p. 1

issue 5 february 2010 welcome welcome to the fifth edition of the mfl sunderland primary newsletter the aim of the newsletter is to keep all primary school mfl teachers and their secondary colleagues informed of the latest developments in primary language teaching nationally regionally and within the local authority previous editions of the newsletter can be found on the mfl sunderland website just follow the link on the homepage if you have any news articles or resources that you would like to share via subsequent issues of the newsletter please email them to clare.seccombe@gmail.com primary languages conference join us for our conference spring into primary languages on tuesday 9th march at the stadium of light registration begins at 12.45 lunch is served at 1.00 and the event begins at 1.30 to finish at 3.45 the conference is for all teachers of primary languages and we are offering five different workshops presenting new vocabulary presenting longer phrases joining in a poem descriptions and conscience alley performing in a foreign language each school represented at the conference will receive between £80 and £100 for supply cover and promoting languages to book your place please email clare.seccombe@gmail.com giving your name school and your two workshop choices before february 23rd festival of languages and cultures the festival of languages and cultures took place at st aidan s in november last year janet mayes language college director brings us this report about two hundred children from nine primary schools and one special school attended the annual festival of languages and cultures at st aidan s catholic school and language college in november their performances were a delight lively french action songs by children from st joseph s english martyrs barbara priestman and a little group of year 2 children from newbottle who amazed us with their confidence and fantastic pronunciation two lovely german action songs from the high school year 5 group and very well rehearsed african and russian songs from st mary s and st cuthbert s we also enjoyed a rousing performance of the haka from st joseph s a tour de paris with the usual fantastic home-made props from st john bosco and a pe routine with all the instructions given in french by year 4 children from st cuthbert s at seaham it was lovely to see such a wide range of performances and we were extremely impressed with the quality of the children s language and pronunciation the standard of the contributions was probably the highest yet showing how confident children and staff at many of our primary schools are becoming about language learning as well as how hard they had worked to prepare for the day the children also enjoyed hot croissants and pain au chocolat at break then attended workshops presented by st aidan s staff where they could try activities in a new language ­ spanish german italian swahili or sign language ­ or learn a christmas story in french thank you to everyone who attended and if you didn t look out for information about next year s event

[close]

p. 2

foreign language assistants flas foreign language assistants can · work alongside class teachers to teach a foreign language · bring an international dimension to the curriculum · update teachers knowledge of target language and culture · inform discussion on citizenship a foreign language assistant can bring · a fresh cultural perspective to language learning · access to authentic teaching materials · invaluable attention to pupils in small groups · improved confidence in communication flas are contracted to work 12 hours a week these hours can be shared by two or three primary schools one school needs to be the lead school and each school has to appoint a mentor for the fla the current cost of an assistant for the core 8-month period of october to may is £6,872 excluding the employer s national insurance contribution the fla allowance for 2010-11 will be announced by the dcsf in august or september and will go up slightly in line with teachers salaries if your school would like a fla for 2010-2011 please email clare.seccombe@gmail.com before march 5th regional cpd linguavision circus www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/northeast/events/1570 this takes place on 22nd march at newcastle university pupils will be able to take part in circusthemed workshops and language taster sessions strategic leadership for languages in primary schools 3rd march at newcastle university this workshop is for primary headteachers ks2 curriculum leaders and mfl co-ordinators there is more information at www.linksintolanguages.ac.uk/events/586 there s a world outside my window using blogs and wikis in mfl teaching 18th march at ian ramsey ce school stockton find out how to use blogs and wikis to enhance and enrich your teaching more information at www.linksintolanguages.ac.uk/events/941 local support groups lsgs find out more information about the lsgs here http tinyurl.com/ye36o54 mr gumpy s outing storytelling and languages this takes place on 24th march 4.30 start at stanley education centre durham using animation in the primary languages classroom renowned animator oscar stringer will be leading this workshop at the dryden centre gateshead on 2nd march 4.00-5.30 carnival of the animals jim mcelwee will be exploring the use of music in the languages curriculum via unit 11 of the qcda scheme of work it takes place on 17th march 4.00-6.00 at the redcar ict centre contacts the primary languages steering group has been compiling a list of mfl co-ordinators in sunderland primary schools whom we can phone or email direct if you have received a copy of this newsletter to your personal email address then we already have your details if you haven t please email clare.seccombe@gmail.com and we ll make sure you are added to the list that way you ll know that you are receiving all the latest news and information about primary languages in sunderland.

[close]

p. 3

what s good on the web saint valentin www.momes.net is an excellent website and a good source of information about valentine s day in french here http tinyurl.com/ygdhx28 find out how to make a card and here http tinyurl.com/yfgey28 find out how to say i love you in lots of languages carnaval tuesday 16th february is the rather sedate shrove tuesday and pancake day in the uk in france it s mardi gras which is celebrated with carnivals one of the most famous carnivals in france is carnaval de nice which starts on 12th february and finishes on 28th find out more at www.nicecarnaval.com where you can also read about the history of the carnival in english there is information about the carnival characters here http tinyurl.com/yc385fd and some online colouring in french http www.coloriage.tv/arlequin-coloriage ideas for learning vocabulary there are lots of ideas on this website www.teachingideas.co.uk/foreignlanguages/contents.htm i think i m going to give living bingo a try international school award isa if you have language teaching up and running in your school you are ideally placed to apply for the foundation tier of the international school award applying is very easy all you have to do is go to the global gateway www.globalgateway.org.uk/default.aspx?page=4174 and click on foundation on the right-hand side the application is online sign the statement of intent and tell them about three activities that your school has done in the last 12 months which have had an international theme you don t need a link school for the foundation isa but if you have one you can jump straight to the intermediate tier look here for more information www.sunderlandschools.org/international/for_schools_isa.htm good luck your free resource this issue s free resource is a bricolage craft activity to practise and reinforce parts of the body pupils colour cut out and stick together the different parts of the robot each of which is labelled the resulting robot could be used as a stimulus for a piece of independent descriptive writing the robots are great for display this activity can be used as an extension of the st aidan s materials unit 4 and the qcda unit 4 portraits it addresses ks2 framework objectives l3.1 l3.3 and l4.4 who s who the primary languages steering group school improvement officer with responsibility for mfl sunderland la support teacher for primary languages language college director at st aidan s primary languages co-ordinator at st aidan s language college sunderland south co-ordinator carole beeston ks2/ks3 mfl teacher at st aidan s primary languages trainer lynn langford ast at washington school washington co-ordinator janet holyoak coalfields co-ordinator mfl co-ordinator at newbottle primary school caoimhe nichomhrai sunderland north co-ordinator mfl co-ordinator at castletown primary sarah dutton st anthony s frances collins st anthony s please contact one of the steering group if you have any questions about primary languages in the city chris campbell clare seccombe janet mayes ruth moreland newsletter produced by clare seccombe ©mfl sunderland 2010 february 2010 http www.sunderlandschools.org/mfl-sunderland

[close]

p. 4

[close]