Institution: Chatsmore Catholic High
School
Key objectives:
There are two classes in each
of Years 10 and 11. The Year 11 students were pilot groups, whose
GCSE results were published in August 2008. All groups are of mixed
ability, with target grades ranging from A* to E. Prior to starting
the Applied French course, some of the higher ability candidates
had already achieved C or D grade GCSE French in Year 9 when
completing a fast-track course. For these candidates, it is hoped
that the Applied GCSE will allow them to improve their attainment
grades within a work-related context, giving increased job
prospects.
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Associated video clips
Complaint in a hotel
In this clip the student is taking part in a spoken
interaction where he is complaining about facilities in the hotel
during his stay on business. The teacher designed this task
following a module of
work on hotels (doc, 72KB) based on Unit 2 of the coursebook,
Contexte, and the student had three days in which to
prepare for the assessment. During the assessment he is only
allowed access to the task and no other resources. The task
must not be annotated in any way.
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A visit to a music festival
In this clip the student is giving a presentation
about a visit to a music festival. The content of this presentation
must be different from any written coursework which has been
submitted. The student has the opportunity to prepare the
presentation and during the assessment is allowed access to a sheet
of paper containing no more than 30 words. This may also contain
visual prompts. The questions and answers are devised by the
teacher on the day of the assessment and must not be prepared in
advance, although the candidate is wise to consider possible lines
of questioning.
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The interviews
Teacher: Claire Vallom
In these clips, Claire Vallom, an Advanced Skills Teacher at the
school, who teaches the GCSE in Applied French, explains more about
the course.
How do the students find the Applied
GCSE course?
Hear how the students respond to the
more vocational content of the course.
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What are the differences between
this course and the conventional GCSE?
Clip 1. Hear how the different skills are weighted in
the course.
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Clip 2. Hear how the students become independent
learners with the course.
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Clip 3. Listen to Claire explaining
what resources this school uses to support independent
learning in listening and reading.
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Clip 4. Hear about the online testing of listening
and reading skills, how this works in practice and how the students
respond to this.
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Clip 5. Listen to Claire talking about the types of
exercises in the listening and reading online tests and the
advantage of being able to listen as many times as necessary.
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How do you use ICT in this
course?
Clip 6. Hear how this course is timetabled, partly in
an ICT room.
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How do you prepare students for the
speaking interactions?
Clip 7. Hear how students prepare for the speaking
interactions, and what they are allowed in the assessment.
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What type of students follow the
Applied GCSE course at Chatsmore?
Clip 8. Hear Claire explaining why this course works
with a class, which contains students within a wide ability range,
from A* to E.
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Teacher: Julian Morgan
In these clips,
Julian Morgan, a senior teacher at the school, explains how the
Languages Department makes use of ICT.
How are Sam Learning and Studywiz used in
languages?
Clip 9. Hear Julian explain how staff in languages
use the Internet and a VLE at Chatsmore.
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Explain more about how Sam Learning and Studywiz
work?
Clip 10. Listen as Julian explains how parents,
students and staff can be kept informed of progress by using these
tools.
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The interview with
students
Clip 11. Hear two students describing what they have
had to do throughout the course and what the benefits have
been.
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