Essex West Regional Support Group

Coordinator: Emmanuelle Carme, Primary Strategy Consultant - MFL, Wickford Curriculum Centre, Alderney Gardens, Wickford. SS11 7JZ
Tel: 01268 574 573
Email: Emmanuelle.Carme@essexcc.gov.uk

Date: 13/11/2007
Title: Activities and songs for Christmas and other celebrations
Venue: Harlow Curriculum Development Centre
Time: 4.30 - 6.00
Speaker: Emmanuelle Carme, Primary Language Consultant

This RSG session focused on how to use festivals and celebrations as a possible outcome of a unit of work. Some activities focused on the intercultural understanding strand of the KS2 Framework, whereas others looked at how to use authentic resources to practise new language. The session was very interactive and delegates took part in a range of activitives, from making their own calendar to singing. The feedback was very positive and delegates were very keen to try out some of the activities back in school.

Date: 05/02/2008
Title: Ideas for planning a half-term unit of work
Venue: Harlow Curriculum Development Centre
Time: 4.30 - 6.00
Speaker: Hazel Pearson, Primary Language Consultant

This session was delivered by Hazel Pearson, Primary Language Consultant. The focus of the session was planning a unit of work. The principles of planning a unit which would last about half a term were outlined, including the need for a 'real' outcome, a focus on revisiting previously learnt language as well as introducing new language, and an emphasis on sentence level work to put vocabulary into a context. We then looked through some planned units for different age groups, and which focused on different topic areas. Some of the activities included within the units were exemplified. They were discussed and suggestions for adaptations made. There was also a general discussion about primary language teaching and an opportunity to share ideas and ask questions.

Date: 04/03/2008 *Please note change of date*
Title: Using ICT in languages - creating resources for the interactive whiteboard
Venue: Harlow Curriculum Centre
Time: 4.30-6.00
Speaker: Emmanuelle Carme, Primary Language Consultant

This session focused on sharing practical activities to show how ICT can enhance early language learning. Delegates were given tools to produce their own ICT resources using PowerPoint and SmartBoard. We also explored how ICT could be used to introduce storytelling for KS2 children and short rhymes at KS1. Finally we considered how visual literacy could play a role in the MFL classroom by encouraging children to make their own ICT resources focusing on character description and their understanding of authentic resources. The informal aspect of the session meant that delegates shared ideas on how they used ICT in their own classroom and they left keen to try out some of these new ideas, specifically electronic flashcards.

Date: 13/05/2008
Title: Making language learning fun! - Parachute activities and other games to use in your language sessions
Venue: Harlow Curriculum Centre
Time: 4.30 - 6.00
Speaker: Hazel Pearson, Primary Language Consultant

This session was focused on sharing practical activities and especially games. Emmanuelle Carme, Primary Language Consultant - Essex, shared games that can be used as a whole class, in groups and then in pairs. We considered how these games could support children in achieving both the oracy and literacy objectives from the KS2 Framework for Languages.
Delegates were then encouraged to share some ideas, focusing on the three categories explored by the main speaker. In the last part of the session, we explored resources which were available and shared how they could be used to play games in the MFL sessions. When exploring how to use resources, we focused on how resources could be used at word, sentence and text level, so that children can ask and answer questions. We especially considered how to use and adapt large foam dice and how they could challenge children's langauge skills.

Date: 01/07/2008
Title: Creativity in MFL
Venue: Harlow Curriculum Centre
Time: 4.30 - 6.00
Speaker: Hazel Pearson, Primary Language Consultant

The focus of the session was 'creativity in teaching languages'. It was introduced with an overview of creative approaches, through an explanation of four possible aspects of creativity - music, drama, storytelling and film. Under each of these headings a range of activities was explained and some resources to support the activities were shown.

We then had a presentation from a representative from 'Beelingua' who demonstrated a resource which linked to the storytelling approach - Little Tails of the Unexpected. This was followed by a presentation from a company called 'MFL school support' who provide workshops to schools to develop Spanish. They explained the methodology behind their approach and some theories concerning memory and the way children learn language best.

Delegates had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss what they had heard.

NACELL Regional Support Groups are funded by the DCSF and co-ordinated by CILT, the National Centre for Languages in support of the National Languages Strategy.