Read Polyglot

Transcription

Read Polyglot

No. 37, December 2012
Learn, live, love languages
Polyglot
Issue No. 37, December 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Jasmine Langdale
1
David Hall
2
Regional Officers
4
Michelle Pinkney
8
Steve Andrews
10
James Donaldson
11
TPDL EXTENSION COURSE
Hilary Clark
13
‘STAGE’ AT CAVILAM
Julia Brown
14
Martin Weren
17
Rachel Austen
18
Raquel Marty
19
Anne Jacques
21
Koichi Shimahara
22
Peter Low
24
XiaoKang Zhou
26
David Hall
28
James Donaldson
29
MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT
NZALT REGIONAL ROUND-UP
Exchanges and Trips
TASTE OF FRANCE
DISCOVERING GERMANY
NOUMÉA COMBINED SCHOOL TRIP
LANGUAGE IMMERSION AWARD
VISIT TO CHINA
AFS EDUCATOR EXCHANGE
Tools for the Classroom
FILE MANAGEMENT MADE EASY
MOTIVATING WITH MANGA
HOW OFTEN ARE COGNATES FALSE?
SIMPLIFYING THE LEARNING PROCESS
NZALT Announcements
EUNICE BEVERIDGE AWARD
NZALT WEBSITE UPDATE
General Articles
LEARNING AT CASHMERE
STUDENTS VIE FOR OSKAR
STUDENT EXTINCTION
KEEPING IT ALIVE
STRENGTHENING SKILLS
FROM CHINA TO CATALONIA
ICTs AND LEARNING LANGUAGES
LIFELONG LEARNING
Linda Tappenden
30
Lorraine Gray
32
Crystelle Jones
33
Bronwyn Wiltshire
35
Jacquie Johnson
37
Artur Vidal & Isabel Minguell
41
Pascale Hyboud-Peron
44
Philippa Doig
47
Note : Polyglot is published annually in electronic format and is available to
members of NZALT via the website http://nzalt.org.nz/ . This copy was compiled
from the online version. Photos and images are at screen resolution and
hyperlinks are still contained in the text.
EDITORIAL
Welcome to the 2012 edition of Polyglot. This is the fourth year I’ve edited Polyglot and
with more than 20 articles this time around it’s the biggest edition I’ve worked on.
This issue features technology tips such as OneNote, teaching ideas - such as using
manga to motivate students to learn Japanese, and teaching Chinese through songs
and rhymes. We also have an interesting article by a University of Canterbury lecturer,
on false cognates and encouraging language students to guess foreign words. There are
a number of articles on exciting overseas student trips, and teacher development trips
overseas too. We also have an article from as far-fetched as Catalonia (Spain), which
gives us an insight into foreign language teaching/learning in a different context:
Chinese students learning Catalan. There’s an inspiring article on reigniting your
passion for language teaching, reports on competitions, and much, much more to keep you entertained
during the holidays.
Thank you to the contributors for making this year’s Polyglot possible.
Happy summer reading!
Jasmine Langdale
Polyglot editor
NZALT Polyglot, No 37, 2012
1
POLYGLOT 2012
From the President
By David Hall
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou mou koutou mahi i ngā reo.
For many NZALT members, the highlight of the year for our organisation was the
NZALT Biennial Conference held in Rotorua in early July. Laytee George and her
committee of language conveners put together a wonderful event under the umbrella
title of Value All Languages – Universal Education for Students, held at the Waiariki
Institute of Technology. Feedback, both informal and formal, from participants was
very positive. The hospitality and warm welcome shown by the tangata whenua were
impressive, especially commented on by the visitors from Australia and Finland.
Thanks must go to all those involved in the organisation and running of this
conference, a fine event in the long-standing tradition of NZALT conferences.
At the AGM in Rotorua it was an honour for us to be able to recognise the contributions of four of our longstanding members, through the presentation of two awards.
The Eunice & Peter Beveridge Award for Outstanding Leadership in Languages was presented jointly
to Jeanne Gilbert and Jo Guthrie. Both have served as language teachers and language facilitators in
their respective regions for many years, supporting the work of languages teachers in schools, organising
conferences and professional development opportunities and inspiring many teachers and students through
their work.
The award of Life Membership was presented to Judy Lafdal at
the AGM in Rotorua and to Sue Sutherland, at a special
function held in Wellington in October. Judy has worked
tirelessly for many years as a teacher of French in the
Canterbury region. Sue’s connection with NZALT goes back to
the inaugural meetings of our organisation and she has served
locally and nationally in a number of roles since then. Both Judy
and Sue are well-deserving recipients of this recognition.
The Executive of NZALT has seen some major changes in
personnel this year. I would like to recognise most heartily the
three out-going regional officers for their service, time and
energy to serving the language teachers in their regions.
Catherine Linnen (Auckland), Philippa Doig (Wellington) and
Marie-Eve Therrien (Canterbury) have all contributed in
different ways to the success of NZALT as an organisation and
on behalf of all members we thank you for this. In last year’s
Polyglot I paid tribute to the work of Adèle Scott, who finished
as senior vice-president in July. I acknowledge again the
tremendous contribution of leadership Adele made to NZALT
during her years on Executive.
We welcome the four new members to Executive, who have
joined in this latter half of the year. They are Martin East
(Junior Vice-President), Jenna Crowley (Regional Officer for Auckland/Northland), Margaret Gallaher
(Regional Officer for Victoria) and Michelle Pinkney (Regional Officer for Canterbury/Nelson/West Coast).
And to all members of the Executive team, I offer my thanks for the ongoing work, both seen and unseen,
which you do for our organisation.
NZALT continues to work on a number of fronts to represent the needs of language teachers. Dee Edwards
(NZALT Secretary) and I represented NZALT at the Subject Association Forum in July, run by PPTA. This is a
valuable and interesting annual event, allowing subject associations to keep in touch, work together and
maintain contact with developments in relation to teaching and learning in our respective areas. Our
ongoing work with the Ministry of Education and NZQA has meant that the voice of language teachers has
2
been heard “in high places”, particularly important as there are fewer subject specialists in these bodies
now. We will work hard to maintain these channels of communication. For you as members, it means that
concerns need to be passed on to your NZALT Exec through your regional officer.
On a very practical note, members will receive their invoice for 2013 subscription in March next year, rather
than at the end of January. This is because we are shifting the financial cycle for membership subscriptions
to match the financial year we work with. NZALT is no longer GST registered so the subscription rate on the
invoice will be reduced.
I conclude with my final statement from this year’s AGM and in so doing, wish you a restful summer break, a
happy Christmas and a successful 2013.
“And finally to you our members. Please remember that the identity, the life-blood of our organisation is
you. NZALT is run by you, for you and for your students. Let us never forget the importance of our work
with language learners - the rich value that it brings in helping them establish and understand their identity.
This notion is best summed up in the words of our Learning area in the NZ Curriculum document:
Ko tou reo, ko toku reo,
te tuakiri tangata
Tihei uriuri, tihei nakonako.
Your language and my language are expressions of our identity.
May our descendants live on and our hopes be fulfilled.”
David Hall
NZALT President
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NZALT REGIONAL
ROUNDUP 2012
Auckland/Northland
By Catherine Linnen, out-going Regional Officer
The Auckland/Northland NZALT branch has undergone some changes this year. The Regional Officer role has
moved from Catherine Linnen to Jenna Crowley. The AGM was held on May 16, but regrettably was not well
attended, with numbers not reaching a quorum. At this meeting, Doug Anderson tendered his resignation as
president of the branch and to date, we have not been able to find anyone for this position. Stephanie
Mortimore continues as secretary and Catherine Linnen as treasurer. We thank Doug for his leadership and
service to teachers in this region.
Some of the other events in the region include:
•
•
•
•
•
A meeting with ILEP advisors on May 8 and 9.
On July 6, ILEP (in conjunction with NZALT Auckland) a Japanese teachers’ day was held using the Japan
Foundation presenters and presentations from Conference as many Auckland Japanese teachers were
unable to attend Conference. This was well attended.
Although not officially organised by NZALT Auckland some Japanese teachers took their students for the
annual ILW zoo trip.
We wish Wayne Lynch a good recovery from his major illness and operation in term 4.
Auckland/Northland schools were well represented in the prize winners in the NZALT Student Video
Competition. Kerikeri High School was first in the years 7-10 section and Westlake Boys’ High
School was first in the years 11-13 section.
Catherine Linnen, is Auckland’s out-going Regional Officer
Jenna Crowley is Auckland’s in-coming Regional Officer
Waikato/Bay of Plenty
By Christine Williams, Regional Officer
The first event in the Waikato area was the French film
festival held in Hamilton which ran between March 22
and April 4. There were four films suitable for secondary
students, with Le Guerre Bouton also suitable for
intermediate/middle-school level.
The French teachers ran a French camp in term 2 this year.
As usual this was very successful. In fact this camp is such
a popular camp, that numbers have had to be capped at 140
students and 20 teachers.
In May members met at St Peters to meet the 2012 ILEP
National Advisory team - Wang Yu, Glenda Palmer and Pablo
Mateu García, the new Chinese, French and Spanish advisers and Bernd Schliephake and Tomoko Semba, the
German and Japanese advisers. The teachers who attended found out about the latest resources,
scholarships and support available for teachers. There was also an opportunity to share ideas about activities
for International Languages Week.
In July, Rotorua hosted the National NZALT conference. The conference venue was Waiariki Institute of
Technology with the Opening Ceremony and Conference dinner at the Novotel Rotorua. The Keynote speaker
was Professor Bob Elliott, director Confucius Institute, Queensland Institute of Technology, Brisbane,
Australia, who spoke about "Teaching of second languages – the imperative for a timeless rationale". I hope
those teachers who attended the Rotorua conference in the July holidays enjoyed both the array of
presenters and workshops and the wonderful sights and sounds of Rotorua. We extend a huge thank you to
Laytee George and her committee who worked hard to organise the conference.
We had our AGM at the November meeting and a Christmas dinner in early December at a Hamilton
restaurant.
As always I would like to thank Jeanne Gilbert for her dedication and commitment to language teachers and
language learners in our area. It was wonderful to see her awarded The Peter and Eunice Beveridge Award
for Outstanding Leadership in Languages at the Conference. This was such well-deserved recognition.
Massey
By James Donaldson, Regional Officer
Changes in Massey: Our region has changed this year. Massey is split between PDL regions with Hawke’s
Bay as part of the Central North and Dannevirke and the rest of the region with the Central South.
The Manawatu Gorge has reopened making our region more easily accessible.
I have heard little from the rest of the region but am always available to members upon request
NZFF: New Zealand French Film Festival was hosted by Cinema Gold in both Palmerston North and Havelock
North so French teachers have been encouraged to take school groups. There were a few films that targeted
for high school students. The Alliance Française also provided support material for teachers to study the
films in class. Titles aimed at students were: Une Vie de Chat, La Guerre des Boutons, and Le Fils à Jo which
featured a local Hawke’s Bay man as the All Black.
Best Practice Workshops: Napier/Hastings and Palmerston North. It was good to have Shirley Bain come
and run a local workshop here but disappointing that not all teachers who had subscribed attended in
Hawke’s Bay. I am hoping we will be able to have another one locally without travelling further as they past
numbers is what NZQA base workshops on.
Certificates of Excellence: A total of 117 students in Massey were awarded Certificates of Excellence over
most language areas. These certificates were for eighteen member teachers. Remember it is not too late to
pay for your 2012 subs so that your 2012 students will be eligible for NZALT’s Certificates of Excellence early
next year. The turnover will be even quicker next year as we hope to have certificates back to schools before
the end of term 1. For further information visit: www.nzalt.org.nz/events/index.shtml#coa.
Cluster Meetings - Hawke’s Bay: First meeting: Featured benefits of NZALT membership and how school
subs work. The other meetings have been like a seminar and I have enjoyed the frank and fun discussions
that we have had. We have shared resources and ideas for class work, useful online language resources and
ideas to help feed back and forward to students for internals. Here is a sample of online magazines which
were a find for me: http://www.elimagazines.com/www/en/magazines.html in European languages, ESL and
Latin.
There has been low turnout to meetings which are held on week 8 of each term. Perhaps a reason for the
low turnout could be that members are feeling supported by PLD and other PD that is being offered? Or it is
a busy time of term?
Since our local cluster meetings have been in Hastings/Havelock North this year we will aim to have a social
get together just after school breaks up somewhere in this city. On our plan we are meeting at Napier Boys’
High School in 2013.
TPDL Hawke’s Bay: We have benefitted from PD with Dee Edwards and/or Lesley Parris co-ordinating
interesting and thought provoking PD as part of PLD including: “Making Literacy explicit in Learning
Languages Programmes, Learning Languages: NCEA Aligned Standards Level 2/3 and Middle Leadership in
Learning Languages Workshop.
There was also a local Jumbo Day when Shirley Bain held an NZQA workshop (see above) and Dee and
Lesley held a concurrent workshop.
ILW – A number of schools celebrated International Languages Week as an opportunity to showcase
themselves in their school community. For the first time I combined with Woodford House for a lunch to look
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back on our Nouméa trip. Woodford House was visited by a New Caledonian school group on the Friday. See
my article about the trip in this year’s Polyglot.
AFS Immersion Awards – The latest AFS newsletter has a report from Harrison Faumuina, a Japanese
student from Awatapu College in Palmerston North on page 3.
Two Hawke’s Bay teachers are away at the moment on their awards: Geoff Styles of Hereworth Boys’ School
and Marian Campbell of Lindisfarne College.
The list of recipients of the awards for 2013 - both teachers and students has been printed in the below link.
I am only teacher from this region who has received to France in September 2013:
http://www.afs.org.nz/documents/site_5/category_7/Sept_2012_LIA_Newsletter.pdf
Massey LangSem 2013 – At this stage we plan to have Massey LangSem in Hastings at Lindisfarne College.
If you would like to be on the committee please contact me. We are planning to have NZALT National AGM
at our LangSem.
Victoria
By Margaret Gallaher, Regional Officer
•
•
•
•
•
There have been few meetings this year since Philippa Doig used to combine meetings with the
regional adviser at Accent Learning and that advisory position no longer exists.
NZQA Best Practice workshop: This workshop took place on June 27 and it was very well
attended. It was an excellent opportunity to come to grips with the new level 2 standards, in
particular the interaction standards.
A former member of the Victoria region, Sue Sutherland, was presented with a Life Membership
Award in recognition of her career in NZALT and in language teaching.
NZALT will be holding an end-of-year meeting to discuss feedback to NZQA on NCEA exams and
this feedback will be sent in a hard copy to Liz Scally.
I would like to acknowledge the time and energy that Philippa put into her role as Regional Officer
For a number of years – she will be a difficult person to follow on from.
Philippa Doig is Victoria’s out-going Regional Officer
Margaret Gallaher is Victoria’s in-coming Regional Officer
Canterbury/Nelson/West Coast
By Michelle Pinkney, Regional Officer
I began my role as Regional Officer for Canterbury in July this year and would like to thank Marie-Eve
Therrien for her enthusiastic work as our RO during the past couple of years and also for her support.
In March, Pascale Hyboud-Peron visited a number of schools in the area (organised by GSCN) to assist
teachers and students in setting up and using MyPortfolio.
Best Practice Workshops, held in June were very well attended and Jo Guthrie and Jeni Lemberg ran
additional workshops this year, which focused primarily on developing external examination skills, developing
speaking skills and preparing suitable internal portfolio tasks for students.
The highlight of the year for many of us was the Rotorua Conference and PD awards from the region assisted
a number of teachers to attend. It was a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues from other schools
across the country and meet new people too.
The Japanese teachers organised, in conjunction with university staff, a day of workshops for their students
during the university holidays in June. Unfortunately, after a great deal of preparation, the day could not go
ahead because of a snow storm which brought Christchurch to a halt! Canterbury University is keen to work
with schools to promote language learning and have created a “liaison” role for a member of the languages
department. University staff offered to visit schools and speak to students about tertiary courses available in
languages. The students at Christchurch Girls’ High School found the presentation by the Linguistics
department fascinating. It is also hoped that similar workshops to the one planned for Japanese students,
can be organised for all languages in 2013.
6
4
A number of activities were organised throughout the year by the local Alliance Française which were well
attended and very successful.
A French “Masterchef” competition was held in July at Christchurch Girls’ High school, attended by six schools
(the maximum possible in the kitchen - more schools had wanted to take part) and in September, a culture,
history and language quiz at the Alliance premises - five schools, each with teams of three to five students,
took part.
French teachers were treated to an afternoon tea in September by the regional NZAFT. A great opportunity
for French teachers to share ideas and concerns; the portfolios were a hot topic of conversation.
Marie-Eve Therrien is Canterbury/Nelson/West Coast’s out-going Regional Officer
Michelle Pinkney is Canterbury/Nelson/West Coast’s in-coming Regional Officer
Otago/Southland
By Kirstyn Mawdsley, Regional Officer
It really does just seem to get busier and busier, and 2012 has been no exception. Although it has been a
quiet year, in terms of NZALT meetings, this doesn’t mean that we as teachers haven’t been busy. The
following is a brief overview of what’s been happening down south.
•
The annual French language immersion day for teachers and students in Dunedin took place again. This
ran “Amazing Race” style and was very successful. The Japanese teachers also ran an immersion day
too, which was equally as successful.
•
The German teachers and students had a great time again at German camp. This really is a fantastic
opportunity for the students to be immersed in German, especially when the likes of the Goethe Institut
are there pulling out all the stops and teaching us everything there is to know about the Brothers Grimm
and their fairytales.
•
International Languages Week saw many schools busy “advertising” the great work that their
international languages’ departments do. There was salsa dancing, cooking classes, film evenings,
quizzes at the University of Otago and various other exciting events.
•
Chris Durrant and Heike Cebulla-Elder went off to France on Language Immersion awards and thoroughly
enjoyed this amazing opportunity.
•
There has been PD, revised achievement objectives, outcry over examinations and some more PD. It
seems like this is just the same cycle that happens every year. Thank goodness we have the support of
NZALT and our colleagues though!
We have a great team on the Dunedin branch’s executive, with Philippa Kruger, Robyn Brook, Jessica Ware
and Carla Joint, but we NEED you! It’s time for some others to step on up and get involved. If you’re
interested in taking on any of the jobs within the branch please e-mail me:
kirstyn.mawdsley@mcglashan.school.nz. We would love to hear from you.
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TASTE OF FRANCE
Textbook comes alive
By Michelle Pinkney
Teacher in charge of French, Christchurch Girls’ High School
On Friday, September 21, a very excited group of
24 girls from Christchurch Girls’ High School gathered at the airport to board the Emirates flight to
Paris. After many months of counting down the
days on the classroom whiteboard, the day of
departure had finally arrived. Many of the girls had
been planning their trip to France since beginning
French in Year 9, knowing that we run a trip every
two years.
Judy Lafdal, Akli Lafdal and I were the accompanying teachers for the group. The students
ranged from years 11 to 13
and had been preparing for
the
trip
with
weekly
“homestay French” classes at
lunchtime to prepare them
for such eventualities as,
asking to do some washing,
or
politely
declining
an
aperitif!
cafés, and amazed by hearing the French language
being spoken all around them. Unanimously, Paris
was a highlight of the trip. Visiting everything they
had seen only in the textbook; the Louvre, Sacré
Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysées,
was an incredible experience for all. Some fell in
love with art, having visited the Musée D’Orsay and
the Louvre, and others vowed to return for an
opportunity to truly relish the monuments of Paris,
after their appetites were whetted with a lightning
12-hour tour of the tourist attractions. As Judy so
aptly put it, the French trip is just the “hors
d’oeuvre” and we hope the
girls will one day return to
France for the rest of the
meal.
After just two days in Paris,
into the mini vans we went to
begin our road trip of the
country. We had hired three
mini vans; Akli, Judy and I
Groups of parents and girls
each drove a van and had a
had organised a variety of
group of eight girls (and their
fundraising
activities
and
luggage!).
Travelling
in
many girls had worked in
convoy (and attracting cupart-time jobs to fund their
rious looks along the way),
trip. We were extremely
Mont St Michel, Bayeux and
fortunate to receive a very
the tapestry and the Norgenerous grant from the New
mandy beaches were first on
Zealand/France
Friendship
the agenda. The opportunity
Hors d’oeuvre: A visit to France gave 21
Fund, and extend our sincere
to swim in the English ChanChristchurch Girls’ High school students a
thanks to them. The grant
nel was snapped up by the
taste of France.
was made in recognition of
hardier members of the group
the close bond that has been created during the
– it was too chilly for some, but their opportunity
past six years between CGHS and Jean Sturm
for a swim was to come later when we were on the
School in Strasbourg.
Mediterranean coast and melting under a hot sun
with temperatures of more than 25 degrees.
Paris! We finally arrived at 10.30pm, more than
nine hours later than expected because of delays
on the journey. The students already showed signs
of what a fantastic group of girls they were, when
they coped extremely well with the arduous flight
involving, at one stage, 19 hours in the same seat!
Giverny and Monet’s garden was next, followed by
Versailles and the Châteaux of the Loire valley. The
historical and cultural attractions visited so far had
appealed to the whole group, much to the
teachers’ delight!
After a good night’s sleep we were raring to go –
no time for jet lag! Off on to the metro and up to
the top of the Eiffel Tower where we were treated
to the most magnificent view of the capital city.
The group was awestruck by their first glimpses of
everything French, from street signs to Parisian
Then came Strasbourg and here, nerves set in as
the girls prepared to meet their host families for
the first time. Thanks to social networking and
breaking the ice via email contact, the initial
meeting with the Strasbourg billets went very
smoothly, despite the girls’ nervousness. One by
8
one, the girls greeted their French families (embracing la bise in true French style!) and off they
went for a weekend of immersion in their host
families. The girls were treated to a variety of
different activities by their families, including trips
to nearby Germany and delicious restaurant meals.
One student even went back to Paris on the TGV
for a family party!
During our stay in Strasbourg, we took a river tour
of the city, experienced French school life, visited a
medieval castle, went to the European Council and
drove through the wine-growing region of Alsace.
We witnessed the grapes being harvested and saw
individual growers begin pressing their wine in
picturesque villages. We learned lots of historical
facts from our guides – sometimes quirky or even
gruesome. For example, the Redwood tree in
Colmar which was given as a present to Napoleon
on the birth of his son, or the bridge in Strasbourg
from where suspected witches were thrown – if
they drowned, they were innocent and if they
lived, they were confirmed as witches and executed!
One evening the group was asked to perform as
part of a Three Continents celebration, along with a
visiting school from India. We felt incredibly proud
of our wonderful girls as they spoke clearly and
confidently,
describing
photographs
on
a
PowerPoint display. At various times during their
presentation they sang (beautifully) and we
received
numerous
compliments
on
their
performance later in the evening.
After six days, off we went again. The host-family
experience was by all students, and many have
become firm friends with their billets, who are
coming to Christchurch with their school group in
February next year.
Before heading to Vienne for another host-family
experience, we visited the Hospices of Beaune and
wandered through the picturesque town. Here the
girls ate snails in a Brasserie; opinions varied!
More culinary delights awaited us at a hotel school
in Lyon where we enjoyed a gastronomic lunch:
several courses, including cheese of course, and a
dessert - a work of art. In Vienne, the girls did us
proud once again with a second rendition of the
presentation of New Zealand and CGHS. This time,
they were divided into small groups and performed
in front of several English classes at the school –
not an easy task but they took it in their stride.
More singing was required for the mayor at a Town
Hall reception, and this was much appreciated by
the dignitaries present. We even featured in the
local paper and the New Zealand flag flew outside
the Town Hall in our honour!
Once again the host-family experience was very
worthwhile, although in some cases much more
challenging than in Strasbourg because the
students had to rely much more on their French as,
this time, the parents did not speak English as well
as the Strasbourg parents.
More history – this time Roman as we visited the
Roman Theatre in Orange which has the most
complete stage wall of any Roman theatre, and the
amphitheatre at Arles. I have a very fond memory
of us all sitting, on a balmy evening, in the square
outside the Café de Nuit (painted by Van Gogh
during his time in Arles).
The further south we headed, the warmer the
weather became. By the time we were in Arles and
visiting Aigues Mortes, it was very warm indeed
and so several visits to the beach with the
opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean were
needed! We loved the pink flamingos and bought
salt from a local salt-harvesting business.
All too soon we were in Nice and it was time once
again to board the Emirates flight back home.
What a wonderful time we all had. Seeing the girls
trying out their French and falling in love with the
country is always heart-warming for us, the
teachers. The special memories from each of the
trips we have taken will stay with us forever.
9
DISCOVERING GERMANY
Heretaunga College school trip
By Steve Andrews
ESOL teacher, freelance writer, Wellington
Flying the flag for New Zealand recently were
students from Upper Hutt's own Heretaunga
College on their trip to Germany. Visiting a myriad
of magnificent venues including Berlin, Potsdam,
Hamburg and Heidelberg, they did themselves and
the rest of us proud. For many of the students this
was their first trip overseas; for others, their first
time on an airplane. Yet they took a total of four
flights and 26 hours in the air like veteran flyers.
coast. Then it was on to Heidelberg in Germany's
affluent southwest, an impressive city from where
it is easy to explore numerous other beautiful
towns such as Speyer and the Gothic, Baroque and
Romanesque cathedrals and castles strewn along
the river Rhine and its tributaries. Making their
own chocolate at a factory in Stuttgart was, as one
might expect for teenagers, enormously popular.
In all three centres the students stayed with host
During the first week they were based near Berlin,
families. They sometimes accompanied their peers
in Luckenwalde, home town of tour leader and
to lessons at the local schools and joined their host
organiser
Babette
families on day trips to
Moehricke,
German
sites such as Martin
teacher at Heretaunga
Luther's historic home
College. From here the
town of Wittenberg,
students
had
easy
enjoyed river cruises,
access to such iconic
scenic tours, an icehockey match and even
sites as the Reichstag,
Brandenburg Gate and
popped across the border
to
Strasbourg,
Checkpoint
Charlie.
The Cecilienhof, where
France.
the Potsdam Treaty
Deutsche Welle, the
was signed at the end
German cultural chanof World War II, was
nel, interviewed some
ano-ther
opportunity
of the Heretaunga stufor a photo shoot as
dents for their Discover
Iconic site: Heretaunga College students in front of
was
their
trip
to
Germany programme.
the historic Reichstag building in Berlin.
Germany's answer to
Watch the footage on:
Versailles, the breathhttp://www.dw.de/program/discover-germany/staking Sans Souci Palace.
7856-9798.
There was more lively entertainment in Hamburg
On the final night the Kiwi kids delighted their
during their second week with white-knuckle rides
hosts by performing the waiata and haka, inviting
at a theme park to rival anything on Australia's
the locals to join them after some tuition. The
Gold Coast. Opportunities to practise their
evening was the culmination of a highly enjoyable
language skills, shop and enjoy German food and
and successful trip, though everyone agreed it was
culture were plentiful, including a marzipan factory
also great to come home to Aotearoa.
in the late-medieval town of Lubeck on the Baltic
10
NOUMÉA COMBINED SCHOOL TRIP
Learning takes to the streets
By James Donaldson
Teacher in charge of French, Iona College, Hawke’s Bay
For the first time I went with another school on an
overseas trip. Woodford House and Iona College
have long been rivals over the years. More recently
they have tried to do things together. Sylvie Plant
and I are the French teachers and along with the
Woodford Food Tech teacher we took a group of 19
students to Nouméa.
It was an ideal solution for me since I only had
three students interested in going. Both groups got
on extremely well and their homestays were really
good. We had the students during the day after
their lesson at French language school CREIPAC
(Centre de Rencontres et d'Echanges Internationaux du Pacifique). There were lots of
activities for them to do in the afternoon and if you
have not considered going there before the exchange rate is good. Our students paid around
$4000 for eight days but that included lessons at
CREIPAC, homestays, airfares and transfers.
Tempting treats: These mouthwatering morsels were
hard to ignore at the pâtisserie in the Quartier Latin.
The Tchou Tchou train was a good way to get
around and I would recommend if possible that you
take it straight after lunch if you go to CREIPAC as
it is one of the few ways of getting to the Parc
Forrestier.
arrange transfers you have to use public transport
to get into town. It got us used to “bus surfing” our
way around town. There were a few characters on
the bus including a drunken Melanesian man who
bemused the girls.
Baie des Citrons has modernised and has a lot of
new shopping complexes. Amorino is a nice
icecream shop where they put the petal-like scoops
on the cone so you can have several flavours in the
one cone. Most of the hotels are here and in Anse
Vata. You’ll be pleased to know a lot of the hotels
now have “WIFI gratuit” along with McDonalds and
Quick. You can use your iPod or laptop. Nice
swimming but the locals seemed to be wearing
wetsuits in swimming which was surprising for us.
Phare Amédée - This was nice even in the rain.
Male teachers beware you may be summoned up
to the dance floor and dressed in a coconut bra
and grass skirt much to the entertainment of your
students! The feast was worth it though and since
we went in July it was nice having warm weather.
Centre culturel de Tjibaou - We arrived in time
for lunch, but it was a mad rush as they didn’t
seem too organised for big groups. Bougna – a
national dish - was nice to try there. Adults find an
afternoon here interesting but some students had
enough after half an hour. You would need a quiz
sheet to help teenagers benefit from the centre.
Buses - The bus timetable has recently changed.
We bought books of tickets for the students from
the offices near Place des Cocotiers. This was the
only downside of going to CREIPAC; if you don’t
Kenu In Carrefour - This was an interesting
afternoon trip to Dumbéa by bus. It is a massive
Carrefour and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Cinema/aquarium - The advantage of having
three teachers was we could have two options. The
group who went to the aquarium was also going to
go swimming but the weather was a bit cool so we
went shopping along Baie des Citrons instead. Anse
Vata around where Le Pacifique was is good too,
especially a half-circle shopping centre next to la
route de l’Anse Vata called La Promenade, which
has nice shops and a boulangerie. The other group
enjoyed seeing Âge de glace III and even though
they didn’t understand all of it they had a good
time.
11
Something stolen - The only problems our group
careful after that.
encountered was that in two separate incidents
Quartier Latin - A great place for surprise food
both French teachers had their wallets stolen; one
places. We stayed at Casa Del Sol which straddles
was taken from in front of them when packing
between Anse Vata and Place des Cocotiers. It is a
groceries and the other pickpocketed in Place des
modern-looking apartment block with unusual
Cocotiers.
We
minor defects and
learned that the
staff
who
don’t
Police
Nationale
communicate
very
write up the insurwell. But it does have
ance
statements
a nice big living area
but
the
Police
and a kitchen. We
Municipale
also
mainly ate at la
need to be informed
Crèperie
Bretonne.
in case the wallet is
We also found a nice
handed in. We were
eatery,
George’s
fortunate the superTraiteur, in the Quarmarket
had
a
tier Latin, in the
security camera and
street behind Mcthe supervisor was
Donalds. We shared
very good at getting
a meal for three
back in touch with
costing the same as
us. I learned you
one at a restaurant.
can
get
money
Also in Quartier Latin
quickly if you need
there were top-notch
Happy bunch: The Iona Woodford combined group at the
to via Western Union
restaurants and an
Tjibaou cultural centre.
transfer but Société
amazing
pâtisserie
Générale is one of the few banks that do them in
nearby too. It is a shame there are no buses at
several locations in Nouméa. At least our passports
night or it would have been a more interesting
were not near our wallets! Our students were ultraeating destination.
12
TPDL EXTENSION COURSE
Insight into French education
By Hilary Clark
Teacher in charge of French, John Paul College, Rotorua
Last year I took part in the TPDL programme
(Teacher Professional Development in Languages).
This is a year-long programme with a languagelearning component, a level 3 block course at
Auckland University on language-teaching methodology and in-classroom support throughout. It is
the single most useful professional development
course I have ever done.
classes run entirely in the target language even if
the teaching was a lot more formal than we are
used to: very little group work, a lot of full class
activities with questions to the whole class.
Discipline was strict and students were there to
learn, although the reluctant ones still kept a low
profile in the back row. But there was no slouching
and keeping a low profile meant doing it quietly.
As a follow-up to the course, I was invited to a
TPDL Extension course in New Caledonia in the
October school holidays. There were 10 of us, all
former participants, and the course was organised
by Nathalie Bourneville from Auckland University
and Glenda Palmer, the
French advisor. The
aim was to further consolidate language skills
and give us an insight
into French education.
I had done a French
degree and been an
assistante in France,
but that was a very
long time ago and I
was looking forward to
being
immersed
in
French for two weeks.
The teachers were friendly, busy and seemed very
motivated. They teach fewer hours than us, don’t
have to be at school unless they’re teaching (and
there really isn’t anywhere to work for them) and
don’t do duty, so it seems less pressured. But
school days are long
and classes can finish
at 5 or 6pm. In addition, there is a lot of
assessment.
The weekend was spent with the host families
(mine took me down to the most southern point of
La Grande Terre), through really interesting volcanic scenery with bright red soil, and the huge
nickel mine that we passed on the way seemed
really out of place in this very empty landscape.
And then to Phare Amedée, where we finally felt
we were on holiday. The sky was blue, the water
was calm and the buffet and Tahitian dancing were
as good as I remembered from five years before.
We saw reef sharks while snorkelling and lots of
other brightly coloured fish.
For the first week, we observed in schools for half
or full days and spent the afternoons at the
university having French classes. The observations
were great, although school does start at 7am! I
followed a mix of English, French, social studies,
maths and science. It was pleasing to see English
This was a really good language refresher course
and gave us the opportunity to make connections
in the French-speaking world through possible
exchanges at a school or individual level, and the
opportunity to find new resources. Un grand merci
to Nathalie and Glenda for organising this course.
The second week was
spent at the university
with two full days of
French. This was the
least successful part of
the course as we were
all at different levels of
French and it was hard
for the teacher. One
We stayed with French
day was devoted to a
families – mine lived
history of languages in
right on the Baie des
New Caledonia and
Beautiful sunset: The magnificent Baie des Citrons.
Citrons. I really enlanguage teaching mejoyed my time with
thodology; on the final
them. Being able to swim every day was a huge
day of classes we had to give a short presentation
bonus, of course.
on a topic of our choice.
13
‘STAGE’ AT CAVILAM
Teaching and learning with TV5 Monde
By Julia Brown
French teacher, Dilworth School, Auckland
I was fortunate enough to be funded (by my
school) to attend a “stage” at CAVILAM in Vichy
during the July holidays. I had enrolled in Teaching
& Learning with TV5 Monde, which I had selected
from the huge variety of courses available at
CAVILAM. I was looking for current sources of AV
materials, particularly for using with my senior
classes, and my research had shown that there
was a wealth of material available. I had known of
TV5 Monde, but wanted to learn more about it.
“A couple of true gourmands
were able to tell the difference
between drawing a cork from a
wine bottle and one from a
liqueur bottle! Or the difference
in sound between pouring coke
or lemonade and beer!”
The day after arriving in Vichy, 640 students
gathered at CAVILAM for a variety of language
courses; students, teachers and lecturers all
became learners. The sole Kiwi, my classmates
were a German, an American, a Portuguese
person, a Parisian, four Russians and three
Spaniards. Monday was information morning, and
then I attended a fantastic, intellectual session on
the power of the lyrics in La Fontaine's fables - all
very socio-political! It was wonderful to be in that
university learning environment, with a fabulous
lecturer. In the afternoon, we were introduced to
the TV 5 rubric - learning and teaching with TV 5
World. Our lecturer was informative; a real expert.
It was an excellent session, with everyone learning
a lot about this valuable teaching tool.
of words. This could be fun with Year 10 or 11. In
true French style, Wednesday afternoon was free
and I went to Clermont-Ferrand with a classmate,
where we looked at the Blaise Pascal centre, the
cathedral and a number of other attractions.
On Tuesday, July 3, we looked at the difference
between TV 5 the channel and TV 5 the site,
followed by discovering the educational sites of the
channel. We were in a well-equipped lab for this
session. In the afternoon, we looked at strategies
for presenting online resources, then had "discovery sessions" - I went to an interesting one on
working with the five senses. After watching a
short video on how each of the senses helps our
learners to observe, listen, describe, analyse,
memorise and identify, we had some practice, with
various volunteers using touch to identify objects
hidden in a bag, then all of us identifying spices by
smell and finally listening to 15 sounds and trying
to identify them. A couple of true gourmands were
able to tell the difference between drawing a cork
from a wine bottle and one from a liqueur bottle!
Or the difference in sound between pouring coke or
lemonade and beer!
On Wednesday, we looked at films and fictions in
the morning before break - great, I use film quite
often and this gave me further strategies I could
try - then using theatre as a teaching medium. We
also looked at “wordle” and how to make “clouds”
14
On Thursday morning we looked at TV 5 Monde
Plus; again in the lab, then we looked at young
people and regions - both of which will be useful,
especially with years 12-13. In the afternoon, we
were shown Paroles de clips, a useful site for
finding lyrics. This organisation has a particular
strategy for working with music, which is interesting and probably useable with Kiwi seniors. Our
juniors have not had sufficient exposure to the
language to cope with the activities in general, as
most are for at least an A2 on the European
framework, which means students have studied at
least 120 hours of a language and in a more
intensive way than ours.
Friday was looking at teaching and learning in
depth, using all kinds of information. Firstly we
looked at francophone videos available on the site
Enseigner le français avec Echos. Then we looked
at the most well-known programme of TV 5: Sept
jours sur la planète (Seven days on the planet),
which has a 26-minute programme every Saturday
morning in Europe, with many interactive exercises
available online. The programmes are also available online, and all the videos may be downloaded. I
will be able to use the online exercises using the
COWS. We looked at a specific programme on La
Vache qui Rit cheese, which I am hoping to do with
Year 12. Finally we looked at À bas les Anglicismes
about the invasion of English expressions into
French and worked in groups to come up with
activities for a particular level.
On Monday, 9 July, in the morning, I went to an
excellent lecture, entitled Faire de son cours un
buzz (Making your lesson a buzz). This session was
given by Michel Boiron, the CAVILAM Director, who
proved to be a true educationist; adept in both
theory and practice:
•
•
He talked about giving language students the
desire to discover the sense, not just the
words; to seek information rather than merely
work with vocabulary and to try to develop our
own curiosity as teachers.
He spoke about “buzz” being a marketing
strategy of making the most noise possible
about a new product in order to promote it. If
the students are enjoying the learning, the
word will go around quickly - a buzz. He
showed us a short clip, where a cow escapes its
pen - this was very popular with young
students - then he just asked them "What do
you know about cows?" This elicited all sorts of
vocabulary and knowledge.
•
Positioning of the language, its identity and
attraction are important, as is the relationship
between teacher and student - we should think
more about what our students are going to do
with us than what we are going to do with
them.
•
We must not tell them French is easy, but that
it is doable and interesting. We must think
carefully about our choice of materials and
activities, use of media and give priority to
documents that are easily accessible.
•
•
•
Michel then showed us a serious video clip
about La Vache qui rit factories opening in the
United States.
•
He stressed that with beginners, if you are
using these documents, the students will not
be able to give their answers in French, but
they will still be able to pick up much of the
sense, especially if you first show them the clip
without the sound. Then they are drawing on
observation, rather than trying so hard to
understand that they focus on what they DON'T
know. It is fine for them to answer in their own
language.
•
Michel then moved onto the pedagogy of
project (task)-based learning, where we, as
teachers, need to acquire knowledge about
things, which don't necessarily have anything
to do with French. He suggested two possibilities: making a comic strip with students,
using a site such as Pixton.fr or creating an
electronic book, which is then published on the
school
site
using
Didapages
or
simplebooklet.com.
•
Michel both began and ended his discourse with
a song, as a good intercultural example.
On Monday afternoon, we studied using authentic
documents from the beginning of language learning - although in Europe, most are not
true beginners! We listed sites we had
“We must not
looked at during the past week, then
We should try to create a link
tell [our
went up to a computer lab and worked
between the world of the classroom
students] that
on one to present a way of using it to
and the world outside.
the rest of the class. I chose Drôles de
French is easy,
We should use REAL communiCartes (Funny Cards), to use as an end
but that it is
cation and ask open questions, to
point activity after looking at celebradoable and
which we may know a number of
tions/festivals/months and so on.
interesting.”
possible answers but not THE
Using this site, students choose a
answer. This helps to create meantheme, then a setting, characters, obing for the students. If we pose a question and
jects, speech/thought bubbles and a musical style
ask the students to “buzz” about it for two to
and an animated card is produced. Most of the
three minutes, then go around each group, we
others chose the weather, with a couple choosing a
will get a variety of responses. This is also
video, but this was more for "false beginners", as
useful for weaker students, who are helped by
they seem to call those who actually have about
the stronger ones. Michel asked us "Quelles
100-120 hours of French!
sont les qualités nécessaires pour être un bon
On Tuesday, July 10, we learned about
candidat à la présidence de la République?"
TIVI5Monde+, the web TV for children and its
Going around the amphitheatre, he found
educational area. I thought this might be useful for
many different responses. He suggested in
Junior Campus. It is a free site, with presentations
class, we could get students to use their
designed for the three to 12-year age group. The
cellphones to film the responses and put them
programming is secure and adapted to a young
on a class blog. The next question he used was
audience. There are downloadable worksheets to
"Pourquoi La Vache qui rit rit?" (Why does the
go with the programmes.
laughing cow laugh?). He showed us a video
In the second session, we looked at an educational
clip of people promoting La Vache qui rit as a
kit, with a DVD, which we were given at the end.
presidential candidate - very amusing.
15
We did a number of activities to familiarise ourselves with its use. Again, there are worksheets to
use with the videos. I found some I could use with
years 11-12.
In the afternoon, we looked at Première Classe - a
site for “beginners”, which may be useful for Rural
Campus boys, as the students can work on their
own, at their own pace, on themes such as
greetings, hobbies, meals and so on. There are
videos and online, self-correcting (with explanations) activities, with students being able to choose
their own language for the instructions, so they
can have autonomy.
Wednesday morning was devoted to those who had
enrolled to be certified as trainers; six of the 12.
They had to present a "parcours thématique" - a
thematic itinerary - to present a theme of their
choice - how to access the best rubrics from the
whole site. They had worked alone or in pairs, over
many hours, covering the topics of work, beauty,
declaration on the rights of man and recycling.
Once again, Wednesday afternoon was free.
On Thursday, July 12, we spent the whole day in a
computer lab. In the morning, we worked on the
French language part of the site, looking at a
variety of areas, such as literature, the Frenchspeaking world (which I do with Year 12), interactive games and the test of French knowledge. In
the afternoon, we had to figure out which rubrics
we could go to, to access information for specific
objectives, such as enrichment of vocab for art, to
read economic and financial articles, to learn about
gastronomy, to work on the theme of sport
(there's a good video with worksheets on rugby!),
16
to understand about scientific subjects...then to
find things we could use ourselves. It was good to
have this personal research time.
On Friday morning, the six who were seeking
"labellisation" from TV5 Monde presented their 2030 minute seminars in front of a tutor and a
representative from TV5. It was a good recap for
the rest of us, on what we had been learning. In
the afternoon, we had the opportunity to ask the
TV5 rep questions - mine was when did they
project having the Première Classe rubric available
on iPads - this was the thing I had thought would
be good for RC boys, but we found out that it is not
yet available in iPads. It is projected for 2013.
Then it was farewells and time to pack!
To sum up, it was a great course, with lots of
fabulous content – I now need time to absorb it all
and work it into my programmes.
Merci beaucoup to the Dilworth Trust Board for
funding this superb piece of PD.
Below are a list of interesting sites:
http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/enseigner-apprendrefrancais/paroles-clip.php?id=4
http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/7-jours/
http://www.tv5.org/cms/chainefrancophone/enseigner-apprendrefrancais/Premiere-classe/p-2040-lg0-HomepagePremiere-Classe.htm
LANGUAGE IMMERSION AWARD
A month in Argentina? ¡Sí, por favor!
By Martin Weren
HOD languages, Hillcrest High School, Hamilton
Last year I was one of about 20 teachers from
around New Zealand who won a Language Immersion Award (mine was in Spanish) from the Ministry of Education, and late in January I received
confirmation I would be going to Argentina for a
month.
March 22 duly arrived, and after a 12-hour flight
and a 1200km/13-hour overnight bus trip (we
don’t know how lucky we are in New Zealand with
our cheap and efficient domestic air travel!) I
arrived in the city of General Roca in Rio Negro
province. I met my wonderful host family and was
soon beginning an intensive language course at
Roca’s Universidad Nacional del Comahue.
The city, 1200km southwest of Buenos Aires and
approximately 400km equidistant from the Andes
in the west and the Atlantic in the east, has about
80,000 inhabitants. It is the centre of Argentina’s
fruit production, with some 70 per cent of the
country’s apples and pears grown in the region,
thanks to massive irrigation in the fertile but arid
Alto Valle. There are also significant plantings of
peaches, plums, cherries and grapes.
The city is completely flat and set out in a square
grid system with the Big Canal flowing across the
north of the city and the Little Canal across the
south. This meant that it was almost impossible to
get lost, and the city was compact enough that I
could walk everywhere I needed to go.
I did the language course with a second New Zealand award winner who will spend the full year in
Argentina. As a relative beginner in Spanish I was
delighted with the progress I was able to make in
the month. Of course there were challenges and
frustrations, but they were relatively minor, and
overall the trip was hugely positive and rewarding.
The two other New Zealanders who flew to Argentina with us went in a different direction, and had
more time in schools and less time learning.
My school experience was limited to visiting a class
of 8-year-olds learning maths and two earlyevening visits to a private English school. They
enjoyed listening to and chatting with a native
English speaker, and they loved the simple PowerPoint I showed with some iconic Kiwi images (All
Blacks, cows, sheep, beaches, wine, and so on)
and a few personal slides of my school, fishing in
the Coromandel, and so on. Argentinians all very
much want to learn English, and those who can
afford to are happy to pay more for private tuition.
Highlights for me included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Spending Easter in Bariloche, 500km away
from General Roca and very similar in many
ways to Queenstown;
gaining an insight into how big and relatively
empty the country is during internal travel;
the Pampa Linda area near Bariloche, with its
lakes and glaciers, and the 3500m Mont
Tronador at the end of a very challenging road
(a local freak of geography means that one of
two lakes which are only a kilometre apart
drains into the Pacific and the other into the
Atlantic);
asado – the Argentinian family weekend feast
of grilled beef and pork, salads and wine;
visits to a winery and a boutique brewery;
lingering like the locals in cafes with a coffee
and a newspaper and trying to work out the
details in the news items;
visiting a feedlot sheep and beef farm in a
desert-like environment, during which we
witnessed artificial insemination of ewes…this
was not one of the things I was expecting to do
during my trip!;
walking in the parched hills behind the river;
helping the two boys in my host family with
their French and English learning;
having the time to do some independent
language study;
not having to worry about NCEA or any school
deadlines for a month;
feeling safe at all times in a new environment;
a month of no rain and continuous autumnal
sunshine;
hilarious dinnertime conversations, discussions
and arguments with my host family on all sorts
of topics, with Google and Wikipedia as referees;
meeting lots of interesting, friendly and very
welcoming people and realising that aside from
a few cultural differences we are all quite
similar.
17
VISIT TO CHINA
Confucius Institute welcomes teachers, principals
By Rachel Austen
Teacher in charge of Japanese, Lincoln High School
In September, 19 teachers from New Zealand were
lucky enough to be chosen by Hanban to visit
Beijing as part of a delegation of 120 teachers and
principals from Oceania, being hosted by Beijing
University.
Hanban Confucius Institute is an executive body
affiliated to China’s Ministry of Education. It is
committed to making Chinese language and culture
available to people throughout the world.
China established its first Confucius institute in
2004. There are now 358 institutes and 500 Confucious classrooms established in 105 countries
and regions around the world.
Lincoln High School had its Confucius classroom
opened this September; it is a place for people to
learn Chinese language and culture as well as to
gain an understanding of modern-day China.
Chinese language has been taught at Lincoln High
School since 1994 and students can study it right
through to Year 13.
Rachel Austen, Fiona Bamford and Mitchell Howard
from Lincoln High School spent a week in China as
members of the Oceania delegation. This was a
truly amazing experience as they were able to see
first-hand the rich and diverse culture of China.
Chinese language classes and cultural lessons were
spread throughout the week. These included lessons in brush writing and Peking Opera. Language
needed for bartering in the markets and more
basic phrases were also practised.
At many of the meals delegates were treated to
banquet-style menus which included a wide array
18
Breath-taking: From left, delegates Rachel
Austen, Mitchell Howard and Fiona Bamford in front
of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China’s imperial
palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the
Qing Dynasty.
of delicious authentic local foods and dishes. Delegates were also taken to some iconic sites such
as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
The scale of these World Heritage
sights was absolutely breath-taking. Another trip
included visiting the venue for the 2008 Olympic
Games.
The friendly, relaxed and happy manner of the
people, along with the fun interactions with complete strangers, were just some of the happy
memories taken away.
All the New Zealand/Lincoln College delegates
would like to thank Hanban/Confucius Institute and
our host, Beijing University, for a truly memorable
experience.
AFS EDUCATOR EXCHANGE
Teachers from Spain visit New Zealand
By Raquel Marty
Writer for AFS New Zealand,
Language Learning Centre Advisor, Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand recently hosted three teachers from
Spain, thanks to the AFS educator exchange
programme. AFS is known globally as the most
prominent facilitator of student overseas exchanges, and a growing part of AFS’s programme
is the facilitation of educator exchanges. AFS
invites teachers from around the globe to travel
abroad and visit schools in other countries, to
experience foreign education systems and expand
their teaching skills.
should be taken advantage of. She did her AFS
exchange at high school, and spent time living in
India during her university education. She now
considers herself to be a global citizen, and hopes
that her children will do so too.
The teachers highlighted the issue of cultural
change in Spain as part of their reason for visiting
New Zealand. Higher rates of immigration to Spain
mean that the face of Spain is changing to become
Imma Llort Juncadella, Capilla Ramírez, and Elisa
more multicultural. Promoting acceptance and
Echavarren travelled from Spain to New Zealand to
cultural understanding in their students is a key
spend one month living with host families. Capilla
issue Spanish teachers face, and Capilla, Imma
and Elisa stayed with families in Auckland, and
and Elisa hoped that visiting New Zealand would
spent time in local schools. Capilla divided her time
equip them with better skills for cultural integration
between Green Bay High School
in the classroom. They hoped to
and Massey High School, and Elisa
learn from the New Zealand
“The Spanish
at Macleans College and Pakueducation system’s embrace of
education system is
ranga Intermediate School. Imma
multiculturalism and take those
travelled to Wellington, where she
lessons back to Spain.
very focused on
experienced life in the capital and
academics –
Thanks to AFS’s connections with
spent time in schools within the
students are
schools around the country, the
region including Tawa College and
teachers were able to become part
expected
to
study
Greenacres Primary School.
of the faculty at the schools they
very hard. But their
Proving that AFS remains an
visited. This inclusion meant that
personal lives are
influential part of the lives of its
the insights the teachers gained
not really
alumni, both Elisa and Imma had
about New Zealand’s education
acknowledged by
previously taken part in AFS exsystem came from first-hand
many teachers,
changes. Imma’s daughter has
experience and discussions with
which is a shame.”
also taken part in an AFS excolleagues. Being included in this
change to Denmark, and she has
way was highly beneficial for the
hosted AFS students in Spain. Capilla has
teachers’ professional develop-ment as they can
welcomed AFS exchange students into her classnow apply the pedagogical concepts they learned
room in Spain, and was urged by a friend to take
in New Zealand schools to their classes in Spain.
part in AFS’s educator exchange programme.
The teachers admired the holistic nature of
The teachers all highly recommend AFS exchanges
education in New Zealand. Elisa noticed that in
to their students. “Living in another country for a
New Zealand classrooms, the students’ lives
year – when you are still a teenager – makes you
outside of school were as important as their school
grow as a person, be a more mature and
work and the cultural differences and similarities
understanding person…I think every young person,
between
students
enriched
the
classroom
and not so young, should spend a year in another
atmosphere. She thought that Spanish teachers
country trying to integrate into another culture
could learn from this approach and Imma agreed.
because it always helps you to live your own life
“The Spanish education system is very focused on
more consciously and with a more open-minded
academics – students are expected to study very
view of the important things,” says Capilla.
hard. But their personal lives are not really acImma agrees that opportunities to live abroad
knowledged by many teachers, which is a shame.”
19
Imma also thought that Spaniards could learn from
the innovative nature of New Zealand teachers,
and hopes to take some of the practices she
learned back to her classroom in Spain.
Elisa felt very inspired by her experiences at
Pakuranga Intermediate School. She particularly
enjoyed seeing students of many different cultures
participate in a kapa haka group and celebrating
Māori waiata. Capilla admitted that before coming
to New Zealand, she was unaware of Māori culture,
and was inspired by the integration of Māori language and culture in the classroom.
In return, the teachers thought New Zealand could
learn from the Spanish education system, and
hoped to host New Zealand teachers in Spain one
day. Elisa felt that New Zealand students could
benefit from more comprehensive language
learning. In Spain, English is a compulsory subject,
while in New Zealand foreign languages are
available as options.
“Just because you know English, it doesn’t mean
that you shouldn’t learn another language. Learning another language introduces you to a new way
of thinking, and that is important for growing as a
person,” said Elisa.
Capilla agreed. “Knowing different languages and
cultures is always a way [to fight] against intolerance, fanaticism and prejudice.”
Imma, as an advocate for pacifism and intercultural understanding, also agreed that learning a
language could be an eye-opening experience that
positively influenced a person’s view of the world
and foreign cultures.
The Spaniards have left their mark on New Zealand
by gifting Kiwi students with their own unique
knowledge. Elisa enjoyed teaching Spanish to
students at Macleans College and Pakuranga
Intermediate School, and sharing their joy in the
language. Capilla also enjoyed teaching Spanish to
20
“Knowing different languages
and cultures is always a way [to
fight] against intolerance,
fanaticism and prejudice.”
Kiwi students, discovering that once the initial embarrassment at speaking a foreign language was
overcome, she was able to connect with the
students on a deeper level.
Imma made use of her background in community
theatre by co-ordinating a creative workshop which
was called “The role of young people in building
peaceful communities”, in conjunction with Save
the Children. The participants role-played scenarios
involving cultural interaction, and brainstormed
solutions for overcoming cultural adversity. This
creative approach to intercultural learning is
inspirational, and a gift to Wellington students.
Capilla, Elisa, and Imma have
their time in New Zealand to
country. Imma plans to travel
Island. Elisa plans to travel by
the North and South islands
before returning to Spain.
made the most of
travel around the
through the South
campervan around
for several weeks
The trio were impressed with New Zealand’s scenery, and Capilla said she was pleased Kiwis placed
importance on conservation and preserving the
natural environment. She regrets her time in New
Zealand was not long enough, but hopes to return.
Thanks to AFS’s educator exchange programme,
New Zealand teachers and students are able to
interact with educators from abroad and gain
inspiration to learn foreign languages and take part
in exchanges themselves.
The visiting teachers look forward to travelling to
New Zealand again one day. They will encourage
their students to take part in an AFS exchange to
New Zealand, so that they too can experience life
in multicultural New Zealand.
FILE MANAGEMENT MADE EASY
Organising interaction portfolios using OneNote
By Anne Jacques
Japanese teacher, Riccarton High School, Christchurch
Having difficulty organising students’ sound files
for the Interaction standards? Struggling with My
Portfolio, storage and students who have forgotten
where they saved what? You could try using
OneNote.
OneNote is part of the Microsoft Office suite of
programmes available with PowerPoint, Word etc.
It is available on all computers with Microsoft
Office, so it is accessible to most students. I have
found My Portfolio difficult for students to use,
because it takes a while to get used to. It can be
frustrating for students and teachers. But OneNote
is immediately available for student use.
pass the cursor over each icon. Beside each piece,
students can type in under each why they selected
this piece, with whom it was recorded...as you
require. Having the interactions together on one
page makes organisation easy for both the student
and the teacher.
I have used OneNote for the interaction portfolios
for Level 1 Japanese and Level 2 French this year.
(The written portfolio is still easy enough to
manage in hard copy, I think.)
During terms 1 and 2, students had a few
opportunities to set up their pages and practise a
couple of interactions – most of which were
OneNote is easy to use. Open Onediscarded later as they improved and
Note
(Programmes
- Microsoft
produced pieces that better showed
“The
ease
with
Office), choose New Page, click anytheir skills. During term 3, I booked a
which students
where on the page, type something.
computer lab once every three weeks
managed to use
Look! There it is. Click on Insert and
and made the interactions a focus of
choose Audio recording. Look! It’s
the programme. Week 1 of term 4
the makes the
started already. I hope you have a
was
devoted
to
finalising
and
organisation and
microphone handy.
submitting
their
written
and
management of
interaction portfolios, and I used the
the standard
Using OneNote, students can set up
computer lab again, although some
a page for their language at the
much easier for
students worked nearby on their
beginning of the year. Since it is
both student and
writing, while others recorded or
part of Microsoft, Japanese and
teacher.”
worked on their interaction portfolios.
Chinese scripts are available just as
Once they had selected their sound
they are in Word. Sound files
files (by deleting the ones they did not want), they
recorded in the classroom can also be added or
dropped their OneNote page into the drop box set
inserted into the OneNote page, so opportunities
up for them on their Moodle site. Any day now, I’ll
that occur when there is no computer available are
get round to marking them!
not lost.
There were teething problems – OneNote still does
During the year, students can add written pieces or
some strange things when pages are shared and
recorded conversations, so that at the end of the
the pages make a big file. But the ease with which
year, they have just to select the pieces they want
students (and me, too) managed to use the
to submit and drop their page into a drop box, or
programme to store, select, organise and submit
share it with the teacher. It is seriously that easy.
their interactions makes the organisation and
For the teacher receiving the pages, each page
management of the standard much easier for both
shows the student’s name and the icon for each
student and teacher.
recording. The date and time are shown as you
Try it. I enjoyed it.
21
MOTIVATING WITH MANGA
Using Japanese comics in the classroom
By Koichi Shimahara, Japanese language assistant, ILEP/The Japan Foundation
I’m sure one of the biggest concerns of teachers is
how to motivate their students. In this article, I am
going to suggest a way of using 4-cell manga with
photos in Japanese language classes, to motivate
students to learn. In the first section, I will explain
4-cell manga and its advantages and then in the
second section, I will give some feedback from my
class practice and from the students.
4-cell manga and its advantages
4-cell manga (4コマまんが) is a kind of Japanese
comic (manga), which is composed of only four
cells. Because it has a story and pictures, it can be
more interesting for students than the script in
textbooks and can be really useful in classes. It is
advantageous because:
• it motivates students.
• it’s more impressive than just presenting the
script.
• it can teach both culture and language.
It is claimed by Kawashima & Kumano (2011) that
when Manga is used for Japanese learning, there
can be two ways, one is to learn Japanese “by
manga” (まんがで日本語) and the other is to learn
Japanese “of manga” (まんがの日本語). In the
former case, elements such as structures,
vocabulary and culture can be presented “by
manga”. And teachers can use manga not only for
presenting those elements, but also for practice.
This could be “fill in the blanks”, “rearrange in the
correct order”, “explain each cell in groups”,
“explain the story line” and so on. In the latter
case, elements “of manga” such as spoken
language and slang could be taught. Also,
onomatopoeia and role languages could be taught
as well because manga has lots of them. Role
languages are elements such as vocabulary and
end-of-sentence
expressions,
which
are
characteristic to each role, for example old men,
women and girls.
Manga is easily found
websites can be useful:
online.
The
Japanese in
manga.jp/).
Manga
(http://anime-
Anime
&
following
Nihongo wo Tanoshimou! (日本語を楽しもう！– Let’s
enjoy Japanese!)
(https://dbms.ninjal.ac.jp/nknet/Onomatope/index
.html).
22
Because they are websites that were created for
Japanese language teaching, it is quite easy to use
them in Japanese language classes.
Of course, you can buy manga as well at
bookstores or online. But if you buy manga that
were not created for Japanese language teaching,
the vocabulary or grammar may be too difficult or
too casual to use in classes. Therefore, I would like
to suggest that you create them yourself with your
photos because there is some useful free software
and online tools (see below) available which will
help you to easily create your 4-cell manga.
Shashin de Yonkoma Manga wo Tsukurou!
(写真で4コマ漫画を作ろう! - Let’s create 4-cell
manga with photos!)
(http://www.solapane.info/4koma.html)
After class, I made the students
questionnaires, and here are the results.
Question
Was it necessary to
use manga?
Was it interesting to
see manga?
Did manga help you
understand
the
structures?
Question
Was it necessary to
use manga?
Was it interesting to
practise with manga?
Did manga motivate
you to practise the
structures?
Presenting the structures
Practice 1: Fill in the blanks
Practice 2: Rearrange in the correct order
Practice 3: Make sentences about the manga,
using the structures
The pictures in this article are what I used for
presenting the structures. I put the translations
below each cell for the purposes of this article.
Yes=68.4%
Yes=100%
Yes=73.7%
Answer
Yes=78.9%
Yes=94.7%
Yes=84.2%
Finally, here are two typical comments:
•
It was very refreshing to learn Japanese with
authentic Japanese experiences and moments.
It was easier to learn Japanese with real-life
examples that relate to the students. The
lesson was alive!
•
[It was] good and fun! The pictures were very
interesting but the pictures did not really help
me understand the structures.
Practice report
The flow of the class was as follows:
Answer
About practices:
(http://yonkomar.net/)
I used 4-cell manga that I created with photos. My
year 11 class consisted of 21 students and this
took place during term 2 in 2012. The structures I
focused on were “present plain form + maeni
(まえに)” and “past plain form + atode (あとで)”.
in
About explanation of structures:
4 Komaa (4コマー - 4-cell)
Or you can create 4-cell manga by yourself using
PowerPoint. When you create manga this way, you
can use your own photos instead of drawings. With
photos, you can create 4-cell manga more easily
than with drawings, and I think this makes them
more visually stimulating.
fill
As you can see from the result of the
questionnaires, it is obvious that 4-cell manga with
photos helped to make the class more interesting
and to motivate the students a lot. Although this
time I used photos I had taken in Japan, I think
they don’t have to be from Japan. If they are your
photos, they will make the manga interesting for
students. Because of its usefulness and ease of
use, I think it is worthwhile to try to use 4-cell
manga with photos in your classes.
Bibliography
Kawashima Keiko & Kumano Nanae (2011). Making Use of Anime and Manga for Japanese Language Classes.
Web version Japanese Language Teaching action research forum report.
http://www.nkg.or.jp/kenkyu/Forumhoukoku/2011forum/2011_RT3_kawashima.pdf
23
HOW OFTEN ARE COGNATES FALSE?
Pointers to faithful friends
Peter Low
Senior lecturer in French, University of Canterbury
(This article takes most of its examples from
French, yet it applies fairly well to Spanish, and is
not irrelevant to German).
Do we ever encourage our students to guess the
meaning of foreign words? Yes; we expect them to
cope easily with words like flexible or hockey when
they appear in French or Spanish sentences. These
are not simply “look-alike words”, they are
cognates (having the same origin) and many of
them have the same meaning in three or more
languages.
We also warn our students against false cognates.
Textbooks of French explain that demander doesn’t
“demand” and that journée doesn’t mean “journey” (because shifts of meaning occurred in French
and English respectively). For good reason, many
textbooks give lists of these misleading words.
Indeed, there exists a fat Dictionnaire des faux
amis (Van Roey et al).
But this problem can be overstated. An expert on
translation, Peter Newmark, used to complain that
his students were unduly scared of cognates, and
were translating l'attrait curieux as “peculiar
charm” or “strange fascination” when the best
option
was
actually
“curious
attraction”!
Contradicting some others, Newmark declared that
“True friends are more numerous than false
friends, particularly in the sci-tech vocabulary”.
French or Spanish for “vulnerable” or “mysterious”.
Although the commonest English words today were
present in Old English, nearly half of the long
words in the Concise Oxford derive from Latin,
either directly or via French. And many of these
can be identified because they have recognisable
Latinate suffixes, such as - ive, -ance, or -ate. The
vast majority of these words have counterparts in
French and Spanish. (There are also counterindicators: don’t expect a French counterpart for
any word containing “w” or “k”).
I’ve found that adjective suffixes are particularly
useful. Consider the following table, which amounts
to a recipe for vocabulary expansion:
Guidelines for guessing French words via
suffixes
Caution: these guidelines are not 100% reliable.
Some of the words generated will not exist; others
will have the wrong meaning.
One can go further. Almost all scientific and
technical words derived from Latin or Greek are
true friends in almost all European languages. This
is because they are used infrequently in specialist
contexts by people who try to maintain precision.
Indeed, we can tell our students that if a long word
in a French or Spanish text looks like an
uncommon word they know in English, then it will
probably be a true friend. This applies especially
to polysyllabic words that are formal or bookish in
English (but may well be common in French or
Spanish), for example “audacious”.
Spelling adjustments
Can we go further still? Can we ever encourage
students to guess foreign words? Yes, at least with
students who have grasped the danger of false
friends. No, I don’t mean taking the phrase “Would
you like a chat?” and guessing ¿Te gustaría un
chato?, let alone Voudrais-tu un chat? But I do
mean challenging them to say and spell the
A cognate word in another language is usually spelt
a bit differently. Most of the French suffixes differ
from the English ones, but they follow very
predictable patterns. A common spelling adjustment to make in French is this: add an acute
accent whenever an E inside a word precedes a
single consonant (but not a double one).
24
The 68 examples given above can help us guess
more than 1000 French words. Further suffixes
that work well are: -ARY, -ETTE, -EUR, -LOGY, ORY, -QUE, -UDE, -URE
Now these guidelines will not always lead you to
the best French word in context. You could even
trip up: the French sensible means “sensitive”,
whereas the French for “sensible” is raisonnable.
And obvieux does not even exist. But such
exceptions are rare. For example, in 50 words
ending –LOGY, only one is a false friend (apology).
Possible exercises
List the main forms of the French adjectives
meaning:
dangerous, serious, tolerant, ignorant, patient,
violent, terrible, possible, passive, positive, timid,
intrepid, docile, mobile, electric, magic, oblique,
ordinary, temporary, preparatory.
List the main forms of the French nouns meaning:
courage, fatalism, immigrant, elephant, invasion,
fiction.
List the main forms of the French verbs meaning:
”Why have I not seen such
advice before? Possibly because
teachers like 100 per cent rules,
and exceptions disprove rules.”
hesitate, irrigate, promulgate, domesticate, resonate, verify, simplify, baptise, vapourise.
CONCLUSION/Conclusion/CONCLUSIÓN
Thus, without knowing Latin one can learn the
typical Latinate suffixes on long words. That is the
key - the foreign words they point to are mostly
true cognates.
Why have I not seen such advice before? Possibly
because teachers like 100 per cent rules, and
exceptions disprove rules. But intelligent guessing
is a very useful strategy, and the guidelines given
here work in more than 90 per cent of cases.
What a pity that short common words are harder
than long rare ones! But of course the short
common words like demander are subjected to
more of the wear-and-tear that causes shifts in
meaning.
25
SIMPLIFYING THE LEARNING PROCESS
Teaching Chinese through rhymes and songs
By XiaoKang Zhou
Chinese teacher, The Peninsula School, Melbourne
It has been proven that communication cannot be
done effectively without rhythm and body movement. In language teaching and learning it simplifies the learning process, as it enables students to
remember the rhythm and thus brings the words
back into their minds. Songs and music also play a
key role in this style of teaching/learning, by stimulating the memory into recalling the content and
the language points relevant to them.
The teaching of Chinese as a Second Language to
non-background foreign students is a very complex
exercise. In my many years of experience in
teaching this language to non-native speakers, the
most efficient way of maintaining interest and
enabling students to absorb and remember the
vocabulary and sentence patterns has proven to be
through reciting and singing rhymes and songs.
It is very important to use the correct rhythmical
patterns and body movements to gain students’
attention and to encourage them to get involved
mentally, physically and linguistically and to become totally focused on the subject. This is very
effective, and extremely rewarding and enjoyable.
Why use rhymes and songs?
A rhyme uses words with the same sounds which
flow on in a rhythmical fashion in verse form. The
rhythm of the rhyme is easily stored in the
student’s memory, so that on hearing the title of
the rhyme the words will quickly be remembered.
Furthermore, familiar tunes are added to stimulate
the mind into easily recalling words. Songs are
subconsciously memorised so students, on hearing
part of the tune, can easily remember the whole
composition, words and all. Most children come
into contact with nursery rhymes and songs at
some stage of their upbringing. Therefore, it is
easy to build on these early experiences to further
develop their language skills.
Students in my classes have shown a marked
improvement in their learning and retention of the
words and phrases, as well as sentence structures.
This can be seen as an effective way of knowledgebased learning and assessing: the ability to
remember or recall ideas, data and material, as
described in Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive
domain (Gordon Winch et al 2001, p. 296).
26
“The rhythm of the rhyme is
easily stored in the student’s
memory, so that on hearing the
title of the rhyme the words will
quickly be remembered.”
An analysis of this teaching method using
rhymes and songs
The textbooks used in our Chinese classes are the
Ni Hao series by Shumanug and Paul Fredlein,
published by China Soft, Australia. While using this
set of textbooks, I have also written and adapted
more than 300 rhymes/songs, which I use in my
years 7-10 classes.
For each lesson, I introduce two to three rhymes/
songs based on the topic, vocabulary and sentence
patterns being taught. One rhyme is usually about
the new words based on the word list supplied, and
another rhyme is about the sentence structures,
which provide a specific context, both grammatical
and semantic, in which the words are used to
convey relevant sorts of meanings. For example, in
the first lesson - which is a general introduction to
the Chinese language and culture, as well as the
sound and writing systems - students learned eight
single-component pictographic characters:
日，月，山，水，木，火，人，
口
(rì,
sun;
yuè,
moon; shān, mountain; shuĭ, water; mù, tree;
huŏ, fire; rén, person; and kŏu, mouth).
Although students are impressed by the picturebased formation and nature of the characters, they
find it difficult to remember the pronunciation of
these words in isolation, not to mention the
challenge of matching the characters with the
corresponding “pinyin” (spelling-sound), there
being simply no link between the sound and the
character in English. So to make sense of these
words in a meaningful context to these nonbackground students, I wrote the first two rhymes
《山水歌》（Shān Shuĭ Gē, The Mountain and Water
Rhyme） and 《林火歌》（Lín Huŏ Gē, The Forest
and Fire Rhyme), in which I tried to create some
images for students to visualise the beauty of
nature such as mountains and rivers, and some
real-life events, for example bush fires and people
coming to protect themselves and the forest by
pouring water onto the fire (Zhou, 2008).
•
The technique employed here enables the students
to grasp the tones and pronunciation of the words
more efficiently. Believe it or not, they could all recite these two rhymes fluently, with a full understanding of their content!
•
•
•
When teaching the characteristics of the Chinese
writing system in the first lesson, I noticed
students found it very hard to understand the
names of the strokes unique to the Chinese
characters including the order of the strokes in
writing. So I wrote a rhyme called 《笔画歌》（Bĭ
Huà Gē, Stroke Song） in which they can learn the
names of the strokes and the importance of their
application through reciting (Zhou, 2008).
•
•
Once they learned the rhyme by heart, I matched
it with a familiar nursery rhyme tune (with the help
of one of my musically talented students),
presented it to them in the form of a song and
included hand gestures indicating the strokes. The
students were fascinated with this new song, and
enjoyed waving their hands and arms around. They
were so excited they didn’t realise how
much they were learning and remem“Some
bering these unusual, difficult strokes.
Extremely simple: They use simple words,
phrases and sentence structures, usually three
or five or seven words each line, no longer than
four to six lines each rhyme.
Vibrantly rhythmical, rhyming and symmetrical.
Stimulatingly repetitious, thus reinforcing memory.
Readily adaptable: Popular tunes and existing
rhymes and songs are used to create a sense
of relaxed comfort and familiarity.
Highly interactive: Most start with a question
and an answer, thus they can be performed as
a dialogue or role-play - achieving effective
communication between the students.
Happily engaging: An enriching learning experience, enhancing an easy happy-go-lucky
atmosphere and creating team-work and cooperative spirit in class with everyone being
involved in class singing, reciting or performing
at the school assembly (Zhou, 2009).
Feedback from the students
The most common response has been that learning
Chinese is made much easier and more fun
because of the catchy tunes. One
student said, “The rhyme will flow into
students my head and the words will just
mentioned follow,” and many others agreed.
I was very impressed by the overall
result, hearing them singing and humming this song inside and outside the
classroom. One student said she liked
learning this way and this was her
favourite rhyme, because it involved
“physical action”.
even
that the rhymes
also helped
them to do well
in the tests, as
the words came
to mind
automatically.”
As pointed out by Condon and Ogston,
“speech and body movements are
precisely and rhythmically co-ordinated: they are
synchronised” (Condon & Ogston, 1966; Orton,
1992). Thus, drawing students’ attention to rhythm
and body movements through rhymes and songs
leads them to an essential and inseparable part of
competent language use (Orton, 1992).
To summarise, my rhymes and songs are:
•
Highly relevant: All the rhymes are related to
the lessons from the textbooks used in our
Chinese as Second Language classes for year 7
to 10 and beyond, so they are highly relevant
in terms of the vocabulary and sentence
patterns learned in each unit. They serve as a
summary of the new words and expressions
taught in the given context and meet the
required standards for those year levels.
What is more significant is students
found the words were much easier to
remember, and they understood what
the words meant in the context of the
rhymes. Some even said the rhymes
helped them to do well in tests, as the
words came to mind automatically.
Concluding remarks
It is obvious from the above feedback that this way
of teaching Chinese to second-language speakers
through rhymes and songs is not only very
successful and efficient, but also very entertaining,
exciting, enlightening and last, but not least,
rewarding to both students and the teacher.
For those who want to try this method, I feel that
you will find you are not only teaching the language as such, but also establishing an excellent
connection with and interaction between the
teacher and students, creating a relaxed and
enjoyable learning environment, with everybody
leaving with a great sense of achievement!
And finally to quote the most common saying:
“What students tend to learn is what their teachers
teach them” (Orton 1992) - this is the simple truth.
27
EUNICE BEVERIDGE AWARD
2012 recipients presented with awards
Several years ago Peter Beveridge, of Aquila Books, donated a prize in memory of his wife Eunice, who
passed away in 2008. Peter and Eunice have been well known in language teaching circles for many years.
Eunice was a linguist with a particular interest in Japanese and French.
For this reason, NZALT awards the Eunice Beveridge Memorial Prize each year to the best student entries
in Japanese and French in our annual student competition, in 2012 a competition to produce a short video
clip promoting a product or a service in the target language.
This year’s winners were:
JAPANESE
Kerikeri High School (video Special Juice)
Students: Kyung Dhong, Erin Bowers, Alanis Correa-Kriener, Anna Grieson
Teacher: Kerri Williams
FRENCH
Waimea College (video Rainbow Pen)
Students: Cleo Bennett, Brittany Dick, Eden Penfold
Teacher: Esther Sassenburg
If you want to view the best of the videos, go to http://nzalt.org.nz/events/comp12.shtml
Congratulations to all winners and their teachers for a job well done!
Winners of the Japanese prize for the Eunice Beveridge Award,
Kerikeri High School students with their teacher, Kerri Williams.
28
Winners of the French prize for the Eunice Beveridge Award,
Waimea College students with their teacher, Esther Sassenburg.
NZALT WEBSITE
New-look website – A sub-committee of Executive will be looking at upgrading our website during the next
year or so. There will be an initial cost of doing this and then the same cost we have at the moment. We
sought three companies to compare costs and have decided to stay with our current provider as they have
been reliable.
Issues we have to look at include upgrading including possibilities of registering and paying for conferences
online and having a section available for people to access conference papers. These are all factors we will
be taking into account. A lot of these features were used on our website but were connected to Google, but
payments had to be made be made by cheque.
If you have any features you would like to see that are not currently on our website feel free to contact me.
Contact details updated – Please make sure that you update your email and member information as the
New Zealand Language Teacher will be sent to the address on our database.
Community Contact Details – NZALT has updated Learning Language Community contacts. Be aware
that Regional Advisors is a term of the past and it is now “National Co-ordinators Learning Languages”. A
few Specific Language Associations have also changed their executives, including NZALT.
To view Community Details visit: http://www.nzalt.org.nz/community/index.shtml
To see NZALT Executive visit: http://www.nzalt.org.nz/about/executive.shtml
Button Alert – I will try and change the button on the “Home Page” to help highlight activities of NZALT so
please keep me up to date if you have something that would benefit from it, for example LangSem dates.
James Donaldson
Webmaster
29
LEARNING AT CASHMERE
Busy year in International Language classrooms
By Linda Tappenden
Japanese teacher, head of languages faculty, Cashmere High School, Christchurch
Cashmere High School is a large co-educational
high school in the south of Christchurch. We
teach three international languages: French,
Japanese and Spanish. Each year the number of
classes and teachers varies slightly depending
on the Year 9 intake, but at the moment we
have a permanent staff of five with two nonpermanent part-timers. The HOF teaches
Japanese and French; the assistant HOF,
Spanish. Taka Kuze, senior Japanese teacher, is
also the school’s sports co-ordinator. For the
past two years we have also had a part-time
assistante from France.
We are very fortunate in that all students must
choose a language to study for one year in Year
9, except for learning-support students. So this
year we have four Spanish classes, five French
classes and two Japanese classes.
Colourful coats: Japanese students wearing Happi
(Japanese coats) at International Languages Week.
We also teach at our local contributing primary
schools. These lessons are timed between
breaks in our school day and teachers drive to
the schools to teach years 7 and 8. Lessons are
between 30 minutes and an hour per week
depending on each school’s requirements. The
primary schools pay us to do this teaching and
we prepare booklets for the pupils to use.
One reason for the strength of languages at
Cashmere is the international trips we offer. We
have sister schools in Santiago, Chile and
Château Gontier, France. Unfortunately we have
just lost our Japanese sister school, Tono High
School, due to the aftermath of the 2011
earthquake and tsunami. Overseas trips are
held once every two years. Student numbers
range from 12 to 28 in a group. Trips are
usually around three weeks in length.
The French and Chile trips are also reciprocal,
our sister schools visiting us every other year. This
year was had visitors from Lycée St Michel in
Château Gontier and St Mary Joseph and St James
schools in Chile.
We also have a student scholarship programme
with our Chilean sister school. Two students from
each school spend around 10 months in each
other’s country.
Apart from the overseas trips, our main event is
30
Piñata time: Spanish students show off their piñata
creations, which are most commonly associated with
Mexico.
International Languages Week. This is ably
coordinated by Angeline Dew, our Spanish teacher.
We have tried various activities during the years.
The most popular are movie sessions at lunchtime
and the years 11 and 13 Canta Lang competition
during a class period that week. It operates a little
like Canta Maths in mixed language groups with
classes working together to answer questions. We
also encourage students to dress up in a costume
appropriate to the language they are learning.
This year all our language students were
enrolled for Language Perfect. They took part
in the Language Perfect World Championships
for 10 days in May. We were first overall in
the world in our school category and also first
in New Zealand for our school size. We were
fourth overall out of all schools in New
Zealand and seventh globally out of 802
schools. In global language specific results, we
were second overall in Spanish, 12th overall in
French. In New Zealand, we were first for
Spanish and seventh for French and ninth for
Japanese over all schools. We also won 22
gold awards, 12 silver awards and 43 bronze
awards. One student was second in Spanish
globally. She received a silver medal and
other prizes.
Other events during the year include trips to
the movies and restaurants, the Alliance
Française quiz and Speech Competition, and
the Canterbury area Konnichi wa Senior
Japanese
Speech
Competition.
Junior
Japanese students also fold paper kabuto
(samurai helmets) and we fly koinobori (carp
streamers) from the school flagpole for the
Children’s Day. Year 10 Japanese students
make onigiri (rice balls) in the classroom. Year
12 students make okonomiyaki in the home
economics classroom. Spanish students enjoy
making piñata. Year 11 Japanese students
make a class banner every year based on a
theme that has taken their interest during the
year. This year they all became Pokemon.
¡Olé!: Canta Lang prizewinners don Mexican hats during
International Language Week.
Japan Day 2012
To remember the horrific quake and tsunami
in the north east of Japan in March 2011, the
Japan Society of Christchurch held a Japan
Day at Riccarton Racecourse on March 11.
Year 12 and 13 Japanese students participated
in a calligraphy-to-music exhibition in the
afternoon which was enjoyed by a large
audience. We were the only school group to
take part. The calligraphy says, “Cherry
Blossoms” “Do your best Japan! We love you.”
The origami flowers were folded by students in
Year 10 Japanese.
Joint effort: Year 11 Japanese students with their class
banner.
Japan Day: Year 12 and 13 Japanese students with
words of encouragement for the Japan quake and
tsunami victims.
31
STUDENTS VIE FOR OSKAR
Inter-school German drama competition 2012
By Lorraine Gray
Joint Head of Department (German), Avonside Girls’ High School, Christchurch
This year’s Oskar competition was held in Christchurch on Tuesday, September 11, in the welcoming auditorium of Villa Maria College. Seven
groups from five schools took part.
Despite one school not being able to take part
because the event date clashed with examination
week, there were still 87 participants. The increased pressure of curriculum demands on senior
classes was evident in that, although this event
was open to all levels, six of the groups were from
Year 10, the other from Year 11. That did not
detract from the keen competition, however: the
atmosphere was extremely warm and positive.
There was a real buzz from the very outset.
The line to be incorporated in this year’s sketches
was: Mensch! Wo hast du das denn her? (Wow!
Where did you get that from?), which as usual led
to a very wide range of situations for the entertainment of the audience.
The adjudicators (Judith Geare, head of the language department at the Goethe-Institut, Laura
Matten, cultural attachée from the German
embassy and Bernd Schliephake, national German
adviser) commented on the very high and very
even standard of the plays, which of course made
their task quite a difficult one.
The line was interpreted very differently by the
groups and led to presentations in very different
contexts: disobedient students were lost in a forest
disturbed by a mysterious ghost, a box turned out
to be a time machine, and pages of the Grimm
Brothers’ stories were mixed up, leading to a
jumbled array of fairy tale characters. In one
sketch the abolition of the euro caused difficulties
when it was found that the only available toilet
would accept only euro coins. A group with the
clever name Zwei Richtungen (Two Directions)
displayed their musical as well as dramatic talents,
and we witnessed the final of a quiz show which
offered the major prize of a trip to New Zealand.
The results were as follows:
Special prize for dramatic talent: Die Geister
from Burnside High School (Year 10)
Special prize for political understanding: Die
Zimpfel from Villa Maria College (Year 11)
•
•
32
Victors: The winning team, from Avonside
Girls’ High School.
•
•
•
•
•
Special prize for musical talent: Zwei Richtungen from Christ’s College (Year 10)
Mini-Oskar: Die Auβenseiterinnen from Rangi
Ruru Girls’ School (Year 10)
Mini-Oskar: Die falsche Richtung from Christ’s
College (Year 10)
Mini-Oskar for runners-up: Die Grimmkinder
from Villa Maria College
Oskar trophy for 1st place: Die Haribos from
Avonside Girls’ High School.
The winning sketch was entitled Stimmt’s – oder
nicht? (Correct – or not?). The judges commended
this group for their excellent pronunciation, and
said they could hear and understand every word
spoken.
It was particularly pleasing to see such a large
number of parents and friends who had braved
atrocious weather conditions to be there to support
the performers. It seemed that everyone went
away smiling. We were also delighted to have
Laura Matten from the German embassy as one of
the adjudicators. Without the generous support of
the German embassy this event simply wouldn’t
happen, and so it was great to be able to show an
embassy representative just how much the competition does to motivate students and help make
their German language learning something really
enjoyable. These are occasions our German students never forget.
STUDENT EXTINCTION
Rates of international language learning at Year 13 in
New Zealand, 2009-2010
By Crystelle Jones
Teacher in charge (Spanish), Horowhenua College, Levin
We all know the number of students who continue
languages through to Year 13 is low. Multi-level
classes, lone students on Correspondence School
(Te Kura) courses or complete extinction of the
Year 13 language student population are realities
for many language teachers. Alastair McLauchlan’s
pivotal study (2007) is one of several papers that
outline reasons for the well-known language attrition phenomenon.
As part of my Applied Linguistics study at Victoria
University of Wellington, in January and February
2012 I completed a small research project
investigating precisely how many students were
doing NCEA level 3 in Chinese, French, German,
Japanese or Spanish in 2009 and 2010 in our
schools. This article is a brief summary of my
study.
I would like to immediately recognise a limitation
of the project, which is that I did not include data
relating to how many students at Year 13 were
doing CIE or IB examinations, as the data was not
readily available. But statistics relating to NCEA
level 3 probably give us a reasonably indicative
picture of the situation given that the majority of
schools, particularly state schools, participate in
the NCEA system, sometimes in addition to the
other assessment forms mentioned.
Using Ministry of Education (MOE) data I identified
491 schools that potentially had Year 13 students,
and after eliminating schools with no NCEA level 3
data, or fewer than 15 students in Year 13 in total,
353 schools were surveyed. Data from the NZQA
(January 2012) and MOE websites were used to
ascertain the numbers entered in NCEA level 3 in
the five languages mentioned above and to
calculate overall rates of NCEA L3 participation in
relation to school size and the number of Year 13
students at schools.
A key finding of the study was that only 5.6 per
cent of the Year 13 population was enrolled in one
of these international languages at NCEA level 3,
averaged during 2009 and 2010. Because of the
missing Cambridge and IB statistics this figure will
be an underestimation of the total, but probably
not by much. Sandra Shearn’s study in 2003 (p76)
estimated the rate to be 6 per cent; essentially the
same. Therefore, despite advances such as
“Anecdotally, I believe the
situation in terms of keeping
students in languages at senior
levels is still grim overall.”
Learning Languages becoming the eighth Learning
Area of the curriculum, and all the resources
invested into second-language learning in presecondary schools, the rate of learners in the final
year of high school does not appear to have
changed much in the last decade.
A further worrying statistic is that out of the 353
schools (again acknowledging the lack of CIE and
IB data), only 85 schools, or 24 per cent, were
able to muster an NCEA L3 class of eight or more
students in the same language in either 2009 or
2010. High-decile schools and single-sex, mainly
female schools populated all of the top 10 schools
when ranked for NCEA level 3 participation as a
proportion of the Year 13 roll in this period of time.
As part of the study MOE curriculum documents
and national guidelines were searched for references to sustained international language learning
or learning at senior levels, with very few such
references found. While there was a reasonable
amount of rhetoric about the desirability of
learning languages, attaining a high level of proficiency and senior secondary study were virtually
invisible in the discourse(1).
It is possible that we are yet to harvest the
investments into L2 learning such as primary and
intermediate teacher professional development,
and I hope this is the case. Anecdotally, I believe
the situation in terms of keeping students in
languages at senior levels is still grim overall.
Option systems and attitudes that discourage
continuation of second-language study seem
widespread, and the dynamics of NCEA also seem
to be impacting on subject choice.
Nationally, there seems little interest in coordination of curriculum strategy to produce a
critical mass of competent linguists, despite the
sterling efforts of those who have written comprehensive documents leading us towards a
national languages policy, such as Peddie (1991),
Waite (1992) and Spence (2004). While the
33
number of students participating in L2 learning
may have increased, I contend that if we are not
producing more students at the most advanced
level then we are falling short of the goal of creating more multilingual New Zealanders. It is my
belief that we urgently need to convince those who
do not have the same vested interest as language
teachers of the importance of raising senior
secondary international language participation
levels. This is hardly an original sentiment, being
obvious to the many seasoned NZALT members
who have campaigned for years, but I hope that
this research strengthens our argument.
1
Those who would like to refute these assertions are
encouraged to contact me with the evidence.
Nevertheless, I would very much like to acknowledge the
efforts of those within the Ministry of Education who are
working, or have worked hard, to promote language
learning.
Bibliography
McLauchlan, Alastair. (2007). The Negative L2 Climate, understanding attrition among second language
students. Palmerston North: Sasakawa.
Peddie, R.A. (1991). One, Two or Many? The Development and Implementation of Languages Policy in New
Zealand. Auckland: University of Auckland.
Shearn, Sandra. (2003). Attitudes to foreign language learning in New Zealand schools: PhD thesis, Victoria
University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
Spence, Gail 2004. The Practice of Policy in New Zealand. Current Issues in Language Planning 5(4): 389406).
Waite, Jeffrey. (1992). Aoteareo: speaking for ourselves: a discussion on the development of a New Zealand
languages policy; a report commissioned by the Ministry of Education. Wellington: Learning Media.
34
KEEPING IT ALIVE
Language teaching: reignite the passion
By Bronwyn Wiltshire
National monitor for German, Christchurch Girls’ High School
At the NZALT biennial conference in Rotorua in
July, I gave an interactive presentation where I
described my own experiences, especially with my
teaching of German, then invited participants to
share their own personal experiences with their
neighbour at the points marked >>>>>>. It was
noticeable how energy levels rose as the session
went on, and some teachers said later they would
like to try this with their senior students. Have a go
for yourself and enjoy! (For the purposes of this
article I have removed my own stories).
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why languages?
Why teach languages?
How to spark our students?
Where to from here?
“… according to some of the
research into effective
teaching, the biggest influence
on student achievement is the
passion teachers show for their
subject.”
the other person will talk and you will listen.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2. Why teach languages?
This part might be a lot easier. What got you into
teaching and/or into teaching languages? Was it an
inspiring teacher? For me it was three…
Do you ever feel there must be more to your job as
a language teacher than vocabulary lists, achievement standards, the exact definition of “convincing” and “effective”? Well, according to some of
the research into effective teaching, the biggest
influence on student achievement is the passion
teachers show for their subject. Take a moment
and reignite your passion. The aim is to leave you
once again feeling inspired and passionate.
1. Why languages?
Let’s start by reminding ourselves what sparked
our interest in languages in the first place. When I
started teaching German in the 70s, most German
classes had far more boys than girls – because
they knew about German from the war comics –
every 13-year-old boy in NZ at the time knew
Achtung Engländer! and Schweinhund!
For me, there are several things, all associated
with my dad, which sparked my interest. What
about you? Take a moment to think what set you
on the trail of languages in general, or German or
French or whatever language it may be, for
example, a German parent or grandparent. You
might need to think about it, or you might have a
clear memory. Allow yourself to think about it
now– in silence – you may be surprised what
comes up for you. I hadn’t really realised until
preparing this just how much is associated with my
dad. Think for a moment in silence…
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Now tell your story to your neighbour – who will
listen and won’t interrupt! Then you will swap and
Maybe you got into teaching through economic
necessity? You found love with a Kiwi, and then
needed to earn your living? But still, why teaching
in the first place? Think for a moment, and then
your neighbour can share their story. Let them
talk, then share yours and they will let you talk.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
3. How to spark our students?
a. An authentic situation: In the 60s when I was
at high school, you never heard another language
being spoken. Then in the 70s gradually there were
bits of other languages on TV. Students would
come in the morning with great excitement, “I
heard some French last night!”. Then in the 80s in
Christchurch tourists started coming – and the
students’ excitement was “I heard come Germans
in Cashel Mall and I could understand some words
they were saying!”. In the 90s it was “Some
Germans were in the restaurant where I work and
I said Guten Abend to them!”, and with my tourism
students at polytech I told them to eavesdrop and
pick out which couples out of a group of four
Germans were married to each other - who addressed each other as “du” and who as “Sie”. And
now we have tourists and residents and exchange
students and homestay students and so on.
b. Anecdotes: Slightly less immediate, but nonetheless authentic, are your own anecdotes. Students always mention these positively at feedback
time. They are stories of your own experiences.
Often these stories are what stay with the students
when the actual words have been – apparently –
forgotten, such as
“When we were in Paris I
35
remembered what my French teacher taught us for
School Certificate about how you have to get a
ticket at the bus stop – so that’s what we did!”.
Or, “I met this person that you used to teach and
she was in Germany and she couldn’t remember
what to say – then she remembered your song and
she sang it to herself and then she remembered
and she knew how to ask.”
c. Special events where we try to replicate authentic situations, such as food stalls during International Languages Week (I always think of our
darling Lil Falloon and her Lebkuchen), quizzes,
competitions, films, making Strohsterne at the end
of the year with Year 10 German, fashion parades
with commentary in Year 10 French.
d. In the classroom:
This type of “Culture” is easy to embed with
beginners of any age, such as in the very first
lesson making everyone stand up, walk
around and shake hands as they say “Guten
Abend. Wie heißen Sie?” or “Guten Tag. Wie
heißt du?” which of course also has the
immediate function of breaking the ice in the
class and establishing the atmosphere we
want to foster.
•
•
Advanced students such as years 12 and 13
can read authentic newspapers and books.
•
I often feel that the hardest level to make
“authentic” is Year 11, partly because they
are so fixated on their exams that they see
anything resembling “extra” as side-tracking.
But here, NCEA is on our side – making the
internal tasks “authentic” is not difficult.
Compare for example the difference between
the task “Talk to the German class about a
holiday trip you made in New Zealand” - why
would you? - compared with “You are Skyping
your German penfriend - tell him/her about
your holiday in New Zealand”.
I love it that when you scratch the surface of
anything in Germany you find that it goes
back more than 1000 years! Not only
traditions such as Christmas trees (Saint
Bonifatius, who studied in Ireland and
brought Christianity to Germany, adapted the
traditional oak tree to the fir tree to illustrate
how God’s love is always green).
•
And let us remember this is not social
studies; the language itself is what sparks the
students and embeds the culture: the very
words – even very mundane things such as
how in German knives and forks come, not
go, into the drawer and children are brought
•
36
to school, not taken (so the perspective isn’t
away from yourself but towards…) – or how
my friends used to laugh when I talked of my
pot plants “sitting” on the window ledge
(English) – they imagined the plants’ little
legs hanging down over the ledge – whereas
the pot plants “standing” on the ledge (as in
German) made me think of them like little
soldiers on guard!
Now is the time to share ideas with us all: What do
you do to make German come alive for your students? It may be weird and wacky, or memorable
in some way!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
4. Where to now?
a. Compulsory language learning: Research has
shown for some years that every school subject is
important because it develops a different part of
the brain. And now we have just learned that
learning another language can delay the onset of
Alzheimer’s. The University of Canterbury is in fact
using this in its latest publicity campaign: “What
if…you learned Te Reo to delay Alzheimer’s?”.
Another anecdote about memory training – the
number of students in my tourism classes who
would say at the beginning of their compulsory
German section (we are talking 15 years ago!) “I
did six months of German in Form 2 but I don’t
remember anything”. Then once we got started,
after a week or so, would say, “Hey, this is all
coming back to me!”.
b. Learn another language yourself: Hands up if
you have learned another language recently?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Why learn another language? Apart from wanting
to keep your job because German is being phased
out at your school – apart from anything else,
especially with an Asian language where there may
be few hooks to latch new vocabulary onto, other
than greenu peasu or teléfono – the reason is to
remind you just how hard it can be – and that is
always a timely lesson for a teacher.
c. World peace: Let’s face it – we want to make
the world a better place! It was brought home to
me a couple of years ago in Christchurch when two
young Danish tourists were beaten up in Cashel
Mall by a group of louts who later told police “the
guys talked funny”. They had obviously never
learned a foreign language. They had never
learned that something different isn’t wrong or
funny, it’s just different. And isn’t that the first
step to world peace? Isn’t that what sustains and
inspires us?? Isn’t that really our PASSION?
STRENGTHENING SKILLS
Boosting foreign language learning for improved outcomes in
Maori and Pasifika literacy
By Jacquie Johnson
Former Head of Department, French, Epsom Girls’ Grammar School
Although recognised as a powerful tool for general
literacy, foreign language learning may be less obvious for its ability to engage Maori and Pasifika
students. For these children, learning through
language and culture is natural, instinctive and
highly enjoyable. It has aspects in which they
excel. Could New Zealand better capitalise on our
Learning Languages Curriculum area to strengthen
the English language skills of these students,
thereby improving their motivation and achievement over the wider curriculum?
It could be argued that two key factors identified
by research as improving literacy outcomes are
somewhat under-emphasised across the country:
•

that literacy outcomes are improved for all
learners generally when the structure of language is made explicit.
that engagement for minority ethnic groups
improves when the cultural values and language learning norms of those groups are integrated into classroom practice.
Foreign language pedagogy works with both of
these factors through classroom practice; it fosters
linguistic skills for literacy and inter-cultural
learning for engagement. Do we need to be extending its reach more consciously to address our
literacy “tail”?
A. The benefits of second language learning
for literacy within the New Zealand context:
The cognitive benefits of foreign language learning
are well documented and understood. Informed
comment on the literacy benefits of languages in
the New Zealand context can be accessed in
papers by the NZ Language Teachers Association
and the NZ national co-ordinator Learning
Languages, Dee Edwards (Appendix Point 1).
My perspective is to suggest that a useful lens for
identifying benefits, not just for general literacy
but for Maori and Pasifika literacy in particular, is
the lens of the five Key Competencies of the New
Zealand Curriculum:
•
Thinking
•
Using languages, symbols and texts
•
Participating and contributing
•
Relating to others
•
Managing self
“This is an opportunity for
Maori and Pasifika students to
outperform classmates, to be
the ones with their hands up to
answer questions and offer
insights.”
In the following analysis I have grouped the KCs
for greater transparency. Certain factors emerge
which are quite compelling.
The NZC Key Competencies in Languages as a
Literacy Lens
Category 1: Thinking Using Languages, Symbols and Texts
Benefits for general literacy:
a) As the by-product of learning the structure of a
target language, reading and writing skills in
English are improved because the English grammar
and tense system has been made more explicit
than is generally the case today in Core English.
b) Foreign language learning fosters higher order
thinking skills and literacies that transfer to
performance in other subjects.
Specific benefits for Maori and Pasifika students:
a) improved reading and writing skills through:
i) acquisition of a linguistic concept framework for
English that improves understanding of sentence
structure
ii) language exposure that widens vocabulary,
including the vocabulary of literacy
b) capitalisation of the right brain strengths of
Maori and Pasifika peoples relative to Europeans
(allowing for generalisation). These can confer
major advantages, especially in the ability to:
• process non-verbal, concrete and spatial
information.
• guess, associate, get the main idea.
• identify patterns, form a picture, process parts
in relationship to a whole.
• build vocabulary quickly via kinetic activity.
This is an opportunity for Maori and Pasifika students to outperform classmates, to be the ones
with their hands up to answer questions and offer
37
insights. In my experience, these students move
rapidly into confidence with this, once the learning
environment entices them out of shyness.
c) improved motivation, success, and self-esteem
Students from societies with a strong aural/oral
tradition often excel in listening and speaking.
Vowel sound pronunciation in their native languages confers an advantage over European
students in speaking certain foreign languages
such as French, Spanish and Japanese.
d) opportunities to share and compare their own
culture with pride as they learn about the different
cultural practices of others, especially through the
enjoyment of music, dance, food customs, and so
on which is integral to language classrooms, the
teacher using NZC iCLT principles (Appendix Point
2). Through this they also expand their knowledge
of the world to better understand how their own
culture fits into it.
e) even if struggling with the language acquisition
process itself, students usually also have the opportunity to succeed in English language cultural
projects offered, for example the regions of France,
the food of Spain, the festivals of Japan etc. It is
heart-warming indeed to see the pride of a student
who is not achieving in the language gain an
“Excellence Plus” for such a project. I know
students for whom this was the only Excellence
grade they received on any school report over the
entire five years they were in high school. Tears of
despair became tears of joy and disbelief and it
was very moving. This is quite possible if set up in
the right manner.
Category 2: Participating and contributing,
relating to others
An active student-centred language classroom will exploit many types of interrelational activities for communication and
learning purposes, for example:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
pair work
group work
task collaboration
conversations
discussion, debates
games
singing
dancing
crafting/creating
peer review and peer tutoring
Such activities:
a) often mimic the living and learning norms of
their own cultures in which communal cooperation, social interaction, laughter, music, art
and oratory are highly valued. The foreign
language class can become a type of “family” or
“whanau” in which students may have a greater
sense of belonging than in other subjects.
b) provide another opportunity for right-brain
strength to result in achievement, allowing these
students to model to others and build confidence.
c) provide differentiated learning for a range of
abilities and interests.
Category 3: Managing self
In a language class students must learn to
self-manage on at least three different levels:
a) the organisational level:
• coping with different modalities requiring
different types of brain function:
• kinetic activities, for example cutting, pasting,
drawing,
miming,
acting,
games,
mind
mapping, conversing
• linear thought-based textbooks/exercise books
• holistic thought-based digital devices, such as
netbook or laptop, iPad, iPod, iPhone.
• coping with frequent changes of focus in
lessons: teacher, data projector, tape recorder,
whiteboard, overhead projector, textbook,
exercise book, netbook/laptop, each other in
pairs and groups
• meeting homework and project deadlines
b) the skills level:
• language skills: moving seamlessly each lesson
between listening, reading, speaking, writing
and coping with the different brain functions
required for each
• relational skills needed for interaction
• communicative language skills for conveyance
of meaning
• digital technology skills
c) the meta-cognitive level: learning how to learn
language autonomously, acquiring the skills and
strategies needed for this, all transferable to
English.
Benefits for general literacy:
Extended multi-level cognitive functioning
nearly always evolve language development.
Benefit for general literacy:
Less able students can learn complex concepts and
skills through socialisation, physical activities and
fun.
38
will
Cultural practices are used as learning strategies in
the classroom, for example kinetic learning and
learning through human relationships and communication.
•
•
•
B. General conclusions arising from the benefits analysis:
iii) The process involved in language learning
imparts skills that have a new required
emphasis in the NZC for “vocational literacy”:
i) Aspects of Maori and Pasifika cultures can
advantage the children of these cultures
within a foreign language classroom, offering
opportunities for achievement, growth of selfesteem and a sense of belonging within the
education system because communicative
language learning mimics certain norms
within their own cultures:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
communication through reading and writing
emphasis on left-brain analysis
digital technologies
higher-order thinking skills, including drawing
conclusions, synthesising and thinking critically
formulating relevant questions for inquiry
problem-solving
co-operative learning
soliciting and giving opinion
presenting rationales
active listening
expanded relational and cultural awareness
Strong aural/oral traditions in these societies
are heavily brought into play in the foreign
language classroom, positioning these children
iv) Language learning supports the new
strongly.
“multi-literacies” brought in by the technoloPhonological awareness has been proven by
gical revolution:
research to be an important and reliable
•
computer literacy
predictor of reading ability, therefore additional
•
media literacy
oral proficiency acquired through not only
•
visual literacy
learning English but also through some
•
critical literacy
exposure to a third language can improve reading comprehension and writing skills overall
The primary aim of literacy is communication, but
(Appendix Point 3).
this has new and demanding dimensions in the 21st
Pronunciation in the native languages is much
century. Its former focus upon the ability to
closer to that of other languages than to
analyse, interpret and transform discourse is now
English, conferring another oral advantage.
insufficient. Proficiency in new literacies is reInteraction with others is integquired, along with the ability to
ral to making meaning and
embrace
additional
types
of
“An often strong
learning in a language classliteracies as society changes, both
right-brain capacity
room, as it is within Maori and
technologically and through its
in Polynesian
Pasifika cultures.
paradigm shifts. Concepts, skills
In
both
contexts,
selfsocieties allow
and strategies acquired through
expression and learning prothese students to
language learning facilitate holistic
ceeds through language and
thinking and help people to manage
make intuitive
culture.
this process.
connections,
An often strong right-brain capdeduce patterns
v) The basis of literacy is culacity in Polynesian societies
ture as it is a concrete projectand learn
allow these students to make
tion of ways of thinking and beintuitive connections, deduce
kinetically.”
ing that are culturally specific.
patterns and learn kinetically.
This is a salient point given the fact that the
over-emphasis on left-brain functioning in the
school curriculum tends to disadvantage certain
students – a factor in our tail of underachievement. A tertiary provider recently expressed concern about impaired vocational
transition in some communities as a result of
the system failing to recognise and provide for
creative right-brain abilities.
ii) Language learning strengthens academic
functions which are traditionally less emphasised in Maori and Pasifika culture (although
this is changing rapidly in the modern era):
Our foreign language classrooms work directly with
this principle and offer a wonderful opportunity for
something special: reciprocity. The great gift of our
Maori and Pasifika children, indeed of all the
immigrant and exchange students in our schools, is
in providing the precious resource of themselves
via the cross-cultural referencing that has to take
place in the learning of a language. By default, all
students in these classes become more culturally
literate and enriched. In the Te Kotahitanga project
(Appendix Point 4) teachers in participating schools
included language teachers. It was shown that
kaupapa Māori-based pedagogy produced a shift in
39
the attitudes and values of students towards school
and greater engagement. This is of value in schools
with high numbers of Maori students.
vii) Core English can no longer be expected to
impart in-depth English language grammar
knowledge, particularly to ethnic minorities.
To achieve satisfactory levels of reading comprehension and to write successfully, students
must develop word and grammar pattern
recognition skills. The precursor to that is the
acquisition of decoding skills, but without metacognitive language skills they cannot decode - they
need to build up a language learning concept
framework to know how to learn language and
therefore, how to be literate. This is an important
understanding.
Demystifying the way written language works can
be an eye-opening, very exciting experience for
young people, allowing them to make new mental
connections and better navigate the written substance of all their subjects to lift their achievement
across the curriculum. It even aids in computer
literacy. In fact, originally, AUT required a foreign
language background as a prerequisite to computing courses.
Unfortunately for immigrant children, these metacognitive skills are not taught in Core English and it
seems unlikely that Core English will ever again
teach detailed English grammar as it once did.
Even in schools attempting this, allocation of
sufficient curriculum hours to do so using the bestpractice language teaching principles needed, is
unlikely in the extreme. English teachers do not
receive this type of training, only foreign language
and ESL teachers do.
As previously noted, research shows that tapping
into first-language literacy can confer advantages
to learners of English. But the wide range of
ethnicities in New Zealand schools makes this
impractical, especially in central Auckland where
the student body can comprise upwards of 40
different nationalities. To cater individually for each
nationality would ideally require:
a) classes in their separate mother languages
b) ESL-based English classes
Clearly this would be logistically and economically
impossible.
viii) Foreign languages compensate for
40
weaknesses in Core English in developing literacy in challenged students.
This is because the four language skills (reading,
writing, speaking, and listening) developed in the
target language cross-reference to English.
Expanded grammar and vocabulary knowledge
improve reading, writing and oral expression. Aural
skills are especially emphasised and the vocational
implications of this cannot be underestimated.
Competency in the workplace depends upon good
listening skills. In an increasingly digital and
visually cued society these skills now need specific
promotion, and this happens largely only in music,
drama and languages.
It would also be short-sighted to measure literacy
in terms of only reading and writing skills; metacognitive skills are integral to the aims of the NZC.
Its emphasis upon life-long learning skills and “key
competencies” is there for good reason in the
current era of fast-paced change, new technologies
and global contingencies (Appendix 5).
Learning Languages was made the eighth curriculum area because through acquiring a
language-learning capability young people are
better equipped to cope in an international environment and, in a business context, are better
positioned for commercial opportunity, a factor of
relevance in the wider context of New Zealand’s
economic future.
Summary:
It is nationally agreed that the long-term aims of
the New Zealand Curriculum need to be central to
literacy initiatives. Although New Zealand scores
impressively in PISA testing, we still have a long
literacy tail which is of concern and we are
exploring further options to address this. OECD
research highlighted that higher-order thinking
skills required for 21st century living and working
are particularly well fostered through the learning
of a foreign language, hence the Communication
and Culture strands of the Learning Languages
Curriculum to further the over-arching Vision,
Principles, Values and Key Competencies of the
NZC. Benefits for cross-curriculum literacy are
implicit. With infrastructure for Languages already
in place there is a strong argument to support the
idea that extension of its reach could be a costeffective and exciting way to improve literacy
outcomes in New Zealand.
FROM CHINA TO CATALONIA
A long linguistic trip
By Artur Vidal and Isabel Minguell (translator)
Barcelona, Spain
According to Idescat sources, Catalonia lately has
experienced the insertion of about one million
people from different countries worldwide and in
consequence, a new pluri-lingual society has
emerged. A unique experience in the world as
regards the number of people who have arrived
within such a short period of time. Moreover, we
should also take into account our situation here,
where Catalan is a co-official minority language
living together with Spanish, along with the
process of a linguistic immersion, which started in
the 80s and has now reached another dimension.
This model of linguistic immersion was inspired on
other models (such as the one in Quebec, Canada)
to face the arrival of immigrants from the rest of
Spain who did not know the native language,
Catalan, and enrolled in the Catalan education
system as of the 1940s (the end of the tragic
Spanish Civil War).
Now, the arrival of new learners who come from
all parts of the world accounts for about 300
languages, according to Carme Junyent (1) from
Grup GELA. Out of this group, in this article, we
will focus on the arrival of 47,743 Chinese people
and, more specifically, on an area created for
them called “aula d’acollida” or foster classroom,
which serves the purpose for this linguistic
immersion in a progressive period of coexistence,
going from six months to two years for those
languages considered remote.
While the Chinese community has as a common
standard language, Mandarin Chinese (北方話) or
puntonghua (普通话) (Sinotibetan family) spoken
by 1200-1300 million people around the world,,
China’s
linguistic
magma
encompasses
an
important group of other languages such as Wu
(吳語) spoken by 77 million people or also mǐn
(閩語 ) spoken by 70 million in addition to many
different dialects (many students come from
qintiang, zhejiang province popular republic of
china, including as many dialectical variations from
whezou or wenxi).
This article deals with the learning process of
Chinese people who learn Catalan and/or Spanish.
First of all, we have to consider the difference
between the language learning process of those
Chinese students familiar with the Chinese
education system, which is very demanding and
“Teaching Catalan to Chinese
people has given us an insight
to the problems Chinese
students have to face when
learning a foreign language.”
memory-based following an authoritarian approach, and that followed by those who have only
known the Catalan system offering a very up close
and personalised treatment. The main difference is
that some students have to learn to write using
the Latin alphabet. This process is called “Pinyin”,
which is taught only in some schools in China.
Only schools where English is taught teach
“Pinyin”. These are normally private or state
schools located in non-rural areas. “Pinyin”: Hànyǔ
Pīnyīn) is the official system to transcribe Chinese
characters into Latin script.
Being both students of English and teachers for a
long time has given us both the experience of a
teacher and a learner. And, on the other hand,
teaching Catalan to Chinese people has given us
an insight to the problems Chinese students have
to face when learning a foreign language.
With Chinese students learning Catalan and/or
Spanish, we deal with some specific traits. The
main characteristics of Chinese students include:
1. Being Mandarin or Putonhua the most spoken
language in their country, despite the
existence of more than one hundred other
languages, they tend to use Mandarin as it is
the official language in China. This fact is
reflected on the way they see Catalan as not
being as useful as Spanish.
2. Chinese students are self-conscious. That is to
say, they are afraid of making mistakes so,
this prevents them from communicating
fluently in other languages with other people.
3. Most of the times these students are
responsible for passing on both the new
linguistic and cultural codes to their families.
They are also in charge of translating a way of
understanding the world which is very
different from theirs.
4. Last but not least, we have to bear in mind the
enormous linguistic and cultural gap between a
41
Sino-Tibetan language and a Latin Roman one.
To understand the learning process and its
characteristics better, let’s have a look at this
theoretical background which is based mainly on
The Common European Framework and Elizabeth
Coelho’s book (2).
important to be in contact with the language you
are learning as much as possible. Some ways of
doing this include: interacting with native speakers, watching foreign TV channels, attending
speaking corners, having speaking partners,
listening to the radio, travelling…
We must accept that we live in a multilingual
To start with, we would like to say that to achieve
society. An example of this, as we have stated at
knowledge learners should concentrate on five
the beginning, is Catalonia where today 250
skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and
different languages are spoken. So, in this sense,
interaction. The main aim when learning a foreign
all teachers should speak different languages to be
language is to get a linguistic competence
able to cope with this realienabling learners to speak
ty.
“Learners
need
a
certain
in an everyday situation.
emotional predisposition
To conclude, a brief sumWe should take into actowards the language they are
mary of the main ideas
count two main factors
about the learning process
learning.”
when learning a language.
Chinese people follow when
According to Sebastià Serlearning Catalan. Language learning is based on
rano (3), these factors comprise 30 per cent
four elements:
intellectual capacity and 70 per cent emotional
1. Methodology: Being used to learning by heart
aspects.
Chinese characters (any competent Chinese
On these grounds, who could be considered a
writer knows about 1500) in Catalonia they
good learner? A good learner is a person who can
are faced with the fact that the Latin alphabet
obtain enough information intake or input, and
has only twenty-six letters and a grammar
attitudes and motivation that do not interfere in
that is very different from theirs and thus,
this input.
much more complex.
When learning a language another important
2. Emotional aspects: Learners need a certain
factor is the methodological patterns which are as
emotional predisposition towards the language
follows: we should work on speaking, use activities
they are learning. In the case of Chinese
that foster both teacher-student and studentstudents, we must be aware of their cultural
student interaction, develop and encourage
and linguistic self-consciousness. It has been
positive attitudes, relate speaking and writing, use
shown that to be able to learn a foreign
a lot of visual aids, select material carefully and if
language one should have overcome what is
possible, use authentic material.
called “migratory mourning” as defined by
In addition to this, it is also vital that classroom
Joseba Achotegui: leaving their grandparents,
teachers understand the difference between social
their uncles, their friends, their landscape,
language and academic language acquisition. Here
their sky… Leaving all these to go to a country
is a simple description of BICS and CALP (4) as
they haven’t chosen. It is their family who has
theorised by Jim Cummins:
imposed this transnational project on them.
•
BICS stands for Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. It is based on what learning
is about in the first two years: Speaking
competence, conversation face to face,
concentrating on the now and here, familiar
content, everyday vocabulary, language in
contexts with lots of aids, relaxed atmosphere.
•
CALP stands for Cognitive Academic language
proficiency. It would be after five or seven
years: very abstract language, more distant in
time and space, less familiar contexts, more
specific
vocabulary
(more
topic-related),
language with little context, more demanding
atmosphere.
When we are learning a language we should target
the five aforementioned skills. But also it is very
42
3. Family language: The importance of keeping
the family language or native language to
improve and motivate the learning of new
languages. This keeping and improvement of
the family language is normally carried out
outside the classroom within the project called
“Educational plan for urban contexts”. On the
other hand, it is also true that these families
enrol their children in Chinese schools on
Saturday mornings or even the whole day
where they use traditional teaching methodologies imported from China in most of the
cases.
4. Usage. To improve the use of a language, we
must raise the families’ and the students’
awareness about the importance of having a
good knowledge of both the native language,
Catalan, and the co-official language, Spanish
to get through both the secondary school
degree (ESO), vocational training or university. The use of the language can be enhanced
by means of linguistic partners, reading tutor
(an older student helps a younger one with
reading),
“cicerone”
(guide)
programme
(where the older teaches and shows how
students work in the classrooms here),
improving the language during breaks…
All in all, from the beginning of the establishment
of the foster classroom by the Departament
d’ensenyament (Department of Education) we
have seen that the learning process of primary
and secondary students requires three to four
years to achieve a remarkable linguistic competence that will enable them to follow the learning
process of the students in an ordinary classroom.
Besides, students who have Chinese as a mother
tongue or other dialectical Sinotibetan variations
show some specific traits that will be analysed in
depth in further articles and which Lluïsa Gràcia
started describing in her work Xinès (5).
Artur Vidal is an LIC which stands for Language,
Interculturality and Social Cohesion advisor from
Departament d’Ensenyament of Generalitat de
Catalunya.He has been a secondary school teacher for
more than 20 years. He now works as a teacher trainer of
language methodology to primary and secondary school
teachers. He has contributed to some books about
Catalan language and litetature.
Isabel Minguell has been an English teacher for adults for 25
years. She works at the Official School of Languages of
Barcelona where she teaches upper-intermediate and
advanced levels.She has also taught English for specific
purposes at Ramon Lull University and Universitat Autonoma
of Barcelona. She is highly interested in cross-cultural
awareness and Asian culture.
References
1)
Maria C. Junyent (2012). El rol de les llengües dels alumnes a l'escola. Barcelona: Horsori.
2)
Elisabeth Coelho. Enseñar y aprender en escuelas multiculturales. Una aproximación integrada. ICE.
Horsori. Cuadernos de Educación. Interculturalidad. 49.
3)
Idescat. http://www.idescat.cat/
4)
Jim Cummins. http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/bics_calp.php
5)
Lluïsa Gràcia. El xinès. Llengua, immigració I ensenyament del català 3.
http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/bsf/01Departament/08Publicacions/Coleccions/Llengua immigracio i ensenyament
catala/03gramaticacatalaxines05/llengua_ immigracio_03_xines.pdf
43
ICTs AND LEARNING LANGUAGES
Snapshots
By Pascale Hyboud-Peron
NZAFT vice-president, MyPortfolio facilitator
With talk of use of ICTs becoming ubiquitous, with
mounting evidence that “e-Learning has inherent
benefits to learners” in terms of “pedagogy, critical
thinking and multiliteracies” (Noeline Wright, 2010
e-Learning and Implications for New Zealand
schools: a literature review), with a wellestablished use of technologies in Language classrooms and with teachers exploring not only “how
ICT can supplement traditional ways of teaching
but also how it can open up new and different ways
of learning” (NZC Effective Pedagogy), it was time
for a story, the story of where language teachers
and students are at with 21st century learning.
I emailed language teachers from different schools
with a range of experience, asking four questions:
What are you/your students doing with (tool)?
•
Name
School
Year
Tools
What for?
Why?
Challenge?
So what?
44
•
•
•
Why?
What has been a challenge and how have you
overcome it/working to overcome it?
How is the use of the tool affecting your students' language learning? (engagement, creativity, key competencies, assessment, selfassessment capability and so on?)
Many genuine, inspirational and authentic answers
came forth, warm of the teachers’ voices and
enthusiasm. Here is a selection.
More are available online at this link as publication
space here is limited. Feel free to leave a comment
there and share your own journey.
Thank you to all who contributed. This story is one
of innovation, adaptation and reflection.
Gunhild Litwin
Palmerston North Boys’ High School
12, 13
Moodle, smartphones, Google Translate, German spell checker, www.text-to-speech.com,
quizlet.com, camtasia,com, AQA textbook online support
I use Moodle to upload tasks for choice boards, quizlets, YouTube links, assignment uploads,
review points, recorded lesson notes. Students access Moodle to upload and access material
(sporadically, though).
Smartphones are used to record and review, for example interactions and oral submissions.
Google Translate is a tool to use with caution. German spell checker is used to improve
accuracy in electronic submissions. I create vocab sets with quizlet based on what's the topic
du jour for students to practise in their own time. I use Camtasia to record video commentary
to a live screen, for example grammar notes or a song.
I try to decentralise teaching to a more individual interest-based one. I also want to diminish
the “each for himself” culture of PNBHS and foster collaborative work, though ICTs seem more
geared to individual interest.
The school is very unresponsive to the realities of ICT use by students, and bans cellphones,
therefore the cellphone use in my classroom is “illegal”. I still allow students to use their
phones.
The low uptake by students of anything that is “officially” sanctioned, such as Moodle. It's seen
as uncool.
I have student evidence/voice of the effectiveness of text-to-speech as a tool, the same for
spellchecker and Google Translate. Access to authentic texts, for example via YouTube, has
increased engagement with relevant topics, which is evidenced in the spectacular results for
interact!
Collaboration has increased through self-access voice recording, where students discuss
success measures and work together on improving their work.
Name
School
Year
Tools
What for?
Why?
Challenge?
So what?
Name
School
Year
Tools
What for?
Why?
Challenge?
So what?
Anna Kelly
Tawa College
9-13
MyPortfolio, Language Perfect, Youtube
MyPortfolio for senior assessment. It's wonderful because students can draft and get me to check.
They can type things up in their own time and put it on MyPortfolio. That makes it really difficult to
lose and students have to manage their own pages! They love MyPortfolio and they can submit work
to me whenever. We like having computer-room sessions where students can do a mixture of
research, Language Perfect and writing - they can be creative and work at their own pace. It really
allows students to be creative and make more choices about their work. In this sense, students
drive the assessments.
Language Perfect is my year 11 group’s favourite thing to do. They often ask for it - I even have
students learning bits of other languages just for fun and then we can compare words in different
languages. We had a great session with year 11 where I was guessing and learning words in
Spanish and Latin along with my students. It was really fun and allowed them to make connections
between languages. They were amazed at what they knew and could piece together. Plus, Language
Perfect is really fun and competitive and makes those vocab lists so easy to learn and manage.
I find YouTube and websites like BrainPop with videos and quizzes really fun and interactive.
Students like to see and experience culture and music/videos are a big part of that.
Language Perfect, because it's engaging and fun. I hardly do any writing on the board anymore
between PowerPoint, internet pages, music, videos and MyPortfolio. I think it's important to keep
engaging students and suggesting different ways to do that.
Money and access to technology - my classroom has two computers but I'm getting more. It's hard
to get computer rooms sometimes. But we work with what we have. I'm trialling ways to use the
technology we have so I'm keen for students to bring their iPods. I encourage students to use
laptops. A big challenge with all the internet access we have now is the temptation to use Google
Translate. I guess in the future I'll be teaching students how to effectively use it.
Students can be creative...I guess a big thing is self-management.
I never thought I'd say it but students love doing vocabulary with Language Perfect!
And there's so much more I want to do....and to explore, such as the use of some of the apps on
the iPod to create cartoons, videos and to use the dictionaries, and just the internet since I notice
students love their iPods so much. I'll trial it next year with some senior students who have iPod
Touches and with my own. Students know more than me so hopefully they can teach me about
iPods!
Margaret Gallaher
Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt
9- 13
MyPortfolio, Glogster, Voki, GoAnimate
MyPortfolio - being used at all levels to showcase their work, for seniors it was a way to present
their portfolio work. Glogster, voki and GoAnimate were only used with years 9 and 10 at this stage
- one of the options for presenting work and then embedded in their MyPortfolio page.
For the juniors the main reason was to provide choices for the students and give them a chance to
be more creative with their language. For the seniors it was to give them more of a chance to take
charge of their own learning by being in control of their portfolios from day one.
Not everyone had access to a computer; this was largely solved by access at school at lunchtime or
after school. There was a lack of skills in downloading video/sound files - I did help there, but
hopefully in the future the students will have improved their ability to download their own material.
1. Definitely a plus for their creativity at juniors; work in process for seniors.
2. The level of engagement is also higher - but tailed off towards the end of the year. More probably
a reflection of my tiredness though.
3. KC - self management in a big way!!
4. Made assessment of the portfolios easier I think, although all students did not find editing so easy
using MyPortfolio. I aim to give more guidance in this area next year.
5. One big plus was in the increased computer skills of some students.
45
Name
School
Year
Tools
What for?
Why?
Challenge?
So what?
Sarah Collett
Hillcrest High School
9 -13
MyPortfolio, Moodle, Wikis, Facebook, Twitter, Language Perfect
MyPortfolio is used for years 11-13. They use it as a place to store evidence for NCEA (speaking and
writing portfolios) and to receive teacher feedback/feedforward, they use it for goal setting and
reflective journals, they use it to collaborate and help each other with their work. (They share pages
with their friends and ask for feedback.)
Moodle is used for all year levels. Resources used in class and resources for independent study are
available on the Moodle. This means students can revisit work done in class or challenge themselves
with extension materials. Links to interactive websites are posted on Moodle and relevant YouTube
clips. They also upload work onto Moodle (particularly years 9 and 10 who don't use MyPortfolio).
They upload audio files of short conversations, videos (for example international weather bulletins)
and some written work.
We have created a couple of wikis which we use to communicate with our sister school in New
Caledonia. Students started off by posting Glogs about themselves in French and the students in
New Caledonia did the same in English. We also posted pictures of our school, writing about our
typical days, and so on. Since our visit to New Caledonia in the last holidays, the students have
created a Facebook page to share their photos and they also message their hosts in New Caledonia
in a mixture of French and English. I didn't encourage or instigate the Facebook page, but they have
organised it in a responsible way and it is fantastic to see them using their French in ways that they
want to. (Not what I think they should be doing!)
All our year 11 - 13 language students are registered on Language Perfect and we had a sleepover
during the World Championships which was really successful.
I use Twitter for my professional learning, but not with classes as yet.
I encourage students to bring their iPod Touches or phones and to use them responsibly in class.
We use them as dictionaries (Word Reference), for recording audio and video and many of them
have language-learning apps for learning vocabulary, and so on. I also find them Podcasts to listen
to and encourage them to download French music.
Lack of hardware - we have very slow netbooks to use in class. Computer rooms get booked up very
quickly. The wifi is not reliable in school as we don't have enough bandwidth for the number of
users. Students don't bring their own devices because there is nowhere secure to keep them.
I find that using e-learning tools motivates different learners. I try to use a mixture of approaches
and to integrate tools into the class, so that we use it when we need it, not because we have
booked the computer room. It is definitely a great way to get students using the key competencies
and is an essential part of most of my group projects. Next year I am hoping to do some inquirylearning, exploring the use of iPads in Language Learning.
Name
School
Year
Tools
What for?
Rachel Penaluna
Wanganui Collegiate
10 (French, German, Spanish)
Own ipads/ laptops
To practise NCEA Listening papers/ Language perfect; some are doing Spanish, some are doing
German; one is doing French – at the same time, in the same class.
Why?
Same class are doing two languages (plus one student who is doing Correspondence French)
Challenge?
Multi-level; two/three languages running concurrently – I have needed to find solutions which
facilitate self-supported study.
The students have elected which exams/ internals they want to achieve in and then are working
independently on their goals. I am facilitator – have provided revision materials, audio files, past
papers/ language perfect subscriptions.
So what?
46
LIFELONG LEARNING
TPDL and other resources for language teachers
By Philippa Doig
In-school support Facilitator, Southern Region Co-ordinator
Teacher Professional Development Languages
Imogen Warren discovered she loved the German
language when she was sent to Germany on
business. Once she began teaching at Tawa
Intermediate School she decided to share her
passion with her class.
Imogen started teaching German on an ad hoc
basis but soon felt she needed a more structured
approach and sought professional development.
She enrolled in the Teacher Professional Development Languages (TPDL) programme to learn
about the latest language teaching theory and
practice.
TPDL
also
gave her the chance to
improve
her
own
German and to have an
observer
in
her
classroom
four times
during the year so she
could inquire into the
effectiveness of her
teaching.
similar Spanish and French online resources.
Planning for language lessons is done online.
In 2011 Imogen, by now lead teacher for Languages, organised a meeting of teachers interested
in teaching languages and found several who were
keen but possibly lacked confidence in their own
knowledge of the language they wished to teach.
She set up a MyPortfolio group to which all
teachers at the school were invited and the teachers interested in teaching languages met and
supported each other. She ran several languages
sessions at the
regular
Tawa
Intermediate
Wednesday morning PD session,
hoping to give
other teachers the
idea they could
teach a language,
even if their own
second lan-guage
was
limited
or
non-existent.
Colleague Lucy King
also applied for TPDL in
2012. Lucy has strong
French-speaking skills
Imogen is very
after six months in
honest with her
France
on
student
students: if there
exchange
but
was
is something she
looking for professional
Eager learners: Lucy King with her year 7/8 French class.
does not know in
development
that
German she suggwould maximise her students’ learning and give
ests they all find out together.
her tools to improve her own practice. She has in
Carolyn Stewart, principal of Tawa Intermediate,
mind the possibility of continuing on a languages
recognises the importance of learning languages as
teaching PD pathway with a Language Immersion
a way of encouraging higher-level thinking. A
Award in future. Another teacher, Tanya, has
teacher doesn’t have to be proficient in a subject to
enrolled in TPDL for 2013.
facilitate learning in her/his classroom.
Tawa Intermediate School is geared to use IT in
Teachers are being supported to learn languages
every aspect of its work including language
alongside their students. They are convinced of the
teaching. Imogen set up an online “booklet” for
value of learning a new language. They see it as
German using MyPortfolio so that other teachers at
exposure to a different way of thinking, a way of
Tawa Intermediate could use it. This booklet used
broadening horizons and a special and new
some established resources and had links to online
learning area that students are excited about.
language games and activities, which students
could access independently. The school now has
47

Read Polyglot

Transcription

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