Good Primary Languages lesson what makes hrrrm?

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

The above question was posed earlier this afternoon by Joe Brown and Hugh Baldry from TDA at the CiLT conference for Local Authorities. I am sharing it here because it's something that clearly concerns all of us teaching languages in primary schools, 'specialists', classtreachers, HLTAs alike.
Now Joe's actual question was 'What does good look like?' and no-one actually came up with an answer but I expect there are many, below are some of the ideas I overheard being discussed.

There are lots of things that need to be taken for consideration:
-From subject knowledge to willingness to learn/improve on this knowledge;
-from how & what is assessed to how planning fits with the rest of the curriculum & the flexibilty to adapt plans as a lesson progresses;
- from the structure of the lesson to the pace which probably should not be the same as that of a Secondary lesson;
-from the range or resources to the way they are used;
- from the amount of target language used to the purpose of that target language use;
- from the confidence of the teacher to the emotional baggage that may be attached to language learning...

The list goes on and on - I'd love to hear what else you think needs to be considered.

For once, I think I am actually in agreement with Ofsted on this though - I do not think a 'good' or 'outstanding' lesson is judged by what the teacher is observed to be doing or not, but rather on what the children are doing.

I think a good lesson is one where every child in the class has come away from the lesson having made some sort of 'progress'. Not necessarily academic progress that is easily measurable as such either, the progress could be emotional - a shift in attitude towards language learning perhaps or as simple as 'I didn't know that before'.

Good use of target language is not, in my opinion, where the teacher has impeccable accent & inexaustable vocabulary.I am interested in what target language the children used - choral repetition & little else just doesn't cut it. I'd rather a teacher with less French (or whatever) herself but the ability to use dvd/soundfiles judiciously and the confidence to encourage children to experiment with language than endless flashcard routines.

A colleague mentioned wanting to see a lesson where learning was not 'capped' by the teacher, where the children are taught real language learning skills & so can extend what they are practising individually and independently.

So, what do you think makes a 'good' lesson in Languages? Are there certain things you would want to be included?

[Chris]

What makes a good primary school language lesson? Focus on the language, the spoken language especially; lessons geared towards learning and using the language through dedicated, stimulating, targeted, language-based activities as opposed to excessive cultural content, and an end to the mind-boggling obsession with trying to integrate the language with other areas of the curriculum. With such little time devoted to language classes, the students need all the language work they can get. Croissants and Orangina may taste good, and attempting to do maths in French - a completely inappropriate excercise that focusses on incredibly low-frequency language - may fulfil the cross-curricular fad, but in the end it's all using time that could be spent developing appropriate language skills. The children aren't in an immersion program. They are foreigners learning another language in their native land, with very little contact with the target language, so that should be the premise for any class, rather than trying to achieve the impossible. If students don't emerge with tangible language skills they can draw upon and take to secondary school, and by tangible I mean beyond being able to give their name and count from 1 to 10, then what's the point in doing it at all?

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

Absolutely - although there is also the other extreme where an overconfident non-linguist has the class ready to follow them off a cliff but hasn't actually thought through the consequences of not ensuring a good model for the children to copy.

That's why I think the teacher's own willingness to learn is also crucial. It might be to stay a step ahead in terms of content and be aware of how to improve / the next steps for every student, equally it might be the visiting linguists willingness to liaise with a classteacher & make every effort to know the individuals & be aware of their progress.

It's not easy of course, but if the self-awareness & will to try to do something about it is there I think that shows through in the quality of the lesson. Maybe that is the difference between 'good' and 'outstanding'?

[Lorraine]

Jo,
some interesting points you;ve made. To me it points even more to the importance of 'knowing your class and pupils' that makes learning 'effective' or 'good'.

That can be one of the disadvantages of the 'specialist' who comes in for just a short while, if there is little dialogue between the class teacher and the 'specialist', we may not know the needs of the students in front of us if we are not given the info- and they (the pupils) may not 'flag' themselves up necessarily in the short time we have with them. So I would put dialogue and info as vitally important to how 'good' a lesson one can give.

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

Good points Lorraine.
I had a minor panic when the question was thrown open at the conference because there were several Ofsted people and TDA and the like there and I thought to myself - I really hope they are not wanting us to come up with a strict lesson structure/formula here. The last thing teachers need are more straight-jackets!

I think there are a hundred and one examples of a good primary languages lesson at the very least, and they are all very different. Remember how stilted and awful teaching became during the original compulsory 'literacy' and 'numeracy' hours? Oh the relief and enjoyment that flooded back when teachers were able to start doing their own thing again and adapt lesson plans to the children they actually taught and the speed they were progressing!

I've seen amazing learning going on in classrooms where the teacher knew no Spanish a few weeks earlier but has made excellent use of soundfiles & independent learning. Another where a classteacher with a degree in French was spreading language learning opportunities across the week and curriculum in a mixed age class to great effect. Yet another where a class teacher & a secondary school visiting teacher were team teaching - it was almost like tag-wrestling and they clearly were having to adapt the activities as they went along not stick to rigid plans. Sometimes you come across a visiting 'specialist' teacher who instantly knows exactly how to pitch a lesson & which children to target with different learning activities.

In my opinion - the common element is that teaching has been personalised to suit the class, individuals, circumstances of the school/day/events, with lots of different earning styles catered for and children following personalised learning objectives rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. The teachers have had confidence in their ability to teach to the extent they were all prepared to throw plans out of the window & switch to more appropriate activities where necessary, knowing the individual needs of the class inside out. Not super-heroes, just damn good teachers.

I feel strongly that this is what we should want to aspire to - not a teach-by-numbers structure which certain have argued for on the basis that non-linguists 'need' to be spoon fed. They don't. Good teachers are good teachers, it does not matter what their 'specialism' is because I would want to see all these elements of a good languages lesson in science, geography, art, literacy...

[Lorraine]

Ooh Jo,
what a question to start us all thinking at the beginning of the year!
I agree 'good' ought to include pupil involvement in the lesson- whether that can be extrinxically measured or not.
Part of what we are doing as Primary language teachers is all about breaking down barriers and looking at 'baggage about language learning' often picked up from parents and other adults. So results will not necessarily be short-term producible in one lesson- though pupils ought to come away with some feeling of success or having moved on.

I do like the comment about not 'capping' pupils learning. After all when one is in a foreign country one 'tries out and experiments' with language until one gets one's meaning across. As someone said 'It's not finding the words to ask the question that's the problem, but understanding their answer.'
Surely one of our aims is to get pupils confident and enthisiastic about communicating with someone who uses different words to convey meaning and not being afraid to 'take risks' with language.
Looking forward to what others think
Lorraine