ISMLAISMLA NEWS L E T T ERN EWS L E T T ER

Independent Schools’ Modern Languages AssociationIndependent Schools’ Modern Languages Association

No.52 Summer 2011

www.ismla.co.ukwww.ismla.co.uk

2

Chairman Nick Mair, Dulwich College Tel: 020 8693 3601 mairn@dulwich.org.uk

Vice Chairman and Membership Secretary Geoffrey Plow, University College School Tel: 020 7433 2302 gplow@ucs.org.uk

Treasurer Peter Ansell, Stonyhurst College Tel: 01254 826345 p.ansell@stonyhurst.ac.uk

Secretary Jenny Davey, Glenalmond College Jennydavey@glenalmondcollege.co. uk Liaison with prep schools

Gillian Forte. St Christopher’s School, Hove Tel: 01273 735404 gforte@stchristophershove.org.uk Exhibitions Organiser

David Cragg-James davidcragg-james@tiscali.co.uk Newsletter Editor

Peter Langdale, North London Colle-giate School Tel: 020 8952 0912 plangdale@tiscali.co.uk Website and Reviews Editor Thomas Underwood, University College School Tel: 020 7435 2215 tunderwood@ucs.org.uk Awarding Bodies Liaison Officer

Alex Frazer, Hampton School Tel: 020 8979 5526 A.frazer@hamptonschool.org.uk

Regional Co-ordinator (East)

Julia Whyte, St Francis' College Tel: 01462 670511 jwhyte@st-francis.herts.sch.uk Astrid McAuliffe, Alleyn’s School (Responsibility for German) Tel: 020 8557 1506 mcauliffeaj@alleyns.org.uk Jane Byrne, The Manchester Grammar School Tel: 0161 2247201 byrnja@mgs.org Duncan Byrne, Cheltenham College Tel: 01242 265604 duncan.byrne@sky.com

Richard Oates, Sherborne School Tel: 01935 812249 roates@sherborne.org Aline Jacinto, The Manchester Grammar School a.jacinto@mgs.org

Liz Hughes lizhug1949@hotmail.co.uk

Patrick Le Berre, Highgate School Tel: 020 8340 1524 Pa-trick.LeBerre@highgateschool.org. uk

Liaison with ALL, ISMLA repre-sentative on Executive Council

Kevin Dunne, Ampleforth College Tel: 01439 766000 kjd@ismla.co.uk

ISMLA Representative on AQA consultative committee Patrick Thom, The Manchester Grammar School Tel: 0161 2247201 thompat@mgs.org

Contact the Committee

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Contents

Page

From the Chairman 4

From the Editor 5

ISMLA National Conference 2011 6

ISMLA Representations on Exam Issues 12

AS/A2 Results Survey 2011 14

Cambridge IGCSE: An Alternative Route for Lan-

guages

20

Language Matters More and More 23

Launch of “Speak to the Future” 27

THE RUSSIANS HAVE COME! 28

Why I decided to study Chinese 29

Three tried and tested internet tools for language

teachers

35

Network for Languages: Building on Links into

Languages

37

Obituary- Professor Eric Hawkins 38

4

In the last edition of the Newsletter,

I wrote of the 'eerie sense of stasis'

surrounding plans for the future of

modern language teaching and

learning in this country, as last Sum-

mer ended without any clarity over

future government policy. This time I

can report that there is movement,

even if the landscape traversed is

less easily mapped than one would

like.

I draw your attention to the letter

(see pages 12-13) which ISMLA sent

to OFQUAL, AQA, Edexcel, and OCR,

as well as to Messrs Gove and Gibb,

following the ISMLA National Confer-

ence in February. We consider that

the responses we have received to

the letter are unsatisfactory and will

be discussing the issue further with

Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools, on

21st July.

Of course, the basis for the letter

was the frank and highly fruitful final

session of the conference, where

delegates helped to determine the

content of what we would ultimately

write. We are grateful for everyone's

participation and would hope to

maintain this consultative approach.

As we have stressed more than once

in the past, it pays for our represen-

tations to exam boards and the gov-

ernment to be well-informed and

measured. In that spirit, do please

read and take to heart our Awarding

Bodies' Liaison Officer Alex Frazer's

piece on the 2011 AS and A2 Results

Survey. As Alex says, the online sur-

vey will go live from the start of the

Autumn Term and will carry on into

October. Your comments on all as-

pects of GCSE, IGCSE, AS and A2

examination results, administration

and examining will be essential in

helping us form an ever more solid

evidence base.

As you will be well aware, the GCSE

v IGCSE debate has been one of the

most animated for some time. Some

schools say they seek a more

‘academic’ qualification that provides

a better preparation for sixth-form

work. Others were unhappy with the

administrative arrangements of the

new GCSE. We have invited CIE and

Edexcel to contribute articles of be-

tween 500 and 1500 words to make

clear the features of their IGCSE

offerings. You can read CIE's article

elsewhere in this Newsletter. Edex-

cel's contribution was not made

available to us in time to be pub-

lished in this Newsletter. We trust

we will be able to include it in a fu-

ture edition – but readers should be

aware that it is in no way our inten-

tion to present only one awarding

body's side of the story.

CIE maintain that the levels of diffi-

culty in GCSE and IGCSE modern

language qualifications are identical.

we have offered to pull together an

anonymous group of schools who

are willing to supply hard evidence

to support their contention that this

is not the case. If you feel strongly

about the issue and are able to sup-

ply data (say: comparison of MidYIS

value added or differences between

teaching sets taking both GCSE and

From the Chairman

5

I am delighted to say that this edi-

tion of the ISMLA Newsletter is as

varied as I can remember since I

took over the editorship two years

ago. .

As well as the customary review of

the National Conference in Febru-

ary, there is plenty about our fa-

vourite topic at this time of year

(exams, naturally). and we have

also tried to reflect the numerous

events and initiatives, against the

background of the government's

consultations on the national cur-

riculum, to bring the importance of

languages in the school and univer-

sity sectors to the attention of Mi-

chael Gove and his ministers.

On a less political note, I was de-

lighted to receive contributions

about the study of Russian and Chi-

nese and especially an article about

the practical use of new technolo-

gies from José Picardo, who spoke

at the 2010 conference. This is com-

plemented by information on the

Network for Languages, the succes-

sor to the victim of cuts, ‘Links into

Languages’.

Eagle-eyed readers will have noted

the absence of a reviews section this

time around. Publishers have not of

late been as forthcoming with mate-

rial to review as of old. However,

Tom Underwood, my predecessor as

editor (and webmaster), has kindly

agreed to take over as reviews edi-

tor and we hope to bring you a new,

improved reviews section from this

autumn.

The Newsletter relies heavily on con-

tributions from readers and their

colleagues, so please consider offer-

ing your thoughts and ideas. For

instance, it has been said that we

have not published much of late that

concerns Spanish. Would anyone like

to fill that gap? Practical classroom

ideas, reflective articles, reports -

please share them with us. All I ask

is that you contact me at plang-

dale@tiscali.co.uk to discuss.

May I wish all our readers a restful,

enjoyable and fruitful Summer holi-

day.

Peter Langdale

From the Editor

IGCSE), I am happy to act as an

anonymous intermediary.

ISMLA has no view as to whether

IGCSE should be harder than or the

same as GCSE – we simply wish that

all involved should be clear whether

this is the case. This can only be in

the interests of pupils, SMTs, par-

ents and universities.

This edition of the Newsletter amply

reflects the variety of interests and

approaches of language teachers in

this country and my thanks go to

Peter Langdale for putting it to-

gether so well. But it is written in no

small measure by its readers. So –

enjoy the Summer holidays; and

write something for us.

Nick Mair

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JANE BREEN & ALEX STEELE

(King Edward VI Grammar School,

Chelmsford) Faust for Fun & Can

Kids do Candide? Different ways to

use literature with beginner learn-

ers.

The conference opener was a rich

presentation, on the merits of

adapting two significant texts – not

normally met until much later in

one’s studies – as a means of teach-

ing various aspects of German and

French to those at the very begin-

ning of their linguistic adventure.

Germanist Breen had innovated her

scheme some time previously – no

doubt (young) Old Boy Steele had

come across it during his first incar-

nation at KEGS. For her, the pleas-

ure and purpose of making Faust

Part 1 a junior teaching tool were

located in building skills, confidence

and interest through a variety of

means. She advocated setting the

scene through cognate German,

suggested choral pronunciation work

on Gretchen’s poem and showed the

possibility of not only thinking skills

through a Faust soliloquy but also

“extreme” thinking skills via a

speech by Mephistopheles! There

were opportunities to puzzle out a

translation in groups, understand

compound words from their context

and analyse and adapt present

tense and modal verbs from a 2-side

plot summary in accessible German.

Ms Breen also favoured working to-

wards the dramatisation of certain

sections outside the classroom.

While the roots of his Candide pro-

ject were visible in the Faust prece-

dent, Mr Steele had decided to hook

its various elements closely to the

textbook chapters he was otherwise

teaching. With the help of the Del-

court bande dessinée adaptation, he

focused on the first ten chapters of

the text, with all the gory bits

shamelessly highlighted to appeal to

boys: violence, death, disaster, mi-

raculous escapes, dalliances with

barmaids. So Candide, once intro-

duced, became a theme for the year

to which he could return for either

first teaching or revision and rein-

forcement. Examples given included

working on Candide’s daily routine

and writing an account of school as

if one were a fellow-pupil of Can-

dide’s under Pangloss’s tutelage.

Other possibilities for Year 7 were

family, physical description, illness

and so on. To teach the present

tense, “unpleasant” verbs – such as

étrangler, pendre and vomir – were

suggested as alternatives to the

obvious old stagers. Grammar and

logic combined in an activity map-

ping out a town from a prepositional

description in the text. Various types

of group work were proposed, in-

cluding rearranging summary sen-

tences and writing phrases to de-

scribe illustrations.

ISMLA National Conference 2011

This year's conference took place on Saturday 5 February 2011 at Magdalen

College School, Oxford. We publish as ever, a digest of the day’s sessions.

7

level which leads to the selection of

the national team. To go in for it, all

our pupils need is a willingness to

think creatively, to pay attention to

detail and, crucially, to persevere as

they try to spot patterns in aspects

of languages with which they are

unlikely to be familiar. From learn-

ing – or more accurately, in some

cases – from being exposed to a

masterly exposition of, for example,

the “agreement of the past participle

with the preceding direct object

rule” in French, entrants would be

given examples of the phenomenon

in action and invited to account for

it. Not hard enough? Well, what

about trying to spot how to make

the negative form of adjectives

(“care” into “careless”, for example)

in Turkish? Still laughably simple?

Perhaps unravelling the sentence

structure of Polynesian languages

would tempt your pupils, in that

case.

Dr Hudson’s huge delight in linguis-

tics - he is a retired lecturer in the

subject at University College, Lon-

don – and his unmistakeable zest

for the Linguistics Olympiad carried

us all with him. Beyond demonstrat-

ing the interest of the work itself, he

was at pains to stress that the com-

petition is not the preserve of pupils

who see themselves as linguists –

mathematicians and physicists will

find themselves equally at home:

the Olympiad, he assured us,

“brings girls into science and boys

into languages.”

We’ll have to wait until February

2012 for the start of next year’s

Between them, Ms Breen and Mr

Steele had much to offer teachers

looking to combine ambition and

rigour with a bit of fun and some

contact with grown-up ideas. Their

materials are available on one of

their school’s associated websites,

www.kegscommunity.org.uk.

Alex Frazer

DICK HUDSON (University College

London) The UK Linguistics Olym-

piad.

In which activity could our female

and male pupils a) compete on an

equal footing with each other; b)

achieve selection for the national

team; and c) learn things that no

British school syllabus deals with?

The answer – possibly an obvious

one in view of the title of this piece –

is “the UK Linguistics Olympiad”. The

talk started auspiciously, with all the

available seats taken and more lis-

teners still pouring into the room. It

finished, in all probability, with those

who were not able to be there snap-

ping their jaws in rage at having

missed a talk that was utterly capti-

vating and added yet another to the

long list of reasons to regret the

onset of old age: we can now include

“we’re too old to try our hand at

solving fascinating linguistic puzzles

against the clock.”

The facts are simply told. There are

two rounds, the first taken in schools

at two levels, Foundation and Ad-

vanced, while the second is open to

the best candidates at Advanced

8

the day, he made the point that

ideas needed time to mature, and

that research could not be expected

to emerge 'to order' – whatever any

governmental assessment exercise

might suggest. His account of the

importance of Kant to an under-

standing of enlightenment as a Ger-

man theme (even if we usually asso-

ciate the term with France, Scotland

or even England) offered obvious

evidence of the products that can

emerge when ideas are allowed to

marinate in this way.

Goethe, Schiller and Kant are not

primarily seen as Enlightenment

writers; but Professor Reed's argu-

ment was that drawing them in to an

understanding of the discourse of

the Enlightenment enriched this area

of thought. Kant is traditionally seen

as anti-Enlightenment, in that he

seems so obscure. However, as Pro-

fessor Reed said, it was Kant's wish

to clear out obscurity in philosophi-

cal thinking to make way for a more

empirical approach. He quoted the

dtv book published in German on

Kant which advised readers to skip

more than 200 pages of one of the

philosopher's works. Professor Reed

seemed to be recommending a simi-

larly pared-down approach.

Above all, Professor Reed's talk was

practical (recommending 'Was ist

Aufklärung?' and other short essays

as a readable and approachable way

in to Kant) and lucid. Kant's central

concern was to establish what we

can know and what we cannot be

expected to know. For Kant, reason

had always to be self-critical – in-

competition. Until then, for further

information about how to enter as

well as to see some past questions,

go to www.uklo.org. There’s a fur-

ther reason, if one were needed, to

stir up interest among those we

teach – entry is completely free.

Richard Oates

DUNCAN BYRNE The latest on

trips and exchanges.

Duncan gave us an update on the

legal position and moved on to talk

about good practice, issues of pupil

recruitment and how to deal with

difficulties encountered on ex-

changes. Duncan has very kindly put

on the ISMLA website, not only the

PowerPoint from his talk but also

very helpfully a document entitled

ISMLA advice on good practice and a

model letter to parents along with

other critical documents on this diffi-

cult issue.

Peter Ansell

JIM REED (The Queen's College,

Oxford) The German Enlightenment

Jim Reed was, until his retirement,

Taylor Professor of German in the

University of Oxford. His talk at the

2011 ISMLA National Conference

gave the lie to the notion of retire-

ment. Professor Reed has been

thinking about and working on Kant

since 1984. In conversation before

9

Patrick began by talking about the

precursors of the Nouvelle Vague

who were continually constrained by

the limitations of traditional cine-

matographic techniques and he al-

lowed us to discover aspects of the

work of directors such as Jean Re-

noir and Roberto Rossellini. These

directors and their successors broke

away from the constraints of tradi-

tional cinema and films made en-

tirely in the studio with fixed camera

and strict scenarios. Instead, they

sought the liberty of using impro-

vised scenarios, amateur actors,

frequently children, particularly in

Truffaut’s films, and scenes shot in

the open air often in documentary

style and above all, spontaneity.

The first films to display this new

style of film-making were Une Partie

de Campagne (Jean Renoir), Zéro de

Conduite (Jean Vigo) and les Quatre

Cent sCoups (François Truffaut)

which was hailed as the New Wave

film and which won the prize for the

best direction at the Festival de

Cannes in 1959. Other notable films

included Pierrot le Fou and A Bout de

Souffle (Jean Luc Godard), Jules et

Jim and Les Mistons (François Truf-

faut), Cléo de 5 à 7 (Agnès Varda),

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

(Jacques Demy), Et Dieu Créa la

Femme (Roger Vadim), Le Boucher

(Claude Chabrol), Hiroshima mon

Amour (Alain Resnais) and Contes

(Eric Rohmer). Patrick took us on a

journey into the New Wave through

a selection of these films.

The themes of the films of the New

Wave reflected the changes which

were taking place in French society

deed, the practice of reason was

that of thinking critically about all

our concerns, not of indulging in

highfalutin philosophising. In that

sense, Kant's ethics were the basis

of his political and social views.

This last point led at the end to a

fruitful discussion on the basis for

political action – the idea of the

moral politician versus that of the

political moralist. Professor Reed

gave us an excellent basis for seeing

that Kant was indeed related to

modern life. Armed with observa-

tions on the link between Hobbes

and the 'Big Society', the audience

felt that this was a talk that really

would give food for thought – some-

thing worth marinating.

Geoffrey Plow

PATRICK LE BERRE La Nouvelle

Vague, un concept dépassé?

We were treated to a wonderful ex-

posé by Patrick Le Berre, Head of

Modern Languages at Highgate

School on the New Wave in French

cinema, its techniques and its

themes. Patrick’s aim was to prove

to us that this is still an extremely

valid topic of study for our pupils at

A level and for those aspiring to en-

trance to the top universities. He

gave us a fascinating insight into the

work of the directors of the

“Nouvelle Vague” punctuating his

talk with excellent excerpts from

some of the classic films of the pe-

riod.

10

JOE DALE Exploring the Modern and

Foreign in Languages

Joe Dale is well known as a passion-

ate advocate of the use of new tech-

nologies in the language classroom

and in his presentation which

brought the conference to a close he

took the opportunity to share his

enthusiasm with us with several

examples of technology in action.

He began by emphasising the expec-

tation that technology be integrated

and used in the classroom from sev-

eral quarters, including inspectors,

There was, he said, no longer an

excuse for not doing so. He soon

warmed to his theme of the Net-

worked Teacher and the Personal

Learning Network (PLN). To the un-

initiated, and that still includes this

reviewer, the PLN seems to involve

groups of teachers actively and in-

stantaneously communicating with

each other through media such as

Twitter, FaceBook, Wikis, providing a

‘live example’ by displaying re-

sponses from his own network to an

appeal sent out shortly before the

talk.

Among the many examples of re-

sources and ideas he mentioned

were

• The CILT website as a good

place to start to create resources

(including the CILT Plus service

mentioned in the Autumn edition

of the Newsletter, p 18),

• The use of Flashmeeting (http://

flashmeeting.e2bn.net) to set up

online meetings previously ar-

at the time, changes in attitudes

towards free love, a triangular rela-

tionship and changes in the role of

women (for instance Patricia in A

Bout de Souffle and Catherine in

Jules et Jim, who has a strong per-

sonality and who dominates and

manipulates the two men). In Les

400 Coups, we see a repressive,

traditionalist and hypocritical society

and a rebellious post-war youth in-

tent on amusement, lacking any fear

of authority and denying former val-

ues (religion, school, family). Exis-

tentialism was rife and commitment

to politics of the left. The “Hippy“

movement reinforced the demand

for greater freedom (divorce, abor-

tion and the Pill) The New Wave

films documented this revolution and

were immensely popular.

Patrick concluded by showing us how

films in the New Wave style are still

present today in techniques em-

ployed by American and British film

directors eg. Stephen Frears. They

may not purport to being part of the

New Wave, but are influenced by its

techniques and themes, writing their

own scripts and tackling controver-

sial themes, which have changed

necessarily in line with the evolution

in attitudes and changes in society.

There is scope to learn about the

New Wave in the new A level specifi-

cations and having shared Patrick’s

extensive knowledge of and incredi-

ble enthusiasm for this film genre,

we left the conference keen to en-

gage in learning about and teaching

this topic to our pupils,

Liz Hughes

11

• The use of podcasts to give a

sense of reward by ‘publishing’

For more on all of these and a great

deal else besides, we were encour-

aged to visit Joe’s blog (http://

joedale.typepad.com).

Peter Langdale

ranged through a Wiki.

• Streamed show-and-tell sessions

• The use of RSS feeds to keep in

touch with developments

• Even for those not into Twitter,

one can sign up for the MFL

Times for a digest of stories re-

garding languages (http://

twitter.com/#!/MFLTimes)

New Patrons of ISMLA

We are very pleased to be able to draw on the expertise and experience of a

number of ISMLA Patrons. These are head teachers and senior professionals

in the field of modern language teaching who have agreed to offer us such

advice and support as may become necessary from time to time.

There are two new Patrons.

Simon Corns is Headmaster at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Black-

burn. His name will be familiar from reviews he has written for the Newslet-

ter. We are delighted that Simon is able to lend his experience and assis-

tance.

Helen Myers is Assistant Head at the Ashcombe School in Dorking and

Chair of the ALL-London branch committee. Helen has done sterling work in

identifying and then publicising incidences of severe grading in MFL public

examinations. ISMLA has worked closely with Helen for some time, especially

over our online results surveys. We are very pleased to welcome Helen as a

Patron.

The other current patrons of ISMLA are Adam Pettit, Headmaster of Highgate

School Peter Hamilton, Headmaster of Haberdashers’ Aske's Boys’ School, Dr

Daphne West and Dr Helen Wright, Headmistress of St Mary’s, Calne

Geoffrey Plow

12

ISMLA has been engaged for nearly two years in a series of surveys and con-

sultations with its 170 member schools to monitor reactions to the reform of

GCSE, AS and A-level examinations initiated in the last five years. A signifi-

cant aim has been to make judgments ‘in the round’ and not to respond in an

impulsive way to a single set of results in any examination session or con-

cerns peculiar to individual schools.

Our evidence base has been as follows:

• September-November 2010: online survey in conjunction with ALL-

London of AS/A2 results with responses from some 90 schools

• September-November 2009: online survey in conjunction with ALL-

London of AS results with a similar scale of response

• October 2010: invited consultation of members in advance of ISMLA's

participation in the Languages Teaching Pedagogy Seminar with Schools

Minister Nick Gibb

• February 2011: invited written responses from our annual conference

delegates on a range of current Modern Languages issues

The following are the central issues that have emerged:

1. We are concerned about the disparity between the propor-

tions of candidates achieving A* at A-level between Modern

Languages and other subjects with a similarly high academic

entry profile, such as Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Phys-

ics and Chemistry (1).

ISMLA Representations on Exam Issues

At the National Conference in February the committee indicated that it would

be sending a letter to the examination boards and ministers regarding mem-

bers’ concerns about recent examination changes and grading issues. We

reproduce below the text of the letter that was sent in April 2011 to Edexcel,

OCR and AQA, as well as to Michael Gove and Nick Gibb.

13

2. We are equally troubled by the fact that the marking of oral

examinations has been widely viewed as unreliable by member

schools in the last two years. In particular, member schools

have repeatedly highlighted the phenomenon of linguists

known to be gifted being outperformed by weaker ones. We

agree with guidance offered by all boards that candidates

should not be rehearsed and that discussion should be allowed

to develop organically during each oral examination. However,

we believe that candidates who have learned successfully,

practised speaking assiduously over the long term and ex-

pressed themselves eloquently and meaningfully under pres-

sure have effectively been penalised by a set of criteria prone

to identify them as ‘over prepared’.

Consequent upon the above two factors, there has been a marked rise in

Senior Management interventions in ISMLA member schools such that inter-

ested pupils, who would find Modern Languages an advantageous and fulfill-

ing component in their own future, are being encouraged towards other Sixth

Form subjects offering a more predictable and reliable grade outcome. This

flies in the face of the oft-stated strategic commercial, social and academic

need for highly trained linguists in the United Kingdom.

The time is right for a structured response to the serious situation outlined

above. Bernadette Holmes (President Elect of the Association for Language

Learning), Helen Myers (Chair of ALL-London) and I would welcome the op-

portunity to meet with the examination boards at a mutually convenient time

this summer. It can only be in the interests of awarding bodies and students

alike to achieve genuine consistency of grade outcomes between subjects.

Yours Sincerely,

Nick Mair

Chairman, ISMLA (Vice-Chair, ALL-London)

(1) Work undertaken by ALL-London on severe grading seems to confirm the relative difficulty of

attaining A-level A* in Modern Languages. The combined A*/A rate tends to be impressive for sub-

jects having what ALL-London describes as an “intake profile with more higher-attaining students”.

On the first year’s data, this is indeed the case for French (39%), German (41%) and Spanish

(38%). Subjects considered to fall into the same bracket include Maths (45%) and Physics (33%).

The average A*/A rate for all subjects was 27%. One might expect, then, to see high proportions of

these able students getting the very top grade. However, although the average A* rate as a fraction

of the A*/A figure was 30%, scores for Modern Languages fell away: 20% for French, 24% for

German and 22% for Spanish. By comparison, Maths and Physics beat the average with 38% and

31% respectively. A further comparison might be made with History, for instance, where the com-

bined A*/A figure of 28% was substantially below that for Modern Languages, while the A* propor-

tion was better at 25% of A*/A.Further information at: http://www.all-

london.org.uk/2010_a_level_a_s tar_issue.htm

14

(I)GCSE, AS/A2 Results Survey 2011

An appeal from the Awarding Bodies Liaison

Officer

We shall again be running our online surveys of AS and A2 examination re-

sults. This year, as mentioned by the Chairman in his introduction to this

Newsletter, we will also be asking for your reactions to results for GCSE and

IGCSE. They will go live on the ISMLA website at the start of the Autumn

term and remain open until early October. This will allow time for reflection

in your departments before (as we hope you will) you add your findings.

Please remember that your submissions are anonymous if you want them to

be – you are very welcome to name your centre if you prefer – and the raw

data are seen only by a handful of ISMLA committee members.

We were delighted with the response from member schools at the start of

this academic year. As you may remember from the Spring newsletter, we

received around 90 submissions, representing 1704 AS entries and 1296 A2

entries. With such a robust sample – enhanced by your contributions to the

Yellow Paper at February’s conference – we were able to write with confi-

dence to all the examination boards as well as Michael Gove and the Schools

Minister, Nick Gibb. This letter is reproduced on the following page. A num-

ber of meetings are in the offing, which we hope will bear fruit as far as

member schools’ concerns go.

It goes without saying that gathering the same amount of data – if not more

– in 2011 will be invaluable if we are to continue to represent our member-

ship faithfully and, of course, to establish trends in each successive year of

these still-young specifications. So please do take the short time necessary

to fill in the AS and A2 halves of the survey, once you and your department

have digested your August results. And the best of luck to your pupils!

Alex Frazer

15

language syllabuses.

Features of Cambridge IGCSE

language syllabuses Cambridge

IGCSE language syllabuses develop

learners’ confidence and skills in

listening, reading, speaking and

writing. They are designed to be

taught holistically with exams at the

end of two years. This linear struc-

ture provides learners and teachers

with the opportunity to build confi-

dence and ideas. There is also no

controlled assessment which eases

the assessment burden and provides

more time for teaching and learning.

Jayne Jennings, Head of Modern

Languages at Abingdon School, said

her MFL department decided unani-

mously to opt for Cambridge IGCSE

French, German and Spanish after

looking at the specifications. She

said: “We chose Cambridge IGCSE

not only because we were dissatis-

fied with the new GCSE format but

also because IGCSE offered positive

benefits for our students – including

an interesting creative writing task,

one oral exam which allows pupils to

talk about topics of personal inter-

est, and the flexibility to cater for

less able pupils as well as stretching

the most able.”

All Cambridge IGCSE language sylla-

buses include a compulsory oral ex-

amination at the end of the course

which is internally assessed and ex-

ternally moderated by Cambridge.

The list of qualifications available to

schools is ever-growing. It’s not just

a case of choosing between exam

boards, but also deciding which

qualification offers the best route for

your students.

Much has been written about the

International GCSE in the UK, and

misconceptions surround its level of

difficulty and content. However it’s a

fact that many schools are looking

for an alternative to GCSE, and the

popularity of the IGCSE is growing.

UK entries for Cambridge IGCSE,

provided by University of Cambridge

International Examinations, are up

95% on June 2010. Over 500 UK

schools now offer Cambridge IGCSE,

including 200 state schools and 300

from the independent sector.

So why are schools switching to

Cambridge IGCSE? Here are some

key facts about the qualification for

language teachers.

Wide subject choice Cambridge

IGCSE is available in 30 language

syllabuses. English as a Second Lan-

guage, French, German, Greek,

Hindi and Spanish are Ofqual-

accredited and funded for teaching

in UK state schools. We have also

submitted Mandarin Chinese to

Ofqual for accreditation and hope to

receive this soon. University of Cam-

bridge International Examinations is

the only UK exam board to have

Ofqual-accredited and funded IGCSE

Cambridge IGCSE

An Alternative Route for Languages

16

dards booklets which show the stan-

dard required to obtain a particular

grade. The new materials will be

published on our Teacher Support

website in late 2011, and will also be

available on request.

Nationally and globally recog-

nised Cambridge IGCSE is the

world’s most popular international

qualification for 14-16 year olds, and

is taken in over 135 countries. It is

widely recognised by universities

around the world.

Cambridge IGCSEs in French, Ger-

man, Greek, Hindi and Spanish

count towards the English Baccalau-

reate and are included in the Gov-

ernment’s school performance ta-

bles.

Comprehensive support for

schools We do everything we can

to help UK schools make an easy

transition from GCSE to Cambridge

IGCSE. We guide schools through

the registration process, and help

teachers deliver the syllabuses –

providing support with curriculum

mapping, exam materials, and IN-

SET.

The next INSET courses for Cam-

bridge IGCSE language syllabuses

will take place in September and

October 2011. They are aimed at

teachers who have recently started

teaching Cambridge IGCSE, or are

considering teaching it. Training will

be given on marking to help teach-

ers understand the standards re-

quired of students. To register,

please go to: www.cie.org.uk/

igcseinset

And the final written exam offers

good preparation for post-16 lan-

guage study.

Grading standards Cambridge

IGCSE is recognised as equivalent

grade-for-grade with UK GCSE. We

carry out comparability studies with

OCR GCSE to check that the stan-

dard is equivalent, and we use many

of the same examiners as OCR. Indi-

cators used in awarding include fore-

cast grades and previous perform-

ance, including at GCSE.

Owing to the global take up of Cam-

bridge IGCSE languages, including

among native and second language

speakers, we take particular care in

awarding to ensure that the highest

grades are available to genuine for-

eign language learners.

We are sometimes asked if the inter-

national student cohort disadvan-

tages language learners in the UK.

However, Cambridge IGCSE assess-

ments are criterion-referenced, not

norm-referenced. Learners are

measured against a standard, not

against each other.

Teachers who are new to teaching

Cambridge IGCSE want to know

more about the standard required,

and we are happy to provide this

information. We publish component

level grade boundaries (up to grade

A) on our free Teacher Support web-

site. We provide syllabus level

boundaries on request – including

grade A*, which is only awarded at

syllabus level.

We are also currently updating Ex-

ample Candidate Responses stan-

17

We can put teachers in touch with

Cambridge IGCSE language teachers

in UK schools to hear about their

experiences. We also encourage

applications from language teachers

interested in becoming Cambridge

examiners. Please email us at inter-

national@cie.org.uk or call on 01223

553 554.

Peter Monteath, UK Schools Man-

ager, University of Cambridge Inter-

national Examinations

Over 9000 schools worldwide are

registered with Cambridge, creating

a huge network of expertise. We

host discussion forums on our

Teacher Support website so that

teachers can connect with their

peers, Cambridge subject specialists,

and examiners. Teachers can also

share resources such as lesson

plans, schemes of work, teaching

notes, activities and tests.

Find out more To learn more

about Cambridge IGCSE, go to

www.cie.org.uk/igcseuk

UK GCSE Cambridge IGCSE Context of

the curricu-

lum

Based on the UK Natio-

nal Curriculum to Key

Stage 3.

Based on best-in-class syllabuses throu-

ghout the world (including the UK), dra-

wing best practice from several areas.

Subject

criteria

(knowledge

and skills)

Owned by QCDA/Ofqual.

Written by UK-based

subject experts determi-

ning the appropriate

subject content for lear-

ners at age 16 with a

UK background.

Owned by University of Cambridge Inter-

national Examinations. Accredited by the

regulator. Written by subject experts with

international experience.

Amount of

content

Defined by Ofqual

through the subject

criteria.

Defined by University of Cambridge In-

ternational Examinations – greater free-

dom to include content that is different,

motivating, interesting. Uses a greater

variety of source material.

Assessment

Objectives

Defined by the regulator

through the subject

criteria.

Defined by University of Cambridge In-

ternational Examinations – greater free-

dom to use appropriate weightings of

skills to fit individual subjects.

Cambridge IGCSE and UK GCSE comparison table

The table below shows the main differences between Cambridge IGCSE and

UK GCSE across all subject areas :

18

UK GCSE Cambridge IGCSE

Scheme of

assessment

Most GCSEs are unitised.

This means students can

take some modules before

the end of the two-year

course if they choose, and

get a good idea of the

standard they are rea-

ching.

Cambridge IGCSE is linear. This me-

ans that all the exams are at the end

of the two year course. Students can

gain an idea of the standard they are

reaching during the course by using

Standards Booklets.

Approach to

learning

Encourages a unitised

approach – learning a

module, taking an exam,

moving on to the next

module.

Encourages an holistic approach –

subject content is developed over

time so students can develop and

internalise ideas thoroughly.

Re-sits It is possible to re-sit mo-

dules.

Re-sits of individual modules are not

possible during the course, saving

time spent on preparation and exa-

minations.

Accessibility Designed to be accessible

to all students and inclusi-

ve of all students within

the framework of the su-

bject criteria.

Designed to be accessible to all stu-

dents and inclusive of all students

within the framework of the subject

criteria. No assumption that English

is the first language. Takes account

of the needs of students with diverse

national and linguistic backgrounds.

Controlled

assessment

GCSE has controlled as-

sessment for either 25%,

40% or 0% of the course.

No controlled assessment.

Standards GCSE defines the national

standard in a subject at

KS4.

Same standard as GCSE.

Skills Maths, English and ICT

cover the Functional Skills

criteria.

Learner-centred skills-based educa-

tion is integrated into all the syllabu-

ses to give students the tools to com-

pete internationally.

Recognised

by UK univer-

sities

Yes. Yes.

19

20

21

ence, the humanities, business

studies and (one he stressed)

area studies.

• He also mentioned the problem

that strategically important lan-

guage studies were not one stu-

dents were necessarily prepared

to pay for.

He was followed by Baroness

Coussins, Chair of the All Party Par-

liamentary Group for Modern Lan-

guages. She noted, inter alia, the

following:

• 70% of employers were not

happy with language skills of

employees and so recruit over-

seas rather than among British

graduates

• Recently only 7 out of 308 EU

linguists’ jobs went to British

nationals and EU meetings have

had to be cancelled because of

the lack of English native-speaker

interpreters

• The funding of MFL degrees re-

mains under threat.

• Inconsistency of views on the

value of languages

• One third of state schools have

reduced MFL provision

• In the UK less school time is

spent on MFL teaching than in

almost any other developed

country.

On Wednesday 9th February 2011 I

attended this meeting at the invita-

tion of the British Academy. It was

attended by well over 100 people,

principally drawn from the Higher

Education sector. As far as I could

tell, I was the only representative of

the secondary sector. The purpose

was to launch the new position

statement which followed on from

the 2009 “Languages Matters” state-

ment also from the British Academy.

Briefly, the background is the con-

cern in the British Academy and the

higher education community gener-

ally at the state of the foreign lan-

guage learning in the UK at a time

when funding for higher education

teaching is under severe pressure.

Shortly after the meeting I decided it

would not go amiss to make a short

résumé of proceedings in so far as

they had a bearing on the independ-

ent sector. The full text of all that

was said at the meeting can be

found on the British Academy web-

site (www.britac.ac.uk/policy/

Language-mat ter s -more-and-

more.cfm) along with the position

paper itself.’ its predecessor position

statement and much much more.

Professor Nigel Vincent of the

British Academy opened the sub-

stantive proceedings. Two points

struck me as of interest:

• He stressed the need to see lan-

guage studies as interdiscipli-

nary, stretching across a full

range from science, social sci-

LANGUAGE MATTERS MORE AND MORE

22

Professor Michael Worton, Vice-

Provost of UCL and author of a 2009

HEFCE review of MFL provision in

higher education. Like previous

speakers he set the decline in stu-

dent demand for language teaching

in higher education against closures,

funding pressures and the rise in

fees next year. Despite protection of

the research budget, he said that

10% cut to MFL research was likely.

Interestingly he pointed to the rise

of the overseas student population

who have brought with them the

assumption of interlocutory compe-

tence in several languages and in-

deed that evidence showed that they

were far more likely to use univer-

sity language teaching facilities than

UK students; however their numbers

are likely to drop because of new

visa restrictions. Bearing in mind the

importance at all levels of language

teaching he called on universities to

• Introduce truly interdisciplinary

courses involving languages

(rather than XXX and/with

French)

• Go out and sell languages and

related courses assuming a low

level of interest

He went on to describe UCL initia-

tives, with their Academy in Camden

and on entry requirements (initially

viewed with suspicion by other de-

partments but now seen by them as

a USP).

David Willetts appeared briefly to

have his photo taken with the posi-

tion paper, but also to call first of all

for the importance of language study

She then proceeded to renew her

call for a Language Recovery Pro-

gramme, the highlights of which

were:

• Revision of the National Curricu-

lum especially at KS4, including

the possibility of including the

encouragement/recogni t ion

‘other qualifications’ such as the

languages ladder (ASSET).

• Not to waste the investment

made in primary languages

• Universities to get involved in the

debate re language provision in

schools

• Follow the UCL lead to make a

language qualification an entry

requirement

• Universities to take an interest in

GCSE and A level

• Get assessment right at school

level

Dr David Docherty of the Council

for Industry and Higher Education in

his intervention made a strong plea

for the message of the importance of

languages for business and industry

to ‘penetrate schools’ advisory ser-

vices. He went on to say that busi-

ness needs people who are culturally

attuned and sensitive and see lan-

guage as the key to the soul of a

people as well as just a negotiating

tool. He stated that the possession

of English as our first language in

this country has bred a false opti-

mism: “English is our blessing and

our curse”.

23

study abroad and mentioned that

UCAS could help them to look out-

side our borders. Two other points to

emerge: a) the government has

maintained for one year the fee

waiver for a year abroad and ‘hopes’

to extend it and b) the importance of

spreading to schools the message

about the availability of programmes

such as Erasmus.

Peter Langdale

in its own right and to avoid a slide

into utilitarianism. Was this perhaps

a slightly false note following on the

previous speakers who without slip-

ping into a purely utilitarian argu-

ment were seeing very strong links

between the importance of language

study with both private and public

sector employment? He briefly al-

luded to Michael Gove’s E Bac as a

move in the right direction. In his

address he also suggested that UK

students should be looking more to

*NEW TEACHERS TRAINING DAY*

Are members of your department in their first three years of

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ment this Autumn?

If so, send them to ISMLA’s inaugural Modern Languages

training day on Friday 18th November at The Manchester

Grammar School. Sessions will include:

• Ideas for high impact lessons

• How to keep developing your language skills

• Overview of topical issues in language learning

• Managing your time, your emails and difficult parents

• Peer advice discussions on day-today issues

• Advice on working towards your first promotion

Further details will be found on the ISMLA website .

24

inward investment; our trading and

financial sectors own enormous

overseas holdings; our great cities

are cultural and linguistic melting-

pots. But in spite of all this, we

have failed time and again to invest

seriously in linguists.

When I took my first degree finals in

1971 I had been diligently prepared

for a world of international co-

operation and the dismantling of

protectionism. I owed this to my far

-sighted father, himself a linguist.

In my teens in the 60’s I was sent

regularly to stay with a French fam-

ily near Calais in an area which was

slowly recovering from being in the

front line of both world wars. I had

an exchange arrangement with a

young German whose father was the

captain of one of the last U-boats to

be sunk in 1945. And in what would

now be my gap year, I spent several

months in Perugia at the Università

per Stranieri. At Oxford I was able

to read Modern European History

and French, a new combination, and

spent a year in a French lycée as an

‘assistant de langue anglaise.’ By

the age of 23, when I started work

and when the UK joined the Com-

mon Market, as it was then, I was a

I am truly grateful for the invitation

to talk to you today. I had to ex-

plain to my excited family that, no, I

hadn’t been invited to compere the

BAFTA Awards ceremony – that’s a

completely different British Acad-

emy.

I am delighted to be given this dis-

tinguished platform on which to talk

briefly about a subject on which I

have very strong views. This is an

honour and a privilege for me.

Thank you.

This fine institution has been pro-

moting humanities and the social

sciences for over a hundred years.

I have been working in the City for

nearly 40 of those years. In that

time I have witnessed, aghast, the

playing out of a dreadful contradic-

tion in government policy: the

state’s support for the teaching of

modern foreign languages has been

in one depressing direction – down-

wards. At the same time successive

governments’ enthusiasm for global-

isation - removing barriers to free

trade, free flows of capital (and,

broadly, people) - has been un-

bounded. By world standards, in-

vesting in the UK is relatively easy;

we have a very high share of direct

Launch of “Speak to the Future”

Exactly a week after the launch of “Language Matters More and More” the

very same British Academy was host to the launch of the “Speak to the Fu-

ture” , a five-year campaign aimed at addressing “UK’s flagging achievement

in language learning”. At the launch, Richard Hardie, Chair of UBS Ltd, gave

a speech which we, with permission, reproduce below. More details on the

campaign can be found at www.speaktothefuture.org.

25

by the way). I’m sorry to say that

this situation has hardly improved in

15 years.

I’ll come back to the business story

in a minute. As a non-executive I’m

lucky to have the time to chair the

Learning Trust, Hackney’s education

authority. It is the only independ-

ent, not-for-profit LEA in the coun-

try. A very high proportion of Hack-

ney students already speak a lan-

guage other than English in their

family. Not only does this give them

an advantage when they come to

learn a third language; it also makes

Hackney, and places like it, immedi-

ate beneficiaries of Speak to the

Future’s proposed elevation of the

academic status of world languages,

leading to a wider recognition of the

value of these born linguists and

their languages in our society.

On the developmental front, we be-

lieve that learning a language and

exploring another culture’s language

and literature are wonderfully invit-

ing and enriching for learners. Com-

petence in a language is a great

thing in its own right. Indeed, I feel

sorry for non-linguists. As linguists

we know worlds that non-linguists

will never know.

With limited resources we are devel-

oping a strategy for modern foreign

languages. As a principle we believe

that languages should be taught

slowly, carefully and sensitively from

a young age. We have very, very

little failure in languages at primary

level. At secondary level, failure

usually happens in the first lesson

and is very hard to retrieve. At pri-

young European with an insight and

interest in other cultures and history

which has never left me, and a per-

spective on our own culture which

has been constantly illuminating.

1978 saw the dismantling of war-

time exchange controls, which sim-

plified inward and outward invest-

ment; 1986 brought the deregula-

tion of capital markets in London –

‘Big Bang’. This confirmed London

in its top 3 position as a global fi-

nancial centre alongside New York

and Tokyo. My own firm, then War-

burgs, led the creation of the mod-

ern European Equities markets to

challenge continental companies’

traditional dependence on bond issu-

ance. We bought businesses in

Paris, Milan and Munich and opened

offices in Madrid, Amsterdam and

Stockholm. With some luck, but

also because I was a linguist, I was

in the middle of all these events. I

used my languages regularly.

When Warburgs was found to be too

small to compete globally I was

lucky that there was a European

solution: we were bought by Swiss

Bank Corporation. It was then that I

realised the astonishing skill range

of my new colleagues. Down to a

quite junior level, they could discuss

very difficult banking and mathe-

matical concepts in impeccable Eng-

lish. By contrast, the language skills

of my compatriots were found

dreadfully wanting. The same was

true two years later when Union

Bank of Switzerland merged with

Swiss Bank to form the modern UBS

(the initials don’t stand for anything

26

have 88 nationalities represented on

our staff in London speaking 75 dif-

ferent primary languages between

them. Over 40% of the staff speak

a second language on a scale from

moderate to fluent. And note that

our client base is increasingly global-

ised, multicultural and plurilingual.

For us, someone with a good knowl-

edge of a language builds trust and

deepens relationships with clients

who speak that language. This is

true not just for our contact with the

clients in the front line but also their

PAs, receptionists, technicians, local

lawyers, and so on, i.e. all the peo-

ple we come into contact with.

A linguist who can communicate

comfortably with colleagues from

overseas in London is promoting our

diversity and their inclusion. When

they travel to offices in other coun-

tries, staff who know the local lan-

guage can interpret our culture and

values to our overseas colleagues

and vice versa. Also, and this is

something that is easy to overlook,

they can interpret accurately to their

colleagues what our clients really

mean and feel. This is incredibly

valuable when, as often happens,

the client has a weaker grasp of

English than they will admit, or

where local strains of English have

grown up which may be easily un-

derstood by local speakers but are

not easy for someone from the UK to

follow. Many millions of dollars can

be lost over misunderstandings or

messages that are literally lost in

translation.

But it’s not just the interpreter skills

mary level, we can show how chil-

dren can move quickly from words

to phrases and simple sentences.

Some secondaries are beginning to

help with CPD and teaching tech-

niques in their feeder primaries. We

are also steadily aligning the desig-

nation of Spanish as a first language

between primaries and secondaries.

We have some inspiring leaders: two

neighbouring schools are sharing the

teaching of languages at A level in

order to optimise use of the best

teaching and, frankly, to be able to

afford to teach a very small number

of students. But it’s all patchy and

hesitant and insecure. We need

decisive central action on a consis-

tent curriculum ladder of progression

through all phases and the full sup-

port of the adult world as a whole,

especially business.

So let me tell you why UBS values

language skills in students emerging

from the other end of our education

system: our graduate recruitment

website describes what we look for

in a candidate. We discuss the rele-

vance of academic backgrounds.

“UBS recruits graduates from all

academic backgrounds – the hu-

manities and sciences, as well as

economics and finance. Because of

its global reach, the firm is particu-

larly keen to hear from students with

strong language skills.” There you

have it – right in the second sen-

tence; it’s as explicit as we can

make it.

UBS is a truly global business. We

have offices in over 50 countries and

employ about 64,000 people. We

27

expatriates as there are no suitable

local candidates.

Thank you for hearing me out. It’s

been a privilege to come to the na-

tion’s headquarters of Humanities

and to make the case for its young

people to be given a chance to equip

themselves as global citizens and

global wealth-creators.

www.speaktothefuture.org.

which we value. A linguist will have

worked out how a language works

and will have acquired excellent oral

and written communication skills.

They stand out in the crowd. But

they’re becoming increasingly rare

and their places are being taken by

people from other education systems

where a strong competency in an-

other language, usually English, is

taken for granted.

Apart from anything else, it’s difficult

to acquire a language so they will

have proved, as too many young

people who come to see us cannot

prove, that they’ve been able to do

something difficult.

I mentioned diversity. Our own ex-

perience supports the statement that

language skills in the UK seem to be

becoming increasingly the preserve

of the independent education sector.

This can’t be right, for so many rea-

sons; for UBS it does not reflect the

cultural and economic backgrounds

of an increasing number of our cli-

ents. I would dearly love to see

more young people learning lan-

guages in State schools.

My main message from business is

that, in addition to the developmen-

tal value of studying a language per

se, knowledge of a language will

greatly increase a young person’s

chances of employment, whether by

UK-based companies addressing

foreign markets and clients, or by

large groups headquartered over-

seas who need Brits who can repre-

sent them locally and represent the

UK office to the overseas headquar-

ters. Too often they have to bring in

For the record, the stated aims of

the campaign are

1. Every language valued as an

asset

2. A coherent experience of lan-

guages for all children in pri-

mary school

3. A basic working knowledge of at

least two languages including

English for every child leaving

secondary school

4. Every graduate qualified in a

second language

5. An increase in the number of

highly qualified linguists

28

Firstly, because it does not take long

to set up a company here and there

are well-developed financial ser-

vices. Also, British education is

highly rated in Russia – it is prestig-

ious to study in British schools and

universities. As for the British peo-

ple, they have a reputation of being

tolerant and friendly.

Are there any attractions for the

British in Russia? Plenty! Russia is

no longer an emerging market. The

EU accounted for 49.5 % of Russia’s

trade turnover in 2010 after the to-

tal volume of business increased

more than fourfold that year. Twelve

miles west of Moscow they are con-

s t r u c t i n g “ I nno g r ad ” , i . e .

“Innovation City”, which will concen-

trate a mass of Russian and multina-

tional high-technology companies.

It is common knowledge that Russia

is culturally rich and its achieve-

ments in the fields of literature, art,

dance and music are celebrated

throughout the world.

Russian territory stretches from the

Baltic to the Pacific and presents

exciting travel opportunities.

Of course, all that Russia has to of-

fer is much more accessible if one

learns its beautiful language.

Tanya Kinsey North London Colle-

giate School

The notorious Cold War warning “the

Russians are coming” should be for-

gotten. Several thousands of them

have come and can be seen and

heard everywhere – in shops, mar-

kets, banks, restaurants, hospitals,

schools, universities, theatres, mu-

seums, etc. And that is not just in

“Londongrad” (London’s nickname)

but all over “misty Albion” as Britain

is traditionally known in Russia. It is

no longer possible to have a conver-

sation in Russian and be sure that

nobody will understand it. Once I

was greatly amused on the train

when a Russian man passionately

tried to convince his prospective

business partner on the other end of

the phone line to invest into produc-

ing and selling dried egg yolks!

Who are these Russians and what

attracts so many of them to Britain?

If one believes the common stereo-

type, they are the Russian oligarchs,

spies and Mafia… Yet 99.9 % of Rus-

sians in the UK are hardworking pro-

fessionals and students. LSE alone in

2009-10 enrolled 111 students. My

former North London Collegiate stu-

dents find plenty of opportunity to

practise their Russian in their univer-

sities!

The new generation of Russians are

multilingual and could work in any

country and easily adapt to any cul-

ture. Why do they choose Britain?

THE RUSSIANS HAVE COME!

Perceptions of Russia, Russians and the Russian language have undergone a

seismic shift in recent years. Tanya Kinsey reflects on the new reasons why

schools and students should take Russian seriously.

29

Why I decided to study Chinese

‘Those [students] who had studied Chinese had the highest starting salary at £24,540 a year…’

Graduate Employment at Highest Level for 17 Years, The Guardian, 1/11/10

Let me be frank; if I were a hard-hearted man and it were all dollars and cents, I’d probably have started a degree in Chinese. However, would the promise of potential higher earnings have sustained me through a four-year course if I were doing something I wasn’t genuinely interested in? The evi-dence suggests not. The average year at Oxford for Chinese loses roughly 15% of its students before graduation, a drop-out rate 937% higher than the university-wide average of 1.6%.

How, then, did I get to the point where I believed that I was passionate enough about Chinese to take on the challenges which the course offers? Anyone will tell you that China is all around us. It is on our shelves, it is on our TV screens, it is in our newspapers, it is inescapable. As a 16 year-old who had only ever been exposed at school to the history and languages of Europe, I noticed the growing coverage of this massive country that I knew so little about. I started asking questions such as ‘why is this happening?’ and ‘why is this happening now?’ The answers to these questions threw up other questions and I kept reading and asking questions until, one day, I came to the conclusion that I was probably more interested in China-related topics than anything else at school; reading Chinese at university had be-come the natural choice of degree long before I’d set foot in China or written my first Chinese character.

The key realisation was that a ‘Chinese’ course isn’t actually all about the Chinese language. If you want a Mandarin language course, buy a Michel Thomas book or mp3; it costs £9.95 and won’t take you four years. If you want a China-orientated blend of modern languages, classics, linguistics, literature, philosophy, history, sociology, politics and economics, apply to do Chinese at university. The reality of the situation is that you don’t need to be a swivel-eyed Sinophile to read Chinese; the course simply requires students to have excellent analytical skills, an enquiring mind, an aptitude for lan-guages and a rock solid work-ethic. Gushing about how much you love Wild Swans, nibbling chicken feet or ‘treating’ your friends to renditions of Beijing Opera, however, is strictly optional.

Michael Oates St Anne’s College, Oxford

University in China?

Those starting to plan UCAS entry could consider one of the ten scholarships

available at the TsingHua University in Beijing (rated 2nd in China). In these

days of rising tuition fees, the opportunity to study a BA in Business Chinese

at a fraction of the cost may well be of interest. Lectures are in Chinese so a

gap year is advisable. For details contact H.Lu1@lse.ac.uk.

30

Voki <http://voki.com> provides us

with an excellent tool to assess

speaking that pupils find both fun

and engaging, whilst also making it

possible and easy to set speaking

tasks for homework. One of the

most striking and unexpected ad-

vantages of using Voki in the lan-

guages classroom is that it has

made it possible for the quieter pu-

pils to make their presence felt and

be heard.

In my experience, it has often been

the case that it is indeed these pu-

pils who have produced the most

remarkable Vokis, often outshining

their more lively and vociferous

counterparts. Using Voki has helped

to increase all my pupils’ self-

assurance when it comes to speak-

ing in a foreign language by allowing

them to role-play and become some-

one else: a more confident self.

Storybird

Storybird <http://storybird.com>is a

writing tool that allows its users to

create and publish short illustrated

stories. Teachers can set up ac-

counts for their pupils and organise

them into classes, so that the work

pupils produce can then be shared

Lack of academic rigour is one of the

main criticism often levelled at the

use of web applications in the class-

room. However, it doesn’t have to

be this way. Just like any other tool,

when used appropriately, many of

the web applications that are freely

available on the internet can be used

as powerful and effective teaching

and leaning tools.

By looking at three specific web ap-

plications - Voki, Storybird and Glog-

ster - that we have successfully used

in our MFL Department at Notting-

ham High School, I aim to demon-

strate that it is indeed possible, even

desirable, to use these tools as part

of a varied schemes of work to sup-

port and enhance the teaching and

learning of modern languages.

Voki

The ability to speak the foreign lan-

guage in question can safely be de-

scribed as the principal objective of

learning foreign languages. How-

ever, it can often prove difficult to

assess your pupils’ ability to speak

the foreign language in the class-

room, as time and numbers often

conspire against us.

Three tried and tested internet tools

for language teachers

José Picardo, Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Nottingham High

School and curator of the award-winning technology and education blog

www.boxoftricks.net puts some flesh on some interesting web applications

for enhancing teaching and learning. Members may recall his talk at the

2010 ISMLA National Conference on Harnessing the power of blogs in the

MFL Classroom.

31

which they can share and comment

on each other’s creations in the

safety of a closed group. In essence,

Glogster is a tool allows your stu-

dents to practice - and you to assess

- all four skills (reading, writing,

speaking and listening) in the one

activity.

***

Web applications can fun for both

teachers and pupils, but often we

can become too preoccupied with

the tool itself and forget what its

purpose ought to be, which is to

support teaching and learning.

Whilst the tool may change the prin-

ciples remain the same. Let’s look at

how to plan a series of lessons be-

fore we look at each of the tools in

more detail, but first a word of cau-

tion:

Not a magic bullet

In order to stop the tool itself be-

coming an obstacle to successful

learning, how you plan and deliver

the series of lessons leading up to

the actual use of any of these web

applications is crucial to a successful

outcome. In addition, my experience

tells me that overusing any of these

tools may lead to your students

quickly becoming weary of any par-

ticular tool, as the novelty factor

wears off and their interest and en-

gagement wanes.

I use web applications regularly.

However, regularly does not mean

so often that my classes get bored of

them. To me regularly means once

or twice every half term. I also make

a point of alternating web applica-

among the members of the class

and, crucially, published on the

internet for for peers and parents to

see.

Setting up accounts for your classes

is easy: you simply need to register

your students and assign them a

username (I like to use the format

JohnS – first name plus first letter of

the surname – that way you and

your pupils know who individual pu-

pils are but nobody else does).

Storybird then automatically gener-

ates an account and a random pass-

word for them that they can change

to something more memorable on

first log-on.

Storybird has made my pupils to

want to write in the foreign lan-

guage. Because they enjoy using the

tool and there is a certain element of

competition - in that everyone’s sto-

ries will be shared - the work my

pupils have produced so far has

been of quite astonishing accuracy

and complexity.

Glogster

Glogster <http://edu.glogster.com>

allows pupils to create multimedia

posters that can include text, im-

ages, sound and video. Its intuitive

interface and visually attractive re-

sults has made it a popular addition

to our schemes of work for both

students and teachers alike. It is for

that reason that Glogster has been a

regular feature in my lessons for a

couple of years now.

Like Storybird, Glogster teachers to

manage classes and students to

have their own accounts, through

32

them to the web application in

question, perhaps handing out

individual user names and pass-

words if the tool allows for this. I

will give them five or ten minutes

to familiarise themselves with

the app, however I will soon ex-

plain very clearly what they need

to do. For example: “use your

homework and your corrections

to produce a 80 -100 words de-

scription of xxxx, ensuring that

you use xxxx and xxxx”. As

these web applications are avail-

able online, the task can be fin-

ished for homework.

• Finally, I will publish my stu-

dents’ work in our blog and en-

courage them to peer-assess by

leaving comments for one an-

other.

***

The Modern Foreign Languages De-

partment at our school, Nottingham

High School, has a dedicated lan-

guages blog that is used to keep

staff, pupils and parents informed of

all our developments and initiatives.

Its primary function, however, is to

showcase our pupils’ work, which

increasingly often involves using web

applications on a regular basis to

support learning.

Given the social nature of blogs,

where readers can comment on each

of the posts, the use of these web

applications together with the com-

menting capabilities of a blog has

resulted in very powerful peer as-

sessment. Our Department's com-

bined use of blogs and web applica-

tions so that any single class uses a

variety of tools throughout the aca-

demic year.

Lesson Planning

In order to ensure a successful out-

come, regardless of the tool, I gen-

erally follow this pattern in delivering

a series of lessons that will eventu-

ally culminate in the use of the web

application of choice:

• Our first lesson in the sequence

focuses on revising the appropri-

ate vocabulary, topic or gram-

matical structures. At the end of

the lesson, I set a relevant writ-

ing task for homework, with the

aim of basing the eventual use of

a specific web application upon

this task. I make sure that pupils

are made aware of what we are

doing, perhaps by showing them

examples of work by other stu-

dents who have previously used

this particular web application,

but I also make sure I tell them

why we are doing it, for example

“to increase the range and com-

plexity of your Spanish”. Setting

clear tasks that are perceived as

useful is fundamental to the

pedagogically successful comple-

tion of the task.

• In subsequent lessons we de-

velop the topic further and I re-

turn their exercise books with

highlighted errors and correc-

tions to their homework.

• Eventually, I will take the class to

an ICT room or a Digital Lan-

guage Laboratory and introduce

33

engaging the pupil in the learning

process to a greater extent.

So, I hope I have tempted you to

start looking at integrating these

web applications into the teaching

and learning that goes on in your

classroom or department.

Examples of pupils’ work using Voki,

Storybird, Glogster and other such

applications can be found by brows-

ing our depar tmenta l b log

www.nottinghamhighmfl.co.uk .

José Picardo

tions in this way was highly praised

in the recent ISI inspection report,

which stated: “Excellent use of peer

assessment was observed in modern

foreign languages, where pupils

used technology to comment on

each other’s oral and written work.”

We often establish a misleading di-

chotomy between the use of the

technologies with which our students

are already familiar and academic

rigour. In my view, the effective use

of new and emerging technologies,

far from undermining academic prin-

ciples, helps to underpin them by

UK Linguistics Olympiad

Dear colleague,

Looking for something to do with your Gifted and Talented? Want to show

that languages are fun? Then why not consider entering your school in the

UK Linguistics Olympiad. It's a competition for 11-18 students, in which they

have to solve linguistic data problems. It doesn’t rely on knowledge of a lan-

guage but trying to find patterns in the data. Similar competitions happen in

a number of other countries, though it's only recently that they've taken

place in English-speaking countries.

We have 2 rounds of competition in the UK and then select a team to repre-

sent the UK at the International competition. Round 1 is taken in schools any

time week commencing 6th Feb 2012 and students can be entered at either

foundation, intermediate or advanced level. Round 2 will be held at a UK

university in late March. If you want to find out more about UKLO, enter your

school for the 2012 competition or just register an interest, please visit our

website (www.uklo.org)

On behalf of the UKLO organising committee.

Richard Hudson

34

ANGLO-OMANI SOCIETY SPONSORED STUDENTS FOR A GAP YEAR

PERIOD IN OMAN

For a number of years the Anglo-Omani Society has sponsored students to

go to Oman for a period of three months to further their studies in the lan-

guage and gain experience in an Arab country. The Sultan’s School in Muscat

has hosted the students and this has proved most successful and beneficial

to both students and also the school. To qualify a student must fulfil one or

more of the criteria shown below:

1. To have a proven interest in the Middle East, particularly the Sultan-

ate of Oman, its history, development, architecture, geology and

place in the world.

2. Interested in conservation/endangered species in Oman and the Mid-

dle East. Eg Oryx project at Yaluni.

3. To be considering future employment in the private sector in the Mid-

dle East.

4. To be considering joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Brit-

ish Council or the Armed Forces.

5. To have learned Arabic at school and to wish to continue studying the

language either at University or elsewhere.

The study period in Oman should be for a minimum period of three months,

usually October to December and February to April. The best time to go to

Oman is in the beginning of autumn to the end of spring, but this is not a

limiting factor. Final dates are dependent on The Sultan’s School calendar.

In general terms the Society will pay for: return economy class airfares, ade-

quate pocket money to cover living expenses, medical insurance , car hire

and part cost of Arabic tuition.

Applications should be made in writing or by email to: Duncan Allen, Admin-

istrator, The Anglo-Omani Society, 34, Sackville Street, London W1S

3ED (Email: duncan.allen@angloomanisociety.com) The letter, which

should be accompanied by a CV, should say why the student considers that

he/she is eligible. Students will be called for interview prior to being selected

to go to Oman. On return the student should furnish a report on their time in

Oman and may be asked to give a presentation to the Society on their ex-

periences.

35

36

On 1st April 2011, Network for Languages was launched. Created in order to

build on the achievements of the Links into Languages programme at the end

of its period of DfE funding, Network for Languages is an independent alliance

of universities with outstanding reputations for their work in language learn-

ing. It is committed to:

• excellence in language learning and teaching from school through univer-

sity and into the workplace

• building on the achievements of Links into Languages in championing lan-

guage teaching and teachers, delivering resources and creating network-

ing opportunities for language professionals.

Network for Languages works through established links with schools, colleges

and businesses in our areas, collaborating across the country through a net-

work of regional centres to achieve nationwide provision.

Network for Languages continues to be supportive of the importance of lan-

guages in schools and in lifelong learning, and aims to:

• Maintain and develop relevant and innovative continuous professional

development programmes for language teachers

• Support language teachers and other language professionals within the

changing policy landscape

• Disseminate good practice and research around language learning and

teaching

• Explore opportunities for collaboration

• Inform and influence policy in order to put the benefits of language learn-

ing at the forefront of the agenda.

Our approach is to collaborate actively with other associations and stake-

holders such as local authorities, the Association for Language Learning, and

Building on Links into Languages

37

Routes into Languages. You can read more about the organisations we work

with in our partners and resources area.

The regional centres will communicate with partners, professionals and

teachers over the next few weeks to give more detail on the latest and rap-

idly-changing picture.

If you would like to find out more about what’s on offer and sign up to the

mailing list for your nearest regional centre, please go to

www.networkforlanguages.org.uk

Our regional centres include:

• East – University of Cambridge

• East Midlands – Nottingham Trent University

• London – University of Westminster

• North East – Newcastle University

• North West – University of Manchester

• South East – University of Southampton

• South West – Bath Spa University

West Midlands – Aston University

• Yorkshire and Humber – University of Hull

Zena Hilton, University of Southampton – Network for Languages

South East

Free languages teaching resources now

available from LinkedUp

Links into Languages has ended, but resources produced by the 100+

LinkedUp projects are still accessible through the Links legacy website

www.linksintolanguages.ac.uk/linkedup . Over 40 projects are now online

and more are being added on a weekly basis. Free to download, these re-

sources are for teachers for primary, secondary, and post-16 languages.

From CLIL to transition, and from alternative accreditation to progression,

these materials have been created and tested by groups of practising teach-

ers and others working with languages.

38

Obituary - Professor Eric Hawkins

Grander broadsheets and other language association records have already

published long obituaries of Professor Eric Hawkins. ISMLA should join them

by doing him the honour of recording our gratefulness to him for his vast

influence over the profession of language teaching , in whatever school.

After a career as languages master which lead on to two headmasterships,

Eric became director of the Language Teaching Centre of the University of

York.. Among several publications, his book Modern Languages in the Cur-

riculum (of 1981) is of seminal importance. Its publication marked the point

at which the findings of psycholinguistics, the sobering influence of several

HMIs ( of the old school of Inspector -Advisor), the pressure of policy mak-

ers, the politics of national failure in language teaching and learning were all

encapsulated in one accessible sensible volume, which influenced Heads of

Languages and their ilk in the eighties and into the nineties.

Eric had been formed according to the classic pattern of a grammar school

education and a Cambridge degree, In his career and then in his book, he

responded to basic questions: what are the aims and objectives of language

learning and teaching? What methods produce success? Why does language

pedagogy have to be so different from that of other subjects? In any case,

hat success do we look for in language acquisition? Where does experience of

the country related to the language fit in the learning process? How do young

people best learn?

These themes have become the stock-in-trade of teaching linguists since

1981.Numerous nostrums, tiresome political interventions, crackpot inspec-

tors ( of the new kind), general British huffiness about foreign languages,

have all complicated these issues. They are still burning questions, were

ones that inspired the founding of ISMLA, and the present state of languages

in schools in this country leaves them as incandescently hot as ever.

Eric was not simply a linguist and thinker, but also a remarkably humane

person, to which the present writer pays tribute. His response to an invita-

tion to speak at a conference was to find the time. A letter to him always

received a thoughtful helpful reply. A crisis ‘phone call would evoke a

friendly, sympathetic and helpful response, giving as much time as it took to

help sort out dastardliness and tangles such as only the educational world

can produce.

Language teaching in this country needs people like Eric Hawkins, and we

can but express our admiration and gratitude for his contribution in his time.

Let him not be vox clamantis in deserto.

Anthony Earl Former Chairman, ISMLA

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