics’ from
classroom instructions through healthy living and free time to school and the
environment. However, what I found especially pleasing is that the words
(which come as a Word, .rtf or. htm document on the second CD and can
therefore be used in all manner of ways) contain plenty of idiomatic expressions thereby not only reinforcing vocabulary but also introducing genuine
spoken language and grammatical forms. Take for example, this from a passage about skiing:
Se non sei bravo
Se cadi ti puoi far male.
Ma dell’aria fresca, ce n’è sempre tanta
Or some nice work on superlatives in a song about the Olympics:
Il salto più alto, il tiro più lungo,
La corsa più veloce, il tuffo più profondo,
Quale Paese sarà il migliore?
E quale invece il peggiore?
What will be evident is that there is plenty here for all abilities, but that for
once it is as much the top end as the bottom that is being catered for. The
tunes are varied in style and quite catchy, though occasionally the
instrumental/voice balance, especially with the male singers can obscure the
words if not listening with the transcript.
The second CD as well as containing the transcripts of the songs has a series
of listen and repeat style pronunciation exercises (again with transcripts)
which to my mind are just as useful as the songs and which I will be using
with my A level students to sharpen up their reading and pronunciation.
Many are witty and will entertain as well as educate. Here is my favourite to
practice C sounds:
Ci sono cinquantacinque ciccioni che cenano in Cina!
This is a real labour of love, self-financed by Linda Inniss and deserves to
find a place among the resources of every Italian department.
Peter Langdale
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