The end of PiE as we know it

When Mark Pentleton, project coordinator of the Partners in Excellence Project (PiE) invited me to sit on the jury for the PiE Film Festival 2007, it felt like a real honour. I've been a fan of Mark's work since first hearing his PiEcasts and Verbcasts series eighteen months ago and being introduced to the new and exciting world of podcasting.

I remember writing the article Now for something completely different ... Verbcasts! only a few months later for the Languages-ICT website and then meeting Mark for the first time at Language World 2006 and attending his Photo Story and film making sessions. It was because of these two sessions that I invited Mark to speak at the Isle of Wight conference and I was thrilled when both he and Lynne Horn who has also been heavily involved in the project agreed to fly down.

The festival showcased the work of young film makers from Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire and prizes were awarded to students in a number of categories such as Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress, Funniest Moment and Most innovative use of props. The event also sadly marked the end of an era as funding for the seven year old ground breaking project has now been withdrawn indefinitely by organisers.

Despite this crushing news, the PiE project certainly seemed to receive the fitting send off it so richly deserved by the community who had grown up around it. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend in person as the date clashed with another kind of festival on the Isle of Wight and headline act The Rolling Stones. I therefore reluctantly chose to see Mick and co rather than Mark and co on Sunday evening.

That said, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in the project for the contribution you've made over the last seven years and how you've helped to inspire so many of us in your innovative practice. Let's hope that we can draw from your excellent example and see how you continue to explore interesting and engaging ways of using new technologies to enhance language learning in your new projects. Like The Stones though, you're going to be a hard act to follow.

To finish on a 'sugar high', take a moment to watch the following video The PiE Way posted on YouTube yesterday to get a flavour of what has been achieved during the life of the project and how much fun the pupils have had in their language learning as a result. You may recognise the tune, but the words and performance are by Mark himself and Pierre-Benoît Hériaud, teacher at St Andrew’s in North Ayrshire who has been a regular PiE participant. What a final course of 'cheese' and thank you all again for our wee slice of PiE.

Comments

[Mark]

Joe, thanks for this. Sunday night was a very special evening indeed and a very fitting end to the 7 years of the project. Certain elements of PiE will indeed be continued on a local level, depending on resources and personnel, but the project as it has existed for 7 years will certainly be changing.

You and your readers may also be interested in the additional YouTube offering I posted tonight which is our now-traditional video which brings together every student who has been involved in activities over the course of the year. This year the cheesy "Bring it all back" by S Club 7 was chosen as the song and the whole PiE community (234 kids performing in 19 locations) joined in. A nightmare in post-production, but a very enjoyable result which led to a standing ovation on Sunday night. The nicest thing of course was that this was the kids giving each other a standing ovation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEnIkf_tIRI

[Lynne]

Thanks Joe - hard to believe this is all over having been such a part of my life for the last 7 years. However the legacy lives on in the form of all the technology used in class everyday and the way it's changed the way I teach and think about language teaching.

[Joe Dale]

I think that the important thing is that everyone representing PiE carries on innovating in their own capacity and that the learning continues. Proof of the success of using technologies such as blogs, podcasts and digital video has now been made evident. Let's now build on this legacy in the post PiE world.