John Bald/language and literacy

National Languages Conference 2022. Introduction to panel comments, extended version.

This is a more detailed version of my introductory remarks to the panel presetation, 19t Oct 2022. 

 

Download National Languages Conference 2022

A Level languages - and other subjects. Some thoughts following a Facebook posting by a Midlands teacher.

In 1966, I started work on my A levels - reading La Peste - almost the day after O levels had finished. They were what I wanted to do, and La Peste as a starting point is a big ask. This is, I think, the key to A level and subsequent academic success - the student must want to do it.

My A level teacher, Francis Holmes - earlier generations of pupils called him Fuss - gave every encouragement to those with that attitude, and to the end of his days - I last met him in his late 90s - did not understand why others did not share it. He saw his work as very worthwhile, but almost none of his pupils - "even the bright ones, those who could handle the subjunctive" - had not developed the ability to speak fluent French. I didn't think my French was particularly good, though those with more fluency tended to have had wider experience of the language, for example by having parents in the diplomatic service, but it was as good as I could make it. But if I was in the best handful over a 50 year career - he carried on working into his 70s - what was going wrong?

As an inspector, I saw, from time to time, the same attitude in minority subjects in sixth forms. One sixth form, that otherwise had serious problems, had a course in social care, run by a single teacher on the main scale, that used exactly the same seminar format that I met at university, encouraging students to read and contribute - a class library of journals as well as books - and so fostered the same attitude. The students were interested, wanted to work, and succeeded. Long Road Sixth Form College, in Cambridge, has the same approach, with the same attitudes, and highly successful results.

This is, in the end, the only way to get students to do A level with any sense of satisfaction - they have to want to, and we have, first, to get them to want to, by providing teaching that enables them to succeed and enjoy their work - whatever their intellectual capacities - and so build a basis for success at a higher level. Present conditions of work in most schools are making this next to impossible. The exceptions are well known, and Michaela, The Power of Culture, is the clearest statement we have of how to build on them.

A Level languages - and other subjects. Some thoughts following a Facebook posting by a Midlands teacher.

In 1966, I started work on my A levels - reading La Peste - almost the day after O levels had finished. They were what I wanted to do, and La Peste as a starting point is a big ask. This is, I think, the key to A level and subsequent academic success - the student must want to do it.

My A level teacher, Francis Holmes - earlier generations of pupils called him Fuss - gave every encouragement to those with that attitude, and to the end of his days - I last met him in his late 90s - did not understand why others did not share it. He saw his work as very worthwhile, but almost none of his pupils - "even the bright ones, those who could handle the subjunctive" - had not developed the ability to speak fluent French. I didn't think my French was particularly good, though those with more fluency tended to have had wider experience of the language, for example by having parents in the diplomatic service, but it was as good as I could make it. But if I was in the best handful over a 50 year career - he carried on working into his 70s - what was going wrong?

As an inspector, I saw, from time to time, the same attitude in minority subjects in sixth forms. One sixth form, that otherwise had serious problems, had a course in social care, run by a single teacher on the main scale, that used exactly the same seminar format that I met at university, encouraging students to read and contribute - a class library of journals as well as books - and so fostered the same attitude. The students were interested, wanted to work, and succeeded. Long Road Sixth Form College, in Cambridge, has the same approach, with the same attitudes, and highly successful results.

This is, in the end, the only way to get students to do A level with any sense of satisfaction - they have to want to, and we have, first, to get them to want to, by providing teaching that enables them to succeed and enjoy their work - whatever their intellectual capacities - and so build a basis for success at a higher level. Present conditions of work in most schools are making this next to impossible. The exceptions are well known, and Michaela, The Power of Culture, is the clearest statement we have of how to build on them.

Language Show Live - Alternatives to disapplication for pupils with SEND - Success and enjoyment in learning languages.

Wonderful to have 330 people sign up for this webinar, and so many positive comments.  

Download Success and Enjoyment in Language Learning for pupils with SEND. Languages Show 2021

German Summer School 2021, First session, audio recording.

   Download Audio_only     

This may be clearer if used with the first slides of this ppt

Download Languages Show 2017

 

How a new approach to teaching grammar can teach pupils to communicate.

The controversies over language teaching methodology raise a fundamental question. Should languages be taught around a core of grammatical progression, or thematically? The thematic approach allows mixed ability teaching, as a topic can be presented at different levels within the same group. The progression approach ensures mastery of a growing range of structures, and so allows progress towards the range of competences needed to understand and communicate in reading and writing for the purposes of further study and the world of work.

Until comprehensivisation under Crosland, languages were almost exclusively taught in grammar schools, with only a little in secondary moderns. This was elitist, denying most of the population the opportunity to learn a language. It was also pretty ineffective, even in grammar schools.

 

 

I was initially taught French by a succession of not very good teachers, followed by excellence as I moved up the school, and took advantage of Anglo-French Easter and summer schools run by one of these excellent teachers, the late Francis (Fred) Holmes, who ran them, virtually pro bono, for 28 years and had the Palmes Académiques. Our textbook was Sheila M Smith's series, followed by Whitmarsh in the sixth form, and we learned the range of French sentence structures, orthography and prouniciation assiduously. Or some of us did. In fact, very, very few. I kept in touch with Fred until the end of his life, and he said, frankly, that I was one of a tiny handful of his pupils, in a career lasting from the early 40s till the early 70s, who had actually learned to speak French. Even "the bright ones, those who could handle the subjunctive," couldn't do it. So, Smith and Whitmarsh were not working, even for the grammar school population, and most people did not enjoy learning French.

 

This continues to haunt us.

 

The alternative, initiated by the late Eric Hawkins, was to focus on communication and tolerate the kind of errors that native speakers of Figs languages spend much of their school lives trying to eradicate (adjectival agreements, slient letters, case endings, verb conjugations, word order, etc). Daily dictations were the norm in France when I took part in exchanges 10 yrs ago, including this sentence from a class of 6 year olds - Arthur n'a pas peur des fantômes. In seven words, I count five silent letters, a contraction with apostrophe, a circumflex and a vowel combination. The teacher was dynamic and humorous, the working atmosphere and relationships great, but accuracy was the only goal. Who Arthur and the ghosts may ave been was not an issue. Significant numbers of children in France, especially those with French as a second language, are failing with this approach.

 

Without basic grammatical accuracy, on the other hand, it is impossible for a person to form a simple sentence and so communicate. An example from a UK school that taught French without grammar was the sentence, which I saw copied by a class - Eric Cantona suis un footballer. While most of the pupils who ask me for help with languages do so because they are failing completely, I also coach A level students aiming for high grades, and even they have problems with basc sentence construction - eg accurate use of verb inflections in present tense and gender agreements- as well as more advanced features.

 

 

My late friend Michel Thomas cut through the problem by using the Latin link to build vocabulary through what I call "shared words", building sentences using pronouns, and using a small number of verbs, but in a full range of tenses. Nothing like traditional grammar. Adding writing, using sentence building without copying, and making the key adjustments to thinking, required to move to a new language, clear in the first three or four lessons, led both to the success of high-attaining pupiils in my French to Falkirk, and to a whole class of Hackney 8 year olds writing accurate positive and negative sentences in French, presented a the BETT conference in 2008. Other approaches to sentence building are also reported to have a positive impact on understanding and achievement, and we need more investigation of the issue.

 

 

Michel Thomas was awarded the Légion d'Honneur and made a fortune from his courses for adults, but failed to get his approach adopted by any school system. His first UK lesson was filmed by BBC2 and is on youtube. To locate it, type Michel Thomas into youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0w_uYPAQic  Before the end of his life, I showed him how sentence building with clicker could add a bridge for pupils, and he was immediately impressed. Our approach is consistent with brain research and, for those who prefer that route, with cognitive load theory. It is not traditional, but nevertheless ensures accuracy as well as communication at all stages. I am happy to discuss further, pro bono, and to demo.

A Checklist for A level Spanish or French Essays.

1..Language and grammar,  with the thought that electronic aids, particularly Deepl, are now so accurate that it is difficult to know how much is a student's own work.

1, Noun groups - are all companion words lined up for gender and singular/plural.

2. Verb groups -  lined up with subject, and using the tenses and endings you need.

3, Short words -  have you included all you need to make sense in t Spanish or French?

4. Usage - if you're in doubt as to whether a Spanish or French person would have said something in the  way you've phrased it, use Linguee or Deepl as a reference point.

 

2. Structuring the Essay - points raised earlier in teaching.

 

1, You are not writing down everything you know, but answering a question.

2. Create a "buffer zone" between you and the question. How many issues does it address? How will you arrange these in a way that lets you hit all of them, while answering the question.

3, Look at the question again, and check for hints, such as "how far...?" that tell you that there may be more than one side to the main point of the question.

4. Jot paragraph headings, with lead points

5. Go for it.

 

3. A brief note on sentence construction.  It's a bit like a meal out. 

 

Almost all sentences have a subject and verb - main clause in grammar, main course in a meal out: Il s'est engagé à la Légion Etrangère.

You can add a starter:   Malgré ses inquiétudes, il s'est engagé à la Légion Etrangère.

You can have a dessert:  Malgré ses inquiétudes, il s'est engagé à la Légion Etrangèré, où il a accompli vingt ans de service.

You can have a coffee:  Malgré ses inquiétudes, il s'est engagé à la Légion Etrangèré, où il a accompli vingt ans de service; avant d'être tué au Viet Nam.

or an aperitif   Il était jeune, mais, malgré ses inquiétudes, il s'est engagé à la Légion Etrangèré, où il a accompli vingt ans de service; avant d'être tué au Viet Nam.

 

Remember that too many five-course meals will give you indigestion, and be sure to tie up your additions with link words and punctuation as necessary.

Draft Protocol for small-scale research in introducing writing in French, German and Spanish.

The protocol is designed to investigate the initial stages of writing in these languages, without copying, based on the primary toolkits on this site. Correspondence welcomed.

Download Draft Protocol for small

Culture, Language and Progress in the Primary Classroom. Durham University, Lingua Conference, 27th Feb 2019. Outline.

Language never exists in a vacuum. The basic linguistic structures introduced in the early stages of learning a language are in a context that can either engage pupils and so make them want to learn, or, through lack of substance, bore them. This paper will show resources that identify and present key cultural elements in French, German and Spanish in ways that support the early stages of language learning by inviting pupils to visit the country in their minds, and to share the thoughts and feelings of people of their own age and they live, eat, work, go to school and enjoy holidays. There will be illustrations from Zim Zam Zoum, A Green Mouse, children's books in different languages, and BBC's Being Spanish. Materials will be selected to extend and reinforce language learning, and not to expose children to language that they may not fully understand.

French Teaching and Translation in Ewell, Surrey

Anne Le Romancier has set up a teaching and translating business  in Ewell, Surrey.  Here is an example of what she offers.

LE CAFE FRANÇAIS

Le Café Français is on once a week in Ewell.  I pick a topic for us to discuss (chosen among your own pre-discussed preferences) and around “un café et un croissant” we have a friendly conversation.   Those get-togethers are a relaxed and friendly approach to learning French among like-minded people who enjoy all things French .  All levels of French welcome so everybody can get something out of it.  So come join us and have a go 

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST BY E-MAIL [email protected]

Le Café Français is soon to open new groups across Surrey.  We are keen to answer the need of the local communities and can create groups in your area provided there is a group of 5/6 participants coming together.