Wie hilfst du im Haushalt with Learning Zone Broadband Class Clips

As a keen member of the MFL Resources group, which is a "must join" for all MFL teachers, I regularly find several extremely useful tips and resources to use with my classes. The other day whilst checking some of the back posts, I came across a message from Helen Meyers who is Assistant Head at the Ashcomb School in Surrey, linking to the BBC Learning Zone's Broadband Class Clips. They're available for Primary and Secondary levels and for most subject areas. I was really pleased to find something a bit different that I could use in the classroom. What I particularly like is that next to the video, you get a brief synopsis of the clip (most of which last 3-5 mins) plus key language so that you know which class would be most suited for their use. I also like the ideas given for use (always helpful when lacking motivation!) .

Wanting to try it out straight away I thought about classes and topics that I was doing and came across this clip about household tasks.

It was ideal to introduce the topic of jobs around the home to my top set, without doing a Powerpoint or using some of my great drawings etc...

I showed the clip (pointing out how naff it was with the hair and the dancing and music etc, etc....) and class had to note down the new vocabulary that appears on the screen, adding the English. I also warned them about the song and asked them to just note down the family members and pets (just for an extra bit of listening, really)

It has to be said that they really liked it...specially the dancing for some reason! It was great for them to able to hear real German spoken whilst also getting the new words at a slower pace.

I will definitely be using these Broadband Class Clips again.

If you're not a member of MFL Resources why not join now - it's free!!

Click to join mflresources

Stockton Music Festival

Well, this blog's title mentions "singer and other stuff besides" so here is a bit about those aspects of my life.
Every year on the third weekend in November I decided to (willingly) put myself through the torture of taking part in my one singing competition of the year. I used to enter 2 others but one is in Ryton in February (A1 Western Bypass at 6pm on my birthday...no thankyou) and the other seems to a fizzled out so I'm left with this one.
Each year I happily fill out my entry form in September and then have major traumas actually posting the form through the letter box of the lady who is the vocal secretary AND sorting out copies of the music for the accompanists. I then get to November and remember why I probably put so many obstacles in the way of entering myself...TERROR.
This year was no different...in fact getting in entries and music was probably worse as I was trying to sort on the Netherlands at the time the music et al had to be handed in. Things didn't improve any when I realised about 3 weeks ago that one of the set pieces I was due sing (as a mezzo-soprano in the mezzo-soprano class) had actually been written in the syllabus to be sung in the soprano key...well that meant unless I wanted to be disqualified I'd have to sing it higher...no way was that happening! I therefore had to withdraw from that class (but didn't get round to telling them until Saturday!!!!)...oh also did I mention I had a cup to return that I'd forgotten about so had to return that on Saturday too....had to be back beginning of Ocotber!
So, having entered myself for a competition it might have been a good idea to DO SOME PRACTICE...oh no, not me...far too busy blogging and having Facebook dramas to practice doing my hobby! Having to chosen to sing one of the most difficult songs in the history of difficult songs (my teacher pointed out that even most professionals don't sing it and if they do they only do a couple of times) this could have been a good choice to make...practicing!
So, I got to Saturday, hoping that by some small miracle I might have lost my voice (didn't want to just pull out for no reason as unfair on the accompanist who had to learn my beast of a programme and couldn't afford to waste the entrance money) but heyho, I was fighting fit (almost) so I prepared for battle!
In total I sang in 3 classes...Lieder (German song) "die Soldatenbraut" by Schumann, Oratorio "Fac ut portem" from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and the Recital (3 songs together) "The Monk and his Cat" from Barber's Hermit songs (the beast), "Song to the Seals" by Bantock and "Hans und Grethe" by Mahler. Surprisingly I won all 3 classes...AND even won another cup because of getting the highest marks in the festival in one of my classes.
So there we go, I just wanted to share with everyone since I was ill today and couldn't tell everyone at work! I don't often "blow my own trumpet" about my talents but sometimes it's necessary!!!

Sock puppets finally done

I have finally managed to get the Yr 8 sock puppets videos completed and uploaded. We made our puppets, made the scenery and finally recorded the video last week. Unfortunately we couldn't get our hands on the digital video camera so had to just use a digital camera which actually worked OK.
This was our (their's and mine) first attempt at making a real live video and am very proud of the pupils' efforts they worked really hard and feel that they have achieved something fantastic (which they have).
Here is the final product...

If at first you don't succeed....

It's always very easy to reflect upon things that have gone well but it's also useful to think about things that didn't necessarily go according to plan. This was certainly the case yesterday with our first attempt at video-conferencing.
We had our German and Spanish exchanges pupils in school all week and we decided that it would be a nice idea for our Spanish exchange pupils to video-conference with one of our feeder Primary Schools. The idea was to have the pupils at both our school and at the Primary School got to the computer in pairs of threes and exchange information about Spain and England and also maybe talk a little bit of Spanish. We tested out the technology and got the webcams sorted out, however for some reason we just could not get our images and video working together at all. I was at the Primary School (as "Spanish specialist-lol- and technician - rofl) and a couple of colleagues were at our school and try as we might we couldn't get is working properly at all. Eventually wat we did was just do audio and a small group of the Yr 6 pupils managed to ask questions of the Spanish pupils and also talk and undersand some Spanish. They absolutely loved it and the were so keen it was pleasure to be involved. It was just such a shame that I had to spend the best part of an hour "faffing" to get it sorted out. The children in the class were amazingly patient (as was I). Again it goes to prove that one can never rely entirely on technology working every time but it's important to keep trying, as the benefits are so worthwhile for everyone. The pupils gained something from the session and we now know that, even with technical hitches things still can be done. At least we did it and now know that there are a few things we need to tweek for future endeavours. We haven't been put off though!
Lessons learned:

• Have a test conference before hand (which we were unable to do this time)
• Make sure that there can be someone technical at both ends
• Try no to have to set up in a classroom where there are 30 children waiting to take part in the activity
• Be prepared to change your planned activity if things don't work
• Don't let yourself be put off if things don't go according to plan the first time.

Progression and fun in Primary Languages

This was the final session that I attended at the Isle of Wight Conference and unfortnately I actually had to leave a little early so missed some of it. Nevertheless I gained a real insight into what I should be doing when I go to teach my Primary Spanish lessons every fortnight.
This, inspiring session, was lead by Jo Rys-Jones and Lisa Stevens, both Primary MFL teachers.
They used as their basis how to teach the book "Dear Zoo" (those with small children will probably be familiar with this pop up book about a small child who writes to the zoo for them to send a pet and they send various unsuitable animals until the perfect one arrives).
To me it was a revelation, I'd never have thought about doing that and also, they didn't even look at the book with pupils until well down the path of teaching animals, phonemes and having lots of cross-curricular links. The whole session made me re-evaluate what I am doing in my Primary school and also I felt sad that I am going to teach languages in Primary schools without knowing what being a Primary School teacher involves and therefore doesn't it mean that I'm "selling my Primary pupils short" by going in and teaching like Secondary school teachers? I feel it's a real shame that some Primary School pupils are being taught Languages by properly trained Primary teachers like Jo and Lisa while others are being taught by "any old" Secondary teacher (like me). It somehow doesn't seem fair.
Anyway now, maybe at least my Primary pupils might have a flavour of what their language teaching should really be like...it's also led me to attempt a brave move with my Yr 9 top set and use a topic on teaching household chores to work on the story of Cinderella..
You can find the slideshow and other resources on the Talkabout Primary MFL Ning here

Giving students wings by building content in a VLE

When I saw that Drew Buddie, ICT Co-ordinator at the Royal Masonic School for Girls, was to give a workshop on how to use a VLE (particularly Moodle) I had to add it to my list of sessions to go to at the IoW Conference. This year we are due to get a Moodle VLE and, although I've added a podcast to a VLE at my husband's school when I ran a podcasting session there last year and have been added as a creator of courses on the VLE of one of our partner schools, I actually had no idea of what really do with one. Therefore, it was with great excitement that I headed of to this, the penultimate workshop of my Isle of Wight Conference.
We learnt about setting up a VLE and getting pupils to visit and use it. It seems that the key is to make it seem that it's not an extension of school and that the look should and be fun ((while at the same time getting pupils to do work on it that really helps them improve). It was really interesting to see a VLE like this one, as the other VLEs I've seen in action have all been very much fitting to the image of the school it belongs to. I suppose that it all depends on the requirements of each school...I know that my husband was asked to make their VLE specifically in keeping with the school colours and crest etc...
For me, the main part of this session was fantastic, as Drew showed us how to add content to a specific part of his school's VLE. We were all designated as creators for a week and he talked us through how to create a course and then how to add files and links to that course and also how to create a quiz. It amazed me how versatile this Moodle VLE, which is FREE, can be. I hadn't realised that one could have courses or activities that were available for a certain amount of time...ensuring that pupils hand their work in on time. In addition you can track who works on which activities (brilliant for parents at parents' evening to show how much or how little work their child is doing). I also hadn't realised that pupils only see the courses for which they are registered when they log onto a VLE (I know, common sense really). I was really interested to see also that there is a Hot Potatoes module available to add to the Moodle VLE, as that is something else that we are developing our use of. One of the other useful features of Moodle that Drew showed us was the chat module. This can also only be opened for specific times, for example, he gave us the example that he used this the night before an A Level exam so that pupils could ask any last minute questions. All of the chat is recorded which meant that pupils who couldn't take part in the chat could still access it later on to see what had been discussed.

In the name of fairness, I should point out that there are several other VLEs available but this particular session focused on Moodle and was of particular interest to me because we are to use this type of VLE, ourselves.

Animation is now available

Here is a link to where our famous animation can be found.
The title is "El fantasma, el blobbo y la palmera" and, with the music, it's really quite scarey (lol)

El fantasma, el blobbo y la palmera

Links to the other creations from the animation workshop at the IoW Conference can be found on Joe Dale's blog here.

I had great fun and look forward to being able to do some with pupils in the near future.