As I explained in the recent interview with Chris Fuller, during this time of year those staff not involved in invigilating Year 6 SATs, Year 8 Optional SATs and play rehearsals stay with their form class for entire mornings at a time and have the opportunity to take part in creative project work with their pupils.
I am always one of those teachers and I love the opportunity to 'think out of the box' and do something I wouldn't normally have the time to do in a typical week. This year, I thought I'd ask my form to put together some grammar podcasts having been inspired by those made by Chris' Year 10 pupils on the future tense in Spanish.
The pupils divided themselves into small groups, chose which grammar point they were going to tackle and set about writing a script. We recorded each one individually with Audacity, editing as we went along and adding bits when necessary. Letting the pupils use their own words to explain concepts such as gender and adjectival agreement was a revelation because they had to think carefully about how to convey quite dry ideas in fun and engaging ways for their peers to enjoy.
The learning benefits of doing so were palpable. Pupils were clearly deepening their understanding of the grammar they were covering. They were improving their pronunciation, gaining confidence in their speaking skills through the editing process and embedding what success criteria they needed to reach the next level. This was powerful and inspiring stuff.
Infact, I think the pupils did brilliantly well organising themselves to produce such polished final products. Have a listen for yourself and tell us what you think. I'm sure the pupils would love to hear from you.
Download possessive_adjectives.mp3
Here are some of the comments we've received so far by email or language fora:
Nathalie: I have just listened to the preposition podcast, fantastic! What a great idea. I am currently working with my students on writing "The Perfect Tense for Dummies" and this is another idea to use... Well done to Yasmine and Eleanor, tell them they will be famous in Suffolk this afternoon for a Year 6 French lesson (prep school).
Samia: Bravo, Joe had a very quick look and will put comments for your lovely pupils as soon as I have a spare second!! I am so glad you are keeping us all motivated and refreshed. Tell them bravo from me.
Laura: They are very good. Well done!
Je suis professeur de français dans un collège dans le Kent, dans le sud-est de l'Angleterre.
Monsieur Joe Dale a été un élève de ce collège!
Je pense que vous avez fait un travail génial et je vais le faire écouter à mes collègues du collège et des écoles primaires d'Ashford. Excellent!
Peut-être que vous pourriez ajouter des chansons pour aider à apprendre les verbes?
Madame H
Posted by: huguette Hopkinson | 19/06/2007 at 13:04
C'est super! J'aime beaucoup les conversations et les exemples aussi. Bientôt je ferai écouter votre travail à mes élèves.
Bravo à tous et a mon 'mentor' J. Dale!
Daniele Reed
Posted by: Daniele Reed | 19/06/2007 at 20:05
Brilliant. Well done folks! Could my students do the same - I shall see. Thank you for a great idea.
Posted by: Jen Sutton | 19/06/2007 at 23:12
Make that famous in two parts of Suffolk! Formidable!!
Posted by: Alex Blagona | 20/06/2007 at 00:17
Great stuff - I'm very impressed with all your hard work, and your understanding of the grammar. Well done everyone! I would like to use some of your podcasts as an example to show teachers in Wales how they might use podcasting to motivate their students too. I hope that would be ok with you...?
Posted by: Kristina Hedges | 20/06/2007 at 15:34
No problem. Let's spread the word!
Posted by: Joe Dale | 20/06/2007 at 15:51
Fantastic work- What an enormous amount of work and effort - with excellent results. I too would love to demonstrtae your work as examples of excellent use of extra-curricular practice in Darlington LA
Posted by: Rachel Ireland | 13/09/2007 at 17:23
Lovely. Only started up our languages dept blog this week and already I am overwhelmed by the wonderful ideas you have.
Posted by: Louise | 08/11/2007 at 15:50