Insititution: The Weald School
Context
The Weald is a co-educational and
mixed comprehensive school in West Sussex for students aged 11 to
18.
The students featured in the lesson are a mixed ability Year 10
GCSE group. They started Spanish in Year 8 with only three lessons
a fortnight and went on studying it in Year 9 for four lessons a
fortnight. Now in Year 10 they have five lessons a fortnight,
rising to six lessons a fortnight in Year 11.
Key objectives
To improve oral skills and
confidence for Spanish GCSE in a fun way.
'I really look forward to the lessons where
I know I’m going to be out of my seat. I feel I learn more and
remember more when I’m enjoying myself'. Year 10
student.
How the lesson was organised
The students
featured in the lesson are a mixed ability Year 10 GCSE group. They
started Spanish in Year 8 with only three lessons a fortnight and
went on studying it in Year 9 for four lessons a fortnight. Now in
Year 10 they are doing five lessons a fortnight and will do six
lessons a fortnight in Year 11. The lesson in question related to
the topic area of Leisure which is the topic they are preparing for
their coursework and speaking test at GCSE.
- The class had been taught in a previous lesson how to
request and provide personal information and talk about their
leisure activities, giving their opinions using the mi pasatiempo
presentation (ppt, 543KB).
- The topic of giving and providing personal information was
revised using a drag and drop
presentation (ppt, 59KB), with students coming to the front to
match the questions and answers.
- The teacher introduced the focus of the lesson, which was to
give and exchange personal information in a speed dating
simulation. He had prepared a short
video (wmv, 9.32MB) in which he was doing this, and he showed
this to the class. A transcript
is available (doc, 20KB).
- Students then completed a speed dating
sheet (doc, 30KB) with information about themselves. Next,
the classroom was set up as a speed dating room, and students had
two minutes to exchange information with their peers before the
teacher blew the whistle to indicate that each person must move to
the next prospective date. Whilst interviewing prospective dates,
students noted down their opinions of the person.
- Having interviewed several prospective dates, the students then
had to give their opinions of the people they had interviewed
saying whether or not they would want to date them and why. They
used the sheet of
reasons (doc, 57KB) supplied by the teacher to assist
them.
Results/effect
Pupils are happy to come to
class and they increasingly seem to be selecting courses that they
enjoy for GCSE. All oral contributions are well received in class
and encouraged. Pupils generally have the chance to practise in
pairs and support each other before having to speak in front of the
class. This means that the students are increasing in confidence at
speaking Spanish.
'There’s no substitute for practising
speaking. It helps your language skills but also lets confidence
build. It really is a question of providing the correct
environments for pupils' confidence to grow – it may be writing
pieces and learning them, producing mini drama pieces in Spanish
(where I often see the pupils almost forget they are acting in a
different language and those watching simply appreciating the drama
and absorbing the language), using online sites where speaking is
modelled, or putting example questions for GCSE on our VLE for
pupils to test themselves in private. Every pupil is individual so
providing them with a wide range of possibilities is best.'
Mike Lambert, teacher of Spanish
Future developments
An increasing amount
of independent learning is expected as students progress in
languages although there is a general feeling that they are not
always equipped with those generic learning skills to be able to
take this on. Nevertheless, as a school the concept of
learning to learn is being developed and over time it is hoped that
this improve the ability of students to learn independently.
Homework is set regularly and the VLE is well maintained, with
extension resources to push students further and support their
independent learning.
Author: Mike Lambert, Teacher of Spanish, The Weald
Community School and Sixth Form
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