What is ‘retrieval practice’? Is it just the newest trend in education or is there more to it? On social media you have probably seen a lot of people recently talking and commenting on ‘retrieval practice’. To understand what retrieval practice is all about, first we need to understand how we learn and how our memory works. Kirschner, Sweller and Clark are often quoted for defining the learning process as a change in long-term memory, ‘if nothing has been changed nothing has been learnt’. How learning happens (diagram by Oliver Caviglioli) Environment affecting learning    Embedding into long term memory-   Recall of new learning              if not revised or used learning gets forgotten .             Environment – classroom learning environment – teachers need to ensure high levels of focus, concentration and attention from students – study habits – keeping it simple to avoid cognitive overload. Working Memory – cognitive system with limited capacity – only about 5 chunks – can hold information only temporarily (18-30 seconds) – information processing in working (short-term) memory is necessary for storage in long-term memory – cognitive overload leads to information loss – small steps are essential – builds on prior knowledge. Long-Term Memory – classified as a vast store of knowledge with unlimited capacity – holds information in schemas and from where we can retrieve information back to working memory when needed – includes prior knowledge and experiences. Retrieval/Recall/Remembering To understand the importance of retrieval we need to have a look at Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve: Through his research Ebbinghaus concluded that the rate in which our memory decays depends on the time that has elapsed following our learning experience as well as on how strong our memory is. Some degree of memory decay is inevitable, but as educators, how do we reduce the scope of this loss?             Retrieval practice could certainly be the answer to it. There have been many studies and books published on the topic of retrieval in the past, but also fairly recently. If you want to have a deeper look into this topic you could look at the research study conducted by Roediger and Karpicke , Dulonsky’s ‘Strengthening the Student Toolbox or read the book ‘Retrieval Practice’ by Kate Jones (click on the picture). Her new book ‘Retrieval Practice 2’ is coming out soon. In her book Kate Jones defines ‘Retrieval practice’ as ‘The act of recalling learned information from memory (with little or no support) and every time that information is retrieved, or an answer is generated, it changes the original memory to make it STRONGER ! She talks about ‘Retrieval storage’ referring to how well information is embedded in the long-term memory and about ‘Retrieval strength’ which refers to how easily information can be recalled in short-term memory when/if needed. So what are the benefits of ‘Retrieval practice’? (Kate Jones) Retrieval practice aids later retention – ‘every time you retrieve a memory it becomes deeper, stronger and easier to access in future’ Testing identifies gaps in knowledge – shows students what they know (can recall from memory) and what they don’t know Testing causes students to learn more from the next learning episode – studying after test will be more productive and effective Testing produces better organisation of knowledge – helps students to connect and structure knowledge Testing improves transfer of knowledge to new contexts – making links between new and existing knowledge is  a central aspect of learning Testing facilitates retrieval of material that wasn’t tested Testing improves metacognition – involves self-monitoring and links with point number 2 Testing prevents interference from previous material when learning new content – refers to the act of using a test to prevent proactive interference, which can occur when content is studied in succession. Testing provides valuable feedback to teachers – test outcome is a reason to have a flexible lesson plan Frequent testing encourages students to study more – students know a regular retrieval will take a place every lesson and can prepare for it Tom Sherrington published really good guidance in the form of  Retrieval Practice Principles which lays out various alternative methods of reviewing students’ knowledge and understanding. For more information look here . Languages Classroom However, I would like to have a look at how we can use retrieval practice in Languages classroom and how we have implemented it in our department at our school. I will also provide some examples of Retrieval Practice tasks in Languages classroom that we use. I think it is a fair comment to say that in the languages classroom we have always used some form of retrieval. All language teachers know how important the recall of previous learning is and this has been our practice for years even if it was just in the form of routine vocabulary tests.  Language lessons follow on each other and require students to learn and memorise chunks of vocabulary and structures on a daily basis which retrieval practice covers naturally so this is not something we need to additionally incorporate into our lessons as it has always been there in some kind of shape or form. However, we can always improve on how we conduct retrieval and on the tasks we use. Researching ‘retrieval practice’ has made me pause and think: Does it not get boring doing the same type of vocabulary tests over and over again usually testing only what was taught the previous lesson? Same format every lesson? Waiting to test the knowledge of one entire unit at the end of the unit in an end of unit test?  We have often noticed that students do fairly well in their end of unit test but not so well in their end of year test! The reason being we have not revised/retrieved all knowledge consistently throughout the year which is often the problem with GCSE exams! Students end up ‘cramming’ revision just before their exams! Schools start intensive ‘intervention’ programmes (often after school) in year 11!!! Regular retrieval should take place from the moment students start to study the subject in order to secure the highest possible retention. We all strive to motivate our students to keep them interested and engaged, to ensure they progress and learn, but we are also busy and do not want to add to our massive work load even more! Well, investing some time into planning our retrieval tasks will pay off in the long term. In our department we have decided to share the work load. We have looked at what types of tasks we would like to use – we were convinced that varying the ‘diet’ is important to keep the interest going and we came up with the ideas you can see below, all which are now an integral part in our lessons – each lesson will start with some type of retrieval practice across all year groups – it is not just about year 11 revision!! Using our Sentence Builders (E.P.I. methodology by Gianfranco Conti) I have created cards based on our SB on Quizlet – for an example of my Quizlet cards, click here . This is one form of our retrieval quizzing. Other great tools that can be explored are Quizzes , Plickers , Learning Apps  , Flippity or Google forms.  Flippity examples – flashcards + randomizer (click on the pictures) We also use Retrieval Roulette (see resources page) that I have seen mentioned on Twitter and I have adapted it to suit our subject. The beauty of it is that it generates a new quiz every time you press the F9 key – all you need to do is type in your questions and answers. The games question grid generator is from www.mrallsophistory.com, based on an idea by Jonny Hemphill and developed from a spreadsheet by Adam Boxer . Here are some other examples of tasks  inspired by Kate Jones (some templates collated by  learninglinguist .co.uk and other various posts on social media – if I haven’t mentioned you, please let me know and I will edit) that we use: It is essential that your tasks include not just knowledge from the last lesson, but also knowledge from previous week, month or unit to ensure  interleaving . It is also useful to have prepared possible answers for quick checking on students part. I spend around 10 minutes on retrieval, but there might be a time when I want to spend more time on it (usually before summative assessment is due) – a half of my lesson or even a full lesson, so I make sure I plan this into my lesson sequence. As Kate quotes in her book, retrieval practice should be regarded as a learning strategy , that should be used throughout the academic year not just as simply a revision strategy. It should include  interleaving (mixing and combining multiple topics and concepts to improve learning) and spaced practice (spreading out revision over period of time) – the most effective revision strategy as suppose to  mass practice (cramming just before an exam). Final words – to make sure our  GCSE students are optimally prepared for their exams I support them by helping them plan their revision as some students are not so great at organising themselves. At the start of the academic year I give students a week by week timetable of what they need to revise each week interleaving all their GCSE topics in manageable sections. This timetable is signed by the parents (I believe involving parents in the process is invaluable) and checked by the classroom teacher every week. I also discuss with my students what effective revision strategies look like and how to study. I will provide more information and examples of this practice in another post.  I hope you find some of these ideas of use for your own practice and your feedback is always welcome. For more on RP, you can watch my webinar on Embedding Retrieval Practice in Languages Classroom which I have presented for the Association for Language Learning – ALL.                                                                                        👇 #longtermmemory #interleaving #theforgettingcurve #flippity #languagesclassroom #metacognition #masspractice #workingmemory #plickers #retrievalroulette #RetrievalPractice #Quizlet #spacedpractice

In September, my department started to implement a brand new methodology of lessons delivery based on Dr Gianfranco Conti’s approach of ‘Extensive Processing Instruction’ ( The Language Gym Blog ).  On this post I would like to write about how I introduce a new Sentence Builder (SB) to my students, specifically the modelling phase. I am still in process of learning and by no means an expert! I personally plan and teach a sequence of lessons instead of individual lessons as it gives me the opportunity to go through various stages of E.P.I at a natural pace, it also allows me to adapt my delivery to the needs of my students and I don’t feel rushed to cover the content in a specific time frame. Our Sentence Builders and resources are loosely based on the Stimmt text books. I introduce the SB on my whiteboard and students have their own paper copies in a work booklet; that has all of the tasks available and it also compliments my main PowerPoint; to cut down on time wasted on photocopying, cutting and gluing.  At the modelling stage, when I initially introduce the SB I ask my students to highlight any vocabulary they have seen before first, once students completed this task – in silence, we annotate our SBs for pronunciation. As I teach German and my students often struggle with the pronunciation and spelling of the ‘ei’ and ‘ie’ sounds especially, I ask them to put a dot under the second vowel as that’s the vowel they would pronounce, underline the ‘e’ at the end of the word because that would be pronounced in German (it is not a silent sound like in English), double underline double consonants etc. Students find this really helpful and this method makes them more confident and willing to pronounce vocabulary they have not yet encountered. If the SB is quite complex, I often take 2-3 lessons to get through the different sections to avoid cognitive overload.  In this year 9 SB, I have introduced the future tense sentences in the third lesson, so I have spent 2 lessons practising the past tense firstly with the auxiliary verb ‘haben’ and then ‘sein’ as I felt my year 9 almost forgotten their past tense after the ‘Lockdown’. As a class we do a lot of choral repetition with extensive focus on pronunciation as I want to ensure my students sound as ‘German’ as possible. Some of the activities we use are: I say – you say, I start a word/sentence you finish, I utter sentences and students highlight what they hear, lots of modelling/dictations and translations using mini whiteboards (I absolutely love these and so do the students – the biggest benefit being the fact that I can see instantly what they know and what they struggle with) from German to English and vice versa. This often creates a fierce competition amongst the students and they love getting awarded with a scratch card (I have designed these myself) or an ERA point. The lesson is also  very high pace and rather demanding on teacher as well as students, but I personally like this. There is no time for disruption and time wasting. These are the examples of some other activities, that I use at this stage: Spot the mistake – I read sentences and make a mistake on purpose, students tap their pens when they hear the mistake. Break the flow (example in a booklet – see resources section) – I also ask the students to re-write the sentences with correct punctuation and apply capital letters where appropriate. Delayed dictation (on mini whiteboards) – when we are at the stage where students have to remember 2-3 sentences I allow them to see the sentences again and once they have disappeared they can apply any corrections they have missed. One pen One dice copying – during the Pandemic I have been using the digital dice which works really well – I use the dice from Tekhnologic . Sentence stealer – another great Gianfranco Coni idea – instructions how to play this game are on the slide. Find your match Paired dictation – students have two different texts – one full and one gapped text. Students work in pairs dictating the texts to each other and filling in the gaps on their sheet. Listening pyramids – fantastic idea I have first seen shared by Marie Massè on Twitter. Die Schiffe versenken (Battle ships)  Ping-Pong translations – can be played with a dice as well. To ensure students follow up on what we have been learning in the lessons, I have designed Quizlet flash cards for them based on my SBs and also incorporated into all of our lessons Retrieval practice based on fantastic book by Kate Jones .  Final thoughts I teach in a comprehensive  secondary school with students from all of the social backgrounds, some of our students come from a very poor and disadvantaged families, we also have a higher then average proportion of students with SEN and many of our students don’t have the opportunity to travel so as a result languages might not be of importance to them, but this new approach has made them more excited about learning a language and definitely more open to it. What is the most important thing to me as an educator, is the fact that my students are enjoying the process of learning and have the belief they can do it. One of my year 7 students told me this week: ‘Frau Bastow, I thought I can’t do German, but now I know I can and you make it really easy!’  I absolutely loved hearing this and I am really happy, I have discovered the ‘Conti’ approach because it makes sense and makes the process of learning a language accessible, enjoyable and students can see instant results.  Homework has also been consistently completed and screen shots of the results proudly uploaded to our SMHW.                                                                                        #ListeningPyramids #RosenshinesPrinciplesofInstruction #SentenceBuilders #sequence #Masterclasses #Modelling #GianfrancoConti #RetrievalPractice #Quizlet #EPI

Preparing for exams that involve reading comprehension requires more than simply answering questions at face value. To truly excel , our students need to develop reading skills that allow them to interact deeply with the text, extracting valuable information before even glancing at the questions. In this blog post I will outline the step-by-step approach I use to help my students navigate reading texts with confidence , ensuring they are fully prepared for any comprehension challenge. Rationale: Why spend time with the text? The temptation for students to jump straight to the questions is often overwhelming, especially under exam pressure. However, investing time in thoroughly engaging with the text first, helps them build a better understanding, which ultimately leads to faster and more accurate responses. While this post focuses more specifically on strategies for KS4, the process should begin much earlier - well before students face high-stakes assessments or their GCSE exams. I believe, developing strong reading skills should start at KS3 , laying the groundwork for success in later years. These are the steps I live model and instruct my students to apply and to follow: Step 1: Focus on the question’s topic Before diving into the text, take a moment to carefully read the topic of the question , you will find it highlighted in bold at the top of the page. This gives you a clear indication of what content or theme the question will assess. Why It Matters: Knowing the topic helps you approach the text with a purpose . Whether the focus is on environmental issues, a literary theme, or a cultural perspective, understanding the topic allows you to zero in on relevant details as you read. Pro Tip: Jot down the topic in your own words. This will serve as a reminder to stay on track while reading. Step 2: Note the context of the question Every text comes with a context - whether it’s a blog post, a forum extract, a poem, a literary extract, or an article. Identifying this early on helps you anticipate the structure and style of the text. Key considerations for context: A poem  might include figurative language, imagery, and a focus on emotions or themes. A literary extract  may include dialogue (direct speech) descriptive passages, or a narrative. A blog post  or article  might have headings, subheadings, and a more conversational tone. Why it is important: Recognising the context equips you to adjust your reading strategy. For example, you’ll pay close attention to certain types of tenses used in literary texts, such as imperfect (prererite) tense to aid your comprehension, in an article, you might focus on facts and opinions etc. Step 3: First read the text through – Highlight key words Start by reading the entire text once, focusing on identifying words and phrases that relate to the topic  or context  of the question. What to highlight: Words you recognise  or find familiar (cognates, near cognates). Words or phrases that seem to link back to the topic or context. Why it works: Highlighting key words during the first read-through helps you establish a general understanding (gist) of the text. It’s the first step in decoding the message or narrative. An example - task from Pearson Edxecel GCSE German 2023 series Step 4: Second read-through – Annotate for deeper understanding Once you’ve read the text first time, go back and read the text a second time, this time making notes in the margins . Writing annotations in English or your native language helps you process the text and break it down into manageable chunks. What to write: Paraphrase key ideas in your own words. Note the meaning of unfamiliar words based on context. Number and summarise each sentence, paragraph or section briefly. An example - summary Why annotating helps: By actively engaging with the text and putting your thoughts on paper, you build a deeper understanding . Marginal notes act as a quick reference when answering questions. An example - task from Pearson Edxecel GCSE 2016 German Sample materials , pg.141 Step 5: Break down the text and answer the question Once you’ve analysed the text, you’re ready to tackle the question itself. Start by rereading the question, then revisit the parts of the text you highlighted or annotated. Use your notes to guide your response. Remember, questions follow the order of the text, so the answer to the first question will typically be near the beginning. Look for the key words you've identified in both the question and the text to locate the relevant information efficiently. Steps to answering the question: Refer back to the topic and context : Ensure your response aligns with the focus of the question. This is effective for your multiple choice questions. Gap fill questions: Look at the 'gapped' sentences carefully. Based on the structure of the sentence, determine what type of word is required - is it a noun, verb, adjective, time phrase, etc.? Then, review the options provided in the box. Identifying the type of word needed will help narrow down your choices. Use your knowledge of grammar and syntax to guide you. For example, in German, nouns always start with a capital letter, making them easier to spot. Use evidence from the text : Use key words, phrases, or examples from your highlights and annotations to support your answers. This is particularly helpful when responding to questions in the target language . For further guidance, refer to my recorded 'walk-through' on how to approach this type of task, even if you don’t fully understand everything yet. Link to where I model this type of task under the visualiser is here: Live modelling - reading task in TL (Please, note, this would be typically set via HWK or my Padlet link that is shared with my students.) Structure your answer : Keep your response clear and organised , whether it’s a short answer or an extended response. Why this strategy is effective: By this stage, you’ve already done the hard work of decoding the text or most of it. Answering the question becomes a straightforward process of applying what you’ve learnt. So next time you face a reading comprehension task, take a deep breath, follow these steps, and let the text guide you to the answers. Why this approach works This systematic process - focusing on the question topic, identifying the context, highlighting key words, annotating for understanding, and finally answering the question - ensures that students are engaging with the text at a deep level. It turns what might seem like an overwhelming task into a series of manageable steps, giving them the confidence to succeed. Other ideas When working with a text, you can help students develop their decoding and parsing skills through a range of targeted activities, such as: Using prior knowledge: Underline/highlight words and phrases that you recognise. Based on the words you recognise, predict the general topic of the text. What kind of text do you think it is? Highlighting parts of speech: Identify and highlight key elements, such as: Nouns Verbs Adjectives Connectives Opinion phrases Frequency phrases Time phrases Decoding vocabulary: This could be done individually or as part of 'think-pair-share' to scaffold the task if/when appropriate. Using the words you recognise and the overall gist of the text, infer the meaning of at least 3-5 new words. Decoding sentences: This could be done individually or as part of 'think-pair-share' to scaffold the task if/when appropriate. Use recognised words and reading strategies to decode the meaning of 2-3 full sentences within the text. Translate 1-3 full sentences into English for deeper understanding. Rewriting for practice: Using your broader knowledge of German, rewrite a portion of the text with: Different tenses Synonyms/antonyms Change the word order - verb 2nd idea rule applies Different pronouns and verbs or register The ideas described in point 5 offer both stretch and challenge for higher-achieving students while being low-prep and low-effort for you, the teacher. They also have a high impact, enabling students to demonstrate their ability to manipulate the language effectively. Creating questions: Design a comprehension question, such as multiple choice questions, P/N/PN or questions in English, to test understanding. These activities not only enhance reading comprehension but also encourage active engagement with the text and build essential language skills. Final thoughts Reading comprehension isn’t just about understanding a text; it’s about interacting with it. By applying these steps, our students will not only improve their reading skills but also develop reliable strategies for tackling exam questions. Preparation and active engagement are the keys to success. What strategies do you use to prepare for reading exams? Share your tips in the comments! *For the GCSE exam practice papers, click on the highlighted text above the example.

This blog post was written by Jérôme Nogues. About the author of the post: Jérôme Nogues has taught for over 20 years in London and in Shropshire, in state and independent schools. He is an EPI enthusiast, previously Head of Languages and Digital Learning in a small prep school near Shrewsbury. He has a passion for education technology and its use in and out of the classroom to enhance teaching and learning. He regularly leads CPD sessions for fellow teachers to develop their IT skills face to face or online. He is the creator of Poésíæ, the global MFL poem recitation and art competitions. He has been involved in co-writing, editing and adapting a number of books for the Language Gym. He also enjoys publishing videos on his YouTube channel as well as creating resources for various language educational providers. As a language teacher with over 20 years of experience integrating educational technology, I have seen first-hand the ability of tools like AI chatbots to enhance language learning when thoughtfully implemented. Chatbots are AI programs designed to simulate natural conversation through textual or voice interactions.  Throughout my career, I have leveraged technology to provide personalized and interactive learning experiences that engage students and augment my in-class teaching. The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) marks a particularly exciting leap forward. With capabilities like adaptive learning, instant feedback, and conversational interaction, AI has immense potential to amplify language education. However, it’s critical to remember that technology serves as a supplement, not a substitute, for human teachers. The guidance nuanced cultural insights, emotional intelligence and inspirational support we provide remain irreplaceable. I recently discovered an impressive example of AI’s possibilities in the language learning platform Mizou. Launched in 2023, Mizou utilizes intelligent AI algorithms to create customized chatbots tailored to each student's needs and interests. Unlike many pre-programmed bots, Mizou’s chatbots dynamically adapt in real-time to how students interact with them. This promotes active learning and makes conversing with the chatbots more engaging and fun. As a teacher, I can easily create my own chatbot lessons or choose from Mizou’s large library of premade chatbots spanning diverse subjects and grade levels. After creating a chatbot on perfect tenses in just minutes, I was thrilled by the quality and simplicity of the process. Examples of chatbot in French Mizou chatbots offer many advantages over traditional methods for reviewing material. The bots provide instant feedback on student answers, allowing them to immediately correct any mistakes. This helps cement language acquisition. The chatbots also adjust the difficulty and pace to suit each learner individually, ensuring students remain challenged but not overwhelmed. Additionally, they can tirelessly handle repetitive vocabulary and grammar drills, freeing up class time for me to focus on higher-order learning. Mizou stands out as a more suitable option for schools compared to GPT due to its affordability and tailored design for educational settings. Being a free tool for both educators and students, it alleviates financial barriers often associated with technology adoption in schools. Furthermore, its intuitive design and specific focus on educational activities make it more accessible and easier to integrate into classroom learning than the more general and technically complex GPT. By providing personalized and interactive AI activities, Mizou enriches traditional teaching. Yet it does not aim to replace the emotional connections, nuanced instruction, and inspirational support only human teachers can impart. I highly recommend fellow language educators give Mizou a try as a supplement to amplify your teaching. I advise you to have a play: https://mizou.com/

This blog post was written by Lucy Dreznin. About the author of the post: Lucy Dreznin is a former Head of German and Curriculum lead at secondary school and sixth form level. Having worked previously in the performing arts, she is devoted to empowering the teaching profession and developing languages curriculum through authentic materials and a variety of cultural resources.  She regularly presents at language teaching events and conferences and gained her NPQ in Lead Teaching in 2023. She is currently working as a consultant for the National Consortium of Languages Education (NCLE) at University College London. It is true what they say (whoever they might be): Teaching A Level is a privilege. After the tumult of settling pupils into their language learning at Key Stage 3, followed by the ever-perplexing challenge of helping them achieve a qualification at Key Stage 4, comes the reward of Key Stage 5. We have nurtured the independent learners, the linguists who will bear the torch for languages, the ‘global’ citizens. For us language educators, there are clear reasons to strive for opportunities to teach at Advanced Level: The specification comprises content across a whole host of topics intrinsic to the target language culture. A classroom environment, in which there is continuous scope for debate, in-depth thought and analysis, invigorates both teacher and student. The intellectual rigour of the specification actively challenges students to draw on prior language learning to not only communicate their ideas, but to make new meaning of that knowledge. The opportunity to personalise short, medium- and long-term planning is a process largely informed by the students’ responses in the interim to every lesson. I have taught five different cohorts for German A-Level. In a group, there have been four. In my latest cohort, there was a single student. Characteristically, no two cohorts have been the same. We could, of course, make a similar assertion about our classes of any age, year to year. I do feel that the unique character of each group takes on a certain salience at Advanced Level. Perhaps it is because the groups are typically smaller, allowing for a more consistent learning environment. Perhaps it is the allure of the curriculum, a ‘world’ in which the languages educator can more widely recognise their own value and belief systems. I don’t wish to be reductive here, but, when it comes to establishing expectations in teaching practice and classroom management, consistency and recognition of self are fundamental. As a former A Level student and now as a language educator and advocate, the real pleasure truly lies in the latter. Adaptive and responsive teaching is a broad-based term, one of which the education community is well-aware. Yet a broad term can never capture the inherent complexity of this aspect of pedagogy. It is well-understood that it presents an even greater challenge for language educators. However, the foundation for effective responsive teaching, especially at Advanced Level, is a positive, flexible, and caring teacher-student relationship. Why are these relationships with students in your Advanced Level cohort so important at this stage of their language learning journey? These students are on the cusp of young adulthood, and wish for their emotions, interests and even their possibly contradictory thoughts to be recognised in the learning environment. Despite being in the throes of adolescence, these students do have a refined sense of self and an instinct for which motivates and interests them. Therefore, it is only natural that they should want to explore that further in their language learning. The interactions between teacher and students harness a great energy, one which can establish a shared belief system around the power of languages and their joint responsibility as language ambassadors. How do we create the conditions for meaningful dialogue with our Advanced Level students? Moreover, how do we ensure that this dialogue is reinforced through our classroom routines and expectations from the outset? 1.Canvas your students’ interests and level of confidence with spoken language. Spend the first week of lessons getting to know your cohort. You will often have a group of students who have come from different settings, and therefore do not know each other. The teacher therefore plays the pivotal important role of creating an atmosphere of mutual comfort, understanding and respect. Moreover, they need to facilitate opportunities for students to interact in the target language in a non-threatening way. One way you can do this in build a class constitution, an idea inspired by the practice of Dr Liam Printer. I also sometimes run a Top Trumps exercise and get students to evaluate their own learning character, areas of strength in their language learning, and areas of skills development. I will then give them a set of structured questions in the target language, which allows students to interview one another and rank the overall skillset of the class. 2. Make it very explicit to students: They are advanced linguists. Empower your students from the outset with an important status of linguist, language representative, multilingual citizen. Ideally, this will have been a message reinforced to them throughout their Key Stage 3 and 4 language development, yet we cannot assume. Validating their language skills, as well as their strategic thinking, will enable your students to feel at greater ease when setting their knowledge into more challenging contexts. 3. Tap into your learners’ interests, attitudes, and reflections every single lesson. I give this recommendation as a teacher tasked with the planning and delivery of lessons, and as an enthusiast for passionate discourse. The language teaching community has the world of resources to choose from to shape A Level teaching. Of course, the schemata of those lessons should be shaped principally by our pedagogical expertise. However, inherent within that is the knowledge we have of our learners. Case study: My Year 12 cohort two years ago was made up of four boys, all of whom I had taught through GCSE. I had knowledge of their experience and backgrounds, and of their struggles living at home throughout COVID lockdown. Our first topic-focused lesson on family relationships formed the start of our unit on changing family structures in the German-speaking world. Once we had drawn on prior knowledge from GCSE-style questions and brainstormed infinitive verbs relevant to this subtheme, they suggested we look at articles and blog posts from German-speaking teenagers, writing their accounts of living at home and the effects this had on their relationships. Using the input from the articles, together with the list of infinitives, they formed reasons for why some teenagers may or may not get on with their families. It was an active response from my students to the contemporary world around them. As a result, we continued to revisit the impact of lockdown on family relations and self-development. This became the prism through which they learned and acquired language. 4. Scaffold resources and model your thinking for your students, just as you do for all learners. The advanced level skillset is termed as such because, well, it is advanced and quite challenging! Think about a text you give to your Key Stage 3 learners and the ways in which you ask them to interact, even play with the input: Read it aloud Find the common sounds Identify the verbs Focus on patterns Find the English cognates Find the terms for Spot and correct the errors Answer questions about the text Find your favourite words and use them in your own sentences A playful approach to language can not only be the cornerstone of your teaching practice but equally the best way of conveying your care and enthusiasm for your students. Students may have chosen to continue with their language learning at A-Level. However, this does not mean that they are unphased by its challenges. Their curiosity for discovering and deciphering new language is implicit. Teachers must continue to model the strategic thinking required and demonstrate how to approach tasks on a step-by-step basis. Learners will feel able to draw on their existing bank of strategies from GCSE learning and use this knowledge to transform and extend their thinking.

In the domain of language teaching, teachers often find themselves faced with the challenge of engaging students who seem disinterested or unmotivated. In this post I would like to focus my attention particularly on middle-attaining, disengaged boys . While every student is unique, certain strategies can help us unlock their potential and foster a more positive learning experience. Here, I will attempt to explore some effective methods for reaching these students and igniting their passion for language learning, whilst drawing on responses to my post (Jan13, 2024) on X from my fellow colleagues. Before delving into strategies, it's crucial to understand why some middle-attaining boys may become disengaged in the language classroom. Factors such as perceived lack of relevance , difficulty grasping abstract concepts , negative self- image as a language learner, or simply feeling disconnected from the subject matter can all contribute to disengagement . Additionally, societal stereotypes and expectations surrounding masculinity may discourage some boys from fully embracing language learning. Adobe Stock free images Some strategies to consider: 1. Building Rapport and Trust Establishing a strong rapport with students is fundamental to creating a positive learning environment. For middle-attaining boys, in particular, forming personal connections can help break down barriers and foster trust . Take the time to get to know each student individually, showing genuine interest in their interests, hobbies, and experiences. Demonstrating empathy and understanding can go a long way in building rapport and making students feel valued and respected . 2. Incorporating Hands-On Learning Many middle-attaining boys thrive in hands-on , experiential learning environments. Incorporating interactive activities and projects into language lessons can help capture their interest and make learning more tangible . For example, organising role-playing scenarios, language games , or multimedia projects can provide opportunities for active engagement and practical application of language skills. 3. Leveraging Technology and Multimedia In today's digital age, technology can be a powerful tool for engaging students in the language classroom. Middle-attaining boys, in particular, often respond positively to multimedia content and interactive learning platforms. Incorporate a variety of multimedia resources, such as videos, podcasts, and interactive language apps , to make lessons more dynamic and engaging . Encourage students to explore online resources and participate in virtual language exchanges to enhance their language skills outside of the classroom. 4. Connecting Language Learning to Real-World Contexts Middle-attaining boys may struggle to see the relevance of language learning to their everyday lives. To address this challenge, emphasise the practical applications of language skills and connect lessons to real-world contexts. Incorporate authentic materials, such as newspaper articles, song lyrics, or excerpts from literature , that relate to students' interests and experiences . Encourage students to discuss and analyse these materials, helping them see the value of language learning beyond the classroom. These boys are often interested in STEM subjects, therefore showing them how having the ability to communicate and apply another language can be a valuable skill in areas, such as engineering, business, sciences, pharmaceutical, automotive industry etc., is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed . In their highly pragmatic thinking relevance is crucial . 5. Providing Choice and Autonomy Empowering students with choice and autonomy can increase their sense of ownership and investment in their learning. Offering opportunities for students to select topics of interest for class discussions, projects, or creative assignments. Allowing them to choose from a variety of learning activities and assignments (games and a competitive element seems to be highly engaging and motivating) that cater to their individual strengths and preferences . By giving students, a voice in their learning journey, they are more likely to feel motivated and engaged in the language classroom. 6. Differentiating Instruction Recognising that every student learns differently , it's essential to differentiate instruction to meet the diverse needs of middle-attaining boys. Providing multiple entry points and scaffolding support for complex language concepts, allowing students to progress at their own pace . Offering additional challenges or enrichment activities for students who demonstrate advanced proficiency , while providing extra support and interventions for those who may be struggling . 7. Fostering a Growth Mindset Encouraging a growth mindset can help instil resilience and a positive attitude towards learning in middle-attaining boys. Emphasising the importance of effort, perseverance, and learning from mistakes , rather than focusing solely on outcomes or grades . Praising students for their hard work and progress, celebrating their achievements, and encouraging them to set realistic goals for improvement. By fostering a growth mindset culture in the classroom, we can help students develop the confidence and resilience needed to overcome challenges and succeed in language learning. 8. Examples of strategies shared by colleagues on X: @hannahpinkham : " Ensure early success, build relationships, praise lots (private/public depending on personality type), narrate their progress & success constantly, phone calls home, if relevant, work hard on changing their negative self-image as a language learner." @VEverettmfl : " Clear focus on what is being learned, accuracy, confident vision of progression. Lots of testing and feedback. Understanding that asking them to use the language needs teaching, developing, structuring. Cultural relevance especially videos. Concentrate on seriousness, maturity, growing independence and learning. " @BethanMchugh : " I started my teaching career in a boys' school in London - a competitive element to every lesson was a deal breaker and using sport/music/current affairs to theme resources was always popular. Best lesson I remember - a perfect tense murder mystery: I just made up a scenario and it was a sort of extended role play with police/murderer(s)/victims - but acted out for full drama. Perfect tense verbs in as many variations as possible for maximum marks." @MrsEmefelle : "  I find that an element of competition also helps. Hidden scores activities and One pen one dice work well as does the magic box of 9 (always gets students wanting to demonstrate what they know): Teacher draws 3x3 squares (so 9 boxes), when student answers a question correctly, they get to put their name in a box. Once boxes are full, students take out a name to put theirs in. (But that person can answer question again to get back in). It can be used throughout the lesson." @frau98 : " Our annual German Declamation competition is a massive hit amongst the boys who do German - more so than girls. They get really competitive. We practise the reading of poems, have set competitions and a final." @shellyironside: "  I have a new class reader about Kobe Bryant which is piquing their interest." @marriedtothehead : " Linking MFL to other disciplines, e.g. MFL+ Sport; MFL+ engineering; MFL + Art; MFL + Film studies. Using humour, e.g. jokes, cartoons, factual texts. External competitions, e.g. Stephen Spender, Anthea Bell. Praise, praise and praise." @Pj20212022 : " Writing a graphic novel about their future — something they want to be or do." In conclusion Engaging middle-attaining, disengaged boys in the language classroom as evidenced in in the responses above, requires a multifaceted approach that addresses their unique needs, interests , and learning preferences . By building rapport, incorporating hands-on learning, leveraging technology, connecting language learning to real-world contexts, providing choice and autonomy, differentiating instruction, and fostering a growth mindset, we - teachers can create a supportive and empowering learning environment where all students can thrive . There is no "silver bullet", one solution, different contexts, backgrounds. and cohorts may require different approaches, which we need to explore in our own settings, however, I believe that through these strategies, we can unlock the potential of every student, in particular our 'disengaged middle-attaining boys' and ignite their passion for language learning.

This blog post was written by Klaudia Schwenk. About the author of the post: Klaudia Schwenk is a graduate of the University of Duisburg-Essen with a Masters in German, English Literature and Political Sciences, trained for her teaching qualification at King Edward's Consortium in Birmingham. Initially with a background in publishing and bookselling, she now has over ten years teaching experience (Primary and now Secondary again) and is Head of German at an International School in German. At the same time she continues teaching German as a First, Second and Foreign Language. She has a keen interest in Second Language Acquisition, the teaching of literature, the development of writing skills and most recently the use of AI in teaching. She has spoken at ResearchEd Deutschland in 2023. Her first encounter with E.P.I. 3 years ago had a profound effect on her approach to teaching German as a foreign and second language. Introduction In my teaching experience of German as a Foreign Language, teaching listening skills was not high on my agenda. Although it was emphasised during my training that all four language skills should be incorporated in lessons, my focus was primarily on the complexities of the German language and the struggles my students faced with it. I viewed language learning primarily through the lens of grammar and vocabulary, giving the skill of listening much less attention. My approach to teaching listening was conventional - assigning tasks such as "Listen and answer the following questions." While some students excelled in this format, others clearly dreaded these top-down listening exercises often making every attempt not to participate. Foreign Language Listening Anxiety As I explored this further, I became increasingly interested in the barriers to learning associated with anxiety or more specifically foreign language anxiety and of course how I, as a teacher, could help alleviate these issues. This eventually led me to consider the concept of "Foreign Language Listening Anxiety," as discussed in Harumi Kimura's article in the International Journal of Listening (2016). Kimura's study highlights how L2 listening anxiety is specific to second language contexts and is influenced by performance and self-focus concerns. The former are concerns related to students' worries about the listening task itself. They fear that they will not understand what is being said and therefore will not be able to respond correctly when questioned. The latter relates to students' worries about how they might appear to others, especially if they are unable to respond appropriately to the listening task. One of the most important aspects causing this anxiety is the fleeting nature of language. The traditional model of listening tasks in textbooks is typically a top-down listening exercise. In other words, students are confronted with a longer text, most of which is incomprehensible input. The task then tends to be something along the lines of: What is the text about (extract the gist)? Which of the following words (...) did you hear? Are the following statements true or false? While there is a clear place for this type of exercise, this type of top-down processing can be very intimidating for beginners. Learning a language when it is one's mother tongue is a biologically primary skill, and students would have experienced themselves as competent users of (their) language. However, learning a second (or third) language is biologically secondary and the feeling of competence (a prerequisite for both self-efficacy and motivation) can be undermined. Extensive Processing Instruction (EPI) Approach As mentioned above, I had often observed pupils feeling uncomfortable, especially when listening and/or speaking tasks were involved. There were always those pupils who had the confidence to cope with whatever was thrown at them, but there was also a significant enough group who clearly did not cope as well and therefore made very slow progress, often expressing their dislike of learning German. During the lockdown, I became very interested in the EPI (Extensive Processing Instruction) approach. This is an approach that Dr. Gianfranco Conti has developed and promoted. In contrast to traditional listening exercises, Dr. Conti introduces the concept of Listening as Modelling (LAM) at the start of a teaching sequence, which emphasises a bottom-up approach to language learning when first beginning to teach a L2. Implementing this approach with a group of learners over two years, I not only witnessed a significant improvement in their ability to comprehend lengthy listening texts but also in their apparent confidence levels. Despite not understanding every word, the students felt relaxed and comfortable during the process as they explained during a number of feedback sessions. Specific Activities and Results To give a few examples of how this approach is applied in the classroom: at the start of every new teaching sequence, we very often "play" an activity called "Faulty Echo" as devised by Dr. Conti. In this activity students see a number of phrases or short sentences. After ensuring that the meaning is clear and thus comprehensible input is provided, the students then focus solely on the sounds of the target language. Firstly, my thumb will go up and the pupils will hear the correct version from me. Secondly, my thumb will go down and I will make a deliberate pronunciation error, often making use of pronunciation errors my pupils will typically make. The students will either write down the word where the error occurred and underline the sound in question on a Mini Whiteboard and on a call of 1, 2, 3, show me, hold up their board. Alternatively, they have the text in front of them and underline where the error occurred. My students are very used to this procedure and are beginning to try and predict where I'll be making the mistake. Example of the activity (K.Schwenk) Another popular activity with my students is "Last Person Standing" (originally "Last Man Standing" but my students pointed out that this is not inclusive - I read this on X/Twitter but can unfortunately not recall who first suggested this.). Again, a series of sentences are projected onto the board. Students receive one of them on a strip of paper. I will then proceed to read the sentences one by one. If this is their sentence, the student who has it sits down. The last person still standing has won. So, again the focus is on listening intently to the sounds of the target language. For a huge variety of other activities, I cannot recommend the book "Breaking the Sound Barrier" by Dr. Conti and Steve Smith highly enough. Example of the activity (K.Schwenk) Broader Implications and Strategies As mentioned before, in Extensive Processing Instruction, LAM (Listening as Modelling) is considered a crucial component of successful second language instruction. It typically stands at the beginning of a new teaching sequence and lets learners get accustomed to the sounds of the foreign language. Horwitz et al. (1986) identified this as a highly stressful situation as perceived by beginner learners: “Anxious language learners (...) complain of difficulties discriminating the sounds and structures of a target language message." (Horwitz et al., 1986). According to a study by Lana Bede (2011), citing Horwitz et al. (1986), foreign language listening anxiety is a prevalent issue in language classrooms, second only to speaking anxiety. One of the most important aspects causing this anxiety is the fleeting nature of speech. The traditional model of listening tasks in textbooks is typically a top-down listening exercise. In other words: students are presented with a longer text where more often than not the majority of the text is incomprehensible input. The task then tends to be something along the lines of: what is the text about (extract the gist of it)? Which of the following words (...) did you hear? Are the following statements true or false? Whilst there is a clear place for this type of exercise, for novice learners this type of top-down processing can be very intimidating. Similarly, if we look at the requirements for an exam such as IGCSE (which our students will eventually take), the listening skills that students are expected to have are: to be able to 'identify the main points, themes, opinions and attitudes in simple texts' (Cambridge IGCSETM syllabus for German 0525). There is a clear expectation that students will listen to a longer text or dialogue with potentially a significant amount of unfamiliar language, and infer meaning from context. Bearing in mind that this is a listening (not a reading!) requirement, it is clear that a great deal is being demanded of students' working memory, while the information that comes to them is quickly drowned out by the next piece of information. By acknowledging the unique challenges of listening comprehension, educators are better positioned to develop strategies that not only enhance listening skills but also address the root causes of anxiety. Strategies may include: increased exposure to a wide range of listening materials focused exercises on sound discrimination, and promoting a learning environment that encourages mistakes as part of the learning process. Such approaches aim to build learners' confidence in their listening abilities, thereby reducing anxiety and creating a more conducive atmosphere for language acquisition. This perspective aligns with the broader understanding that language learning anxiety can significantly impact learners' success. By tackling listening anxiety head-on, through methods such as LAM, educators can play a crucial role in lowering the barriers to language learning. This not only aids in improving linguistic proficiency but also enhances learners' overall experience and motivation in learning a new language. Conclusion on the Effectiveness of EPI and LAM Both my own and my colleagues' observations of the impact of an EPI-informed curriculum have led me to believe that the LAM approach significantly reduces L2 listening anxiety. The playful nature of many of the activities, with a high success rate for students, increases their confidence and belief in their competence to learn a foreign language. It allows them to familiarise themselves with the unfamiliar sounds of the target language (in our case, German) before tackling longer texts, which actually contain a greater proportion of potentially unfamiliar language. This shift in teaching methodology has shown promising results in improving students' listening skills and overall language learning experience, as confirmed by a survey conducted in our German department. Students self-reported that they felt much more confident in tackling listening tasks or simply listening to their teacher using the target language after being taught an EPI-informed scheme of work over the course of one to two years. Exams are part of a student's life at school or university and will cause stress. Similarly, when students find themselves in a situation where their foreign language skills are required in a real-life communication situation, the stress this causes may be unavoidable, but we as teachers have many tools at our disposal to alleviate the worst excesses of this anxiety and allow our learners to feel competent. Further reading: Bede, Lana. "Foreign Language Listening Anxiety: The Relationship between Listening Anxiety and Success in Learning English as a Foreign Language." Master's thesis, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2011. Conti, Gianfranco, and Steve Smith. Breaking the Sound Barrier: Teaching Language Learners How to Listen. 2019. Horwitz, Elaine K., Michael B. Horwitz, and Joann Cope. "Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety." The Modern Language Journal, vol. 70, no. 2, Summer 1986, pp. 125-132. Kumura, Harumi. "Foreign Language Listening Anxiety: A Self-Presentational View." International Journal of Listening, vol. 31, 2017, pp. 142-162.

This blog post was written by Marie Massé FCCT. About the author of the post: Marie Massé - With 15 years of experience as a teacher, Marie has previously been Head of Faculty in Wiltshire, then Subject Leader for French and Trust Leader for MFL for the Danes Educational Trust in Hertfordshire. She’s an SLE for Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire and a Fellow member of the Chartered College of Teaching. Passionate about mentoring and coaching, she is now a consultant for MFL in secondary schools and studying to become a Chartered Teacher Mentor. Introduction 17 years ago, at this time of the year, I was waiting impatiently to receive the details of my school in Manchester where I was going to be an FLA the following academic year. 17 years ago, that was yesterday, right? Right now, there are numerous prospective FLAs around the world, beyond excited to hear back from their school and planning their new life abroad. They are full of inspiration, hope, ideas and are probably spending a lot of time daydreaming about what it will be like. It is a big deal. A life-changing experience that will help them not only discover a new place and culture, but they will teach them so much about themselves, their own country and culture. Little do they know that they are about to land in a busy workplace where lunch is eaten on the go or at the desk, spent planning, setting up for lessons, responding to emails, marking, being on duty somewhere… and there is little time to interact with each other. Suddenly, we are throwing lots of new words, concepts, and acronyms at them, referring to exam spec, materials, and criteria etc … while coming up with last minute ideas for them to do because we forgot they are in our lesson today. By the time they arrive at the end of September, departments are overwhelmed with how busy it gets at the start of the year between exam debrief meetings and planning for European day of Languages. If only FLAs could get on board autonomously, magically! Then, by the time they have become experts in all things GCSE, A-Level, AQA, KS4, SEN and all other acronyms, it is time to say goodbye and get ready for the next batch. Well then, how can we support them while preparing them to be autonomous in such a busy workplace? Are we even making effective use of our FLAs? 1.      Before they arrive: Plan, share and set expectations. When I arrived in Manchester, I was able to stay with my Head of Languages, Claire, as they had a spare room. She had told me I could stay for a month and helped me settle, get to know the city, open a bank account, register for a National Insurance Number at the Job Centre, and visit places to rent. That made a massive difference for me as I only focused on getting there for the end of September and I did not worry about anything else. I felt safe being a part of her family for a couple of weeks and then rented my own place. It also meant that we got to know each other at home a few days before I started, and while work was a very busy place. She introduced me to Strictly Come Dancing and curries, she showed me the city and we drove to work together. She was my “mum” in England, and I felt safe knowing she had my back. If you don’t have a spare room to offer, you may ask the staff in school if anyone has a spare room or knows of anyone… even temporarily. I really think that the FLA does not have to be a HOF or SL responsibility. Someone else in the department may be thrilled at the idea of looking after a newbie. This could be a steppingstone to mentoring trainees or an annual responsibility. If there is no possibility for them to stay with you or a colleague, you may offer them some ideas when you first contact them. Send them a list of websites and recommendations to start their research. If you are hosting multiple FLAs or know of other local or partner schools hosting FLAs, it’s a good idea to put them in contact and suggest they share accommodation. Make it easy for them, it’s hard to look for a place blindfolded. After a few years of working with FLAs, I created a faculty handbook for them so I wouldn’t have to think from scratch every year about what to share with them. I sent it at the start of the summer so they could familiarise themselves with our school, routines, expectations, a summary of the education systems, list of colleagues, SOWs and topics, the classes and relevant exams, some example material, especially for speaking so they’d have an understanding of what sort of activities they would undertake. This is mostly because before I started my role as an FLA, I spent the summer planning, gathering authentic material, designing some activities, I had made myself a folder of potential FLE (Français Langue Etrangère) activities when in the end, I didn’t use anything at all. To be “A-Level ready”, I also let them know about the film and the book that students study. I also included a presentation of the region, things to do, photos, maps, transports etc. This is my content page: 1.     Welcome to our school - Key information 2.     Life in the UK / region - Points of interests 3.     Organisation for the year - Timetable and resources 4.     Assisting in lessons - Guideline 5.     One to one session with A-Level students 6.     GCSE exams 7.     A-Level exams 8.     Extra-curricular activities Every FLA I have worked with has been unique and some have been very autonomous straight from the start while some have needed a lot of guidance all year long. In any case, planning in advance for them during the summer term has helped me a lot at the start of October and has encouraged them to be more independent. It’s a great investment for everyone involved; you, them, your colleagues and more importantly, the students and it ensures you maximise the use of the FLA. Think and make a plan. How do you want your students to benefit from the experience? What would happen ideally when the FLA interacts with the students? How do you want the FLA to lead their sessions? Can you write a guidebook for them to share your model? In addition to the handbook, I also use an overview of the year for A-Level with separate columns for Teacher 1, Teacher 2, and FLA. This assists the FLA with keeping up to date with what the teachers are doing at what time, so they can plan accordingly or use prior topics for retrieval. In the FLA column, I offer guidance on how to structure their sessions, a sort of mini lesson plan. It’s a good starting point for them while they get to know the students they work with and find the confidence to plan more independently. Of course they are free to do their own things, this serves as a suggestion / back up plan. The grammar notes in the teachers’ columns can be of great use for the FLA and ensure consistency. In the first term for example, Teacher 2 revisits adjectives agreements and the subjunctive and so the FLA knows they need to include opportunities for the students to use grammar structures in the subjunctive. They may prepare a starter activity on adjectives to quiz the students. Again, this is shared with the FLA before they start in October. 2.      During the year: Communicate and review. The first session between students at KS3/4 and FLA is always a bit of a shock. They are surprised at the difference in level. It’s also fair to say that when we practice with our students, we ask our questions in a certain way, we craft our language in a familiar way for our students because we know what they are supposed to know, and we can anticipate how they will respond. I once had an FLA who was shocked that the students were not even able to say their name. We were all amused in the office hearing the FLA disturbed that students could not answer a simple “Quel est ton prénom?” while of course, students had learnt “Comment tu t’appelles?” and any variation of this question, especially formulated by a native speaker they had just met, would result in total panic! I just love that first conversation. The realisation that learning is not transactional. It works the same way as learning languages. Just because it works in one language doesn’t mean it’s copy and paste in another language. Just because you learn a certain way or certain phrases in one country doesn’t mean it’s the same everywhere. To be a good teacher, you must put yourself in your learners’ shoes, think like them and not just teach the language that you know. A lot of the FLAs want to be teachers themselves so it’s a great experience for them to broaden their thinking as an educator. It is a good investment to plan the first few sessions for your FLAs including the kind of language they can expect. FLAs could have exam style cards / questions with model answers to help them gauge the level and prompt students with suggested vocabulary / sentence starters. Be specific about what you want out of these sessions, act like a coach, write notes with your thoughts. Just like you would model your thoughts with your students when teaching exam skills, share your reasoning, your thinking with your FLA. In the spur of the moment or just before the lesson, there isn’t necessarily enough time for a conversation so again, planning before is useful. If you are finding it difficult to stay on top and often forget they are scheduled to be in your lesson, you could plan a sequence of 5 session in advance and give the plan to the FLA and make them their responsibility. Or ask them to plan their own sessions following the model you gave at the start of the year. They will be overwhelmed at the beginning and may ask you the same questions every week or mix up Year 12 and Year 13, forget what GCSE is, use GCSE material with year 12 … so good planning in advance with a handbook, folder with material / lesson plan for the first sessions for each class will be very handy. Once you have created your handbook and folder, you will just need to update it a little bit every year in the summer term. Important checklist: -          Check on them regularly. Have they found accommodation? Have they met new people? What have they explored recently? -          Invite them over for dinner, to meet your family, they could even stay over for a night. Be their family abroad. They may start feeling lonely towards the end of October and spending the day with you may make a big difference. It could be a nice opportunity to catch up and have good quality conversation away from the buzzing of school. -          Schedule a meeting every half term to check on them, get feedback on their lessons, on students etc. This is also an opportunity to get them involved with students’ progress. What are the students’ next steps? Have they noticed some issues with pronunciation during the session? How will they support the students? Any attendance issues? Positive phone calls home? -          Ask your students for feedback on the FLA. How are they finding the sessions? What is particularly helpful? What more would they like to do? Over the years, here is a list of how I’ve used FLAs in my lessons with KS4: -          Grammar games / quiz with mini whiteboards - students in pairs. -          General conversation - 3 questions to practice. -          Using photos - FLA shows personal pictures and they both talk about the photo. -          Using plastic food as props. Conversation about likes and dislikes, healthy lifestyle. -          News headlines for France Info (Screenshot from my phone printed off) + discussion: What’s in the news in France? What global issue is the most concerning for you…? -          Role play cards. -          Talk for 1 minute about the current topic. 2 seconds' rule: If student hesitates more than 2 seconds, start the clock again. -          1 to 1 with higher student to boost their performance. -          1 to 1 to practise pronunciation. -          I also organise whole class role plays “At the restaurant” and “At the market” setting up the classroom with props / pretend market and restaurant. We split the class, 1 group with me, the other with the FLA and swap half way through. This is more manageable. My year as an FLA was amazing and I have made many friends from my time in Manchester in 2007. School wasn’t everything and with my light timetable, I was able to explore, party, spend so much time with friends and created myself a life there but I really think that it made a massive difference for me to have Claire (HOF) and her family as my family in the UK. Her kindness made me want to invest myself even more. Claire knew I wanted to stay in the UK, she often invited me for dinner, she took me under her wing and included me in school beyond the requirements for an FLA. I joined in with training days and CPDs and she helped me get started for my PGCE, wrote me a reference for my application at university, an amazing foundation environment for a successful future career in education and I am still very grateful for her kindness and support. Whether they want to stay or go back, be teachers or not, their year as an FLA with you will be one of the most memorable years of their life. Your nurturing and mentoring will stay with them for a very long time and may inspire them to nurture someone themselves in return. Although FLAs are only part of the team for a short period of time, they belong to the history of the school, language team and play an important role in the success of our students. Invest in your FLA, plan well in advance for them, nurture them like trainees, share your thinking, your method and reasoning and inspire them to inspire your students.

This blog post was written by Esther Mercier. About the author of the post: Esther Mercier - My name is Esther Mercier, I am originally from Quebec. I have been teaching MFL in 3 different countries and at all levels, including adults and primary but mainly secondary for the last 34 years. I have taught French, German, and Spanish and done Mandarin clubs at lunchtime. I attended a fabulous 3-week course in Beijing for MFL teachers where we were shown how to teach Mandarin and a variety of activities done in class. I have worked as an MFL AST for years for Lancashire County Council and loved it. We organised lots of events, competitions, and CPD. For the last years, I have been second in department where I organised many trips, clubs, competitions, guest speakers and events in school as well as one day language taster such as Korean. I started my own website to teach MFL when I had to take on GCSE after school, so I needed my pupils to access more material since they had only one lesson a week – after school. This is how atantot.com grew and now it has a huge variety of activities online and worksheets to print. I enjoy sharing resources on different social networks such as Facebook and X. I have done GCSE marking, speaking, and writing to gain more experience. This is my final full-time year as an MFL teacher but who knows, I might miss the classroom and come back! I have been using these versatile plastic folders for years now and they are excellent. They will never replace the mini whiteboards of course, but they have their own use which brings a bit of variety to the classroom! We are being told we need to work on the 3 pillars for the new GCSE and these folders can add to our forever growing repertoire of activities to work on phonics, grammar, and vocabulary. I always start by working with the pupils on one activity then pupils work in pairs or in small teams of three. I love using them for listening where I either change a word in the sentence, add a word or miss a word out. All this is for them to pick up the pronunciation – they of course do not know that, but this is the aim!        Once I have done it a few times, I move on to no 2 and so on. Then they work in pairs doing exactly the same as I did, but this time they are the ones reading the sentences and I am walking around checking on their pronunciation! I also like using activities where they turn the folders! This is to make sure they are on task , and it makes it different than the usual activities! An activity I use to bring in pronunciation and a variety of vocabulary and sentences structures ( complex structures ) is the apartment building listening task. I read the sentence in French or English and they need to draw the line to show me they understood. It is very easy for me to see if they are correct or not when they lift their folders to show me their answers. Once I have done it a few times, they then work two by two, and I walk around checking on their pronunciation. This time though they are building complex sentences by adding connectives, adverbs, infinitive structures, or any other elements we are learning then. A few weeks before the written GCSE , all my year 11 work on their tenses and I always use this type of activity with the folders. I have one on the IWB where I write a verb in the middle then they need to work out the tenses for that specific verb by writing it in the correct section of the shape. I made sure the verbs that are similar in ending or formation are placed next to each other then we discuss the answers. It works really well in these types of folders. This type of activity could easily be used for one specific tense, i.e. I have seen the flower conjugation where each petal you have the ending for a specific pronoun. This would work very well in these folders. I use this activity to guide my pupils improve their sentence structures. I add the words I want them to use then I can whether say a sentence using some of the words from the worksheet and extra vocabulary or I can say it in English, and they have to translate. In this picture they are mainly verbs, but I can add nouns, adjectives then they need to work out the verbs by themselves. This is to improve their vocabulary on a specific topic. Of course, these plastic folders can be used with texts, translation, tick me quick activities, etc… the beauty of them is that you can save your photocopies for the next group! Pupils like using them and it is for me a great way to see if they understand and got the answer. All they need to do, like with the mini whiteboards, they need to show me their work. All these activities are on my websites, but they are also so easily done. Link to where you can get them: Reusable dry wipe pockets

This blog post was written by Jennifer Wozniak-Rush. About the author of the post: Jennifer Wozniak-Rush is an Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, Expert Leader in Education (ELE) and Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) in Teaching & Learning (T&L) and Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) at The Hollins in Lancashire has a wide experience of teaching French from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 (age 4 - 16). She also teaches Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) Spanish. Jennifer has a real passion for teaching languages and loves sharing ideas with others. Introduction None of us will disagree with the fact that a language is meant to be spoken ! There is no greater joy in my teaching than hearing pupils speak spontaneously, but how can we encourage confidence? How do we encourage pupils to speak in the target language? To me, the work starts from day one in Year 7 and by creating a safe, supportive environment where pupils know they will never be judged when speaking in the target language.   Who speaks the most target language in your lessons: you or your students? Speaking skills can only be enhanced if students are given adequate opportunities to speak since, “Watching expert acrobats does not lead to the audience performing somersaults, even if they might be able to recognise one” (Barnes in  Teaching Modern Foreign Languages in the Secondary School , Pachler and Redondo, 2007). Starting from day one, it is crucial that pupils learn to produce new sounds as accurately as possible, so developing speaking goes hand in hand with listening . Begin each lesson with a brief, low-pressure speaking activity. As pupils become accustomed to this ritual, they’ll feel more comfortable with the expectation of speaking every day, even if it’s short and low risk.   From my experience, it’s important to create as many opportunities as possible for pupils to speak in each MFL lesson, so teach pupils the classroom language at the beginning of Year 7 so that they can tell you they have forgotten their book or that they would like to go to the toilet. Start by using phrases such as ‘Can I have’ as well as high frequency core language that you can use with the class when doing the register and throughout the lesson. Plan opportunities for pupils to not only speak to you but alongside their peers, by using a range of pair work activities and/or some Kagan strategies such as ‘quiz, quiz, trade’ , ‘talking chips’, ‘think pair share’ etc. so that pupils can practise saying the language you are teaching them as well as some interaction language, which will develop their spontaneity over time. As teachers, we can easily monitor what pupils are saying, how the language is being used and how pupils are developing their spoken language skills collaboratively, providing appropriate support when needed and correcting misconceptions as they arise. If we provide as many opportunities as possible for our pupils to speak at KS3 , then it becomes so much easier at KS4 , and pupils will already be more confident . Teach pupils chunks of vocab that they can reuse in all contexts . Think about situations which crop up naturally and regularly, just by virtue of being in a lesson in a classroom, which can be exploited in the target language for linguistic purposes (e.g. some pupils arriving late to lessons, pupils being absent, a teacher coming to your room whilst teaching, asking pupils to comment on their partners after a pair work or group work activity, etc.) If you exploit those moments and guide pupils to reuse vocabulary and structures from other contexts by showing them that they can extend them, adapt them, it will help them to be able to say what they want to say, over time. Encouraging pupils to ask for language that they want to know is important, but make sure that you reuse them lesson after lesson to help them stick . I strongly advise looking at James Stubbs’ blog on his use of target language ( https://jamesstubbs.wordpress.com ) James Stubbs' blogs about using routines and the target language in the MFL classroom focus on practical strategies to enhance language learning by fostering an immersive and engaging environment . He emphasises the importance of establishing consistent classroom routines conducted in the target language, as these routines help students acclimate to hearing and using the language regularly. This approach not only aids in normalising the use of the target language for everyday interactions but also r educes the reliance on the students' first language , thus promoting better language acquisition and fluency . James suggests that routines can include simple activities like taking the register, discussing the date and weather, or managing classroom transitions , all performed in the target language. He advocates for the use of visual aids, cues , and repetitive structures to support understanding as pupils become more familiar with this approach. By integrating the target language into these daily routines, teachers can create a predictable and supportive environment that encourages pupils to speak and understand the foreign language more naturally and confidently. The physical classroom environment should reflect and promote the use of the target language. This can be achieved through displays of foreign language posters, labels, and instructions, which continuously expose pupils to the language in a meaningful context. As highlighted in Interact , equipping pupils with functional language toolkits that include phrases for common classroom interactions (e.g., asking for help, requesting a repetition) encourages them to use the target language spontaneously and appropriately. This practice builds their confidence and fluency over time.  The consistent use of the target language through well-established routines not only enhances language learning but also helps in building a culturally immersive classroom where pupils can practice the language meaningfully and effectively .   To illustrate here is an example of routines that I use. When I have introduced new vocabulary and done some repetition with the class, I always make pupils practise the vocabulary by doing a pair work activity . After the pair work activity, I will ask the class how their partner was . Pupils will then tell me if their partner was excellent, good, ok, bad etc… When pupils are confident with that, we had simple reasons .   Then, we build on the vocabulary and start hiding some of the parts .   When pupils are confident , we add some more, and we keep building and building . It’s a great opportunity to also reuse some vocabulary or grammatical structures introduced within a topic that can easily be reused with the interaction language . In addition, it’s another way of always practising phonics .   At KS4, we also use structures such as ‘I get on well’, ‘I argue with’ within the interaction language as it was introduced within the topic but by reusing it over and over with the routines, it becomes second nature to my pupils.   By Y11, I only use this slide below and pupils can use a range of sentences, complex structures, give reasons with no more support.     That was just one example of routines that can be used but there are a lot more than we use in my school. Because the interaction language is important , this is something that we have also include in our Schemes of Work .  Looking at the topics covered at KS3 is also key. Do you teach topics that interest your pupils? Will that make them want to speak? Give pupils something they want to talk about, something to make them tick . We know that the principles of effective speaking practice are modelling through listening, developing speed and accuracy of production through extensive practice , and moving from structured practice to spontaneity . For pupils to speak spontaneously , we need a lot of structured practice first , using target language as explained previously but also by using speaking activities regularly with the different topics we teach. Group Talk For example, Group Talk progression chart by Greg Horton is an example of how speaking might develop. The aim is for pupils to be able to use the language over-time. Stage 1: Introducing and responding to simple opinions. Stage 2: Taking part in a short discussion. Stage 3: Exchanging reasons and preferences / talking across time frames. Stage 4: Developing a line of thought / sharing points of view / balancing an argument.   You could also have two images of a mobile phone. Whilst you play some music, the mobile phones go around the class, when the music stops, the two pupils with the mobile phone speak to each other in the target language. In Y7, it starts with “Bonjour, comment ça va?” but then over time you can add a list of core questions you wish your class to answer as they know more vocabulary, grammar and key structures and increasing the time they are speaking for. It’s all about practice! You can use r ecordable speech bubbles to encourage less confident speakers . Pupils can write an answer onto the speech bubble with a marker pen and record it afterwards . For homework , you can ask pupils to use snapchat to record themselves answering questions as a dog or a broccoli , or use technology such as flipgrid, padlet, vocaroo to record an answer to a question, and you can then give them personalised feedback on pronunciation and vocabulary/grammar used. You could also ask them to create videos describing themselves, their town, or their school that you could send to partner schools abroad so that pupils think that there is a real purpose .   Other ideas for speaking activities: *Describing a photo using real photos from your holidays, family or even using famous paintings. *Using role plays, speed dating or using puppets. *Pupils could act using a script. *Pupils can also pretend to interview celebrities such as actors, footballers from French speaking countries for example. * ‘Find someone who’ , pupils go around the room asking each other questions to find the people who meet the characteristics. To increase challenge, at the end, ask pupils to describe who the pupils are, using the third person. *Have four photos on the board and pupils need to decide which one is the odd one out and give a reason for it in the target language. * Pupils work in pairs with a stimulus and a time limit to come up with as many statements/utterances using one or more of the picture or verbal prompts given. * Keep talking activity from Rachel Hawkes is very useful at KS4 (see picture). Pupils click on ? to roll the dice. A player from each group then has to talk for 1 minute on that theme, the others listen and make notes in English of what has been said. In this way, all engaged simultaneously. * Catch the spy from Vincent Everett : pupils have to interview the others in the class by asking them a range of questions to try to find out who the impostor is.    Encouraging pupils to speak in another language is key but let’s not forget that we need to build pupils’ confidence so creating an environment where pupils feel safe and not judged as well as rewarding pupils when they speak are very important .

In today’s globalised society, the importance of learning multiple languages is more apparent than ever. Language skills open doors to new cultures, foster empathy, and are increasingly valuable in the job market. However, while teachers and educational institutions play critical roles in fostering language learning, the involvement of parents is an equally important, yet often underutilised factor that can significantly influence a child’s choices and success in language acquisition. Parents’ involvement can turn attitudes to language learning from a challenging task into an engaging, rewarding journey, benefiting not only the child but also the entire family. This post explores why parental involvement is essential , the ways parents can effectively support language learning, and the long-term benefits of these efforts. The landscape of language learning today Modern language classrooms are increasingly diverse, encompassing traditional languages such as French, Spanish, and German, as well as a growing number of non-traditional options like Mandarin, Arabic, and Latin. This diversity reflects a broader understanding of the importance of global connectivity and cultural exchange. Language learning isn’t just about memorising vocabulary or conjugating verbs; it’s about developing communication skills, cultural awareness, and an understanding of international contexts. With this context in mind, students face the choice of whether to pursue a language at the GCSE level in Year 9 - a decision with lasting educational and professional implications. Research has shown that students who study a foreign language develop better critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and even improved memory. However, deciding to pursue a language for GCSE requires commitment, perseverance, and a solid support network - something that parents can significantly influence . Parental involvement: The foundation of language learning success Parental involvement is widely recognised as a key factor in a student’s academic success, yet in language learning, it often plays a uniquely influential role. When parents view languages as a valuable skill to have and actively engage with their child’s language education, they do more than provide motivation, they also help create an environment that values multicultural perspectives, global awareness, and curiosity about the world. Language acquisition begins long  before  a learner sets foot in a classroom. From infancy, parents play a pivotal  role in laying the groundwork for linguistic development through verbal interactions, exposure to diverse languages, and cultural immersion. Studies have shown that children raised in multilingual  environments exhibit greater cognitive  flexibility, problem-solving  skills, and  cultural awareness  from an early age. In the modern language classroom, parents serve as the primary advocates and facilitators of their children's language learning journey. By instilling a positive attitude  towards language acquisition and  fostering a supportive learning environment at home , parents lay the foundation for success in the classroom and beyond. However, we recognise that some of our learners may lack this type of supportive network and environment at home, presenting a unique challenge that we often need to address and work to overcome within our classrooms and school settings. Year 9 Choices: The power of parental guidance in GCSE choices One of the most pivotal points for students studying a language in the UK is the Year 9 GCSE subject choices, where they decide whether to pursue a language at the GCSE level. This decision can have far-reaching consequences, impacting university admission prospects, career opportunities, and even future travel and social experiences. Parental involvement during this decision-making process is invaluable , as students may lack the long-term perspective to fully understand the benefits of pursuing a language qualification. 1. Providing a broader perspective on language benefits For students, the advantages of taking a language may not always be immediately clear, especially if they find the subject challenging. Here, parents alongside us - teachers can provide valuable insights by discussing how language skills can enhance future career opportunities, contribute to cognitive development, and foster cultural understanding. Reminding students that many universities view a language GCSE as an asset can further encourage them to continue their studies. 2. Helping students align language learning with personal goals Some students may aspire to careers in fields where l anguage skills are highly valued , such as international business, diplomacy, tourism, or healthcare. In these cases, parents as well as other professionals or alumni  who continued, utilised and benefitted from studying languages further can help students see how language skills align with their career aspirations, highlighting the real-world applications of language learning and making the subject more relevant. Inviting these professionals to speak at assemblies can prove especially powerful. 3. Collaborating with teachers for an informed decisions Parents can also work closely with language teachers to understand their child’s strengths and areas for improvement in the subject. Teachers can provide insight into how the student is progressing, their potential for success at the GCSE level, and any additional support that might be beneficial. By maintaining open communication with teachers, parents gain a well-rounded perspective on their child’s readiness for the challenge. Supporting classroom learning at home Effective language learning extends far beyond the confines of the classroom walls. Parents have the unique opportunity to reinforce and complement classroom teaching through a variety of home practices such as encouraging students to read articles / books, watch movies, and listen to music in the target language which not only reinforces vocabulary and grammar concepts but also fosters a deeper appreciation for the culture and heritage associated with the language. Additionally, parents together with teachers can leverage technology to access online resources, language-learning apps, and virtual language exchange platforms to supplement classroom teaching and provide additional practice opportunities. Benefits of parental involvement in language learning Enhanced motivation : When parents express interest and enthusiasm for their child's language learning endeavours, it reinforces the importance of learning new language skills. Positive reinforcement and encouragement from parents can boost a student's motivation and self-confidence , leading to greater engagement in the classroom. Increased practice opportunities : Language learning is not limited to the classroom; students need ample opportunities to practise and reinforce their skills outside of school hours. Parents can provide valuable support by creating a language-rich environment at home, incorporating activities such as reading books, watching series or films, or if they have a knowledge of the language themselves, engaging in conversations in the target language. Cultural enrichment : Learning a new language goes hand in hand with exploring the culture and traditions associated with it. Parents can expose their children to authentic cultural experiences, such as celebrating festivals, trying traditional cuisine, or when possible, interacting with native speakers. This cultural immersion deepens the child's understanding of the language and fosters a sense of cultural appreciation and empathy. Improved academic performance : Research has consistently shown a positive correlation between parental involvement and academic achievement . When parents actively participate in their child's language learning journey, it can lead to improved language skills, higher grades, and overall academic success. Sadly, not all of our learners have access to such supportive home environments, and not all parents have the resources to provide the opportunities mentioned above. In these cases, teachers and other professionals can step in as inspirational role models and sources of support on their journey. For parents who may be uncertain about the value of language learning in their child’s life, here are some strategies we can use to build positive relationships and encourage their support: Strategies for promoting parental involvement in the language classroom Open communication channels : Establish clear lines of communication with parents from the outset, emphasising the importance of their involvement in their child's language learning. Utilise platforms such as email, newsletters, or parent-teacher evenings to keep parents informed about classroom activities, progress updates, and ways they can support their child's learning at home. Provide resources and guidance : Offer parents guidance on how they can support their child's language learning - many schools now provide workshops for parents how to support their child with language learning / revision techniques etc. Create resource kits or online portals with suggestions for language-learning activities, recommended books or websites, and tips for practising language skills in everyday contexts. Encourage participation in cultural events : Organise cultural events or language evening that involve parents and provide opportunities for them to actively engage with their child's learning. In my school, we organise a Community Day. This could include cultural festivals, language immersion days, or parent-child language clubs where families can come together to celebrate diversity and language proficiency. Offer parent education workshops : Host workshops or information sessions for parents to learn more about the benefits of bilingualism, effective language learning strategies, and ways to support their child's language development at home. Invite guest speakers, language experts, or experienced teachers to share insights and practical tips with parents. Celebrate diversity : Create a welcoming and inclusive environment that celebrates the diversity of languages and cultures represented within the school community, these could be simple things such as multilingual displays around the school. Encourage parents to share their own language and cultural heritage with students through storytelling, music, dance, or cooking. Seek feedback and collaboration : Actively seek feedback from parents about their experiences with their child's language learning journey and solicit ideas for how the school can further support their involvement. Collaborate with parents as partners in the educational process, valuing their insights and contributions to enhancing the language learning experience for all students. Effective communication and collaboration between parents and teachers are essential for supporting language learning and academic success. Parents should maintain open lines of communication with language teachers to stay informed about curriculum objectives, instructional strategies, and their child's progress in the target language. Attending parent-teacher evenings, participating in school events, and volunteering in the classroom, especially in primary education, are excellent ways for parents to actively engage with their child's language education and demonstrate their commitment to their academic success. Additionally, parents can provide valuable insights into their child's learning preferences, strengths, and areas for growth, enabling teachers to tailor instruction to meet individual needs effectively. Conclusion In an interconnected world, language learning has never been more important, and the role of parents in fostering linguistic skills cannot be overstated. Through encouragement, practical support, and informed guidance, parents empower their children to embrace the challenges of language learning and enjoy the personal and professional rewards it offers . Whether a parent is helping with vocabulary flashcards, learning alongside their child, or providing perspective on Year 9 choices, their involvement serves as a cornerstone in the student’s language learning journey. The impact of this support extends beyond school, helping young people develop into empathetic, globally aware citizens ready to navigate a multicultural world.

Supporting English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in the classroom presents both challenges and opportunities. With a growing number of multilingual students in schools, we - teachers are tasked with ensuring these students can access both the curriculum and English language learning at the same time. However, when supported effectively, EAL students bring a wealth of cultural and linguistic diversity that can enhance the learning environment for everyone in our classrooms. The Bell Foundation’s Five Principles for Effective EAL Pedagogy The Bell Foundation’s framework for EAL pedagogy provides essential guidelines for teaching EAL students. Let’s explore how these principles can shape teaching strategies in our classrooms in general: Multilingualism as an asset Multilingual students possess valuable skills, and their home languages can enhance their learning of English and the curriculum. By allowing students to use their first language in the classroom, they can access complex ideas and build confidence. We can do this by: Encouraging the use of bilingual glossaries, dictionaries, and subtitles in students’ home languages. Providing opportunities for students to work in pairs or groups where they can use their first language to aid understanding. High expectations with appropriate support It’s important to maintain high expectations for EAL students while offering the necessary scaffolding to help them succeed. We can do this by: Using scaffolding tools such as writing frames, sentence starters, and fill-in-the-blank activities. Pre-teaching vocabulary and key concepts, and ensure that students have access to clear definitions and explanations of new words. Integrating focus on content and language Learning should not separate content from language. EAL students need to engage with both simultaneously. We can do this by: Using dual coding (pairing text with visuals), subject-specific flashcards, and knowledge organisers to help students link new vocabulary to the content. Focusing on vocabulary retrieval practices to reinforce new words and concepts, ensuring students integrate language learning into the subject matter. Effective and holistic pupil assessment EAL students should be assessed not only on their content knowledge but also on their English language proficiency across listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Why and how: Using regular formative assessment and this should serve to assess both in academic content as well as in language progress (TL and English). Considering using seating plans to strategically place EAL students next to peers who can support their language. Social inclusion Ensuring that EAL students feel a sense of belonging and inclusion is vital. Students’ English language proficiency is evaluated across four key areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing . Based on their performance in these areas, students are placed into specific proficiency categories, which guide the level of support or intervention they require. 10 Strategies you can apply to support EAL students in your languages classroom Using visuals: Incorporating visuals, such as dual coding, knowledge organisers, subject-specific flashcards, and labelled classroom equipment, to support learning and reinforce key concepts. Leveraging their first language: Encouraging the use of students' first language to aid understanding , such as through bilingual glossaries, subtitles on videos, and bilingual dictionaries or translation tools. Encouraging oracy: Fostering oral communication in the classroom, allowing students to use their home language with a buddy when appropriate. This can help them feel more confident and supported while practicing English. Explicit vocabulary teaching and retrieval practice: Pre-teaching key vocabulary and reinforcing it through consistent retrieval practice. This helps students gradually build a solid foundation of essential words. Providing advance lesson materials: Giving students a preview of upcoming lessons or topics so they can research them in their home language beforehand. This prepares them to better engage with the material in class. Defining new vocabulary: Providing clear definitions for unfamiliar words or terms, ensuring students have a solid grasp of key concepts and language used in lessons. Scaffolding writing and speaking tasks: Using writing frames, fill-in-the-gap activities, and sentence starters to help students focus on content rather than struggling with language. This scaffolding ensures they can engage with tasks effectively. Modelling high quality work: Showing EAL students examples of high-quality work to help them understand expectations . Making sure to check they fully grasp what good work looks like in both language and content. Using effective questioning strategies: Regularly using questioning to assess both content understanding and language comprehension . This helps gauge progress and identify areas for additional support. Being consistent and clear with language: Using straightforward language and avoiding confusing synonyms or idioms . For instance, being consistent with terms like “floor” instead of switching between “carpet” or “mat.” Rephrasing or repeating if needed, especially for students who may not yet grasp idiomatic expressions like "Give him a hand." If your student has learned vocabulary, such as parts of the body, they might still be confused by idiomatic expressions like "Give him a hand." In these cases, be prepared to rephrase or repeat the language. It's essential to think carefully about the key words and phrases you want to use and maintain consistency in their usage. The power of multilingualism in EAL Research shows that giving students the chance to use all their languages  enhances their ability to access the curriculum and improve their proficiency in English. Students’ grammatical knowledge and expertise in their first language can be leveraged to develop their skills in English. Rather than focusing on one language at a time, a holistic approach  that considers the full linguistic repertoire of learners, as proposed by Cenoz & Gorter (2011), is more effective. They argue against a "monolingual bias" and advocate for codeswitching  and translanguaging , which can be valuable in the classroom. While using a student’s first language may seem most relevant for those new to English, it can also benefit more advanced EAL learners. These students can use their native language to articulate complex ideas in subjects like science or history, which helps them express their thinking more clearly. Supporting newly arrived EAL students: Strategic seating : Place newly arrived EAL students next to someone who speaks the same home language when possible. Pair them with a patient, kind English-speaking role model. Group dynamics : Vary groupings—using trios instead of pairs can help facilitate interaction and support. Give time to absorb : Allow newly arrived students plenty of time to listen and absorb the new language before expecting active participation. Examples of activities to support EAL students in the language classroom: Language teachers often use strategies that benefit EAL students and can be adapted for all students. These include: Games like circle games and Simon says : These activities allow students to participate with minimal speaking, focusing on listening and comprehension. Visual clues and scaffolding : Use writing frames, sentence starters, and word-level games to help students develop both content understanding and language skills. Role plays and speaking games : Activities like Quiz Quiz Trade  and role plays can be adapted to suit different levels and encourage participation. Storytelling : This is a powerful tool for all learners, providing context and helping reinforce vocabulary and sentence structure. Modelling and oral rehearsal: Modelling : EAL students need clear examples, especially if they are unfamiliar with an activity. Show them what to do before expecting them to complete a task independently. Oral rehearsal : If possible, give students the opportunity to orally rehearse sentences before writing. This allows them to practise language structure without the added pressure of writing. Visual aids and flexible task design: Use of pictures: Where writing is a barrier, allow students to use pictures to convey meaning. Support where necessary, but keep the level of challenge high. Task flexibility: Adjust the number of columns in activities or how many sections you divide sentences into. Increase or decrease options within a column, and mix up the order (e.g., First , Then , Finally ) to create more complexity and potential for growth. Low-stakes language games: Choral repetition : Encourage students to repeat phrases together to build confidence. Interactive games : Activities like Splat, Charades, Noughts and Crosses, Which Word Am I Thinking Of?, Bingo, Kim's Game (What’s Missing?), Pictionary, Hangman Other strategies: Gradually increasing the challenge As students’ confidence grows, they can transition from receptive skills  (such as listening and responding with numbers or actions to show comprehension) to productive skills , where they are required to actively use key vocabulary. Start with games that reinforce understanding through listening, and then progress to activities that encourage vocabulary production. Using low-stakes retrieval activities  is crucial early on to encourage participation without pressure. These activities remain valuable throughout the learning process, serving as effective lesson starters, reviews, and retrieval tasks to help embed new vocabulary into students' long-term memory. Storytelling to boost literacy Incorporating stories into language lessons  is a powerful tool for boosting literacy skills, especially for EAL and SEND students. Stories naturally reinforce grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation and create meaningful connections between English and students' home languages. When we discuss how grammar and punctuation differ or align between English and other languages, we enhance linguistic understanding across both languages. Many of the strategies outlined below are commonly used successfully in primary schools and could also be easily adapted for use in secondary schools. Simple steps to enhance the status of bilingual students If possible, include books in your classroom or school library in the various languages spoken by your students. Invite parents to share stories and songs  from their home languages and cultures whenever possible - culture day. This not only enriches the classroom experience but also fosters a strong connection between home and school life. Ensure that invitations  for these events are sent out in the home languages  of your students to ensure inclusivity and greater participation. Collaborate with staff members who speak additional languages  to record key school messages for the website or newsletters, ensuring important information is accessible to EAL families. Incorporate cultural learning When welcoming a new EAL student, take the time to discuss their country, culture, and language background  with the class. Use a world map to help students visually identify the country of origin and initiate conversations about what they may already know about that part of the world. Encourage students to share if they have friends or family  from similar backgrounds, promoting a sense of shared experience and belonging. Leverage the school community's linguistic skills Investigate the language skills  within the school community—whether students, staff, or volunteers (I have done this a few times when Slovakian students joined the school, and their parents were not proficient in English; I was often asked to act as an interpreter.). Someone might speak the same language as the new pupil and could help with their adjustment. If possible, arrange for same-language speakers to work together, whether in peer activities or through parent or community involvement. Integrate home languages in daily routines To help EAL students feel more comfortable, greet them by saying the register in their home language , and learn simple phrases like "play" or "toilet" in their language. This small gesture can help build rapport and ease the transition into an English-speaking classroom. Support literacy with dual-language resources Provide dual-language books  for EAL students to take home, encouraging shared reading with their families. This not only supports literacy development but also reinforces the connection between home and school learning. Reflective Questions: What languages other than English do your students speak? What languages, aside from English, are written by the students in your class? Have any of your students lived in another country? Do any of your students attend supplementary school? Are you aware of your students’ religious beliefs? How might these impact the activities they can participate in? For more reading, I would strongly recommend the work of Joanna Kolota on X https://x.com/JKolota and her book Empowering EAL Learners in Secondary Schools