Improving performance in speaking and writing

1. Improving performancein speaking and writing Some ideas from Anderson High School, Lerwick

2. Handing control from teachers to pupils… Grids Models Stimulants

3. Grids Help pupils to organise their thoughts. Help pupils to present work in a structured way. May give detailed support, with suggested language. May give no more than an outline.

4. Grid 1: Standard Grade SpeakingRole-play “Im Hotel” This grid gives a basic framework in English. The grid provides spaces for pupils’ own “lines”. Clear layout helps many pupils memorise.

5. Grid 2: Standard Grade Writing“Mes vacances” This grid splits the task into sections. Gives a selection of language for each section. Helps pupils who find it hard to refer to a range of sources.

6. Grid 3: Standard Grade Writing“Au boulot” The grid divides the topic into four sections. Pupils have to note their own sources. Pupils have more freedom as to: what they write. how much they write. Pupils note the English meaning of each sentence. Pupils produce a more balanced piece of writing.

7. Grid 4: Standard Grade SpeakingRole-play “An outing to a leisure centre” These helpsheets divide a “multiple role-play” topic into sections. Introductory sheets explain the whole task. Focuses on listening before speaking. The final grid may be handed out only after the preparation tasks are finished. Again, pupils note the English meaning of what they will say. Many pupils produced a wider range of language than before.

8. Questions for discussion Are grids like these too prescriptive? What other techniques can help pupils to improve their memory and understanding of the foreign language?

9. Models These give confidence. They can also spark the imagination. They combine structure with creative freedom: the balance between the two can be finely controlled by the teacher.

10. Model: S2 Poems (yellow pages 1-5) The teacher provide a model poem. The pupils keep the framework but change the details. This gives good practice in particular aspects of the language, e.g. rhyming patterns passé composé But it also allows a lot of creative freedom. All poems are displayed and read aloud. Prévert: Déjeuner du matin http://www.ph-ludwigsburg.de/html/2b-frnz-s-01/overmann/baf4/prevert/dejeuner.htm

11. Model: S4 Story“König von Deutschland” (yellow page 6) Pupils read a fantasy story full of conditional sentences. Pupils work on the language first, recognising all the conditional verbs etc. They write their own stories: “If I were king of Germany…” Higher classes may do this too, but it can help to boost S4 folio results.

12. Higher Directed Writing(yellow pages 7-11) Pupils find model sentences very useful. They are encouraged to adapt/extend them.

13. Stimulants These should spark real imagination. They may give very little structure, but they can be conbined with more detailed support.

14. Stimulant: S2 Stories (yellow pages 13-20) The class reads a short fairy tale together. In pairs they “write” a short story by piecing together random sentences as they see fit. They then learn the rules of adjective agreement, using PowerPoint presentation etc. Then they write their own fairy tales. They use as many adjectives as possible. The completed fairy tales are displayed in the classroom: pupils read all of them and rate them on a review sheet.

15. Stimulant: S3 Stories Lots of different nouns are written on cards and placed in a box. Pupils pick three cards out of the box at random. In pairs pupils write a short story using all three words they have picked. These are read aloud to the class.

16. Questions for discussion What place should creative writing have in modern languages learning? What other stimulants (not just written) can help pupils use their imagination? How can we encourage pupils to speak imaginatively, e.g. in role-play?

17. A personal partner for every pupil. Penfriends and Video-conferences

18. Development education in French. • The school sponsors a child in a French-speaking country. • Administered by our French classes.

19. Exchange visits

20. Bilingual Projects • On our French and German exchanges, pupils from the two countries research history and other things together.

21. Pupils from the two countries share in activities and visits. • The walk through the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. • They reflect in pairs on the impression it has made on them and they present this to the group.

22. (Yellow page 27) In December 2008 in Germany pupils spent a morning in mixed-nationality groups organising what they had learnt to present to others.

23. Speaking and writing internationally Authentic Collaborative Reciprocal Cross-curricular