June Coordinators' Checklist

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So we are approaching the last half term of the academic year! It has been a busy if not frenetic year for most of you no doubt , but hopefully successful and you have made strides forward in the teaching and learning of languages in your school. Here are some important pointers for next half term. You can look back at previous coordinators' checklist blog posts too , to see just how far you have come this year. just click on the links in the May post to look back.

First of all important network news .......

  • Network members , there is now a report pack for years 3,4,5 and 6 on the VLE .You can access this via MFL coordinators' tools and the "report pack folder".This will hopefully make life easier for you especially if you have to complete the whole school's reports for all children .
  • The conference is this month .We have 130 signed up already and we hope that remaining network members sign up in good time to avoid disappointment! Link to conference registration is here. 
  • Network invoices have gone out to most schools- if you joined us up until 30 june 2017, then school will have receievd the invoice to renew membership. Please keep an eye out for this , plus SLAs for our associate teachers in their 49 schools have now also gone out to schools and should be with headteachers.Please watch out for these too. 

Now an update on the VLE:

We are very busy putting the finishing touches to the revamped Ready Made French and Spanish and German will be underway in a week or two too ,to put this in a similar format.

We have listened to your suggestions and watched how the VLE and the materials are being used by you all. I can now honestly say that I love what we are creating.Here is the draft scaffold for Year 3 stage 1 French.

 Peter and Will have created a very simple and easy template for each year, half term and theme within a half term .Colleagues feel with whom we have shared the draft versions feel that they can see how easy it is to access, manage, clipboard, plan and also have ownership so that they can create learning appropriate to the school. Here is a draft "focus planning page"

Everything you need is on the page - as a medium term planning tool:  lesson plans with direct links to resources,folders for listening and responding podcasts for class activities and/or teacher upskilling,phonics and sound spelling activities,reading and writing sheets and activities, listening and responding puzzle it outs with assessment benchmark sheet and listening sound files and reading texts,non-specialist sound files and powerpoint key words with sounds, native speaker video clips,examples of school work (shared photos of real work done linked to the focus), blog posts that suggest "creative alternatives" , cross curricular and optional lessons,resources and activities .... plus downloadable and printable display cards,photos and posters.(The photo at the top of the page is from the examples of school work that we share).We will launch the final version at the conference and do hope that you will like it too!  

Here is your checklist/help list for the Summer term. 

  • Our Summer 2 writing sheets are now on the VLE  in French,Spanish and German for y3,4,5 and 6. The focus is upon - picnic (Year 3), ice creams(Year 4), beach poster (Year 5) and a newspaper style writing sheet (Year 6).Below is a black and white example:   

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  • Take a look at our "Year 6 after SATs"blog post to suggest some one off lessons with Year 6 as the timetable gets more and more complicated in the run up to Summer 
  • Try out our "Colour sketches" activities with Year 3 or Year 4.Can be used in all languages, but in French there is also a short video.I have actually added this to the Year 3 summer 2 Ready Made French this week by the way.
  • Explore the City Photo Booths blog post which may help you think of a ways to explore trhe country and the festivals in cities etcetra and make a Summertime display for school.
  • Maybe during the last half term of Summer ,you will be able to encourage other members of staff to have a go at some simple activities.Some of the ideas here may help."Simply does it."
  • Take a look at the Seasonal Specials Summer 2 folder where you can find ideas and activities to explore special days in the run up to Summer.
  • It's Father's Day mid June and as our Mother's Day videos and poems were such a success, we have created an Es Irene and a C'est Emilie target language recipe poems - how to make a great dad, uncle, friend, brother etc.On the VLE in Seasonal Specials Summer 2 you will also find a Father's Day activity guide and a writing framework to create your own "Father's Day" recipe story strips.  Here is an example of one of the videos on our Youtube channel , that everyone can access.
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  • Take a look at the Tour de France facts video, created by Michelle H (alias Betsy Belle) and shared with us on the VLE.Great for Y6 Summer 2 and a one off lesson at the start of July or as part of the sequence of lessons in Ready Made French Y6 summer 2 on the Tour de France. Will link well across all languages , especially as this year the Tour de France starts in Germany! 
  • Finally watch out for our End of year video clips and creative sheets.These will be put in Seasonal Specials Summer 2 in the next couple of weeks and an alert will be put on FB, Twitter and in the July Coordinators Checklist.