Using ICT with Hard to Teach Topics in Modern Foreign Languages

Hard to Teach Using ICT in Secondary Modern Foreign Languages Using the internet with Year 10 This video shows how a teacher of Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stages 3 uses technology to enhance the teaching of a topic which is often hard to teach, in particular, to explore the themes of identity, diversity and equality. The video shows ICT being used as a valuable tool to:  work on hard-to-teach topics;  engage students;  develop confidence;  build learning skills;  promote independence;  foster a more flexible approach to teaching and learning;  improve target language competence;  develop creativity;  enable learning to take place in ways which reflect the place that ICT has in the lives of young people nowadays. In the video, students speak enthusiastically of the value and appeal of using ICT in a creative and effective way to improve target language competence and develop learning. The teacher featured in this project strongly supports the deeper integration of ICT into teaching and learning, seeing new technologies as readily-available tools relevant to the lives of young people and with the power to transform learning and enable students to develop their potential.

Fiona Hilton at Kingstone School, Barnsley Teacher Fiona Hilton uses internet sites and common software to explore the themes of racism, equality, diversity and lifestyle in France, the French-speaking world and in the students’ home town of Barnsley. Students work with internet resources to develop their understanding of the theme and extend their linguistic range. The outcome will be the creation of short movies on the theme of diversity or on aspects of the theme, whether in France or in Francophone countries. The students videos are created using Windows Movie Maker and incorporate stills imported by the students in the light of their internet research. Additionally, they record a voice-over commentary using topic-specific language and aiming at the production of higher-level language and complex sentences. Fiona believes strongly in the value of ICT in language teaching. Not only can technology bring learners into contact with authentic resources and extended target language, but students also have the opportunity, as did her students, of making direct contact with their counterparts in the French-speaking world via an inter-school social networking site. Moreover, as new technologies and the internet, with its wealth of materials, including video clips, form such a part of everyday life for today’s students, it seems appropriate, relevant and productive to integrate ICT more fully into teaching and learning. An additional advantage of working closely with ICT is that students develop a more creative, independent, flexible approach to learning, better learning and thinking skills and a greater depth of understanding, all key aspects of the New Secondary Curriculum.

What happened. Over a series of lessons, Fiona uses internet resources to develop awareness of the themes of diversity and equality, and of the Francophone world. At the same time she uses the web to extend the target language of her students and to develop specific language learning skills, for example learning to look for cognates. Students work with dictionaries or online translators to engage with difficult language and to extend their linguistic range. They explore diverse aspects of the themes, some students opting to focus on smoking habits in France compared to England and others exploring the history and life of Francophone countries such as Burkina Faso. Peer to contact was established using a protected inter-school social networking site, ‘The Big Challenge Club’. All work collaboratively to build their movie presentation with Windows Movie Maker.

Useful links for this topic S.O.S. Racisme site at www.sos-racisme.org/ Big Challenge inter-school ‘Pen pal’ Club at www.thebigchallengeclub.com/

Other useful links CILT-ALL: Languages ICT: www.languages-ict.org.uk CILT, The National Centre for Languages : www.cilt.org.uk ALL, Association for Language Learning; www.all-languages.org.uk/ BECTA: www.becta.org.uk