Jackie Howis

Did we have enough pupils opting to continue with a language at KS4 ?

What did we need to change to encourage more pupils to want to continue with language learning beyond KS3?

What did we want our learners to be able to do?

What was the best way to design the content of the curriculum?

•Drawing•Art•Dance•Drama•Shopping•“My French tutor” (!)

•Computer / Wii / X-Box•Lego•Volunteering on the railway

•Sport•Music•Seeing friends

GIRLS BOYS

Boys Gossip Television The weekend Clothes and fashion Music School God

Girls Sport Music Computer games School Funny things that have

happened (gossip/ the weekend??)

Poverty and famine Money Environmental issues (global warming,

pollution, animal extinction, natural disasters)

Political issues (world leaders, “leaders who don’t listen to their people”, terrorism)

Racism “Selection for the rugby teams”

“Things you actually talk about in conversations” “Film actors and actresses, because this topic

includes vital language” “Poverty. People often talk about this” “Food”. “French history and the war” “Fashion, because France is famous for clothes” “Reviewing a French book” “Sport”. “France and its regions and cities. Also culture” “Art”.

History: “There’s lots of general knowledge” “ I like the debates”. Food technology: “I like cooking”. PE: “It’s fun and it makes you work hard” “It’s what I’m best at”. Art: “It’s enjoyable and you have to think

about what you’re doing”. One of the 15 said ‘French’: “I feel confident”.

MC Solaar(La belle et le bad

boy)

Outcome: debate

Au revoir les enfants

Outcome: film review

L’Environnement

Outcome: news report on global

issues

Global warming Pollution Animal extinction Natural disasters

Le Saint Valentin

Outcome: blind dateplay

Boys/girlsGossipFunny things that have happenedDrama

French history and the war

Film actors and actresses

God

Music“Things you actually talk about”

In piloting the year 9 new scheme, pupils in my class were asked to ‘rate my lesson’:

They scored the lesson out of 10. They gave feedback on what they considered

to be the most successful elements, in terms of both enjoyment and learning.

Based on their input, plans and resources were then adapted before ‘going live’ to the rest of the year group.

A second, mid-year survey revealed the film and music modules to have been the most successful so far:

“I learnt a lot of tenses and vocabulary to talk about films and people”.

“Au revoir les enfants was a good film. I enjoyed writing the review. Most of all it was fun”.

“It was interesting learning about French pop. It was different to normal work and really motivating”.

“The environment topic was not as much fun”.

The environment topic was too short and I didn’t get much out of it”.

“I didn’t like the film review, there was too much writing”.

“I don’t like the tenses, it’s difficult to get to grips with it”.

Improved pupil/teacher relationships. Improved pupil motivation. Raised levels of attainment. Fulfils requirements of ECM: ‘Achieve and

enjoy’. Teachers teaching the new scheme have been

separated from their text books! Far more open dialogue and sharing of good

practice in the MFL staffroom. Numbers opting for French next year are up: Year 11: 51 - Year 10: 52 - Year 9 into 10: 74

Establish a ‘student voice council’ for MFL across all years and languages to meet once a term.

Involve students in the development and provision of co-curricular activities and clubs.

Extend the new curriculum model to other languages.

Encourage all department staff to adopt the ‘rate my lesson’ format.

Aim to offer students a choice of module at certain points in the year. The option will need to be ‘blocked’ to achieve this.