NACELL best practice guide

Who will teach MFL?

Who will undertake the teaching?

This is a key question when introducing a new language into the primary curriculum and schools are employing a range of different approaches.

Early foreign language teaching can be delivered either by the class teacher or by a language specialist.

Where the class teacher is also the language teacher – an arrangement considered by many to be beneficial – the language teaching can be integrated into many other areas of the curriculum, taking advantage of the flexibility of the school day and of learner groupings.

Where a specialist teaches the foreign language, that teacher needs to work closely and co-operatively with the class teachers in planning and developing lessons.

The teacher might be:

• a language specialist, who has a good knowledge of other areas of the primary curriculum. The school might recruit the teacher to work only at the school or the teacher may be shared between schools;
• a primary class teacher with an interest or background in languages, who undertakes professional development in order to deliver language teaching either for part of his or her teaching time or full-time;
• a teacher from a specialist Language College or other secondary school an LEA advisory teacher or other professional;
• a Foreign Language Assistant (FLA) and other person with strong language skills, who might work alongside a class teacher.

The teaching can be reinforced and supported by:

• other class teachers in the primary school;
• a Foreign Language Assistant employed by the school or shared with another school, or other native speaker support.

What you need to consider

When planning staffing for teaching primary languages, schools might consider:

• the teachers' confidence, fluency and accurate command of the language;
• the availability of an accurate and authentic model of the spoken language for pupils to copy;
• the teachers' knowledge and understanding of linguistic progression;
• which language is most appropriate;
• the provision for teaching MFL in the secondary school(s) to which most of the pupils will go;
• how to assure continuity of teaching when staff leave;
• the appointment or sharing of a Foreign Language Assistant;
• what support is available;
• the arrangements for professional development.

It is important that children have a good model to copy, so the teacher must be confident in his or her use of the spoken language. Accurate pronunciation and knowledge and understanding of how the language works are paramount, and knowledge of effective teaching methods and suitable materials is desirable.

Less confident teachers can improve their knowledge of the language by listening to audio and videotapes and CDs, by reading books, magazines and articles and by watching television programmes in the target language, as well as by attending courses. Newspapers and articles in different languages can be found on the Internet.

Courses, both at home and abroad, are available for teachers wishing to improve their language competence. Training courses also exist for teachers wishing to learn about teaching methodology and materials. These courses are available at the many NACELL Regional Support Groups across the country.

A language co-ordinator

All schools should work towards having a language co-ordinator who will work within the school to motivate learners and staff and also work with LEAs and within a network of schools to maximise the school's language capability and capacity. The appointment of a subject co-ordinator will help to ensure that planning is coherent and teachers are involved and supported.

Foreign Language Assistants

For further information about Foreign Language Assistants, visit the British Council website.

The British Council Education and Training Group promotes the development of an international dimension to the school curriculum. It also encourages and supports international partnerships between schools. Several of the Council's services offer great support to primary schools which teach a foreign language.

Primary Languages Teacher Training Project

The primary languages in initial teacher training (ITT) project is a shared initiative involving the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and equivalent institutions from European partners, supported by CILT, the National Centre for Languages.

The project, which began in 2001, has brought together higher education institutions in England twinned with institutions in Europe, allowing the exchange of ideas between students and trainers within initial teacher training courses for primary French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Details of the training providers in England can be found at: www.nacell.org.uk/profdev/itt.htm.

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The following files are available to download in PDF format:

• Training class teachers
  Liverpool Education and Lifelong Learning Service
• A needs analysis for in-service training
  Liverpool Education and Lifelong Learning Service
• Class teacher or language specialist?
  DfES Best Practice Research Project, Kent
• Reinforcing the work of the language specialist
  Mary Love and Ted Last, Buckland CoE Primary School, Oxfordshire
• Staff training for the teaching of community languages
  Jamal Uddin, London Borough of Tower Hamlets LEA, Mother Tongue Education
• The Foreign Language Assistant in the primary school
  Cynthia Martin, Universities of Reading and Southampton; Liverpool Education and Lifelong Learning Service; Mary Love and Ted Last, Buckland CoE Primary School, Oxfordshire