Vocab, Speaking and Writing Prompts – ‘Take Your Pick’
Useful Vocabulary, Speaking and Writing Prompts for Language Classrooms As a language teacher, I am always on the look out for interesting activities. Especially speaking and writing prompts. Mainly, because I use them to help my students with vocabulary recall, new vocabulary and develop grammar structures in the language classroom. Where Did The ‘Take Your Pick’ Vocabulary Prompts Come From? Last week, I found this ‘I Spy’ worksheet whilst browsing the web. I felt it was a brilliant starting point for revising vocabulary and learning new words and perfect inspiration for speaking and writing. What Is This Activity Useful For? Whilst it’s not quite the traditional guessing game of ‘I…
The Essential List of Websites To Learn French Online for Students
Where To Find Self-Study Websites to Learn French Online? I started teaching French in 2012. Ever since then, I have always been on the lookout for great self-study websites to learn French to share with my students to help improve their French level. I use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram religiously (come and follow me: @theidealteacher), which makes that task really easy. #mfltwitterati and languages teachers all over the world share websites to learn French online on these social networks, and in turn, I share these with my followers, as well as any other useful links I find myself. Thank you to all of you who share the best French resources…
French GCSE Speaking and Writing Handout with 39 ‘Ingredients’, Examples and Translations
Useful French GCSE Speaking and Writing Phrases for Grades 4-9 Sometimes I wonder if we give students too many handouts. Especially when I consider how often they look at them. Or on the other side of the scale, how reliant students can become on using handouts to produce their ‘own’ work. For these reasons, I am reluctant to give out so many handouts in my lessons. Usually only sharing those which I feel my language learners will truly benefit from, or can learn from. This is were this 39 Ingredients to Access Higher Grades in French GCSE Writing and Speaking handout document comes in! It’s a brilliant revision resource as…
Useful Time Fillers for All Language Classes
Use Time Wisely with These Time Fillers for Every Language Classroom From my experience of teaching French and German GCSE and A Levels, I know there is not a lot of need for time fillers. Mainly, because there is so much content to get through! Nevertheless, I believe the time fillers below would be useful for any language classroom, either as a filler activity, or to use as a teaching activity to practise speaking, listening and writing, as well as revision of vocabulary, and translation skills, for example. 1. Chinese Whispers Aim: To communicate a word, sentence or chunk of speech from person to person and see how much of the…
Progress in MFL Writing and Speaking GCSEs
Progress is a key factor for language teachers and students in Modern Foreign Language at KS3 and KS4. Looking to spruce up your Modern Languages display with useful resources to improve students’ speaking and writing for GCSE Modern Languages, including French, Spanish and German? Read about our excellent MFL GCSE Progress Ladder Display for getting students to think about what to include in their speaking and writing examinations for MFL to get those all important marks… Speaking and Writing GCSE Modern Language Examinations The writing and speaking examinations in GCSE Modern Languages count for 50% of the whole exam grade. This is, quite clearly, a significant percentage. However, I have…
KS3 French and GCSE French Writing Marksheet
French Writing GCSE and KS3 Marksheet I started teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in an adult education college in 2009 and although I did set writing homework, it was voluntary. So, I wasn’t obliged to do lots of marking and therefore didn’t appreciate the levels of marking teachers actually have to do. So what changed?! In 2015, my life changed (!) and I began teaching KS3 French and GCSE French in secondary schools. At this point, I was expected to set and mark written homework for 8-11 different classes on a regular basis. Therefore, in the evenings, like many other secondary school language teachers, I spent hours marking…
