14 to 19 - Reshaping Languages
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Advanced level teaching at City and Islington Sixth Form College

Video clip in this case studyVideo clips

View the AS Italian, A2 French and the A2 Spanish good practice described below in the case study.

Strengths

  • High achievement at GCSE AS/A level
  • Creative teaching including excellent use of technology and resources
  • Good support for learners
  • Highly effective curriculum and course management
  • An outstanding learning environment.

See Internal i (doc, 46KB) of Modern Foreign Languages department, City & Islington Sixth Form College, March 3rd to 10th 2008.

Students comment on the 'invaluable insight into the Spanish-speaking world', 'inspirational teaching', 'all the help whenever needed'.
A success story: Sophia studied A level Italian and Spanish at the College, completed her degree in Hispanic Studies with a first and is now doing a PhD in Bologna with Umberto Eco.

Context 

City and Islington Sixth Form College is a large multi-cultural inner city college, offering a wide range of advanced courses. The languages department offers A levels in French, German, Spanish and Italian as well as GCSEs in Spanish and Italian. The department has excellent results which are above national averages and have a very high added value. According to the latest Self Assessment Report (SAR) (graded 1), teaching is 'highly imaginative, varied and innovative, making extensive use of e-learning which motivates students. All lesson observations are graded 1 or 2. The superb range of enrichment further enhances the students’ experience.'

Students are aged 16-19. Most have studied the language at GCSE level in their previous school. However, some join our GCSE classes as complete beginners in either Italian or Spanish. Many have a first language which is neither English nor the target language: e.g. Bulgarian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, and a variety of African languages.   

How the programme is organised 

  • Maximum group size is 22
  • There are two specialist language rooms, each with a virtual learning environment
  • Students have 4 hours 40 minutes contact time a week
  • Language assistants facilitate small group conversation practice
  • Daily workshops are open to all language students who can do listening or grammar practice from our online resources. In addition each workshop has a language specialist offering support in a particular language
  • Links and activities, such as masterclasses, and joint projects, are organised with local schools, Example of collaboration plan (rtf 56 KB).

Transition from GCSE to AS level

  • Students are given a taster day in June to familiarise them with teaching techniques and materials. They are sent away with a language project to hand in at the start of the academic year.
  • The new term starts with a standardised induction period of two weeks during which students are given the course handbook and essential language learning strategies: use of websites, use of the virtual learning environment, use of dictionaries, study skills and basic grammar terminology
  • Grammar is taught from scratch. Experience has taught teaching staff that it is preferable to assume no prior knowledge
  • The target language is used from the very first lesson.

Essential elements for a successful A level course

  • Produce coherent lesson plans with all activities contextualised to the topic (eg the environment, health, the family, media tourism)
  • Continually reinforce grammatical structures and vocabulary learned in lessons within subsequent lessons
  • Build differentiation into all lessons as A level classes often have a range of abilities: regular use of small group work, use differentiated hand-outs for all skills
  • Introduce a combination of high expectations and on-going support (workshops)
  • Target and address individual students’ needs at an early stage
  • Liaise closely with the student’s tutor to monitor potential difficulties
  • Ensure regular assessment both in the classroom and for homework
  • Use a range of activities and a brisk pace to ensure students are always on task
  • Use the diverse faiths, cultural backgrounds and traditions within the class to inform all target language discussions and enrich every aspect of classroom activities: e.g. the veil, inner-city problems in France, gypsies in Spain, exploited children in Ecuador, the Mafia in Italy, and Turkish immigrants in Germany.

Enrichment

  • As many daytime trips as possible are organised without disrupting other lessons. These include visits to international film festivals, a local Italian art gallery, theatre, conferences, and masterclasses at partner universities.
  • In-house enrichment can also be very motivating: e.g. salsa classes, Italian karaoke, Spanish and Italian food, a pétanque tournament, and German rap
  • Trips abroad: annual French work experience is arranged for one week at the end of AS year to motivate continuing students. A combined cross-curricular Italian and Art project is aarranged in Rome. Italian students wrote a travel guide for art students and acted as interpreters/translators in Rome itself. Trips are part student-funded and part - Aim Higher funded.
  • Visiting speakers from local organisations and universities are invited to cover issues and themes, such as the Cuba Solidarity Campaign or Francophone literature. NGOs and charities can also be a good source of speakers.
  • Close liaison with the library staff to ensure a wide range of resources for coursework and oral projects as well as newspapers, magazines and web links.

Assuring quality

  • Assure quality through regular lesson observations and detailed feedback. See example observation report (rtf 109 KB). In addition, staff find informal peer observations a useful way of sharing good practice.

Results/effects

Students at City and Islington Sixth Form College achieve consistently high results for their AS and A Level courses.  The results for 2007 were as follows:

A2 Spanish

100% Pass

41% A

34%B  

A & B 75%

A2 French

100% A-C

    

A & B 78%

A2 Italian

100%

    

A & B 63%

A2 German 

100%

    

A & B 75%

AS Spanish

98%  

   

A & B 67%

AS Italian

91%  

   

A & B 91%

AS German 

60% Pass (but low entry criteria, 1 lesson)

 

GCSE Spanish 

83%  

   

A & B 67%

GCSE Italian

88%  

     

Resources

The use of excellent resources is a key to the success of the courses:

  • There is very close cooperation as a languages team: continual sharing of resources and ideas including a shared electronic resource bank open to all teachers. We learn from this sharing and are therefore continually developing our skills. 
  • We use the visual image (Google images, PowerPoint, video clips, satellite extracts) to capture attention, maintain motivation, generate vocabulary and stimulate discussion.  Examples of resources:

    • Independent study is encouraged through the following means:

    • For extra grammar practice students are encouraged to ‘Google’ grammatical points with terms like ‘Future tense Spanish'. We also give students Authentik reading and listening self-correcting tests for home study. Students are expected to listen to the radio on a regular basis: (Radio France, Europe 1 (French), Onda Cero (Spanish), Cadeno 100 (Spanish), Radio Televisión Española, Rai.it, Deutsche Welle.
    • Digital resources: listening materials are digitised and stored in banks of sound files. Student discussions are recorded on digital recorders for clear feedback.
    • Daily workshops are open to all language students who can do listening practice or grammar from our online resources. In addition, each workshop has a language specialist offering support in a particular language.

    Future plans

    We shall be addressing the requirements of the new curriculum, in particular the scope of the research project. We shall also be exploring the possibility of offering the International Baccalaureate. Because languages are an integral part of the IB, this provision would strengthen our department.

    Authors: Ann Griffiths (Curriculum Coordinator, Teacher of French), Magdalena Pickton (Head of Spanish), Simona Candiolo (Teacher of Italian and Spanish), Suzanne Twomey (Teacher of French and German)