lundi 26 janvier

We went over the writing homework. It was of a high standard.

One grammar point that arose was how to express you have been doing something for a spell of time. English would be something like …

I've been married for 10 years

I've lived in Ayr since 1982

I've been teaching for 5 years

If in English it is "have been …  or have done … for a length of time or since with a date" then the construction in French is the Present tense of the verb not past tense as in English and preposition depuis

je suis marié(e) depuis dix ans

j'habite à Ayr depuis 1982

j'enseigne depuis 5 ans

Anyone else who wants their writing corrected please email or post in comments

We spoke about the problems of how to get pupils to write and what we should expect of them. We looked at the 5-14 guidelines and the new outcomes both of which are fairly vague. Writing is of course the end of a long process of the teaching via listening, talking and reading. We talked about support with word banks and had some suggestions for types of activities and context.

Finally and still to do with writing we went to www.voki.com to create a French speaking character. This involves typing French,  listening to the computer voice read it and eventually recording your own voice so writing, listening and talking!

Homework: to create a voki  that looks like you  with some of your personal information

Create an account (free)

You need an active email to confirm account. 

Create and email me your voki. 

Beware of typing names - the French voice simulator will have trouble eg to get it to read Kay I typed quai. Probably best to avoid names. Also it will only accept about 3-4 sentences. 

If you know how to record your voice on to the computer you could try that. It will let you record longer maybe 60 seconds.

You should also see if it is going to work in school websense etc.

We also had a look at www.toondoo.com

This allows you to create a 2 or 3 pane cartoon with speech bubbles. No sound but it is very colourful and motivating for writing!

Again you need to create an account (free) 

If this appeals to you, have a go!

Here are some examples created by B Eds displayed on a wiki

Amusez-vous bien!

Beauvais 14 March

I have just booked my place to Paris-Beauvais. At least 6 of Module 2 are keen. Feel free to book up as well.
It cost £29.50 The handling charge which was £10 on Saturday is now £9.50. The vagaries of Ryanair booking are a mystery!

le 19 janvier

Heureusement que le technicien informatique a réussi à réparer mon portable! Quel soulagement!

We started with the games made up by you. Well done for a nice variety of activities! Please email me kay.mcmeekin@uws.ac.uk any docs so that we can share them.
To create games easily this is the site I was trying to find yesterday http://toolsforeducators.com/
I've made bingo and dominoes using it! You need to print at the time or save as a pdf which you can't go back and edit.

Personal writing homework. Try and base your writing on what you know or have seen.
If you have trouble doing accents, copy and paste these!
é è ê à If you an email me your text before Monday I'll have them marked or if you are brave paste it in comments!

The Simpsons write about themselves here. Use these as an example! Think we may have done them before.

Here is a bit about me
Je m’appelle Kay McMeekin. J’ai cinquante-huit ans et je suis mariée avec David depuis 22 ans. Nous avons deux enfants - une fille qui s’appelle Laura et qui a 21 ans et un fils David qui a 20 ans. Mon mari est prof de langues à la retraite. Nos enfants sont tous les deux à la fac à Glasgow. Laura étudie l’archéologie et David étudie le génie civil. J’habite à Darvel qui se trouve à 35 km de Glasgow. Je vis avec mon mari et notre chien qui s’appelle Holly. Nos enfants vivent à Glasgow dans des appartements loués. Ils nous rendent visite de temps en temps. C’est tout pour le moment!


Listen to Laure! We'll have a go at making a voki next week!

Online Documents

Documents, reports etc Download the pdf, if available. Don't print - they are long!
CFE MODERN LANGUAGES OUTCOMES 2007
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence/outcomes/languages/modernforeignlanguages/index.asp

Citzens of a Multilingual World (aka the Mulgrew) Report 2000
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/rati-00.asp rationale
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/cmwr-00.asp recommendations
2005 progress report: http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/hmiecoaml.html

5-14 Guidelines 2000
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/guidelines/modernlanguages/index.asp

HMIE
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/Publications.aspx

• Developing the four capacities through modern languages: focusing on successful learners in primary schools. 22/8/2008 .pdf
• Modern Languages - A portrait of current practice in Scottish schools 06/02/2007 .pdf

Standards and Quality: Primary and Secondary Schools 1994-1998: in Modern Languages 01/01/2002

Day trip to Beauvais?

We talked about a day trip to Beauvais last week. I did it last year with a group of trainees in March

http://french07.blogspot.com/2008/03/visite-beauvais.html
Leave Prestwick on 6.40am and return at 11.20pm
Breakfast in Beauvais cafe, tour of market, walk round Beauvais, leisurely lunch, visit to cathedral, shopping, evening meal and back to airport.
It seemed Ryanair had a flight on Saturday 8 March for £11! but already the price has gone up. 

Alternative suggestion Saturday 14 March - price still at £20. The price offer ends on Sunday 18 January.

Post your thoughts in comments below

CD ROM

Rosslyn asked about the video clips we saw last time of the bossy teacher doing her stuff. 

This is from the government produced staff development CD ROM (3 CDs) which should be in all schools. 

Lundi 12 janvier

Today we looked at the assessment for the Module worth 20 credits. 

Part 1 personal writing in French 100 -150 words

Part 2 essay in English on background, history, rationale and current situation for MLPS

Part 3 short lessons presentation - micro teaching

All of this to be done around Easter. Essay could be later as long as I have time to mark it before the June diet.

We started to think about the rationale and history of MLPS in Scotland and identified the big questions

What do we teach? Who is best suited to teach ML in PS? What age/stage is the best to start learning a second language? Why is it mainly French? What about continuity into secondary? What about assessment? What is driving all this?

We didn't get the answers to all of this, by the way!

We discussed our experiences as learners of a language at primary (and secondary)

We started to find out about the government policies that dictate what we do in school.

The MLPS programme was launched with a Circular from the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1989.  A pilot programme of 6 cluster groups in the first year with secondary specialists demonstrating the teaching. Another 6 joined in the following year. The languages taught (French, German, Spanish, Italian) were decided in cluster groups with the proviso being the pupils could continue the same language in secondary. At this time there was no commercial material available. Meanwhile a training programme was being devised which was launched in 1993. This consisted of a 27 day course usually run from October - October for 1 day a week. This was directly funded by the government. Cover was provided to allow teachers out of school. The initial aim was to have 1 primary teacher per school trained who would go back to school and teach the ML. This programme ran for 10 years! Teachers learned by doing the activities; games, stories, craft. 

The original ML 5-14 guidelines were published in 1990 but were more for secondary. Advice to schools and topic frameworks went out to primary schools in 1997 to give more guidanc as to what to teach in primary.  Next big thing - The Citizens of a Multilingual World Report 2000 also know as the Mulgrew Report which still influences us today.

to be continued!

Hope to get you enrolled on the university blackboard site as soon as possible and will provide links to online documents and references and other papers

We spent some time on classroom objects and classroom commands. 

Homework for next week is to come up with a simple activity to teach/practise classroom objects and present it to the group. Do not spend hours on this! Keep it simple!

Bon  courage!

Feast of the Kings

La fête des rois is celebrated in French homes throughout January. There is an excellent post about it here

Pictures of the cake here 

le roi - the king

la reine - the queen

la galette - the cake

la fève - the bean

la couronne - the crown

Chanson

J'aime la galette

Savez-vous comment?

Quand elle est bien faite

Avec du beurre dedans

Tra la la la la la lère etc

I love the Kings' cake

Do you know why?

when it is well made

with butter inside tra la etc