Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

Pushing the 'Pull Media Environment'

Before setting off for a week in Brittany, I attended the Lead Practitioner Induction Day at the Emirates Stadium and met up with the languages team for 2008/09 including new LP Chris Fuller. The atmosphere was very positive and colleagues enthusiastically shared ideas about their forthcoming seminars.

During one of the breakout sessions, I had the pleasure of listening to Alex Savage, LP coordinator for ICT talking about effective ways of using technology to build a learning network and maximise a training event.

Download Effective_uses_of_ICT_to_enhance_LP_Work.mp3

In just under fifteen minutes, Alex gave us his top tips for enhancing an LP seminar using ICT and ideas on how teachers can best network in the 21st century. First he talked of a three step process of organising a successful event e.g.

• Find or create a network
• Make your event as enticing as possible
• Give delegates the opportunity for feedback to inform you for future events

He then went on to suggest that to meet their training needs, teachers need to adopt the Pull Media approach favoured by many of today's young people where they select content they want to access when and where they want rather than Push Media which is delivered at a given time in a given place.

Alex referred to Alec Couros' diagrams for The Typical Teacher Network v The Networked Teacher to exemplify the Push/Pull Models.

The tools which Alex highlighted as facilitating this process are:

• iGoogle - Google Bookmarks, Gmail, Sticky Notes (personalise your desktop and keep in touch with your network using keywords instead of group email)
• Edublogs - CommunICTy blog (post articles of interest for your target audience, let people leave comments, create a newsletter on a blog)
• Wikispaces - CommunICTy wiki (a place to share and develop ideas collaboratively prior or after the event)
• Ning - ICTnet Ning (open or closed social networking site for you to upload resources and create fora for delegates to access after the event and extend discussions)

For more information, visit CommunICTy.org or contact Alex here.

It's a blogger's life

Newly appointed SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner, Chris Fuller has published his presentation from a recent training session for PGCE students at The University of Exeter called a It's a blogger's life. Well done Chris for this great overview.

Taking the lead at Chelsea

Last Thursday, as part of his SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner interview at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club, Spanish teacher and Liverpool fan Chris Fuller gave an impassioned speech on the power of Web 2.0 tools and creating genuine, cross-curricular learning opportunities.

Putting the theory into practice, Chris has published his presentation as a slidecast so you can enjoy it too.

Well done, Chris and fingers crossed.

Takes me back!

Languages LP Celebration Meeting

Download My_Top_Five_Moments_as_Languages_Lead_Practitioner.mp3

On Wednesday, the SSAT Languages Lead Practitioners met up in London for a final meeting to celebrate all that has been achieved this year and to look to the future. Each LP gave a presentation of their Top Five Moments. Here are mine along with a SlideCast of my presentation and the accompanying show notes. Hope you find them interesting.

My Top Five Moments as Languages Lead Practitioner 2007-2008

• The Isle of Wight Conference 2007
• Nodehill bloggers on Radio 5 Live
• Conferences, Training and Networking
• CILT Video Case Study
• QCA SoW Writing Weekend

Show Notes

My work as a lead practitioner

Promoting The Isle of Wight Conference 2007

Lead Practitioner Induction Day 2007 at the Emirates Stadium

The IOW Conference and Beyond Flashmeeting

Sponsored by Softease

MFL Show and Tell and TeachMeet

Guardian article: The Wight way to blog

Leading the way

Inspiring ICT on the Isle of Wight

Nodehill Bloggers on Radio 5 Live

Blogs and Podcasts: ICT in your Pocket

Bucharest eTwinning Conference

Portsmouth Primary Languages Conference 2008

CILT Primary Languages Show 2008

Creating a compelling curriculum

French.ie Workshop 2008

CESI Conference 2008

Nodehill RSG Practical Podcasting

The Ashcombe School Presentation Day

Busy Busy Busy

Nodehill to close

TeachMeet at BETT

Language World 2008

Blogs and Podcasts at BETT 2008

The Language Show 2007

Creating your personal learning network with Twitter

Blogging and podcasting in Sheffield

Bristol MFL PGCE blogging and podcasting

CILT Video Case Study

QCA KS2 French SoW Writing Weekend

CILT 14-19 website

The Wight way to blog - Education Guardian

Being described in the Education Guardian as probably one of the most influential language teachers in the country, by virtue of this blog is flattering to say the least and proof of how individual teachers can make a difference by sharing their ideas on the web.

The Wight way to blog from today's Link supplement is a glowing report of my personal views on how technology can impact on teaching and learning in languages, the influence of this blog on the MFL community at large and the altruistic nature of The Isle of Wight Conference 2007 which John Bald the author attended himself.

In preparation for the post-conference interview, I wrote the following notes to summarise some of the main points I wanted to make which I've now reproduced here to encourage you to share your thoughts too.

ICT has had an impact on teaching in many different ways:

For the teacher

• it has increased the pace of lessons
• teachers now can have all the resources at their finger tips on their computer and no longer need to use an OHP, tape recorder, video recorder etc to deliver lessons
• teachers can more easily personalise the learning of their pupils by making their own multimedia resources tailoured to individual needs
• flexible digital resources can be built up over a period of time and easily shared with colleagues
• teachers can track individual pupils more easily and set them personal targets for improvement

For the pupils

• they can be more independent in their learning by completing rigorous interactive exercises in a computer suite and receive immediate individual feedback
• they can make their own resources to reinforce language covered in class by using technology they are already familiar with and that they enjoy using in their own time.
• they take ownership of the resources they produce, particularly when they are published to a real audience via the net.
• they learn how to work collaboratively on a project
• they can deepen their understanding and improve pronunciation by recording and editing a podcast having first written their own personalised transcript

What it lets us do?

We shouldn’t use ICT for the sake of it, only when it enhances traditional good practice.

• whole class teaching using presentation packages such as PowerPoint or the software which comes with an interactive whiteboard can raise standards by catering effectively to different learning styles, auditory, visual and kinaesthetic
• colour coding can help pupils’ understanding of gender and adjectival agreements as a visual hook
• animation helps to capture the pupils imagination and can be used to reinforce grammatical concepts
• ICT has huge potential for personalising learning and creating written or audio resources for pupils to download outside of school hours so they can choose to learn whenever and however they wish at their computer or on a mobile device such as a mp3 player or mobile phone
• blogging and podcasting can promote global citizenship, create learning communities, offer assessment for learning opportunities and allow for pupil voice

What it doesn't let us do?

It allows us to experience a foreign country and its people virtually, but not in reality. Of course, there is no substitute for visiting the country whose language you are learning.

How far it's tackling the crisis in the subject?

In the Languages Review of March 2007, Lord Dearing referred to the fact that ICT offers a great opportunity to language teachers and I think we need to try and put into practice his recommendations with the aim of encouraging more young people to continue studying languages into Keystage Four and beyond. We must try and find ways of convincing pupils of the importance of language learning to properly prepare them for adult life and to raise their awareness of other cultures and people around them. To reverse the present drop out though is not going to be easy.

What the snags are?

• finding funding to pay for new hardware and software and training teachers on how to use the technology they already have
• trying to change the common perception that studying languages is more difficult or that pupils will do less well at GCSE compared to other subjects
• dealing with local authorities blocking many of the sites teachers want to use

What it might let us do in the future?

• The potential of collaborating and forging links across classrooms, schools and countries, breaking down the walls of the classroom
• further developing mobile learning and gaming technology

Have I forgotten anything?

Further info

Below is a picture of my 'beautiful wooden calendar' mentioned in the article as well as some other shots from Link.

Inspiring ICT on the Isle of Wight

Featuring in the Spring 2008 Languages Update Newsletter is a flattering report about my lead practitioner seminar in October written by Samia Earle, SSAT National Specialism Coordinator for Languages and delegate herself on the day. 

Here too are the main points I made in my own evaluation of the event which I recently sent to the Trust as part of my LP responsibilities. You may find these interesting.

Quotes

• Taken sooo much away from today. Thanks a million! Lisette Begue – Sneyd Community School)
• Excellent. Well done to everyone who took part and looking forward to next year (John Bald – Education Guardian)
• Thank you for running this inspirational event (Annalise Adam – Gregg School)
• Excellent. Well done and a big thank you to the speakers. Really inspiring (Virginie Rayner – Wheatley Park School)
• You surpassed last year. Fantastic! (Volker Green – The City Academy)
• A great conference that has given me some great practical ideas to use in my teaching. Thank you. (Tamsin Cobden – Solent Middle School)

Useful areas

• Practical hands-on sessions
• Inspirational speakers
• Plenty of choice
• Warm and welcoming atmosphere

Areas for improvement

• Staggered starts and break out sessions for more informal discussions and time to see exhibitors
• More variety of food including hot dishes

Actions and issues

• Streamline booking where delegates register and choose sessions in one go which is then added to a spreadsheet automatically and I receive a confirmation email.
• Organising a two day conference for next year to include the same number of sessions (14), but with more flexibility to aid discussion and networking (25th-26th October 2008)
• Organise a free Show and Tell session for the Saturday evening

Important factors

• finding inspirational speakers from around the UK
• advertising early
• promoting the event in as many ways as possible, particularly via the web
• writing regular posts on my blog describing the latest news about the conference
• highlighting its value for money
• contacting national organisations, local networks and other interested bodies to add the seminar to their events page or in their email newsletter, if they have one.
• leaving messages on forums that colleagues who may be interested in attending the event would be likely to read.
• sending out a mailshot to local schools and key schools further a field, particularly those with a specialism in MFL in the South Central region
• creating a downloadable delegate pack including information such as programme, timings, session content, travel and accommodation
• organising a ‘Show and Tell session’ for the evening before to allow colleagues to get to know each other and network
• attracting commercial sponsorship to subsidise costs
• asking Nodehill colleagues to help on the day with technical support, filming and general organisation
• offering delegates the opportunity to download speakers’ presentations and audio recordings of their sessions

The outcomes

• very positive feedback from delegates who found the range of sessions, practical, informative and in many cases inspirational
• creating opportunities for building networks at the event and subsequently through emails, social networks and videoconferencing
• colleagues putting the ideas into practice and starting to publish the results on the web in the form of blogs, podcasts and animated films
• establishing the event as an excellent form of CPD for those interested in using technology in the classroom

The Isle of Wight Conference 2007 was the best attended LP seminar of this year with 72 delegates coming from all over the UK, Ireland, Jersey and Spain to learn more about how to use technology to enhance learning. For next year, we would like to improve the event further still and would welcome any comments on how to do this.

In the next few weeks, I would like to publish more of the audio and video shot on the day. There should also be an article about the conference appearing in the Education Guardian on 8th January, the week before the BETT show where I'll be talking about Blogs and podcasts: ICT in your Pocket.

For the time being you can check out the new pictures which I uploaded this week from the conference taken by one of my Nodehill colleagues or listen to David Noble's reflections in his Booruch podcasts No. 48 (14.19) and 49 (16.01). Inspiring stuff. 

Rt. Hon John Redwood's diary entry on learning foreign languages

I don't normally blog three times a day, but when I found out that former cabinet minister, the Rt. Hon John Redwood was blogging about views on language learning in the UK, I felt compelled to leave a comment and then blog about it myself afterwards.

Here is my reply below.

Dear John,

Your post appeared in my "Languages" Google Alert this afternoon and it was interesting to read your thoughts on language learning in the UK. As a French teacher, SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner and fellow blogger, I feel that we should applaud the government's decision to make languages compulsory at primary school. Teaching Year 5 and 6 in a middle school I know from first hand how primary age pupils love language learning and have less inhibitions compared to the older pupils.

If we are going to make primary languages a success and avoid those mistakes made in the 1970's when this idea was previously mooted, we will need to ensure that we have a suitable number of qualified staff to do the job properly.

This should be either a classroom teacher with a GCSE or above in a foreign language who after some training feels confident enough to deliver suitable lessons or a MFL professional from a local language college who visits once a week as part of their outreach work.

My feeling is that the former will be the most common scenario and arguably the better alternative if it allows for new language to be regularly reinforced throughout the week rather than in a one off lesson. Sustainability and progression are the keys here really.

As for why more and more young people are dropping languages post KS3, it could be argued that this is due to a number of significant factors namely:

• pupils perceive MFL as a 'difficult' subject compared to others
• it seems harder to achieve a good grade at GCSE due to 'severe grading issues' in languages
• they don't feel the need to speak a foreign language and lack motivation
• languages are not necessarily a priority for a school's Senior Management team who perhaps prefer to concentrate on other subjects for achieving the 5 A*-C benchmark.

In the Languages Review conducted by Lord Dearing in March 2007, there was much made of the role of technology as a way of fostering motivation and making language learning more purposeful for many young people. When speaking about the potential of enhancing language learning with technology at The SSAT Annual Languages Conference and The Language Show 2007 in recent weeks, I've used the following quote taken from the review to reinforce this point:

"Young people’s familiarity with ICT offers a great opportunity to language teachers. It seems to us that a determined commitment to use this world, which is so familiar to young people, is a key to increasing the engagement of young people of all ages with languages. New technologies can facilitate real contacts with schools and young people in other countries. They can also provide stimulus for creative and interactive work".

To support teachers who are interested in using ICT in their lessons, I created a blog called Integrating ICT into the MFL Classroom in May 2006 which contains many posts on subjects such as blogging, podcasting, interactive whiteboards and video conferencing. Today I received my 70,000 hit which shows there is a need for such training and support to exist.

Encouraging young people to choose to carry on with languages to GCSE and beyond is going to be difficult for the reasons I've already given. However, I feel that the more we use technology such as mp3 players, mobile phones and social networking sites which they like to use in their own time, the more we will engage them and offer them more opportunities for distance and personalised learning.

We must try and find ways of convincing pupils of the importance of language learning to properly prepare them for adult life and to raise their awareness of other cultures and people around them. To reverse the present drop out though is not going to be easy.

Best wishes

Joe

Any thoughts?

Blogs and Podcasts - ICT in your Pocket

Catching up with editing duties over half term, I am pleased to be able to finally publish the audio I recorded at The SSAT Annual Languages Conference at the beginning of the month for my session Blogs and Podcasts - ICT in your Pocket. The sound quality is unfortunately not as good as normal due to the fact that my iRiver picked up the constant whirring of a fan in the background, but I'm sure you'll agree that it was more important that we all stayed cool during the sesssion rather than being concerned over a little noise pollution! Nevermind. Fingers crossed, the recording I make at The Language Show next week will not be hampered in the same way.

Anyway, I hope you find the presentation, audio and notes useful and that they help to convince you that getting into blogging and podcasting is really not so difficult and that both can truly enhance the language learning experience of your pupils. Let's just remind ourselves of what Lord Dearing wrote again in his Languages Review back in March:

"Young people’s familiarity with ICT offers a great opportunity to language teachers. It seems to us that a determined commitment to use this world, which is so familiar to young people, is a key to increasing the engagement of young people of all ages with languages. New technologies can facilitate real contacts with schools and young people in other countries. They can also provide stimulus for creative and interactive work". (Lord Dearing - Languages Review March 2007)

I think we need to heed these words and seize the opportunities offered to us by ICT by taking advantage of our pupils's natural interest in technology for personalising their learning and making it possible to let them access content when and how they want. If we can enter into their world and use the tools they are passionate about, we can surely engage them more easily and make language learning a more attractive prospect to them. We have the technology now and it's in our hands to decide how we can use it to best advantage. I hope the materials here give you the appropriate support you need to put Dearing's recommendations into practice. If not, get in contact and I'll see what I can do to help. Good luck.

Download blogs_and_podcasts__ict_in_your_pocket.ppt

Download blogs_and_podcasts_ict_in_your_pocket.mp3

Summary

• Introduction from ALL President Helen Myers
• Definitions of blogging and podcasting
• Dearing quote
• Using technology to enhance learning outcomes across all four language skills
• Blogging = reading and writing
• Podcasting = listening and speaking
• Harnessing the technology pupils are already using in their own time to facilitate distance learning and personalised learning
• Quoting Roberto Gauvin on his view on how we can improve pupils' writing skills by letting them blog
• Features of blogging
• Moderating comments
• Setting up a blog and choosing a blogging platform
• Free video tutorials on blogging and podcasting coming soon on SSAT site for all affiliated schools
• Purpose, Audience and Content
• Establishing blog rules
• Using a blog to create assessment for learning opportunities
• Encouraging your local community to read your blog
• Voices of the World project launched by Sharon Tonner
• Adding widgets to your blog
• Moblogging = mobile blogging
• Moblogging examples with mobile phones or USB Modem
• Features of podcasting
• Using podsafe music
• Scripting, recording and editing
• How podcasting can help boost pupils' listening and reading skills
• Podcast examples
• Putting your podcasts on iTunes via Podomatic
• Helping GCSE students revise for their speaking exam when and where they want
• Recording Skype calls with native speakers as mp3 files to mix into podcasts
• Nodehill staff and pupils talking about blogging and podcasting on Radio 5 Live
• Speaking at PodCampUK
• Not being scared of having a go at podcasting
• A few final thoughts

Show notes

Dearing Language Review

Roberto Gauvin and his video clip Komment aise kon aprand a ékrir?

Moderating comments

Blogger - video tutorial

WordPress - video tutorial

Edublogs- video tutorial

TypePad- video tutorial (coming soon)

How to set up a blog

Blog rules adapted from Jeannie Simpson's safe blogging guidelines

Two Stars and a Wish

European Award for Languages 2006

VOTW

Sharon Tonner

Voki

Dew player

Blip.tv

del.icio.us and having a tag roll

Vizu poll

ClusterMap

SiteMeter

Widget gallery

Moblogging

USB modem

Alex Blagona moblogging to Koblenz

MFL Flashmeeting (01:12:36)

Chris Fuller

ShoZu

Ten Tors blog

Gabcast

K7

Podsafe music

Assignment Podcast

Nodehill French Grammar Podcasts

Flashkit Loops

Headphones help pupils improve their reading

Conference Podcast

Using podcasts in the classroom

Nine Acres Primary Podcasting

Podcasting and language skills

Podcast Pickle

Podomatic

iTunes

Nodehill French Grammar Podcasts on iTunes

MFL podcasting experiments a sound idea?

Skype and Skypeout

Pretty May

Pamela

Kathleen Holton

The Nodehill bloggers on BBC Radio 5 Live

PodCampUK

Jo Rhys-Jones post - Making recordings - mp3, sound editing, podcasting and all that Jazz!

Blogging and Podcasting links

MFL blogs

In class, I have to power down

ALL South Yorkshire

On the second day of my half term tour, I travelled up to Sheffield for a repeat session on how to blog and podcast with members of ALL South Yorkshire.

The session took place at King Edward VII School and was organised by Assistant Headteacher and SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner Eva Lamb, .

Here is their feedback.

Download feedback_from_Sheffield.mp3

Conference Day 2007

After months of organising and promoting The Isle of Wight Conference 2007, Saturday 13th October finally came around and all the best laid plans could be put into practice. Attendance was nearly double what we achieved last year and there was a real buzz around the place as delegates chatted and networked with each other.

The day was intensive and exhausting, yet useful and inspiring for many as they learnt new ideas or developed their own.

Here is some of the feedback I've received already via email:

It was really well thought out and I found it very informative. Many thanks for what must have been a lot of hard work (Sharon Taylor)

The Conference was most enjoyable and gave me much food for thought ............ mix of people excellent and lots of interest in the stuff from Softease (Doug Dickinson)

This message it's just to tell you that yesterday conference was great!! I really enjoyed it and learnt loads of different things that I can put into practise in my every day teaching and will make students much more independent in their learning! It really was inspiring! The podcasting is going to make us save loads of money in all the CDs that we use every year for presentations and GCSE speaking exams... We have now created a weblog in our website linguaryde and see how we can exploit all those ideas and put them into practice... (Eva Campama)

Thanks again for inviting me, Joe. There were some really useful presentations, and at least two will help immediately with work in Hackney. (John Bald)

It went brilliantly - as an event.  I got many ALL ideas (mainly from the excellence of the event itself), but the event was good for me personally and there was an attendence of local teachers and a HLTA, which bodes well for the future. (Peter Shreeve)

Just wanted to say I thought it was an excellent day and I got a tremendous amount out of it.  Every session I attended was relevant and informative and I came away inspired! (Ian Peach)

Congratulations and well done on what I thought was a really good conference.  it is very obvious how hard you work and your enthusiasm and committment is amazing. I was very happy to come along and had 12 users wanting to sign up for 'Flashmeeting'. (John Warwick)

I am writing to say thank you for a very inspiring conference.  I came home my mind buzzing and went straight onto the computer. I am certainly coming back next year!!  Again thanks a lot to you and all the people who made this conference such an enjoyable experience. (Marie-France Perkins)

Thank you so much (and Heather too!) for a really great IOW conference. I learned so much in such a short time. The Show and Tell in the Castle Inn was well worth driving like a bat out of *** out of Devon Friday night! As for Saturday - where do I start? I wanted to go to everything! I've blogged about it over on Talkabout Primary MFL but just wanted to say thank you directly because it really really was the best cpd I have had in a very long time! And you made it all seem so slick and effortless - you must be exhausted. (Jo Rhys-Jones)

I have really enjoyed learning new skills (animation and use of Windows MovieMaker). A very friendly atmosphere. I recommend it. Joe and Heather, many thanks for the great conference at Nodehill school. What a lovely, well kept and full of resources school! I hope your pupils know! (Daniele Reed)

Sounds like the IoW conference was a great success! Congratulations! Wish I could have made it myself. We'll soon be starting to plan our next eTwinning national conference (which will probably take place in June next year), and I'd like to have a chat with you about it. By the way, heard a programme on the radio the other night about Nodehill's blogging exploits, and your name was, of course, mentioned! (Susan Linklater)

It definitely was a great event - I learnt so much so thanks again for putting on such a worthwhile conference. (Lydia Monroe)

My head is still buzzing with ideas thanks to the conference. It was an inspiration which should get me going until the next one. (Virginie D. Rayner)

Doug, Chris, Leanne, Steph and The British Council have blogged about the conference too and shared their thoughts on the event. The audio of nearly all the sessions was recorded and I'll be publishing the resulting mp3 files in the coming months, editing time permitting. Thanks to my two Nodehill colleagues Richard and Robin, there will also be an official conference film made available via my blog as well as some footage shot by Wilma Clark from Tonbridge Grammar School. I've already uploaded my photos to Flickr and tagged them with iowconference07. If anyone else would like to follow suit that would be great.

For next year, I'm going to organise a two day event over the first weekend of the October half term holidays (25th-26th October 2008) to give colleagues more opportunity to network with each other and for us to recharge our batteries over the break. This would hopefully encourage even more to make the trip down to the Isle of Wight so we can build further on what the conference has achieved so far.

With this in mind, I am considering moving the MFL Show and Tell to the Saturday evening and hiring out a bigger venue to accommodate us all. This year's S+T proved to be a useful opportunity for colleagues to get to know each other and share ideas in the informal surroundings of The Castle Inn. Everyone who had signed up on the wiki was able to speak and despite a rather slow internet connection for the Flashmeeting with colleagues from England, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand and US everything else went to plan.

I am proud to say that The Isle of Wight Conference 2007 has been the best attended of all the SSAT lead practitioner seminars so far this year and I hope its success will encourage the DfES to continue funding the LP scheme next year so we can all continue sharing our expertise in this way.

A big thank you to all the speakers Chris, Rachel, Leigh, Lisa, Oscar, John, Sharon, Lesley for giving up their time and for all of you who attended. I am planning to host a Flashmeeting in a couple of weeks time to give you the opportunity to tell us how you are applying the ideas you've learnt at the conference and to ask more questions if need be.

Keep in touch.