A STRATEGY FOR COMMUNITY AND LESSER TAUGHT LANGUAGES

1
A STRATEGY FOR COMMUNITY AND LESSER TAUGHT
LANGUAGES

• Sharon Handley (North West Consortium of Routes
  into Languages -COLT)
• November 2009

2
What is the North West Consortium?

• Part of the Routes into Languages initiative
• Consortium of five universities
• Focus on COmmunity and Lesser Taught languages
  (COLT)
• Language choice determined by profile of urban
  area

3
Background to the project

• Hobsons school leaver data -languages seen as
  difficult
• Focus groups languages seen as boring
• Perceived difficulty reduces motivation level
• One objective was therefore to show that language
  study could be fun and achievable!
• www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/news/hobsonsreport.
  html

4
Focus groups with parents and teachers

• Five areas of concern
• teaching methodology
• lower language status for CL
• negative images of some cultures in media
• division between MS and CS
• language choice

5
Our strategy

• Events for schools to improve attitudes towards
  languages and raise status of community languages
• Teacher training workshops
• Links with complementary schools
• Information on flexible programmes in HE
• Data collection on demand for CL, particularly
  Urdu, in HE

6
Changing attitudes towards language learning

• Language Enrichment Events
• Innovative language taster sessions to show that
  languages are attainable and fun
• Student ambassadors who speak the languages as
  role models
• Multicultural activities to promote intercultural
  understanding and fun

7
LEE feedback interest in studying languages
8
Comments from pupils who attended our LEE in June
2009

• The event has definitely persuaded me to carry
  on studying at least one language to A Level
  standard. Pupil, Sale Grammar School, Sale.
• Before the day I didnt realise how important
  languages are . I now conclude that its a very
  good idea to take languages at GCSE level to keep
  in touch with people from other cultures. Im now
  seriously considering taking French. - Pupil,
  Bispham High School, Blackpool.

9
Teacher comments

• Our intake has increased because of your
  valuable contribution. Some of our year 10 that
  we have taken last year are talking about doing
  it at college. We would love to do it every year
  because it has had a great impact on our intake.
  MFL Teacher from Burnage Media Arts College,
  Manchester.
•  

10
Pupil feedback

• The trip for me was fantastic. It motivated me
  to take up a less common taught language for GCSE
  and A Level as I have discovered that they arent
  as hard as they are made out to be. Pupil from
  Sale Grammar School, Sale.
• It has also encouraged me to learn more
  languages I am interested in learning Chinese.
  Pupil from Sale Grammar School, Sale.
• I really enjoyed the day learning new languages
  and experiencing other cultures. This trip has
  inspired me and many others to take languages to
  a further level. Pupil from Irlam and
  Cadishead Community High School, Manchester.
•  

11
Languages can be fun!

• This trip was a real eye-opener to other
  languages, I thought other languages were very
  hard to learn, but this trip has showed me that
  it is great fun to learn other languages and they
  arent hard to learn. Pupil from Irlam and
  Cadishead Community High School, Manchester.
•  "I think it made me feel differently about
  taking a language at University because it showed
  me languages could still be fun. I think the
  whole event has encouraged me to go to University
  and take a language." Pupil from Ulverston
  Victoria High School.

12
Community cohesion and global citizenship

• Would you like to learn a CL and why?
• (Chinese) I think it will be a challenge and Im
  up for it because it is an interesting language
  and there are many Chinese people in England
  (Y9, Fearns School).
• Id like to learn Arabic so I can communicate
  with people in my local area (Y9, Holly School).
  
• Chinese is becoming a very important language
  like French, German and Spanish and it would be
  interesting to learn (Y9, Cannon Slade School).
• Next time I go to the chippie, Ill say Ni Hao

13
Attitudes towards Urdu

• Id do Urdu at university, I speak it at home
  and its easier for me, but also because Ive got
  lots of family abroad that dont speak English
  (Y8, William Hulme School Academy).
• Id like to learn Urdu because this country is
  multicultural (Sandbach school).
• Before I came here, I didnt know Urdu was a
  language and it is very unusual (Y8, Wellington
  School).

14
URDU a case study

• Urdu activities are now very popular after a slow
  start
• Urdu teacher forum
• Asian media network interest
• Aspect Market Research project in Urdu
• Degree level Urdu one step nearer?

15
A Level Urdu event

• 45 pupils studying A Level Urdu
• 15 would like to do a full degree in Urdu
• 55 would be interested in Urdu with another
  subject
• 30 would study Urdu as an option
• Most pupils would not take a degree in MFL but
  some would combine MFL with Urdu
• Aspect Market Research gathering further data

16
Language Clubs

• Student ambassadors run lunch-time language clubs
  in schools. Rochdale and Crompton school will
  introduce Italian at KS3 as a result of a
  successful language club
• William Hulme Grammar School Academy is working
  with the Hijra Arabic Supplementary School to run
  an Arabic language class
• Excellent initiative but may have to be reduced
  due to increased cost of CRB checks

17
Language and film

• Collaboration with the Cornerhouse Cinema in
  Manchester. Successful bid to the Film 21st
  Century Literacy foundation and the UK Film
  Council
• Language workshops relating to Arabic, Chinese,
  Italian and Urdu films
• Working with a cinema raises the status of the
  languages and showcases the culture
• Creative workshops blogs, podcasts and videos
• Downloadable materials for teachers

18
Language and film

• Teacher feedback for Spanish
• The fact that we are now doing film post-16
  means that numbers have doubled from 9 to 18
  students in two years. . (Film) for our students
  has become a real draw card for continuing
  languages at A level (Head of MFL)

19
Teacher Training
20
Comments from participants

• I have spent 20 years in the UK and 15 years in
  teaching but this first time I am attending this
  kind of training, for which I am thankful.
  (Urdu)
• It laid a foundation for my future career.
  (Chinese)
• I gained relevant information and it encouraged
  me to be a language teacher. (Chinese)
• I hope that the university will provide similar
  training in the future as well. We are thankful
  to the people who designed this course where we
  learned a lot. Thanks. (Urdu)
• I would like more courses I enjoyed myself.
  (Arabic)

21
Improvements to teaching as a result of the course

• Greater variety of materials used
• More interactive activities -role play and games
• Target language to give instructions in the
  classroom
• Prepare lesson plans in advance
• Management and communication with pupils with
  lack of interest
• Use of differentiated activities for different
  needs

22
Impact

• One of the Chinese Trainers has registered for a
  PhD. She became interested in the topic whilst
  working as a trainer for COLT.
• One of our Chinese course participants gained a
  full time teaching post at the Confucius
  Institute after gaining confidence through the
  course.
• COLT tutors in Chinese and Urdu are now teaching
  in two of the partner universities
• Several of the participants in the Urdu training
  now want to study Urdu at University
• Several course participants want to continue with
  further training

23
Conclusions

• It is possible to increase motivation to study
  languages through innovative cultural and
  language activities
• Language choice in schools and HE is too limited
  for the changing needs of an increasingly diverse
  population
• Languages can play a role in the community
  cohesion agenda (recognised in the Worton
  report)
• COLT training provides a route into HE opening up
  opportunities for tutors and a rich resource of
  native speakers for the education sector
• COLT activities have built links between
  complementary and mainstream schools
• Initial research suggests there is demand for
  Urdu in HE but further data is required
• How can we work together to take this agenda to
  the next stage? Perhaps the time is now right!
• www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2009/worton.htm