Teaching
Modern Foreign Languages through Visual, Auditory & Kinaesthetic Learning
Styles
Swanwick Hall School
Derby Road
Swanwick
Derbyshire DE55 1AE
Person in charge of project: Peter Rodgers
The project puts an emphasis on different learning styles to improve teaching of French and German to Years 7 to 11, so that each pupil can learn more effectively. This is especially important for those pupils whose learning style is not catered for. The project was started in the 1996/97 academic session. A key objective of the project is to enable pupils who do not normally do well to achieve more (especially boys). The school has seen a huge improvement in GCSE examination results from 32–33% grades A–C in 1997 to 65–66% in 1999.
Judges' comments
This is a project where innovative and well thought out teaching methodology
has been used to remarkable effect in improving exam results, especially
for boys. This is of immense significance in the light of current debates
on achievement at GCSE. On their visit to the school, the judges saw word
and picture cards being used to teach German grammar, imaginative use
of pair work and dictionaries, and the use of dice with cue sheets as
a way of building sentences. Pupils and teachers are clearly accustomed
to using techniques of linking visuals with language, manipulating cards
and analysing language subsequently. There is a focus on pupils' preferred
learning styles and teachers talk easily about different strengths of
individual students in terms of their learning style.
