What ever term you use – knowledge organiser, sentence builder, parallel text or graphic organiser, ultimately it is a set of key vocabulary, structures or concepts which students need to know and be able to recall from their long-term memory (LM) to their working memory (WM) in order to achieve mastery in a topic, skill or a unit, facilitating the retrieval and application of this relevant knowledge. A single sheet of A4 paper with all of the essential vocabulary, sentence structures or Grammar concepts that together represent the schema of the topic or a skill. However, they are not entirely same, the main difference between them is how this knowledge is presented and organised. What are their benefits: Provide clarity for all parties – when designing a KO, SB, PT or GO teachers need to choose and plan very carefully the content that is the most valuable for students to remember and students need to understand exactly what is expected of them and have a clear target to work towards. Knowledge organiser should be seen as a planning, assessment and quizzing tool. Can aid spaced retrieval practice – regular retrieval practice is one of the most effective learning strategies which aids long-term retention. Learners can consistently be tested against their KO, SB or PT to improve the retrieval of knowledge stored in the LM thus continuously retrieving prior learning, identifying gaps in learning and closing these gaps as well as producing better organisation of the knowledge. See my post on Retrieval Practice. Can increase retention of facts – the core purpose of KO, SB, PT or GO is to reduce the stress placed upon cognitive load in the WM. By thoughtfully planning, presenting and through correct application of the key information, students will have more space in their working memory to learn the intended content and not become overwhelmed. Useful tool for inclusion – it gives all pupils access to the core knowledge they need, to be successful regardless of their socio-economic background, attendance or previous educations. They can be also scaffolded further if needed. However, KO/SB will never replace the expert in the classroom – the teacher! How to implement them successfully: they should follow schemes of work, mapping out the core knowledge – vocabulary, structures and Grammar concepts allowing connections to previous units or sub-topics to be considered. This could be presented using chunks, tables, diagrams (for Grammar structures) or themes. All content of a KO/SB should be covered in lessons.                            Powerful knowledge is specialised rather then general knowledge and is differentiated from the experience of students. (Young 2013) they should be presented in easy to read and accessible form for all students – try to avoid fancy difficult to read fonts, colour writing on colour background etc. For more information please see my post on ‘Dual coding’ here. It is also important to consider how information can be depicted to show links between concepts and structures in order to build complex schemas, help to develop recall and further understanding. it is essential to consider which foundational core knowledge/concepts learners will need to acquire before they work on others, this will then allow for thoroughly sequenced lessons and schemas. It can be difficult to know what to leave out. explicit modelling will be needed for students to understand how to use a SB, PT or KO, for example showing them how to self-quiz. Recently, there has been a lot of talk about graphic organisers (word-diagrams) on Edutwitter with Oliver Caviglioli’s and David Goodwin’s new book – Organise Ideas – Graphic organisers for meaningful learning being published soon by John Catt Publications. If you are interested in how they are different and how they can be used to enhance learning, please see David’s blog here. I have used them with my GCSE classes to explain and teach Grammar concepts. Students have positively commented on the clarity of the information as well as easiness to follow the concepts when displayed in this way. Another form of graphic organiser is ‘The Frayer model’. Clare Seccombe (Light Bulb Languages) has just recently written a post about it where she explains how she uses it to teach accents in Spanish. See her post for more information and examples here. Example of a graphic organiser (GO) Example of a sentence builder (SB) Example of Parallel text by Richard Bellworthy Example of Grammar KO by Amelia Ainsworth on Facebook Frayer Model GO adapted from @i_teach_things Are they flawed? When used correctly and designed carefully, they are extremely useful. However, as they started to appear everywhere and became the newest ‘trend’ in education a few years ago, many schools and school leaders started to demand that every subject creates them and uses them for every topic or for every term. With many teachers not understanding the rationale behind them, many have used and implemented them incorrectly. In some instances the KO is simply just glued into exercise book serving little purpose thus being a mere waste of time and paper, but this certainly doesn’t mean that the idea behind them is useless (learningspy.co.uk). Like with every strategy there needs to be a ‘buy in’ by all stakeholders, if it is to be successfully implemented. In Languages, I have seen some KOs which are just slightly re-designed ‘fancy’ vocabulary lists with not a lot of thought in them. Lists can be useful and we use them in our lives a lot, however having the knowledge organised in meaningful context/chunks aids students’ memory better because it allows them to build schemas which link and support retention in their LM memory. There are also many good examples based on thoughtful approaches and research in terms of methodology (Sentence builders, Parallel text etc). If we want KOs/SBs to be a valuable tool that supports students’ learning in terms of retrieval and learning, we need to nurture the culture of self-quizzing. Therefore, our SBs are all uploaded to Quizlet, so students can use the sentence builders for self-quizzing HWK. They can also practise them via self-quizzing at the back of their exercise book. Here is a useful video demonstrating self-quizzing of parallel text by Mtree MFL. I personally think that the biggest flaw when designing a KO/SB or PT is that they become too ‘crammed’ and therefore not particularly useful and in some instances will cause cognitive overload. They are a tool, so if they work for you then use them, if they don’t, then don’t feel pressurised to do so. If using SBs/KOs created by others, I strongly recommend that you think about how you will use them or adapt them to suit your learners like you would with any resource created and shared by another colleague. My free Grammar Graphic Organisers are available for download here. Look forward to you comments, views, reflections or critique. References: https://www.teachwire.net/news/how-to-create-the-perfect-knowledge-organiser https://learningspy.co.uk/psychology/are-knowledge-organisers-flawed/ Young M (2013) Overcoming the crisis in Curriculum theory: A knowledge-based approach. Journal of Curriculum Studies 45 (2): 101-118 Ryan Hickman: Ercall Wood Journal, Knowledge Organisers #KnowledgeOrganisers #Paralleltexts #SentenceBuilders

For the past two years, my colleagues and I have been applying the E.P.I. Methodology designed by Dr. Gianfranco Conti which provides a detailed lesson progression sequence. As a modelling tool for presenting of the new target language chunks, we have been using sentence builders followed by a variety of tasks supporting learning and long-term retention of L2. I have already written more detailed posts on the M.A.R. phases of the sequence: MODELLING – core chunks are presented and modelled in context through listening and reading aloud using 98% comprehensible input. Students are gaining familiarity with the new language. AWARENESS RAISING – sensitises the students to the patterns/rules governing the target chunks formation and use. Grammar is recognised, but not taught explicitly. To read more about these two phase, please click here. RECEPTIVE PROCESSING – practising of the core phrases until students are absolutely receptively confident before moving on to producing them. The more exposure students have to the chunks, the more likely they are to retain the language. Intensive recycling through flooded input, controlled input, thorough processing. To read more about this phase, please click here. Structured production stage is the S in the Conti MARS EARS lesson sequence. It follows the Modelling / Awareness raising and Receptive Processing phase of the sequence. During this phase, my students carry out a lot of highly structured and controlled output tasks which recycle every chunk from the sentence builder as well as older chunks learnt and acquired from previous lessons or units. STRUCTURED PRODUCTION – application of intensively scaffolded and highly controlled production practice (Pushed Output). More ‘thinking’ and cognitive load is introduced, making students think back to what they have learnt so they can start to use it, but still with support of the sentence builder. Pop-up Grammar is included. EXPANSION – structures are learnt in greater depth and practised with old and new vocabulary. Explicit work on grammar and generative processing is introduced – students start to expand to language patterns. Less use of sentence builders, students are encouraged to really think! Interleaving is powerful here as we learn best through associative learning, by hooking the new to the old, by activating the prior knowledge. The core structures are practised with old and new vocabulary overtime through systematic recycling – some students might still need scaffolding. After plenty of semi-implicit practice, through deductive teaching or inductive learning, students learn the rules governing the target items in greater depth (i.e. verb paradigms etc.) This is the stage when I work on weaning my students off the sentence builder! As G.Conti amplifies, this is extremely important phase which mustn’t be neglected if we want to attain fluency and spontaneity. Activities that we use during this stage are: Mini WB activities (now include translations into German) Initial letters – rebuild the sentences in TL Dictations (running, delayed, mad) Mosaic translation Disappearing text translations Translation pyramid into TL Sentence chaos slides 1 pen 1 dice (more difficult translations L1 to L2) More challenging narrow reading / listening or comprehension tasks Missing letter, gap fills, short translations, word recall, short writing – modelled – guided to independent practice No snakes no ladders Oral Ping Pong translations Battleships Dictogloss Find someone who… Guess who/where Noughts and crosses For more ideas and activities, the Breaking the Sound Barrier book by Conti and Smith is a great resource and explains the rationale of this approach in great detail. You can also click on my resource page and you will be able to view some of these activities and download free templates which you can adapt to any language you teach. References: https://gianfrancoconti.com/ #expansion #ReceptiveProcessing #structuredproduction #Awarenessraising #Modelling #EPI

There is an increasing number of language teachers; me being one of them; using Sentence Builders (previously referred to as substitution tables – often used in English Language Acquisition), in their teaching practice. *H.E. Palmer defines a substitution table as “a process by which any model sentence may be multiplied indefinitely by substituting for any of its words or word-groups, including others of the same grammatical family and within certain semantic limits”. After reading quite extensively about them and about how to use them effectively to maximise my students’ learning, I have started to use SB in my teaching practice about 2 years ago. Even though they are not something brand new, their application has been revolutionised by Dr. Gianfranco Conti and his E.P.I, L.A.M and R.A.M approach to language teaching – a broad functional approach based on the recognition that students need to develop their ability to communicate in TL and not just possess a passive knowledge of vocabulary, structure and grammatical rules. They are a fantastic way of teaching vocabulary in context, for structuring and organising essential knowledge to be learnt in an accessible way, for modelling how to construct sentences, for interleaving and recycling of old material as well as for ‘seed planting’ of linguistic items that you are planning to teach in future. For more detail see Gianfranco Conti’s post on his Language Gym website here. If  you are just starting to use them, there are some important aspects to consider, when creating a Sentence Builder (SB). Picture 1 When creating a Sentence Builder, from personal experience, it is important to plan and chose structures that are high frequency structures designed for communicative purpose. Structures, which students can learn and are cognitively accessible – considering appropriate fonts, avoiding too many background colours as well as distractive pictures which could cause cognitive overload and split attention – this can be sometimes difficult as we like creating visually attractive resources. However, I have discovered that quite a few of my students get distracted by ‘pretty’ pictures and focus on them more than the essential knowledge, I want them to embed in their memory, therefore, my most recent SBs are streamlined and without a ‘fuss’ (Picture 1). This approach has been also applied in the Language Gym Sentence Builders resource books. (I am currently working on the German Sentence Builders Primary book adaptation.) Please, note that, when I am referring to pictures, this is not a reference to dual coding which as a strategy can be used to support memory and learning and reduced cognitive load, i.e. instances when we can substitute word with a picture, but I am referring to resources where pictures are used purely for decorative purposes and cause distraction. Sentence Builder is the spring board, which also provides the necessary scaffolding that students need for their learning and as per comprehensible input (Krashen’s theory of language acquisition – language input that can be understood by listeners despite of them not understanding every single word and structures in it as long as it contains 98% CI), when teaching my students, I provide also the L1 translation in my SBs. As we work through the SB, L1 translation gets removed and students work with the SB without this scaffolding (Picture 3). Picture 2 How do I use Sentence Builders? At the start of a unit, students are given their SB. The first step that students take is to annotate it to help them with the pronunciation of certain sounds and ultimately with the spelling of them (picture 2). In German, my students mostly struggle with the pronunciation/spelling of the -ie/-ei sound (pronouncing/spelling them wrong way round) and remembering to pronounce the -e sound at the end of the word. On my board, there is a constant visual reference to them as well. Picture 3 Once they have annotated their SB, we use it for Listening as Modelling (LAM), an instructional technique described in detail in the ‘Breaking the sound barrier’ book (Conti & Smith). The activities we use just with the SB are: I say/we say/you say – lots of modelling of pronunciation – quiet/loud/whisper/silly voices etc. I start the word – students finish it. I start the sentence – students finish it. Break the flow Reading aloud – first just chunks, I point to, later on students reading sentences they make themselves. I read sentences in L1, students highlight on their SB in L2 (Picture 3). MWB – translations L1 ⇆ L2 (words, chunks, sentences) Delayed Dictation Delayed Copying Listening pyramids Narrow Listening – gap fills Examples of activities we use, created by Charlotte, our Associate teacher – yr7 I would spend 1-2 lessons working just with the sentence builder, on the modelling/awareness raising stage of the MARS EARS sequence. Other activities for MARS would then follow in consecutive lessons. The entire sequence MARS EARS would take cca. 6-7 60 mins lessons. So far, from personal experience, Sentence Builders like Knowledge Organisers or vocabulary lists, can be used effectively or ineffectively. This depends on the classroom teacher, how he or she applies them and understands the rationale behind them, they can be just a beautifully created sheet stuck in student’s exercise book or a tool which supports student’s learning and makes it more engaging and accessible. Please, share in the comment section your ideas and thoughts on how you use SBs in your own practice. * source – en.wikipidia.org #comprehensibleinput #scaffolding #SentenceBuilders

The Picture-based task is the second part of the current GCSE speaking exam for both exam boards Edexcel and AQA. In the case of the Edexcel exam board, which we use at my Academy, in terms of quantitative value, the task is worth 24 marks. For the foundation tier, it is recommended that it should last 2 1/2 – 3 mins, for the higher tier, 3 – 3 1/2 mins. The task contains a picture and set of questions drawn from one topic and is allocated by the exam board. Regardless of which exam board you are using, the strategies that I have been utilising successfully in my own classroom and which I will be sharing in this post can be easily applied/adapted to any context. As opposed to the Role Play task, which is very short and doesn’t need extended answers, the Picture-based task is a task that requires students to extend their answers and respond spontaneously. They need to be able to describe the picture in front of them, use the prompts provided to prepare for ‘what is coming’ and consequently respond to set of follow up questions posed by the teacher – examiner. In these questions students will need to be able to use opinions and justifications on the topic related to the picture, use past and future tense and for the students sitting the higher tier exam to respond to an unknown question. I strongly believe, that the speaking (as well as the writing) section of the GCSE exam gives students the opportunity to be in control. It is the part where with our expert teaching, guidance, support, careful coaching and extensive practice, they can truly ‘smash’ it! It is our obligation to prepare our learners the best we can so they can achieve their potential and experience success. The strategies that I use, ensure that all of my students are participating and progressing and where necessary they are getting the support they need because many of them find the speaking element quite tricky. The main objective for the steps listed below is to reduce the cognitive load and to allow students to practise each individual bullet point (grammatical structure) extensively before moving onto the next one thus not overloading students’ WM. Steps: Lesson starts with a retrieval task – ‘Cops and Robbers’ (template available on my resource page under RP) where students compile vocabulary, structures, ideas related to the picture task – firstly individually and then check with partners for more ideas. They feed back to the class. Students have their own copies of the student version of the PT and I also display it on the board. We start with the description only, first! In English, we brainstorm sentences that we could use in TL, generating simple sentences to start with. We use the PALM acronym to help with ideas/structure. Working as a whole class, I ask for volunteers to give one sentence each (in TL) to describe the picture i.e., student 1 says: ‘On the picture there is…, student 2 adds ‘The people/boys etc. are playing/chatting…, student 3 contributes with: ‘They are at home in the living room… until we have about 5-6 pieces of information describing the picture. Students have to listen to each other so they don’t repeat the same sentences and to ensure that what they adding are makes sense. We practise this as a class (later on with cold calling) a few times also adding connectives. After the practice as a whole class, I pair students up (I do this myself to ensure students are paired by the tier and suitability). In pairs students practise together taking turns, each saying/adding a sentence. This ensures all students are speaking/participating and have their partner there to support them if they need it. I circulate the classroom, listen to their responses and provide feedback. We call it ‘ping-pong speaking’. In this way, we practise 3-4 different cards rehearsing the first bullet point only, until students are confident with it. I ask 3-4 pairs then ‘ping-pong’ speak for the class. I don’t expect perfection, I just want all of my students to feel confident to give me a response. We aim for the best we can do. After the rehearsal of the first point we move to the second one and proceed in the same way. We aim to practise 2-3 points per lesson depending on the class. I certainly don’t expect ‘perfection’ but work on getting everybody to feel confident and able to respond and to get the best possible outcome for each individual student, providing scaffolding initially – I do/we do/you do in pairs/you do individually. For the lower prior attaining students, it is my belief, that providing high frequency verbs, structures, vocabulary that could be easily used across topics, is the key to build their self-efficacy and to achieve success. Please, share in comments any other ideas/strategies you use with your own students which have proven successful and high impact. #GCSE #Picturebasedtasks #speakingskills

With recent publications of various edu-books, mini whiteboards seem to be experiencing some kind of ‘re-birth’ in the world of education, with many subjects only just discovering their effectiveness. In my own classroom, I have been using them for several years… Using mini whiteboards (MWB) is an excellent way of checking for students’ understanding and addressing gaps in their knowledge as well as misconceptions quickly and effectively. They are a powerful tool which supports formative assessment, and they are referred to by Tom Sherrington as ‘the number one bit of classroom kit.’ For many languages classroom and teachers, they are irreplaceable. From my personal experience even the most reluctant learners are willing to share their knowledge using them much more readily as they perceive them lower threat – any mistakes can be easily erased! However, using them effectively and efficiently does require a certain level of organisation and ‘training’. Sometimes teachers can be reluctant in using them especially with more ‘challenging’ classes as they are worried it can become chaotic and the behaviour of students can get ‘out of hand’. Creating routines is essential for their effective use and even my most tricky classes on Friday afternoon enjoy using them and I can promise you there is no chaos! Students need to be ‘trained’ how and when to use them! Be very explicit with your instructions! If you are a novice teacher or indeed an experienced one only starting to use them, there are some steps to consider before you go ahead… Planning – like planning your lesson, the use of MWBs needs to be planned. When do you want to use them and for what purpose – RP, CFU, dictation, translation, grammar practice…? Distribution – think about how you are going to manage the logistics of giving them out? I get them ready in the morning before my lessons start. They are in packs (baskets) on the side of the desk for an easy access and distribution. I also explain to students how I want them to be used and handled, i.e only when I ask them to, they are not to be touched or used before (no fiddling with pens or doodling). After the use students need to make sure the lids are back on the pens and together with the sponges, they are put neatly back into their baskets out of the way. Response format – it might be obvious to us, but clarifying as to how students need to write their responses, i.e, using large writing, answering simultaneously when you ask them to, can save time and avoid endless questions, confusion, or competition as to who answers first. Students need to understand you are looking for precise/correct/best answers thus avoiding answers being rushed and inaccurate. Safe environment – creating safe environments where mistakes are welcome and encouraged is also important in terms of successful execution. A colleague of mine – a geographer also asks her students to write ‘G’ if her student is guessing the answer. Use – Being explicit when to use them and how to show their responses is also a ‘must’. Students are often keen to share their knowledge and if not instructed specifically to show their boards on command, i.e. ‘Show me, 3, 2, 1, now’, the session can erupt in chaos and as mentioned above in some kind of a competition. Example of Research Lead’s One pager – EWA What do I use mini whiteboards for? Retrieval practice – for testing of vocabulary or chunks of language in this way, the teacher can see instantly what students know and what they struggle with. Dictation – as this will be a new part of the GCSE course, MWBs can be used easily to check students’ knowledge of SSCs and provide instant feedback in terms of whether more work is needed on phonics etc. Minimal pairs – I use these often to re-enforce correct pronunciation. I display on my main board set of words, similar in their spelling/pronunciation, read one out and students need to write which option is correct – 1 or 2 Translation – I simply say a sentence/chunk/word in L1 and students translate into L2 and vice versa. If students don’t know a specific word, they can replace it with a synonym or leave a gap to be then reviewed and the gaps in knowledge to be addressed when checking answers. Grammar checks – could be used for recognition of tenses, WO, conjugation, adjectival agreements etc… Mini writing – I use this mostly with my KS3 classes as a consolidation task – I ask my students to write as much as they can in 5 minutes about themselves/their family/pets/hobbies/school etc. Brainstorming/mind maps – another way of using MWBs is for planning or brainstorming vocab/ideas/grammar points prior to completing an independent piece of writing. This could be done individually (think-pair-share) or in pairs. In conclusion, I personally would recommend them. They are an integral part of my teacher toolkit and a way to involve even my most reluctant learners. However, to use them successfully, make sure students know your expectations and you have a firm routine in place. Finally, most importantly, enjoy using them! If you find my ideas and resources useful, you can show your appreciation by buying me a☕. Link here. #miniwhiteboards

In this post, I would like to concentrate on the one element of our job which most of the colleagues (myself including) that I have spoken to over the years as a teacher and as a leader, enjoy the least: marking! We all appreciate that marking and feedback are pivotal to our role as teachers, and they are also essential for our students in terms of moving their learning forward but that doesn’t mean that everything needs to be or should be marked! Unfortunately, there are still schools, leaders, and teachers out there who desire to mark every piece of work and record written feedback into students’ books for the sake of the ‘marking policy’! Consequently, the workload is becoming unmanageable forcing more and more teachers to give up teaching because this way of working is unsustainable and their work/life balance as well as wellbeing are becoming seriously compromised! On the other hand, there is also a rising number of Trusts, schools and leaders that are moving away from the ‘traditional marking’ in favour of a more efficient and effective feedback method such as ‘live marking’. What is live marking and why are practitioners adopting it as a more effective method? Foremost, live marking is a method which provides effective feedback on student work while they are still in the process of completing it, the idea being, is to give students instant feedback on their work. Therefore, in my practice, whilst students are working, I circulate the classroom looking at their work and pointing out the good elements in their work and address mistakes or misconceptions during their working process. If I spot that quite a few of my students are making the same type of a mistake or struggle with the same type of a concept, I stop the process and re-address or re-teach the concept (responsive teaching). I often use it also when students have completed an independent piece of writing. In this case, I would collect 6-7 pieces of writing, put them under my visualiser and mark them ‘live’, while the rest of the class follows and marks their own work alongside. Even though students’ pieces of writing differ, from experience, they make the same types of mistakes, i.e., in German, not writing nouns with capital letters, mis-spelling certain sounds (ei/ie), making mistakes with the WO, making mistakes with the construction of their tenses – missing out the past participle, auxiliary verb, the infinitive or using the wrong verb/adjectival ending etc. *Examples of live marking The pros of live marking are: it is timely: in other words, it is within the timeframe that is meaningful to students’ learning. it is specific: in other words, specific to the key LOs that the students are aiming to secure during the learning episode or in the period of learning. it is action-based: to move students’ learning forward they complete a specific (targeted) step or a task. it addressed common misconceptions or high frequency errors, thus reducing their likelihood of making that mistake in the first place. Live marking is aligned with the EEFs 2021 guidance report’s feedback principles, provides instant gratification (students feel motivated) and is a win in terms of workload (no longer taking stacks of books home and spending the evenings and weekends marking). However, there is also caveat to bear in mind. Nothing is perfect! Live marking can be time-consuming. Getting around the whole class within the limits of the lesson can be challenging, even impossible. Therefore, in my own classroom, when planning my lessons, I decide beforehand how many books or which students’ books I want to sample during that specific learning episode, and I use it alongside other feedback strategies, such as MWBs, C4U, cold call, RP, questioning etc. In my 18 years of teaching, this method has proven more impactful than any other that I have tried previously, including the infamous ‘triple marking’! In conclusion, I believe when trying any new approach or method, it is important to ensure it is fit for purpose for our individual and unique contexts, finding out what works and doesn’t work for us and our own classrooms is essential as there is no one size fits all! It is very much trial and error to find the best ‘fit’! *template for independent writing by @teacheryDiaz #feedback #immediatefeedback #livemarking #resposiveteaching

One of the most effective teaching strategy for languages classroom are worked examples. As a type of instructional method, they provide students with a clear and structured way to learn new language structures i.e., grammatical concepts, fulfil tasks and they can support them in the development of all 4 language skills (receptive and productive). Worked examples are essentially step-by-step model demonstrated by the teacher guiding the students through the process whilst explaining each step as well as the reasoning behind it in order to solve a problem or complete a task. What are the benefits of worked examples? Here are mine … Improved comprehension: Worked examples provide my students with a clear and structured approach in terms of understanding new and complex structures, in terms of completing certain tasks and development of their language skills, making it easier for them to comprehend the process. Reduced cognitive load: By breaking it down (chunking it) into smaller steps, my students are able to focus on each step individually without being overwhelmed.  For us, the teachers, this is important; being aware of the limitations of the WM as well as taking into account that some of our learners might need more time to embed the new knowledge into their LTM (SEND/lower prior attainers). Increased problem-solving ability: They provide my students with a model that they can apply to similar scenarios and contexts in the future, thus fostering/supporting their metacognitive strategies. Increased confidence: Seeing how concepts/tasks are tackled step-by-step helps my students to feel more confident in their own ability to approach and complete similar tasks, hence nurturing their self-efficacy along the way as well. There are different ways how I model worked examples to my learners depending on the concept/skill or the type of the class that I teach. However, one of the most useful investment for my classroom has been my visualiser and I cannot recommend it strongly enough! Examples of step-by-step model (writing) Here are some examples of how I use worked examples in my own classroom: Grammar: I often use worked examples to teach grammar rules and concepts, such as verb conjugation, sentence structures or word order, which can be tricky in German. For example, I provide my students with a worked example of a sentence using the present, past or future tense of a verb, and then ask students to apply this rule to create their own sentences. Speaking and vocabulary: Worked examples can also be used to teach speaking skills and new vocabulary. For example, I show students a worked example of a conversation in German (also providing scaffolds where needed), highlighting key vocabulary words, chunks, and their meanings. My students then practice using these chunks/words in their own conversations. Where scaffolds are used these will be removed gradually as students become more confident and independent. Writing: Worked examples can be particularly useful for teaching writing skills. For example, I prepare a worked example of a well-written piece of writing (WAGOLL), highlighting the key elements such as the variety of languages, vocabulary, structures – we analyse it together. I often show my students 2 or 3 examples and they have to rank them from the most developed response to the simplest one. After we have worked extensively with the examples, students then practice their own pieces of writing independently using this model. Reading/Listening: In the context of reading or listening skills, using a worked example shows my learners how to approach a reading comprehension question i.e., by identifying the main idea, looking for supporting evidence (I get my students to highlight/underline where they have found the answer), and summarising key points. By seeing this process modelled, my learners can better understand how to approach similar questions on their own and in listening tasks, they can improve their ability to listen for and understand important information in spoken target language. Worked examples of the 80-90 word writing task To use worked examples effectively in the classroom, I … start with simple examples and gradually increase the difficulty. provide plenty of opportunities for my students to practice tackling similar concepts/tasks on their own. encourage my students to ask lots of questions and provide feedback during the guided practice/modelling process. use a variety of examples to show how the same concepts/ideas/structures can be applied in different contexts. In conclusion, worked examples are a valuable teaching tool in modern language classrooms. By providing our students with clear examples and opportunities to practice using these concepts/structures and language on their own, we can help our students develop strong foundations in the target language. #livemodelling #memory #metacognition #workedexamples

I have been asked by a few colleagues to write about my views on the National Professional Qualification (NPQ) Lead Teacher Development, so here are my thoughts: NPQLTD is a program aimed at enhancing the skills and expertise of teachers in leadership positions within the education sector. This scheme provides a structured framework for teachers to develop their leadership capabilities and effectively lead teams and improve educational outcomes. It also offers a comprehensive curriculum that covers various aspects of leadership, including strategic planning, instructional leadership, team building, and professional development. As a participant, you will have opportunities to engage in a combination of theoretical learning, practical application, and reflective practice to deepen their understanding and hone their leadership skills. Through the program, you will acquire the knowledge and competencies needed to drive positive change within your own school or Trust. You will gain insights into effective leadership strategies, learn how to foster a culture of continuous improvement, and develop the ability to effectively collaborate with your colleagues and other stakeholders. Upon the completion of this qualification, you should become equipped to take on higher leadership roles, such as middle leadership or headship positions and it will enhance your own professional growth as well. Overall, NPQ Lead Teacher Development plays an important role in raising the quality of education by empowering teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and confidence to lead effectively and drive positive change in their schools and educational communities. You will be studying and covering the following… Module contents: *Learning Module 1 Design and Implementation The first module introduces you to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) implementation guide for schools and drills down into the stages of ‘Explore’ and ‘Prepare’, while also considering the necessary foundations of treating implementation as a process and providing a supportive environment. You will: Audit your own knowledge and skills against the Early Career Framework (ECF) and use the same audit to monitor your progress and development through the programme. Further consider, with your in-school coach, the most appropriate data sets and analysis tools that you can draw on to inform your decision on which professional development priority to focus on Draw on research evidence about what makes for effective professional development, to inform your plans and actions. Be supported to decide on and engage with an applied learning experience in the form of implementation of an appropriate professional development programme, and Be supported from the start, in building an evaluation of the impact of your interventions on teacher effectiveness. Learning Module 2 Delivery and Implementation The second module uses the EEF guide stage 5 ‘Deliver’ to build on Module 1’s exploration and preparation to support you in implementing the delivery of your plans. You will: Consider how to deliver a range of development approaches suitable for all, with appropriate adjustments, drawing on internal and external expertise, as well as re-purposing well-structured frameworks and resources. Be supported to choose activities that suit the aims and context of your professional development programme. Consider strategies to enable staff to apply their learning to their own subject and phase contexts. Learn the importance of prioritising the ‘active ingredients’ of the approach until they are securely understood and implemented, and only then, if needed, introduce adaptations, and Learn the importance of developing strategies to manage expectations and encourage ‘buy-in’ until positive signs of change emerge. Learning Module 3 Evaluation and Implementation The third module draws on stage 6 of the EEF model for implementation ‘Sustain’, focusing on the sustainability of your delivery and its impact through a supportive culture and distributed leadership. You will: Learn the importance of monitoring implementation and using this information to tailor and improve the approach over time, e.g., identifying a weak area of understanding and providing further training. Learn the importance of reinforcing initial training with expert follow-on support within the school if impact is to be sustained. Learn to monitor and evaluate teacher development and its impact effectively, and Consider how to assess the appropriateness of scaling up, and how to implement this as a new implementation process. Each module will contain: Self-auditing Online self-directed learning Face-to-face sessions Online synchronous and multimedia activities Coaching sessions Applied learning experiences Engagement in online discussion forums, and A formative self- and programme assessment opportunity. LLSE program schedule To complete the course successfully and be awarded the qualification you will need to meet the following criteria: Participation in at least 90% of the course, and Pass the summative case study assessment. To demonstrate you have participated in at least 90% of the course, your engagement with the online activities will be monitored. A register will be taken for each of the face-to-face workshops and webinars. If your engagement with the course is at risk of falling below the 90% threshold you will be contacted to find out what additional support, you may need to ensure completion. I, personally, have enjoyed completing this qualification and believe it has given me the knowledge and the tools in terms of how to prepare for the whole school improvement approach; how to plan, implement and sustain changes and initiatives across the department(s) and school. * Source: https://llse.org.uk/ #CPD #leadership #NPQLTD #PD

I decided to write this blog post because too often, when I chat to my fellow colleagues either at conferences, subject meetings, or various social media platform, I am asked the same question: ‘How do you stretch your high-attainers?’ In general, we can identify our high attaining students in our classrooms quite easily. Although some of them might be more modest about their abilities, they tend to display the following characteristics… They are the students who exhibit strong qualities such as attentiveness, excellent concentration, precise imitation, rapid recognition of patterns, and the ability to hold complex or longer sentences in their memory, which they then can articulate quite fluently. These students also have easier time articulating longer words and distinguishing between unfamiliar phonetic sounds (phonemes). They are always keen, enjoy learning languages and will often choose to continue learning languages even further at A – Level and beyond. They are more adept at observation, pattern recognition, and vocabulary acquisition. So how can we, the teachers, harness our knowledge of these top-performing learners in a way that will be advantageous for them? To address the question, my answer is always to start with your curriculum! Curriculum design: I, personally, don’t believe there is only one ‘correct’ approach to language teaching. The way we choose to teach depends on our specific context, our class, our students, our setting… In cases of the best teaching, I have observed myself, it is often a combination of methods, therefore whatever is the teaching ‘method’ of your choice, be it a textbook, TPS, EPI, parallel text, didactic approach, when mapping out your curriculum, ask yourselves this question: “Is our curriculum designed in a way that it caters for all of our learners, in other words, does it provide the necessary scaffolding for our lower attaining students and the desired stretch / challenge for our high attaining students?” With the focus on your high-attainers, have you asked yourselves these questions and factored in the following teaching techniques? Retrieval Practice: when completing retrieval practice, how do we challenge our most able students? For example: what about asking the students to change the tenses? Using different persons or register, justify or give a reason? Or when using translation as RP task, we could ask our high-performing students instead of translating the sentence: ‘ I saw lots of countries.’, this sentence: ‘Last year we visited many countries.’ – here we have increased the challenge as the student needs to use 1st person plural, invert the verb as well as remember the irregular past participle of ‘besuchen’. In the upcoming Language Show (Saturday, 11th November 13.30h), I will be talking about ‘Effective questioning in the Language classroom’ as I believe, the way we question our learners is important not only in terms of C4U but also stretching them. Questioning: when asking students questions, do we (in accordance with the notion of adaptive / responsive teaching) in lieu of using a random ‘cold calling’, plan and match our questions to our students? Do we use targeted questioning? For example: Instead of formulating your question like this: ‘Was möchtest du heute machen?’ considering asking it like this and target your high-attainer: ‘Wenn du Zeit hättest, was würdest du am liebsten heute machen?’ Oral and written tasks: have we planned for open-ended tasks, so our higher attaining students can be stretched? How do we formulate the task, so it is stretching them? What about creative writing? Have we provided them with ‘models of excellence’, so they know what they are aiming for? For example: what about wording your written task like this: Das Thema: Mein Traumurlaub ‘Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie planen Ihren Traumurlaub. Beschreiben Sie in einem Aufsatz, wohin Sie reisen möchten, warum Sie diesen Ort ausgewählt haben, welche Aktivitäten Sie planen, und wie Sie sich fühlen, wenn Sie endlich dort sind. Geben Sie auch an, mit wem Sie diesen Traumurlaub verbringen möchten und was Sie aus dieser Erfahrung mitnehmen werden.’ This could be also applied to an oral presentation. Extra listening and reading input: do we provide opportunities for these? Do we have the necessary resources? Here on my Wakelet are examples of extra listening / reading / video apps, students can use. They are for German, but many are multilingual, and the language can be changed to the language you teach. Projects and competitions: could these be planned for in our curriculum? Examples: film and book projects, cultural projects with history, geography, art, music, cooking, and baking; just to name a few. For competitions, join Association for Language Learning (ALL), they send a weekly newsletter which lists all different competitions that are running for variety of languages – all in one place, how to enter them, submission dates, rules etc. Link to join here:https://www.all-languages.org.uk/join/become-a-member/ Here are examples of some: Setting: are we able to set / group our classes based on their attainment or prior attainment? If so, how have we planned for this? What adaptations have we made in our curriculum design? Have we adapted our lessons / resources and how did we adapt them? Grammar: how have we planned for teaching Grammar? High-attainers often want to know how the language works; there is nothing wrong with teaching Grammar explicitly. They want to speak about other people not just themselves, so teaching them verb paradigm is important as are cases, genders, adjectival endings and other ‘sexy’ phrases and idioms. How do we do this and when? Independent work: are there opportunities for our high attaining students to work independently? There are many websites (many are free), where students can work independently, in class or take the language outside of the classroom and enjoy the learning and exposure to it at home. Examples of some websites: lyricstraining, e-library from Goethe Institut, seedlang, readlang, easy German, Netflix series… I, personally, believe in teaching to the top, all of my students and scaffolding up. I have high expectations for all and tend to push them, as I have come to observe, from my almost 20 years of teaching experience, that many – even my lower-attaining students, once they believe in themselves often exceed what is ‘expected’ of them. However, I wanted to write a post, solely focusing on high-attainers. So, here it is! Any ideas, experiences and comments are welcome. 😀 #Challenge #higherattainers #stretchit

I believe that homework is crucial for successful delivery of languages curriculum and should be treated as such. It is not an optional but an imperative extra to successful language acquisition. If it is used effectively it can support and aid learning of a new language, develop students’ language skills and cultural awareness. Meaningful and well-thought through homework also helps to reinforce what’s being taught in the classroom and gives students a good chance to practise what they have learnt at school as the time in the lesson is limited and often not enough for students to explore and practise. Students often question the purpose of homework, so making it clear why this homework is set (i.e. to improve fluency in the TL) or why in this way (i.e. to improve listening/writing/reading skills or Grammar knowledge) is also very important if we want our students to complete their homework to high standard. The discussion about how we learn and how to organise learning to aid retrieval; using spacing to avoid forgetting is in my opinion also very important to have with our learners. With subject such as foreign language which on average is timetabled maybe for two lessons a week at KS3 and 5 lessons per fortnight at KS4 in most of the U.K. comprehensive schools, it is also essential that students regularly re-visit new language and structures again at home as this will reinforce their knowledge. Because the research on homework is rather mixed, we should think  carefully about the types of tasks that we assign and what is their purpose and whether they have a positive impact on students’ learning and progress. There have been times in our teaching careers when many of us have been guilty of  setting  homework just for the sake of it, following the school’s or departmental homework policy with tasks ranging from word searches, designing posters to asking students to write paragraphs on specific topics that we have taught in the lesson only to find out that the work submitted to us didn’t really enhance students learning or that it has been completed by Google Translate and not by our students! Over the past few months during the ‘Lockdown’, I had the time to critically look at how we set homework in our department and update our homework policy and on reflection I have decided to change how we set homework! These are the changes we have decided to make. We set two types of homework: Learning Homework This type of homework supports learning of new vocabulary and structures based on our sentence builders. Students can complete this type of homework in two ways. 1. Students can either use Quizlet cards that I have created for them – they practise first choosing any games and activities they wish, once they feel they have learnt their key vocabulary they need to take a test. Acceptable % benchmark is set by the teacher (i.e. they need to get 80%), when this benchmark is reached students take a screen shot of their result and upload it to Show My Homework (SMHW) as evidence. This ensures that students complete their homework to a desirable standard and if they don’t the teacher will notice immediately, it also enables them to improve (i.e. having to practise more in order to achieve the acceptable standard), they will also instantly notice where their weaknesses are for example in spelling. Example of Quizlet cards Another tool you could use for homework is Carousel Learning, where you can set up your questions and classes and create quizzes to assigned to your students as homework. This platform is new to us and we are still exploring it. For a useful and easy to follow tutorial on how to set up your carousel learning classes, upload questions and assign quizzes watch a tutorial created by @basnettj here. 2. Students can use self quizzing at the back of their book with set of key structures given by the teacher – this also gives no excuses to students who can not access the technology for various reasons. Example of Self-quizzing Homework supporting language skills This type of homework is set to support listening, reading or speaking skills. Please, note that we have decided against writing tasks for homework as we have come to the conclusion that they were often not completed by students using their knowledge but using ‘google translate’, which then proved to be a complete waste of time not just for the students but also for the teacher and didn’t enhance students’ learning, progress or knowledge. We are now focussing on independent writing skills in the lessons during our production or extension phase when we can oversee that students are completing them without any support. The types of homework we set (click on the picture for a link to the resource): TeachVid – supports listening and reading (writing) skills. The resource below I made myself, but there are many ready made videos in different languages which can be used. You and your students will need to open a free account to access the activities. You can give students a link for the specific task you want them to complete i.e gap fill, break the flow etc. Once the task has been completed students will be given a score, so no marking for the teacher. I do not set a % benchmark for these tasks – this is more about exposing students to different resources and also to the cultural capital. They might find some of the tasks challenging, but what I tell my students is – the more they practise the more words/structures they will encode and it will get easier. The key here is exposure to as much language as possible in variety of contexts. LearningApps – you will need to open an account and can create your own activities or there are ready made activities that have been shared by other teachers and which you can use. Result is generated upon completion of the task. Teacher marking not required. Wordwall – you will need to create an account. Free account will allow you to create 5 resources, for more you will have to subscribe, but again there are many resources ready made and freely shared by other teachers. Many resources for German have been shared by Abi Bryan. Result is generated upon completion of the task. Teacher marking not required. Resources by Abi Bryan learngerman.dw.com – supports listening and reading skills as after watching the short video there are comprehension questions to answer. Levels from A1 to C1 covered with various topics to choose from. Result is generated after completing the comprehension task. Teacher marking not required. languagesonline.org.uk – good for Grammar testing, but specific for Logo, so you will have to choose activities carefully. Result is generated upon completion of the task. Teacher marking not required. Flipgrid / TEAMS or QWIQR – great to support speaking practice, especially now during ‘Covid times’. Teacher feedback can be recorded as well. Other websites that could be explored for homework : lyricsgaps.com seedlang.com textivate.com german-games.net easygerman on YouTube quizzes.com language-gym.com lingua.com liveworksheets.com lyricstraining.com Final thoughts… So how do we ensure that students do a ‘decent’ job when completing their homework? What are the consequences if the homework is not of the desirable standard? Well, these are the questions individual schools/departments will have to decide on and answer for themselves, but if homework is to make an impact on learning and students progress long term it is an important and valid point for discussion for the departmental meeting agenda. #textivate #Wordwall #TeachVid #languagegym #lyricsgaps #QWIQR #lifeworksheets #lyricstraining #Flipgrid #LearningApps #homework #Quizlet #quizzes #DeutscheWelleDW #TEAMS #carousellearning

In my research of effective Retrieval Practice, when reading Mark Enser’s book ‘Teach like nobody is watching’, I have come across a technique called Cornell Notes, which has been successfully used in HE for a long time. Enser mentions this method in the Recap section of his book, so I started to ponder whether it would work in Secondary Education and specifically in the Languages classroom to support retrieval practice as well as how I could apply this technique to my context so it can benefit and improve the learning of my students. What are Cornell Notes? The Cornell Notetaking method was developed by Dr. Walter Pauk of Cornell University. It is a system used widely for taking notes of material presented in a lecture or from reading. It is also used for reviewing and retaining of that material. Using this system can help learners to organise their notes, actively involve them in creation of knowledge and improve learners study skills. When using Cornell Notes style, student’s exercise books are set up in four distinct sections: A title and date section at the top A section for key questions or key words on the left A main section on the right for the note taking A summary section about 6 lines from the bottom comprising the three quarters as pictured in the illustration above You can get your students to either grab a ruler and draw their own lines (if you choose to do this, I would model it first) or you can make/download a template from the many templates available on the internet. Template adapted from a template found on the internet AS/A Level I can see great potential for using Cornell Notes when analysing texts, films and social concepts. I think this method would be extremely useful for students when organising their notes and  their knowledge on various topics; it is another way to build retrieval throughout the course or lesson. Additional bonus is that students can use the questions they put in the second section to revise at home as well. In MFL context, I have also seen them used for Grammar notes, which again would apply more to HE (AS/A Level). Here is a post, I came across when researching, demonstrating how the learner uses it  for learning and revising Grammar. Secondary school level However, I was more interested in using Cornell Notes with my GCSE classes or even look at the ways I could use them with my KS3 classes as a retrieval tool. I discussed the method with my colleague who is the Subject Leader for Geography at my school and we decided both to trial it and compare our findings. She has trialled it with her year 8 higher attaining class when summarising a topic of rainforest adaptations and reported that a large amount of time had to be spent on teaching students how to lay out their book (this would diminish over time as students will become more familiar with the method or you could use a template) and how to apply the method (she modelled it on her white board), but overall she was pleased with the result. She has also emphasised that in her opinion this method would probably work with higher attainer classes only, but she was keen to use it again. I decided to trial it with my year 11 class as a retrieval task prior to their writing assessment. I have asked my students to pick any topic they wanted except for the one we covered most recently. I have given them a pre-made template, I have adapted from internet (see above) in order to save time explaining students how to organise their exercise book. This task was completely ‘free call’, without using any KO, SB or notes! I have asked them on their template: in the second section (left side), to list some key vocabulary (variety of word groups) – you could even ask them to list key questions in the third section (right side), to write examples of sentences they could use for the topic, encouraging them to use complex sentence that would be suitable for the grade they were aiming for. finally, in the fourth section, to summarise any Grammar points they have to consider and review when proof checking their work. On the pictures are some examples of students’ work – mixed ability. The next step in the process would be feedback – checking for any mistakes made, this could be done by teacher circulating around the class, noting common errors/misconceptions and addressing them either individually or if the same mistakes are made across the group re-teaching if necessary. This feedback is crucial to support students in developing their metacognition. It is also important to build a ‘culture of errors’ as Doug Lemov mentions in his book ‘Teach like a Champion’, so students are comfortable when discussing their mistakes and learning from them. I believe this method is worth exploring and could be even used with KS3 when recalling the knowledge from a SB, parallel text or KO. Please share your views here, I would be very interested to hear what you think! #KS3 #revision #feedback #GCSE #RetrievalPractice #CornellNotes

Technology is now integrated in our everyday lives, that is a fact. With the recent experience of the Covid-19 pandemic it is inevitable that our teaching will become more technology-led as we move forward. I believe that anything that can enhance our teaching and students’ learning is worth exploring! However, what are the pros and contras of using technology in the classroom? Should teachers and students embrace it? As I respond to these questions, I will try to explore the evidence and arguments in this area to consider the strength and limitations of using educational technology. New technology can often appear exciting, however to ensure it has an impact on teaching and learning it should be clearly planned and implemented considering any initial training, time and resources needed. Unfortunately, not all school have the resources to equip all of their students with their own iPads, Chromebooks or laptops and not all teachers/students are fully confident about how to use OneNote, TEAMs or even SMHW effectively, therefore establishing that both parties have the skills needed to use it, is essential. I am of the opinion that when used constructively, EdTech can support educators in improving learning outcomes. It can improve the quality of explanation and modelling as well as engage and motivate our learners. However, the relationship between technology, motivation and achievement is complex and monitoring how it is used is important (EEF, Digital technology guidance report, 2018). EdTech can also support classroom practitioners in terms of assessment and feedback – increase the accuracy and the speed of collecting assessment data as well as reduce the workload. What it can’t do for us is, to decide what we – the teachers do with this information and how our learners act upon the feedback provided. It is still up to us to determine what the next step, action or intervention is. Being a M(F)L teacher, I have always found technology to be a great way to support my learners in their acquisition of the German language; whether it is to aid content delivery through audio-visual materials, to complement retrieval practice via interactive quizzes such as Quizlet or Carousel Learning or encouraging the use of online apps to support homework. However, after engaging with Paul Kirschner’s presentation on technology (Chartered College), encoding, task switching (how it affects learning and processing) and the fact that digital natives don’t exist, we have to ask a paramount question whether schools are willing to allow teachers the time and flexibility to teach the effective use of technology which requires direct and explicit instruction. Are we willing to invest the time and money in technology despite its shortcomings? Every year I spend considerable amount of time explicitly teaching my new year 7 classes how to use some of the websites and apps that we use for our learning HWK and every year there are students out there who even after this explicit modelling and 4-5 weeks into the Autumn term still struggle how to set up an account, how to take a screen shot and how to upload it to SMHW (this supports Kirschner’s view about ‘digital natives’). Not to mention that in the 21st century Britain, I still have students who don’t have the access to a Wi-Fi or a laptop as many families struggle financially! This was also highlighted by the recent experience of home learning during the Pandemic. What has also resonated with me is the research of the use of laptops in the class. I found it very interesting to know that when students are making notes or working on their writing tasks on a laptop the processing is missed and the fact that handwritten notes are more beneficial in terms of processing (Kirschner’s slides provide a clear insight into ‘processing = learning’). It is worth mentioning that in my own classroom, I have observed many of my students making more spelling mistakes on a computer when typing than when writing by hand. We also have to take into account the other distractions that the internet and messaging pose. So is technology the future? I think technology definitely has a place in education. There are many tools and websites that we can use effectively. I, personally think that retrieval, especially revisiting content, low-stakes quizzing is well delivered very effectively via technology and also provides an immediate feedback. My most favourite and useful go to websites that I use or have used are: Wheel of Names, Flippity, Quizlet, LearningApps, Wordwall, Quizizz, Carousel learning, Whiteboards.fi, Language Gym, MicrosoftTeams. Other websites to try are: textivate, SentenceBuilders, Genial.ly, Blooket, Deck.Toys, Mentimeter, Screencastify, Flipgrid… The global pandemic and the shift to remote teaching and learning made clear the huge gap between students learning experiences. Those learners with accessibility at home, mostly managed a fairly smooth transition, yet many colleagues also reported having to drive around to students’ homes and drop off packs of photocopied worksheets, books or lend out school laptops so their students could access and complete their home learning. The piece of caveat is to remember that technology will not replace the traditional teaching methods. We need to be aware that the brain is most effective at learning when it is provided a balanced cognitive load. The most important thing to remember is that technology does not replace quality first teaching. #technology