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County Durham Regional Support Group |
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County
Durham Regional Support Group will hold regular sessions throughout the year. It is open to anyone involved
in primary languages from across the region, regardless of LA or teaching
establishment. We were very pleased to welcome Louise Harty from Northumberland LA to our first RSG of the year. Northumberland LA have produced a range of foreign language stories and accompanying resources for traditional fairy tales such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears. These resources are available in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Louise presented a fantastic session and demonstrated how to link thinking skills activities such as storyboarding and maps from memory to storytelling in the foreign language. Activities were linked to Framework learning objectives. Colleagues responded really well to doing activities in a language with which they are not familiar. This was particularly useful as it put them in the position of learner and made them reflect on what they are asking their children to do. Session 2:
Tuesday 23 January 2007 In the first part of the session, Lorna Reed gave an inspirational talk on “Top Tips for Cool MFL Teachers” and the use of puppets as a motivational tool to deliver primary languages. Lorna has been teaching primary languages continuously for over 30 years and has worked as a primary headteacher and as a member of the North Tyneside Pathfinder team. She was able to share her vast experience and considerable expertise with us and recommended a wide range of successful activities for the primary languages classroom. Colleagues described her delivery as ‘extremely motivating and enthusiastic’ in their evaluations. Session 3:
Tuesday 6 March 2007 We were very pleased to welcome Michaela Howard to our third RSG of the year. Michaela gave an inspirational presentation on using the photo story package to support and develop cross-curricular primary language work. Michaela demonstrated how easy the software is to use and the fantastic results it produces; presenting images that can be accompanied by sound and special effects. She emphasised how using the package to show images of the foreign country reinforced the Intercultural Understanding aspect of the KS2 Framework. Colleagues found the session very useful and the evaluations were extremely positive. Session 4:
Tuesday 8 May 2007 In the first part of our fourth RSG Jane Massey from LCP publications presented materials her organisation produce to support KS2 French. We were then pleased to welcome Sarah Sharpe, Primary Languages Consultant for Durham LA. Sarah will become the new RSG co-ordinator from September since the current co-ordinator, Lucy Adamson, is now based in London and working for CILT. Sarah told us about a primary languages conference she is organising on 12 June in Durham. In the second part of the session Lucy Adamson and Karen Fletcher, Primary Languages AST for the County, presented a session introducing the KS2 Framework for Languages. The session demonstrated how many teachers are already meeting learning objectives from the Framework in the activities they do in their primary languages work. Lucy and Karen also presented a range of practical activities taken from the Framework that teachers could use. Participants particularly appreciated the active dimension to the session, reflected in their positive evaluations. Session 5:
Tuesday 19 June 2007 Jim Mc Elwee gave a fascinating presentation of Dinocrocs, a language learning resource for the teaching of young children (age 3 upwards). Dinocrocs can be used for the teaching of French, German, Italian, Spanish and English! Firstly, Jim outlined research, at the University of Rome, behind the materials which took key principles from child psychology and language acquisition theory. Dinocrocs uses a narrative approach, combined with songs and drama, as children and teacher explore the world of the two cartoon characters, Hocus and Lotus. The technique builds on the young child's imagination and enjoyment of a repeated story. The children and teacher enter this story world as they put on their "magic" T-shirts. At our RSG meeting, we donned the "magic" T-shirts and Jim, in inimitable style, led us through drama into the make-believe world of Hocus, Lotus and their creature friends. We then watched a video clip of one of the Hocus and Lotus stories and then a second clip showing a young child from Italy who had been taught English using Dinocrocs - her ability to read with expression and enter into the story, to understand ,and most importantly, to enjoy a new language, was very impressive.
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Coordinator: Sarah Sharpe, Stanley Education Centre, King Edward VIII Terrace, Shield Row, Stanley, DH9 OHQ