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London Merton and Kingston Regional Support Group |
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Regular sessions are held at different venues around Merton and Kingston.
Session
5: 10 May 2007 Session
4: 29 March 2007 Session
3: 1 February 2007 Session
2: 23 November 2006 Session
1: 28 September 2006 Session
5: Using Songs, Actions & Rhymes in PMFL Lessons Sue Tomes welcomed 37 colleagues to the meeting with a particular welcome to those attending the RSG for the first time. She spoke about support for schools and invited Merton teachers to contact Florence Moon from Rutlish High School who is willing to offer support to Primary Schools. Sue referred to the leaflets in the welcome pack about NACELL activities and information from CILT and reminded colleagues that the Comenius course for October needed applications by 31st May. Sue Tomes closed the meeting by asking people to note the provisional dates and themes for RSG meetings next year and the first of these will be on Thursday 27th September on Intercultural Understanding to be held at Wimbledon Chase Primary School. Session
4: Annual PMFL Conference – Creativity & Enjoyment in MFL
Lessons 73 colleagues were present, representing the London Boroughs of Merton, Kingston, Sutton, Richmond, Croydon & Wandsworth, together with representatives from various resource providers. Nick Bishop and Sue Tomes welcomed everybody to the meeting and explained the agenda for the day. Jan Martin, Head of Education in Merton, opened the conference saying that she was impressed by the strong collaboration which has developed between Merton and the surrounding boroughs. The first session was a presentation by Josie Adams-White of Rigolo 1, which covers the first 2 years of Primary French. It is designed for specialist and non-specialist teachers to be used in 10 minute per day slots. She referred briefly to Rigolo 2 due to be published soon. Jane Massey then demonstrated the LCP File 1 which is designed for 30/35 minute sessions and contains out-of-school learning suggestions. File 2 is due out next month. Finally Val Thornber demonstrated “Little Tales of the Unexpected” based on 4 traditional stories which places emphasis high frequency words. After coffee and cookies, June de Silva gave an excellent presentation on “Motivating Early Language Learners”. She explained that "teaching language is about lighting a fire, not filling a cup”. She asked the group to think of popular resources they use to motivate pupils and gave colleagues numerous further ideas for use in the classroom. Everyone joined enthusiastically in a range of hands on activities. This second session was completed by Stephen Novy, back by popular request, on the use of puppets in the classroom and a performance of one of his shows. During the lunch period colleagues were able to meet a wide variety of resource suppliers and to purchase materials for use in their classrooms. They were also able to have information from Wyvern Schooltours on opportunities for visits abroad including residential and one day trips. The afternoon session began with a fascinating presentation by Jennie Carpenter entitled “The Written Word in Foreign Languages for Young (at heart) Readers”. She showed a wide variety of books which can be used to stimulate young learners of MFL and other exciting ideas for using texts. Colleagues had plenty of opportunity to join in with a wide range of activities. After afternoon tea Paul Saitch, the newly appointed Comenius London KS2 Consultant, gave a talk on the national scene for MFL. He spoke about the best practice project carried out in Scotland and referred to the CPD opportunities which CILT are organising in London. He demonstrated the Primary Language website and referred to the Languages Ladder and the European Language Portfolio. He finished by asking delegates to think about the benefits and issues concerned with the Government’s requirement that all primary schools should have an international partner school by 2010. He said that he would take these comments back to the DfES. Nick and Sue ended the conference by thanking everybody for coming and to remind people of the local CPD opportunities available in conjunction with Kingston University and also through the Coombe Girls Language College. They hoped that colleagues would join them for the final RSG session on Thursday 10th May, 4 for 4.30pm, at Wimbledon Chase Primary School in Merton, at which Emma Read will present “Actions, Rhymes and Songs”. Delegates were asked to complete the evaluation sheets and had some further time to look at resources before leaving. Session
3: Primary Languages & NACELL websites Helen Groothues from CILT then led the presentation on the Primary Languages website which will be launched at the CILT Primary Languages Show next month, after which it will be available on line. She then demonstrated the website and cross referenced it to the NACELL site which already has a wealth of resources for classroom practice. She highlighted the following:
Helen finished with a reminder of the NACELL website and in particular the opportunity to access contributions from French speaking schools. The group were most appreciative of Helen’s talk and very positive feedback was received. The next meeting will be the Merton Conference on Thursday 29th March and colleagues will receive more details shortly together with an application form.Session
2: Ideas for Teaching and Assessing MFL Sue Tomes welcomed 30 colleagues to the meeting and thanked Nick Power for his hospitality at Coombe Girls School. She introduced the 3 speakers currently working in Merton schools to support teachers in PMFL. Chris Sharkey attended the “Training the Trainers” course which outlined the focus on familiarising teachers with the KS2 framework. They had discussed motivating techniques, planning cross-curricular links, celebrations and assessment. She talked about the European Language Portfolio and transition and recommended some useful web sites: www.globalgateway.org.uk; www.etwinning.net; www.schulweb.de Ceri Davies has also attended the same course. She is using the Catherine Cheater SoW and outlined the elements of assessment. She particularly likes the emphasis on language learning skills. Fanel Kheddouci is now an accredited teacher for assessment following the Asset Languages training course she attended. She explained the rationale of its approach to assessment and that it featured assessment internally and an external formal assessment which provides national accreditation. Schools wishing to adopt this approach would be required to have an accredited teacher. On-line resources and guidance are available. Ideas for Christmas were discussed. Colleagues suggested a number of useful resources and web sites including: www.perenoel.com; www.atantot.com; www.linguascope.com and "Allons vite a Bethlehem” booklet, “Preparons Noel” and Seulac CD rom “Le Petit Prof”. Update on local and national information – Nick Bishop reported on the London Language Show. Some local pupils were in the final of the EuroTalk Junior Language Challenge and he suggested colleagues might consider entering pupils in 2007 (www.eurotalk.com/jlc). Sue Tomes invited colleagues to contact her if they wished to have information about the European Theatre Group performing at her school on 3rd & 4th January and reminded us that resources are available there for colleagues to borrow or look at. Nick Power outlined the free adult classes at Coombe, www.coombegirlsschool.org/langcol/community Session
1:
Policies and Schemes of Work Sue Tomes welcomed 34 members to the meeting, including 8 trainee teachers from Kingston University. Feedback from the recent NACELL conference:
Dates and venues for the 5 Merton & Kingston RSG meetings are listed on the NACELL website. The London Languages Show will take place at Olympia 3-5 November. Support is available for teachers to improve their language skills:
Policies and Schemes of Work: Sue introduced the focus of the meeting and gave out copies of a model French policy which schools may adapt. Nick Power spoke about the Catherine Cheater SoW. Sue spoke about alternative schemes produced by LCP and also La Jolie Ronde which has published the Wakefield scheme. Nick Bishop reminded colleagues that ICT based schemes can be purchased using e-learning credits. He then led a discussion on making the most efficient use of the government money devolved to schools to support Primary Language Learning. A range of resources are available on loan from Wimbledon Chase Primary School (contact Chris Sharkey 02085421413). The meeting ended with local information:
Positive evaluation sheets were received at the conclusion of the meeting.
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Coordinators: Sue Tomes, Nick Bishop, Wimbledon Chase Primary School, Merton Hall Road SW19 3QB