Institution: Yewlands Technology College

Context
Yewlands Technology College is part of a 'Family of Schools 0-19 years' seeking to promote inspirational learning opportunities for learners of the 21st Century. Yewlands serves a diverse community in the north east of Sheffield and is currently developing a skills based curriculum across the 'Family of Schools'. The schools' vision is to develop personalised learning pathways within a flexible and adaptable 'state of the art' environment that will be accessed by the whole community.

Many of the pupils have limited life experiences, lack motivation and have low aspirations and drop out at KS4. Around 8% go into higher education. Learning languages is not perceived to be a useful skill to the majority of our pupils.

The project
Using the interactive whiteboard to enhance teaching and learning for students on the NVQ Business German course. Read more about the NVQ course at Yewlands by reading the case study and watching the video clips (hyperlink).   

Key objectives
To use the interactive whiteboard to its full potential:

• to engage and motivate learners;
• to help to develop linguistic understanding and competence;
• to improve the flow and pace of lessons;
• for formative assessment;
• to enable pupils to have real contact with native speakers.

How activities are organised
The school uses:

• interactive whiteboards (IWs) made by Promethean;
• PowerPoint presentation software;
• authentic websites and websites designed specifically for language learning.

The interactive whiteboard is an integral part of the way that the NVQ Business German course is delivered. It is used:

• to present lesson objectives and plenaries;
• to introduce and present vocabulary and structures;
• to categorise words and group them, using, for example, drag and drop techniques In one activity the whiteboard software is used to create drag and drop activities whereby pupils match job titles with their definitions in English and then with their titles in German;
• to consolidate new concepts and to model writing tasks;
• to motivate pupils to continue learning a language at KS4. For example, teachers use video clips from the Internet, such as those found on YouTube Routes into Languages. These have been downloaded and integrated into a PowerPoint presentation;
• to use video clips or Internet sites in the target language, as an alternative to the traditional listening exercise. For example, the IW enables teachers to stream video clips such as those from the BBC Languages website. Teachers give the pupils the text on the board and take out gaps so that pupils have to write down the key missing words;
• to play games to practise and recall vocabulary;
• to display the written word alongside a picture and focus pupils’ attention on accurate pronunciation and sound/spelling patterns;
• to demonstrate to pupils how to use authentic websites, particularly those requiring user interaction. For example: the teacher shows pupils how to book a flight online with Lufthansa, working through the process with the whole class demonstrating how this is done and using the interactive whiteboard electronic pen to highlight certain key words and cognates in different colours;
• to highlight assessment criteria prior to pupils commencing independent work;
• to assess understanding and progress. The proprietary ActiVote electronic voting system is used for starters and plenaries or for milestone assessments as well as ongoing formative assessment in order to help the teacher to determine whether pupils have understood a particular aspect of the course;
• to link digital video recording with the interactive whiteboard. Students film themselves acting out business scenarios. The other students watch them and complete comprehension exercises;
• to allow pupils to deliver a PowerPoint presentation to the rest of the group based on a fictitious company and a product in development. This forms the basis of an assessment but it also enables pupils to learn relevant work skills such as body language, eye contact, clarity of speech and delivery.
  

Evaluation
Teachers note that:

• the pace of lessons is faster;
• pupils are more focused on the language;
• the IW allows them to cater for a variety of learning styles. 

Teachers also report that:

• lesson planning has improved;
• creating flipcharts in advance focuses their thinking more clearly and enables them to plan for progression more effectively;
• classroom management has improved as less time is wasted, because everything is available on the board and can be linked through a core presentation.

Future developments
Year 10 pupils on a forthcoming work experience trip will create sound files and video clips of interviews with passers-by and of conversations with people in the workplace. These will be turned into podcasts, and played on the IW to other pupils in the school. Year 10 students will be motivated by the fact that they their work will be used for teaching and learning resources with the IW.

While on a work experience trip the teacher will use a laptop with a webcam in order for German contacts to speak live with classes back at the school and also to film the students in town, in café bars and giving information about places of interest.
 
Teacher: Juliet Park, Director of Languages, Yewlands Technology College