Focus on Boys - strategies to increase motivation and attainment

Wendy Adeniji

MFL Consultant

The New Secondary CurriculumEffective from September 2008, this gives teachers for the first time in many years to experiment with:

•Creativity

•Engagement

•Independence

All of these aspects will serve boys well

Sound recording for Peer and Self-Assessment

Recording voices using sound recording software such as Audacity, to listen back, edit and save as .mp3 files to put onto mp3 players or burn onto CDs

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

This is effective from Y7 up to Y11, and can be used to record songs and raps written by pupils, and to help perfect practise for speaking tests.

Digital Video – ready-made clipsUse of sites such as Youtube (and there TL equivalent

e.g. www.wideos.fr in French) to show DV clipsRecommended site to show clips to encourage

motivation: www.youtube.com/routesintolanguagesFun clips in German from Verstehen sie Spass seriesWasserbett www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtFMylC41VUAlso a favourite German children’s TV series: die wilden

Kerle www.youtube.com/watch?v=a64GU82K-d0Clips from French pop videos, with lesson ideas for

teaching French as a foreign languagewww.tv5.org/TV5Site/enseigner-apprendre-francais/

paroles-clip.php?id=4

Creativity with Drama and Video

Boys love acting and drama, the sillier the better (and usually something that involves someone been gruesomely killed). They can script, act out and film simple scenes, such as in a restaurant or an interview.

Examples from Heathfield School, Sandwell, West Midlands

This was reported in the QCA 2006 document “Good Practice in using ICT in MFL”

Creativity

Create a talking character and record it speaking in the TL using the free site www.voki.com

Create a Powerpoint presentation e.g. based on the Wrld Cup in Germany (Groups called teams, with captains and players with different roles)

Challenge

Boys respond well to challenges

Give them a webquest, which uses a Target Language site and asks them to find information from it, at a level which is achievable.

Using songs with an emphasis on phonic sounds to develop speaking skills

• Play songs not just to learn them, but to listen out for specific sounds

• Empower pupils to read - decoding, independence• Sound-spelling links, phonics

• Improved confidence in pronunciation, reading, listening (deciphering what they hear) and improved writing from awareness of phoneme-grapheme relationship

• Focus on commonly mispronounced words eg. cognates

Using songs with an emphasis on phonic sounds to develop speaking skills

Using authentic resources for motivatione.g. Pigloo Gap-fill

Text sequencing

Grouping words by sound: ‘ai’ , ‘oi’, ‘in’ and ‘I’“Moi, j’aime skier” from www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoaftrf-.html

Find words from www.paroles-musique.com or www.paroles.net

Keeping them going until the end of 9: new forms of accreditation

Asset Languages, which can be linked to other vocational units, be ‘half’ a GCSE or just accredit certain skills.

For example, this is has been used effectively to link to a Horsemanship course at The Grove Language College, Market Drayton (Shropshire); instead of learning parts of the body, parts of the horse are learnt

www.assetlanguages.org.uk

Keeping them going until the end of 9: new forms of accreditation

NVQ Language Units from OCR

The assessment is flexible, when the teacher feels pupils are ready

This has been used effectively with Y9 pupils at Yewlands School, Sheffield, who have then gone on to opt to continue to study a language in KS4

Pupils who do drop the language at the end of Y9 have something to show for 3 years of study

Because of the business-oriented approach, boys in particular feel that the subject is useful to them.

New Curriculum: interdisciplinary links

Links with literacy for example traditional tales – yes, boys in Y7 respond really well to these.

• Suggested activities for Chaperon Rouge (Rotkäppchen or Caperucita Roja):

• Read the class the story and ask them to guess which it is

• Show them the Powerpoint version of the story and ask them to look out for e.g. question words, particular verbs

• Find out some facts about Charles Perrault, the author for homework

New Curriculum: interdisciplinary links

• Look at the Tex Avery version of the story in French• www.dailymotion.com/video/x95ap_tex-avery-le-petit-

chaperon-rouge• Discuss how the tales started off as being moral tales and

other possible endings• Pupils write a new ending• Pupils could also script and in groups create a digital

audio version of the story, possibly for publication as a podcast

Teaching Grammar through context The Three Little Pigs: reinforcing du, de la and des and imperatives

A departmental action plan

• Establish the scale of the problem: compare boys’ and girls’ attainment at the end of KS3

• ‘Market research’ in school. Identify boys’ and girls’ dislikes and learning styles

• Teach in small steps; give pupils regular experience of success

• In marking give constructive feedback on how to improve• Extend the use of rewards/ commendations to

acknowledge boys’ contributions• Use assessment criteria which recognise boys’

contributions – is equal value attached to speaking/ listening as reading/ writing?

• Review profile and image of languages in school. Does the subject have a feminine image?

A departmental action plan

• Think about how IT can be used in a meaningful way with all year groups and classes

• Demonstrate practical value of language learning by inviting male linguists from business/ industry in (your local Chamber of Commerce should be able help)

• Organise trips to the workplace to show languages at work• Look at criteria for setting• Consider single sex setting in the early stages