5 unusual signs of effective languages coordination
Will Lloyd- PLN Director
As director of Primary Languages Network, I have worked with, talked to and trained hundreds (if not thousands) of languages coordinators. I have visited primary schools from every corner of the country and observed coordination from every step of the journey.
I have observed the good, the bad and the ugly. From whole school languages day fiestas, to parent complaints about Spanish being taught after a certain political decision.
At PLN, we have the privilege of seeing awesome action being taken in primary schools to promote language learning. I see passionate individuals fight their corner in the school, only to be left feeling that things still aren’t going so well in regards to languages.
In this post, I have highlighted 5 signs that indicate languages provision may be going better than you think…
1. Staff enjoy teaching languages
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Hitting you with a big one right out of the gates. Do your staff look forward to teaching languages? Do they tell you of something exciting in their lesson? Do you have an open dialogue with your staff regarding languages? Have you trained your staff, or been given time to train staff? If this is the case, then you are doing something right.
Whether or not the lessons they are providing are of the highest quality in terms of phonics/ grammar or literacy, if staff are enjoying languages, then its more than likely that your students are as well. And isn’t that what we are trying to promote in primary school language learning after all?
Of course, we should be looking at improving languages provision, but not at the cost of enjoyment. Have you done a staff survey? Have you done a student survey? Have you done a parent survey? Find out if they are enjoying their language learning, and if not, try to change that. Are you teaching the wrong language? Are you using a redundant scheme? Are your staff confused by what is needed to be taught?
All of these questions can’t be answered on your behalf, but the answer isn’t too far away from being found
2. Students say hello to you in another language
Are your school walks accompanied by the sound of’ Warringtonian’ 10 year olds shouting ‘Hola!’ Or ‘Bonjour’? If the answer is yes, then you obviously are encouraging students to express their interest in languages. You have provided a positive environment in which students feel confident enough to sound different to others in the corridor.
It also is a key indicator of the whole school appreciation of languages. I’m pretty confident that if you answered yes to this point, you will have also answered yes to at least one of these questions as well :
Do teachers do their registers in another language? Do you conduct languages days? Do you have regular meetings with SLT? Do you have a school languages challenge?
3. ‘Expected progress’ isn’t occurring
Yes, you heard it right, if you have spotted that your students aren’t quite up to the curriculum you have chosen (especially UKS2), then there is a good chance you are coordinating effectively.
Nearly all schools that join the network at PLN, start off by realizing that their Y6 class is nowhere near Stage 4 on our scheme of work. Like learning anything, you must start…at the start. It doesn’t matter if you are 8 or 80 years old, if you haven’t learnt Spanish before, you will not know any Spanish.
When coordinators realize that it isn’t essential for all students to be making ‘expected progress’, there is an evident weight being lifted off their already burdened shoulders.
This equally takes some of the pressure off teaching staff, as everybody in the school can start from a lower level, allowing the whole school to learn and develop together
This doesn’t mean that in the long term your school won’t make excellent progress (if planned for properly). It just means, that right now, you have identified that your school isn’t making expected progress. This information isn’t to be hidden or cried over. Instead, identify it in your next plan and use it to inform your next decision.
It is more than likely that if you can identify that your school isn’t where it needs to be, that you have a clear understanding of what is required and have performed assessments or checks to realize this. And that, is excellent coordination.
4. Evidence of work isn’t perfect
I have spoken with many schools worried about the quality and quantity of evidence of work. Worried about accents, spelling mistakes and even paper not being cut correctly.
They are just kids, remember. Any evidence of work from your students is invaluable. Mistakes are fantastic. They show students are really pushing themselves to produce work, and it shows they really are completing it as well.
Yes of course, we want students to take care in their work, especially display work, but what if your class managed to memorise a tongue twister (see example below) one lesson and you were too worried to record it due to a word not being said correctly. You are missing out on so much to show off by worrying about the perfect. Instead, encourage your teachers, and yourself to show off any and all language learning that has been performed with care, enjoyment and interest.
In the Premium Plus videos lessons this week, Year 6 warmed up with a tongue twister 🤪lots of fun and excellent practice of tricky sounds in French (s and ch sounds and all the vowels too) @network_primary pic.twitter.com/Oqp8CyPH6H
— Emilie Woodroffe (@EWoodroffe) January 24, 2022
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Don’t be afraid to present this on your website, in the form of pictures, audio files, videos etc. Put it in scrapbooks, use QR codes around the school, take pride in the learning that goes on in your school, irrelevant of its apparent quality or quantity. Remember that learning should be fun, and that doesn’t always mean perfect.
5. Your languages day planning keeps you from sleeping
Its 2am, and you still have got 50 fake airplane ticket to laminate before you get to aldi first thing to pick up your mini-croissant delivery. You are wondering to yourself why on earth you are doing this.
If this is you, I want you to stop and appreciate the position you have been gifted. If you have the permission to conduct a languages day/ half day/ parents session, then something is going right in your school.
It means SLT and school staff actually care and want to promote language learning in your school. In the short-term, this may have detriment to your sleep and stress cycles, but, it is an opportunity to get the school buzzing about languages. Why not ask a keen TA or member of staff to help you, then next year maybe another. You want your school to see language learning like you do, and there’s no better way to do it than a languages day.
There are many schools that do not support languages days, so believe me when I say, if you are doing one, you are one of the lucky few! So embrace it, make it amazing and inspire your students (and teachers!) for a year of learning languages.
So there you have it, 5 signs, that you may not have thought of, that show good coordination of language learning. Celebrate them!
At Primary Languages Network we support every one of our schools through helping them achieve effective coordination. We hear awesome stories of successes in schools every day. We are passionate about keeping languages fun for students and staff and have schemes of work available to support even the most scared of teachers. If you are curious, why not sign up for a free trial of our video lesson scheme of work, taught by native speaker and experienced teachers.