What does Curriculum for Excellence really mean for modern languages

1
What does Curriculum for Excellence really mean
for modern languages?

• SALT Conference
• 7 November 2009
• Fiona A Pate

2
How well do you know the key features?

• In which of the 8 curricular areas does the study
  of MLs sit?
• Languages and literacy

3
How well do you know the key features?

• How many skills organisers are there?
• Three
• Why not four?
• To underline the links in learning between EL,
  Gaelic and MLs

4
How well do you know the key features?

• What level are most children expected to attain
  by the end of P7?
• Second level
• What level are the majority of young people
  expected to attain by the end of S3?
• Fourth level. Some will attain this earlier.
• What level is fourth level?
• Equivalent to SCQF level 4.

5
How well do you know the key features?

• Name the three overarching learning areas of
  Curriculum for Excellence for which we are all
  responsible.
• Literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing.

6
How well do you know the key features?

• Name four other aspects of education which all
  children are entitled to experience through the
  curriculum.
• Enterprise (skills for life and work)
• Citizenship
• International education (understanding of the
  world and Scotlands place in it)
• Sustainability

7
How well do you know the key features?

• Name the 7 curriculum design principles
• Challenge and enjoyment
• Breadth
• Progression
• Depth
• Personalisation and choice
• Coherence
• Relevance

8
How well do you know the key features?

• How will you justify the learning of MLs?
• Children are entitled to a broad general
  education
• which includes the study of a ML, up to and
  including the third level.
• Our contribution to the four capacities
  (Principles and practice page 1), including an
  awareness of global citizenship.
• Our particular contribution to literacy.

9
What should you already know about teaching MLs?!

• How to teach the four skills
• How to assess young peoples competence in the
  four skills
• How to plan programmes of work which cover key
  knowledge and skills
• How to plan lessons so that young people have a
  variety of tasks to do, in a variety of ways, so
  that they practise all four skills

10
Working back from the outcomes!

• What experiences do we need to provide in order
  to give young people the opportunity to achieve
  these outcomes?

11
Listening and talking outcomes- study the wording

• Listening to familiar and unfamiliar language
• From sympathetic fluent speakers
• Conversations and role-plays
• Children learning to take the initiative and ask
  questions
• Collaborative activities, paired speaking
• Presentations
• Songs and games
• Ability to pronounce language correctly, even
  unknown words
• Use of ICT and other media
• Relevant and realistic contexts, including those
  linked to the culture of the country

12
Reading outcomes study the wording

• Reading collaboratively and independently
• Using a range of resources (eg dictionaries) to
  aid comprehension
• Moving to understanding longer texts with a
  variety of tenses
• Developing an understanding of the culture of the
  country through reading and researching texts in
  the ML
• Reading a variety of styles of text, including
  poetry, for interest and enjoyment
• Recognising the features of certain words

13
Writing outcomes study the wording

• Making a plan
• Using reference materials as support
• Giving basic information, moving to writing about
  feelings and opinions, moving to using a more
  complex variety of tenses and structures
• Using success criteria and KAL

14
Overarching feature

• Young people should be able to use their
  knowledge of the structure of the language to
  listen, talk, read, write and understand with
  increasing effectiveness.

15
What else is new? Where is the shift in emphasis?

• Development of skills versus vocabulary

16
How do you ensure you give young people the
opportunities they need to achieve these outcomes?

• Are good teachers really doing it all already?

17
Audit your provision

• Ask yourself.
• Do you use the ML whenever possible in the
  classroom?
• Do you have planned and regular opportunities for
  young people to engage in collaborative work and
  independent work?
• Are they engaged in active learning most of the
  time?

18
Active learning

• High quality, interesting and relevant resources
  encourage creativity, curiosity, deep thinking,
  challenge and investigation.
• How do your resources measure up? Where does your
  textbook fit in?
• Are the tasks enjoyable and challenging so that
  children do have to think and extend their
  learning?

19
Active learning

• Opportunities for children to develop a wide
  range of skills and knowledge through
  well-planned, purposeful activity
• Is there a balance of teaching the four skills in
  lessons/across your programmes in a coherent way?
• Where do topics fit in?
• Are language structures taught across the
  programmes in a coherent way?

20
Active learning

• Children influence the direction of learning and
  develop growing independence in carrying out
  activities.
• Do young peoples interests influence the topics
  studied?
• Are young people taught to use bi-lingual
  dictionaries, grammar reference materials, own
  notes, ICT for research, as a matter of course?
• Are these things readily available?

21
Audit your provision

• Culture
• Are there planned opportunities for children to
  find out about the culture, geography and history
  of the country through research and through their
  reading?
• ICT
• Do you build in the use of ICT to write, redraft,
  inform, do presentations, find materials,
  communicate?
• (Think resources, e-links, podcasting, MP3
  players.. )

22
Remember the design principles

• Progression and continuity
• P7 into S1 and across the stages
• Consistency re teaching skills
• Consistency re styles of teaching
• Progression in terms of content and knowledge

23
Progression and continuity

• Build on the skills in a progressive way
• listening
• Hearing the listening fewer times
• Listening for key words
• Adding more unknowns and different voices

24
Progression and continuity

• Build on the skills in a progressive way
• talking
• Longer talks, longer sentences
• Conversation with one person
• Conversation with more than one
• Teaching how to take the initiative

25
Progression and continuity

• Build on the skills in a progressive way
• reading
• Give less support in reading tasks
• Teach the skills of skimming, scanning, looking
  for clues.

26
Progression and continuity

• Build on the skills in a progressive way
• writing
• Give less support with writing
• Teach how to plan (literacy links)
• Teach how to build up sentences and paragraphs

27
Progression and continuity

• Look at the progression in skills in your
  programmes across the stages

28
Remember the overarching themes, not just the ML
outcomes.

• How are you addressing literacy and numeracy?
• How are you addressing health and wellbeing?

29
Entitlements and the whole curriculum
Competing or supporting agendas?
30
Interdisciplinary links

• Dont have to be huge!
• Do have to be -
• Planned
• Purposeful and relevant
• Move young people on in their learning

31
Doing it all already?
Self delusion
SELF- EVALUATION OR
SELF DELUSION?
Innovation without change is not an option
32
Assessment

• You know how to assess the four skills. You can
  already identify progression in talking and
  writing
• Complexity
• Accuracy
• Content
• Range and variety of structure
• Length
• Amount of support/rephrasing,etc
• Initiative
• Fluency
• confidence

33
Assessment

• Raising the bar!
• 4th Level is the equivalent of SCQF 4 (General),
  by the end of S3
• You know what that standard is.
• A word of warning!
• 3rd level is the equivalent of Foundation
• Foundation was never meant to be a stage to go
  through so be wary of using the descriptors for
  performance at F level as a staging post for all.

34
How will you assess?

• Formative assessment and formal tests
• Build up a profile
• Remember you can cover more than one outcome in
  one task
• Eg Buying cinema tickets, discussing fitness
  regimes
• Taking part in a conversation
• In collaborative/transactional situations
• While being able to ask for help and support if
  necessary
• And while ensuring pronunciation is sufficiently
  accurate to be understood by a sympathetic native
  speaker
• In this way, the outcomes are naturally linked to
  classroom activities
• Challenge devise a task which will cover at
  least one outcome from all four skills

35
Time for change

• Yes, we have to rethink
• and there are some
• challenges.

36
Time for change

• But the result will be learners
• who want to study MLs
• because its relevant,
• challenging and enjoyable!