The new GCSE, it's all about RETRIEVAL. PART 2: Retrieval in Modelling

Following my post in part one and this week's Language Show, this second post is all about Modelling activities and how we can ensure that students start learning the vocabulary/structures/chunks they need, to start communicating. This stage is extremely important and traditionally rushed by practitioners as the perfect lesson, in the past, had to include Presentation (similar to modelling), Practice (structured practice) and Production (fluency activities) ALL happening in the same lesson!  As if it was that easy.

By modelling I understand, following, Rosenshine's principles, to introduce the language in small steps/chunks, orally, so we set good pronunciation patterns, choral repetition from students, I still believe this is so important and fun and, finally, lots of activities, based on receptive skills: listening/reading to help students to start embedding the language into their long-term memories. 

This stage, in my lessons, last roughly, two lessons. I personally introduce the language with my interactive Sentence Builder, created in Sentence Builders.com. I like it this way as students can see the written form while listening to the Spanish pronunciation (dual coding) AND the English translation, so it is absolutely clear what each chunk/expression means. I also like using pictures for games, but not initially when I introduce the vocabulary so I don't get interrupted with the typical: what does that suppose to mean?

Modelling is about, what I like calling, passive retrieval, meaning that students get lots of exposure to the language but they don't need to produce anything themselves, yet. It is all about recognition of sounds, meanings, phonics, grapheme-sound correspondence and good pronunciation habits. 

My typical Modelling activities are DICTATION and READING ALOUD, taking into account that dictation will be intrinsically linked to LISTENING FOR LEARNING NOT TESTING activities. These are my favourite activities.

SOME DICTATION ACTIVITIES FOR PASSIVE RETRIEVAL PRACTICE

Classic dictation

This involves the dictation of small sentences/paragraphs after language has been introduced to students via chorus repetition. I start slowly, making clear pauses between words, to quickly increase speed and start joining words via liaison. Students just write in the TL what they hear and show me after I count 1,2,3. I use Mini Whiteboards when I do this as I can check for understanding immediately, which also allows me to adapt my dictations to the students' responses.

Filling the gaps or Fill in the no gaps dictation

This is a classical fill in the gaps activity where a short paragraph or sentences are presented to students with gaps. I then dictate the sentences and students just need to write the words which are missing in the gaps. This is a nice activity to do before a full on Dictation activity. To make the activity more challenging, as suggested by Dylan Viñales, I like presenting the sentences with the missing words but without the gaps. Students now really have to listen hard to identify first, where the missing word is located and then transcribe the word. I love this activity as, before we do the listening activity, students can actually predict where the missing words will be, leading to nice retrieval practice itself!

Mistaken dictation

This is a classical dictation activity but with deliberate grammatical or phonetic mistakes which the students must spot. This is a great activity, again, to test whether students have assimilated a particular grammatical/phonetic rule.

Delayed dictation

This type of dictation which I heard first from Gianfranco Conti, is great for students with processing difficulties and poor working memory. The idea is to dictate an utterance, like in the classic dictation, but students are not allowed to write the heard material until after 7-10 seconds. During these seconds, students need to try to memorise the heard utterance by mentally repeating it to themselves in their heads. Students keep their hands in their heads while they do this and when I say "now", they write the sentence. 

Random dictation

This involves dictating random sentences that if put in order will make up a paragraph. After dictating the sentences, students, in pairs, rearrange the sentences in order to form the original paragraph. I love this activity because it can lead to translating the paragraph, improving it or just using as a model to create a new one.

Running dictation

A classic that works every time! Students work in pairs. Several texts are displayed around the room, one for each pair. One student, the scriber, remains sitting while their partner runs to one of the texts, memorises a sentence, runs back to their partner and dictates the memorised sentence, which the scriber writes down. The fastest couple to rewrite the text on the wall, is the winner! After they dictate the text, students can then translate it into English, improve it, use it as a model etc..

Dictogloss

Dictogloss is a dictation activity where learners are required to reconstruct a short text by listening and noting down key words, which are then used as a base for reconstruction. I love this activity because it is a multiple skills and systems activity. Learners practise listening, writing and speaking (by working in groups) and use vocabulary, grammar and discourse systems in order to complete the task.

I sometimes carry out the activity doing the dictation myself but my favourite mode is when students work in small groups or pairs as follows:

1. One student reads a text prepared by me based on the Sentence Builders we are working on and will take notes in English (not literal translation)

2. Working in pairs, student one, using their English notes, will reconstruct/dictate the text in Spanish to student two. Student two will  write in Spanish the text they hear. As a final task, both students will look at the original text and compare both versions.  

I do use this at all levels by adapting a given text. An example on the topic of Jobs is below for a Y11 class. I tend to prepare two texts so all students have the chance to be speakers! Students then exchange information, this way Dictogloss becomes an information gap activity.

Buzzed dictation

You will need a buzzer for this activity.  The teacher dictates sentences or a paragraph to the students, which they write in MWBs, every so often the teacher presses the buzzer (or claps) and the students need to write a word that makes sense in the given context, to replace the buzz. At the end of the activity, we look at the different options that students have written. 

Information Gap dictation in pairs

This dictation is to be done by the students in pairs. Students have a list of 10 sentences. However, student A, has sentences 1,3,5,7,9 while student B has sentences 2,4,6,8,10. student A starts by dictating sentence 1 while student B listens and writes down the sentence. Then student B reads sentence 2 while student A listens and writes down the sentence. Then student A will read sentence 2 etc.. Basically the classical Information Gap activity turned into a dictation and read aloud task!

SOME READING ALOUD ACTIVITIES FOR PASSIVE RETRIEVAL PRACTICE

Reading aloud Group Ping Pong

I carry out this activity using Flippity or Wheel of Names. See an example here. In Flippity, I go to the Single Name option and a sentence comes up. I divide the the class in group A and group B. Everyone in group A starts by reading the sentence together aloud, then someone in group B has to translate it accurately to get a point. At this stage, another person in group B can extend the sentence with something that makes sense so they get an extra point. I click on Flippity again and another sentence appears. Now is the turn of group B, all together, to read the sentence aloud and someone in group A to translate it and even extend it. 

Reading aloud: Piedra, Papel, Tijera, evolución

I tend to do this activity after the previous one, using the link from Flippity. Students now, play in pairs the popular game stone, paper, scissors. Whoever is the winner, clicks on Flippity and reads the sentence, for an extension, again, they have to translate the sentence or even extend it. For a twist to the game, I love Rachel Hawes' suggestion to play, stone, paper, scissors, evolution. This means that the first time a student wins, they are an egg, the second time, a chick, then a bird, followed by an elephant and finally superman. The player who manages to get to superman first, is the overall winner.  The typical slide for this activity in my lessons, looks like this. 

Battleships Reading

This is also one of my favourite activities! I tend to do it as a listening activity first, where I read the sentences and students write the coordinates, followed by the Battleships game, played in pairs. Basically, students choose 8 boxes in the grid and must find out the ships/boxes chosen by the partner by reading the sentences, which will lead to a particular coordinate/ship/box. This activity is always a winner! Students, again, can not only read the sentence but also translate it and extend it. 

Don't be the last one

Another lovely reading aloud activity. Students play in pairs. A list of sentences in the target language, normally I include 11, are shown on the screen. Students take turns to read the sentences. They can read up to 3 sentences in a row BUT the student who reads sentence 11 is the loser. The idea is to be strategic and make your partner read sentence 11. This is always a winner in my lessons!

Trap Door

This is a classic activity too. A text is displayed on the board where gaps are presented with different options. Students play in pairs. Each student, chooses an option for each gap. Students try to guess which options their partner has chosen by reading the passage. However, if they get it wrong at some point, they exchange roles and when it is their turn again, they need to start reading the text from the beginning again. I normally play this game with the whole class, first. I select my choices and students need to guess which these are.

High Five (Chócala) game

This activity is a mix between the classic Quiz & Trade and Find your partner. I display 20 sentences on the board and give a little piece of paper to each student. Students write a number from 1 to 20 in their piece of paper. They get up and move around the classroom reading to people the sentence attached to their number. After doing this with a person, they exchange the paper and they go to someone else. However, if they encounter someone with the same number as them on their piece of paper, they say chócala (high five) and get a point. The idea is to find as many chócalas as possible to win. 

These are just some of my favourite activities to do when I introduce new language to my students, all based on the concept of modelling sentences that eventually, I expect that students can produce freely themselves.  For h/w my students need to learn the vocabulary/chunks for a vocabulary test. However, my experience is that after two lessons carrying out these activities, and some other listening tasks, students end up memorising most of the vocabulary/structures naturally in lessons, giving them a sense of achievement, which they so desperately need!  

How to set up the foundations for a great MFL Year!

I am aware the new term started last week or even earlier in the case of Scotland, however, I thought I would write about my 6 best tips to make sure that we set up the best foundation for a very successful MFL teaching and learning experience at any Key Stage and level!

These are the elements I always dedicate time to think about when planning my lessons. As I have mentioned on my posts before, I never think of lessons as individual units but a string of little units to get my students to be fluent with the language. 

Anchoring in Challenge 

I always like anchoring in challenge! It doesn't matter the level, the ability or the key stage. I always have high expectations for all my students and I pitch high, then, I provide scaffolding strategies, Sentence Builders are a brilliant tool for this, to support those who may need the extra practice to get to my expectations.  

This is something I always make clear during my first lesson: everyone here can learn a language well and that is my expectation. I will give you all the ingredients to be successful but, you will need to commit. I believe in you but you need to believe in yourselves.  

I write extensively on how to stretch ALL attainer level students in this post and on this one I explore how to reach those lower attainer students.

To make the message clear, I started creating these amateur videos, one for KS3 and another for KS4, inspired by Danielle Warren. In them, I demonstrate the ingredients to be successful, as a recipe, and what I expect from my students:

Both videos focus on how to use our exercise book, for us OneNote, how to use our Sentence Builders and the independent work I will expect my students to carry out, guided by me, via Memrise, Quizlet, the Sentencebuilders site or the The Language Gym. These are my non negotiables!  The videos are also shared with parents so they will know how to support their child with their language learning journey. 

How to be successful at KS3 video

How to be successful at KS4 video

The Power of Praise!

I am of the belief that there cannot be too much praise for anyone. Once the students have clear expectations and are guided nicely on how to navigate throughout the different success ingredients set up in our video, it is important to praise them when they do this successfully, independently and willingly. This must be the case even when things are not perfect but there has been a clear attempt at doing something. There are different ways to do so, via Merits, Alphas etc.. but a big winner for me has been the use of Scratching Cards with my Bitmoji!

I got the idea from a lovely person from Face Book but I cannot remember her name, apologies!  This is the template.  The only thing needed is to print out the template, cut the cards and stick a scratch sticker, bought in Amazon for around £3 on top of the prize statement.  My students, even the most reluctant, die for these cards! I give them around for good answers, behaviour etc..  

Listening for Learning

This is a must I always contemplate in my planning, which is embedded in the notion that we acquire language via what we listen and read (input), following a lexicogrammar/EPI approach inspired by Gianfranco Conti. This means I must carefully plan listening tasks NOT as testing opportunities but as learning activities, which will allow students to internally process the Sentence Builders with the lexical material and grammar (together not separated)  and be transferred in students' long term memory so that they, at some point in the language learning journey,  are able to put it into practice via output tasks.

In this popular post I extensively write about my favourite listening for learning activities at all Key Stages

Gamification = Purpose

This is a must in all my lessons. Second language acquisition research such as that explained by Florencia Henshaw in her latest book Common Ground, advocates for the use of tasks in the MFL classroom. 

As Steve Smith clearly states in a post today, a task is an activity which primary focus is meaning, not a linguistic form; an information gap somehow, is needed, so there's a purpose to communicate; there's a clear goal to be achieved and students must use existing embedded language, as well as new one throughout the task material.  Games are, therefore, by definition, tasks, and make the language purposeful and fun to learn as controlled and/or creative output activities and I plan them carefully in my lessons.

By game I understand any information gap task and this can take place from day one of the language learning journey: 

In a first lesson learning to say what your name is in a target language, students work in pairs. I give them a card A and a card B with names and gaps in them so that students need to ask each other "What is your name?" and complete the names they have missing in their card. The missing names in card A are in card B and vice versa.  

For ideas on my favourite games, have a look at this Blogpost on gamification.

Structure

Thinking about the structure of the lessons and a sequence of lessons is vital. It is what I call thinking backwards: 

I have in mind a text/ content on a given topic that I want students to master/be fluent in by the end of a unit and I think backwards on what tasks I will need to devise to get them there, using a lexicogrammar approach, from Modelling the language to Fluency. What tasks I will need to model the language (listening for learning via input tasks), how I will check for understanding and what meaningful tasks I will devise for structured output and finally for creative/fluent activities.

On this post I exemplify this structure in a KS4 case study.

On this post I write how to plan from Modelling to Fluency

The cultural dimension

This is very important to me. How can we embed a cultural dimension to our lessons taking into account that students will have limited access to the language while avoiding the use of Google Translate?  How to do this in a time restricted curriculum? This goal can be achieved with simple cultural elements planned along the way, embedded in lessons, but also, via cultural topics being taught in our curriculum

On this post I write how we can incorporate culture via the use of Sentence Builders 

On this post I exemplify this notion via the film Coco

On this post I exemplify how to anchor in challenge with a cultural twist via Encanto

These six elements are my foundation and the ingredients for a successful MFL year! I am looking forward to reading your comments!

Embedded grammar: The Eureka Effect!

As you probably know, I have been working with the talented Dr Gianfranco Conti and Dylan Viñales on a new Spanish Grammar book aimed at foundation level, underpinned by EPI methodology and a lexicogrammar approach to teaching MFL. The book is called  Spanish Verb Pivots, title which reflects the core of the EPI methodology and which, Gianfranco has explained really well in social media and in the book itself. 

I thoroughly enjoyed co-writing this book with such gifted practitioners but what I enjoyed the most was the opportunity to implement in a systematic way, how I have been approaching grammar in my lessons for years. 

I don’t teach grammar in isolation, I did at some point, and I quickly realised it was useless, as practising a set of rules over and over again could lead to excellent choral conjugation of verb paradigms but made no difference in reaching  fluency, hence leading to frustration! 

Instead, I soon realised that grammar should be taught embedded in the lexicon we teach via chunks. For that I use my own sentence builders. We practise those chunks constantly during lessons, we analyse patterns, I plant the seed, quoting Dr Conti, on grammar to come, students become fluent on a particular topic, and then, only then, I teach grammar explicitly. At that point grammar becomes a dejá vu feeling and most likely to be automatised. 

Grammar is embedded in the language, so let’s deconstruct it, yes, but only once students have internalised target structures/vocab, so that they can develop creativity. 

An example: The past tense in Y8

This is how I teach the topic of holidays in the past in Y8, always after having learned to talk about holidays in the present, which will lead to the learning of the Past tense in Spanish.

Modelling stage

At this stage I introduce the following Sentence Builder via choral repetition and showing the Spanish written graphemes and the English, so there's no confusion whatsoever on what structures mean! Thinking about the new GCSE, this Sentence Builder, already incorporates High Frequency words: such as the verbs intentar and encontrar. The Sentence Builder aims for students to learnn the I form of the past tense, including irregular verbs and be fluent with them.

We carry out lots of modelling activities as outlined in this blogpost here. At this stage I work mainly with MWBs to check for understanding. I also allow students to have their Sentence Builders with them: scaffolding. Lots of input activities take place throughout the Modelling stage, which will last a couple of lessons. 

By the way, I only teach, depending on ability, a row at a time in the Sentence Builder above. For example, I would not teach opinions and reasons, at the same time as all those verbs in the Past Tense to avoid cognitive overload.  

Similarly, when doing listening/translations/dictations, I always make sure I interleave past structures and vocabulary: embedded retrieval practice! This stage finishes with the explicit learning of the chunks for a spelling test. Quizlet, Memrise and even better, the Sentence Builder site are great tools to assist students in this learning, which I do as homework tasks.

Structured Practice Stage

Following the MARS EARS approach to lexicogrammar teaching, after 2 modelling lessons per row, I would expect students to start producing some sentences with guidance. I always do this as a whole class to start with with MWBs and orally. 

Digital tools are great at this stage, such as Flippity, Wheel of names, or Sentence Builsders site, as well as some old classics, like any Battleships, Oral Ping-Pong, pyramid translations, board games or just any information gap activity! Have a look at this blogpost for ideas. 

At this stage, we can start looking at grammatical patterns in the sentence builders! Homework tasks may include more extensive reading, as well as guided written practice: tangled translations for example. In this blogpost I give some ideas on how to revamp and maximise the digital activities we use in lessons as homework tasks, saving lots of time. 

Fluency stage

The hardest stage! Which, paradoxically, seems to be ignored. This will take three/four lessons and it is similar to the previous stage but I expect students to come up with their own answers to specific questions under time constrictions! 

Speed dating, stealing sentences with initials, board games with questions or the beginning of a sentence, flippity with a question and a expression to be used in the answer are some of my favourite activities here! A summary of the activities at each stage can be seen below:

Somewhere in the fluency stage I teach grammar! 

Inductive grammar: The Eureka Effect!

As students have had so much practice with the structures I want them to learn, I expect my pupils to work out the rule of the past tense for all persons from a text that we analyse. Remember, they already know the present and the I form of the past tense extremely well! This is the Eureka effect of this approach!

Students work in pairs to come up with a rule, we check it, we agree on it and then I explain it, explicitly, again. They take notes and then, as if it was a sentence builder, I follow the same process of modelling, structured practice, fluency tasks, again but referring to Grammar. 

Modelling Grammar

This involves carrying out the same tasks done at the Modelling Stage, when learning our sentence builder,  but now using the we, he/she, you, they persons of the past tense: dictations, reading activities, listening tasks, translations. At this stage a homework task will involve to learn the six verb endings for -ar and -er/-ir verbs in Spanish and a test, which just will inform me if students understood this grammar point but which is not a reflection of student success in Spanish! 

Practising Grammar

Again, we carry out the same tasks as in the structured practice stage, but now focussing on the grammar point we are studying: the past tense. 

This is where learning grammar can be great as there are lots of games I can incorporate at this point! Basically, any game like connect four, snakes and ladders, stone/paper/scissors, Jenga, four in a box, you name it, works here! My students love grammar because it is fun and they experimented a Eureka feeling, which leads to motivation and "a can do" attitude. Remember, we don’t just conjugate verbs but we embed the past tense into communicative utterances! More traditional worksheets work very well here too, with an element of competition! 

Being fluent with Grammar

This is the Holy Grail of MFL! If students  are fluent in grammar, by default if taught via a lexicogrammar methodology, students should be fluent in the target language! Easier said that done! 

This will involve a few lessons and lots of interleaving over the years! But at this stage, I expect students to be able to narrate, in a simple way and quickly, what they and other members of their family did during the holidays! All the fun activities from the previous stage work, but with a time limit. 

This stage must be reinforced by carefully planned homework tasks that will allow students to be creative, while still having time to think about grammatical rules: Creative Writing tasks are ideal at this stage. 

So, grammar is clearly embedded in the learning process and it leads itself to have a Eureka effect. 

It can be explicitly taught but not at the beginning of the learning journey but towards the end and not as end on its own, but as a tool to be able to communicate fluently in the target language. 

Similarly, any grammar point will neeed to be revised many times and in different contexts to be fully assimilated: free time by saying what students did yesterday or what happened in a film; school by saying what students studied yesterday etc… 

I would like openly to thank Dr Gianfranco Conti and Dylan Viñales for the opportunity to allow me to work and learn from them during the creation of Spanish Verb Pivots. It’s been such a pleasure.  

Goal: mastering the language, the importance of Metacognition

As we embark on the last stage of the exam preparation process with our Y11 and Y13 students before they carry out their public exams, I stopped to reflect on what I expect my students to have achieved after 5/7 years of language learning.

My goal, as from Y7 has always been for my students to achieve fluency in the target language (mastery of vocabulary and structures to communicate effectively), while learning about the target culture, but also to make them independent and reflective learners in the process. Achieving these goals, I believe, will make them successful in their GCSE and AS/ALevel exams. 

How do we make our students independent learners?

Following Rosenshine’s principles, firstly by providing good models of language and tasks needed for their exam. This means, not only modelling language but also modelling how to tackle a 150 word task or a literature essay at ALevel. Silvia Bastow and Sonja Fedrizzi have written extensively about Modelling the thought process when tackling a written task. Inspired by these two educators, I created this video for my students before their mocks. 

We must also model the learning process in our lessons by carrying out lots of retrieval practice, interleaving topics and/or structures and providing structured/scaffolded practice. Most importantly, it is essential to explain students why we do the activities we do and how these tasks will help them encode information into the long term memory (learning), so that they get involved in and own their learning process.

The idea is that by talking about the activities we do in lessons, we model learning techniques that students can reflect upon and eventually apply themselves independently.  

This is a huge task that requires lots of reflection embedded in lessons. These are some of the questions I ask students in my lessons: How do we learn?  Have you been in a situation that you thought you had done lots of revision but did not do well? Why didn't you well? Is just reading material over and over again, good enough to learn vocabulary/structures? What alternatives do you have? What do we do in lessons to help you master the vocabulary and structures? What of these techniques can you try at home? How can you do retrieval practice/ self-testing at home? How can you practise listening, reading, writing or speaking?

This reflection is the first step to developing metacognition (the power to reflect on our own learning process, identify gaps and plan a strategy to fill such gaps and move forward). 

Metacognition leads to independent learning and is key to experiencing success, which is a great motivator in any learner. 

How to start the metacognition process to achieve independence?

Via powerful feedback and the setting of high expectations.  Feedback given to students should not be just a mark but a way to identify gaps in knowledge and suggest little steps to tackle such gaps, while providing the opportunity to reflect on performance with the setting of own targets. 

When setting targets and designing a course of action to tackle gaps and move forwards, students can then use the repertoire of learning modelled strategies used in everyday lessons. I like calling feedback, feedforward. This involves adopting a positive relationship with mistakes. Mistakes are good! They are the first step to learning.

In my experience, students tend to be overconfident when assessing their knowledge and skills and tend to revise what they are good at, which explains the feeling of "but I revised lots and still I did not do well". Feedback is a good reality check for students to learn what the real gaps are and what they need to test themselves on, using our modelled learning techniques. This means knowing how to develop/test the micro skills leading to a good performance in MFL: listening, reading, writing, speaking, grammar, vocab/structure learning, not just recalling vocabulary in isolation! At this point having a revision schedule, provides a clear path for students to set themselves targets and devise their own strategy, based on a trusted, modelled repertoire of techniques. I do this via Padlet

Power Tools to develop Metacognition in our students

These tools or techniques have been adapted from the wonderful book Powerful Teaching by Pooja K. Agarwal and Patrice M. Bain and I use  to embed Metacognition in my lessons. These tools are closely interlinked to Feedback and Retrieval Practice as starting points to reflect on our learning and moving forward:

• To provide planned breaks within lessons for silent self-retrieval practice . I do this by carrying our In my own words time. Somewhere within lessons I stop carrying out the normal tasks and ask: Can you explain this grammatical rule in your own words? Students may write the rule in MWBs or just share orally with a partner. Or, you have 5 minutes to write down, from memory, as many structures learned today and last week, again using MWBs to check for understanding.

• To plan self-reflection opportunities, after self-retrieval practice in lessons. You have 10 minutes to write down as many sentences/structures as possible from the topic of Free Time in Spanish. After the 10 minutes elapse. What could you remember? Could you share with a partner? Are you happy with what you could remember? Do you need to revise this topic again? How? Set yourself a target as part of your homework today. 

• To help tool one, I use Retrieval Cards  every other lesson with specific translations from English into Spanish, to be completed by students, based on past topics as well as recent ones. I normally use 10 translations. Students translate, in silence, as much of the 10 sentences in the Retrieval Card, from memory. Then, I allow students to look at their notes/sentence builders to look up those structures they could not remember on the spot. Students highlight the structures they could not retrieve on their own, and set up a target, as part of their homework, to revise these and tackle the gap. A few days later, I carry out a very similar Retrieval Card to see what has changed. 

• To use Metacognition Sheets after a unit/topic is taught. This is a normal self-assessment sheet: I know the verbs to describe my holidays but with space for students to actually write down answers from memory.  Then, again, I provide reflection time, alone or in pairs: could I remember lots? why not? what do I need to revise? Students then provide a personal target as part of their homework to deal with this gap.

• Write, leave and retrieve technique. After we go through several activities in a lesson, students write what they know, while it is still fresh in the working memory. Then they leave it, and after 10 or 15 minutes, I ask students to retrieve the same information. How much could they remember when it was not so fresh? What does that tell them? How are they going to close the gap?

These tools empower my students by sparking a conversation about their own learning and encouraging them to make a judgement of learning. 

I train students to differentiate between what they know versus what they do not know and provide them with a repertoire of techniques/steps for them to independently use to take ownership of their learning and do something about knowledge/skills they do not know or can't master yet!  

For MFL, the added complication is that students need not just to know content, like in other subjects, but to use such content spontaneously via different skills, hence the importance to practise the micro skills of listening, reading, writing, speaking and to model how to put the language together in an oral / written task. In other words, doing just Quizlet will not make students write/ speak in a MFL, they will need strategies to practise these skills. 

Metacognition allows students to prioritise learning and experience success so they are open to learning more! 

Metacognition is about not just getting information in their heads, but expect students to get information out from their learning, spontaneously, hence, helping students to encode information into the long-term memory: Learning independently.

Some thoughts on embedded differentiation

A couple of weeks ago, a mfltwitterati member, asked for advice on blogs about differentiation in MFL. Different lovely members of the mfltwitterati community suggested great publications and it made me reflect on the issue of differentiation.

I have the same high expectations for all my pupils, regardless of their ability. What I provide is different levels of support and scaffolding, embedded in all lessons, which guide my students through their individual learning journey. 

The anchor effect

I believe in the anchor effect, as exposed by Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby in "Making every lesson count": exposing my students to content always at a level higher of what is considered above national expectations, for EVERYONE.

This just  means having high expectations for ALL. I don’t like labelling learners in particular ability boxes: I believe ALL my pupils can achieve high goals and must aim high. 

Consequently, at KS3 I add elements of GCSE grammar that I expect all my students to master at some degree, and at GCSE we dip into ALevel. Students find this strategy MOTIVATING, as I place trust in their ability, and, as a consequence, they start adopting a growth mindset versus a static one, which is key for success in low ability students.

The Goldilocks effect

This means to challenge students at the correct intensity: I have one common objective for ALL and place the bar high, but at the correct level:

The expectations bar cannot be so high that some students may find it impossible to reach it, neither so low that it will demotivate and make students bored, after all, learning involves pain, which we call germane overload. 

The key is to plan tasks that are not too difficult, neither too easy but just right! In other words, to plan lessons with a desirable level of difficulty to create the perfect conditions for germane overload. 

Building blocks, scaffolding and embedded differentiation

Once I set up high expectations, my teaching will focus on careful planned activities and support aiming to achieve a long term goal: for example, to master a model text with key structures and vocabulary by the end of a particular unit. 

I plan all the micro skills and think of all the steps that will be needed for learners to achieve our long/medium term goal. My lessons are like building blocks and scaffolds aiming to reach that final goal. Sentence Builders are a great tool to do this as they provide a final, clear model for students and are easy to break up into small building blocks or little steps in the structured practice stage of language teaching and learning.

The power of questions  

Questions are powerful and are the engine of my lessons for embedded differentiation and retrieval practice purposes. I ask questions all the time: at the modelling stage of learning, but especially at structured production and automatisation stages. 

Cold calling and no opt-out

So everyone is alert all the time! If a student does not know the answer to my question, I move to someone else and I alert them that I will be back at them in 5 minutes. I always go back to those students who did not know a particular answer, and by then, they have worked out the answer: a particular structure, verb ending etc, because they heard it from someone else, encouraging active listening or because they actively looked for the answer themselves in their notes, encouraging curiosity! 

Say it again but better

This question technique is great to stretch those students that need to be stretched, in a simple way. That’s a good answer but how could we make it a 8/9 grade? Can anyone help?

Think, pair share 

Another great technique for easy embedded differentiation which allows students to reflect and use metalanguage with their peers. When I question is posed, I give students thinking time (remember that many students have issues with processing time), they share thoughts with partners and finally they get ready to answer a question as prompted by me.

Whole class responses

This must be one of my favourite embedded differentiation techniques, done via mini whiteboards, so I can check for progress at a glance, reinforce structures for those who need it while allowing high flyers, to extend their answers and show off their skills, differentiation at its best! 

For example, students may need to translate a sentence to practice specific chunks, but if found easy, they must extend the sentence using three tenses. I like this technique as it helps learners to reflect and decide where they sit in their own learning journey: shall I just stick to the translation or extend it?, while providing them with autonomy, which increases motivation. 

This technique allows me to differentiate in situ, with minimum preparation, and to put the ownership of the learning back at the learners, with my guidance. Suggesting alternatives to individual students, asking strategic questions in the process and encouraging students to look at each other responses, are all bonuses of this strategy and mechanisms of embedded differentiation. 

Providing different levels of support 

This is key for differentiation at all stages of the learning journey. My students have access to their sentence builders and grammar charts, if they are really stuck, and they are taught where to find these and how to use them, in our digital exercise book, Onenote. Key structures and expressions are displayed around the classroom with giant post-its on the windows with topical key structures in display which are changed periodically. 

When practising structures, especially during translation tasks, which we do a lot of, I use the initials of the required words in the target language for support. This is a very useful technique for translation tasks. Students may opt to ignore these initials, displayed in the big whiteboard, worksheets or digital apps but they are there to support those who decide to use them because they need them! 

When doing listening tasks, I plan lots of small tasks building up in difficulty: listening for individual words, listening while reading the transcript, filling gap activities with the transcript  and finally listening comprehension tasks without transcript. 

When doing oral or writing activities, students are encouraged to work from memory but they always have the support of their sentence builder and grammatical charts at hand if they need to.

Live modelling the thinking process 

After lots of structured practice activities, where support is given, via questioning and task design, students need to move to the more creative production stage. At this point, I do like live modelling a task as a whole class, so we go through the thinking process of creating such task. This could be a model oral answer or a 90/150 word writing task. Sonja Fedrizzi and Elena Díaz do this beautifully with tutorial videos for students.

We do write model answers as a class, using students’ ideas, developing autonomy, reflecting on what to add, the tenses to use while I ask strategic questions to specific students: how to make the text interesting or how to make it to a 7+ grade. This is another example that questioning is key for embedded differentiation and how differentiation happens naturally in all well planned lessons.

Templates are great for this and time for reflection in pairs is a vital tool too, as this will allow students to focus on metacognition (the way students plan, monitor and evaluate their own thinking). Adam Lamb, Silvia Bastow and Jane Basnett, all provide wonderful writing and oral templates in their blogs, to scaffold students' more creative responses. This is the template we follow to carry out this activity and which students are given to plan their writing/oral tasks, which is shared on Onenote. 

If you have come across Elena Díaz, you will know about her 20 keys to teach MFL. Using the 20 keys model also provides another great opportunity for differentiation and scaffolding. Jane Basnett, using the 20 keys model, has created this template for students. Click here

Spinning the plates

I Keep moving in the classroom when students are working in pairs or individually in my lessons and I step in individually or as a whole class as needed. In the current climate, Onenote is great for this, as it allows me to see what students are doing from my desk! 

I highlight mistakes, I direct students to the correct section of our Onenote for support, without giving them the answer. I make them think or check for understanding, with strategic individual questions. I may re explain to the whole class a concept that I can see is not well cemented. I may showcase a good piece work and analyse why it is good. I may have a chat with a particular struggling student and we set up a mini action plan to tackle a particular task. All these are examples of embedded differentiation techniques.

Removing support

It is important not to spoon feed students. The long term goal is to be fluent in the target language and remove any given support progressively and individually.

In fact, our main goal is to educate independent learners, that means leaving support behind, as in real communicative situations students will need to think on the spot! 

Despite having high expectations for all my students and focusing on challenge, I also accept that sometimes some students will not get there and that is fine. 

After all, many experts agree that 58% of academic achievement in pupils is down to genetics, leaving me only 42% to play with in my lessons. 

Still it is a very respectable percentage to instil high expectations and high goals in all students and making them believe that they CAN become fluent with the right amount of support from my part, which I remove, little by little and at different stages for each individual student. 

Differentiation, for me, means providing embedded scaffolded support to learning building blocks at all times to ALL.

A typical lesson sequence: Introduction stage (Modelling)

I never plan individual lessons but sequence of lessons. Advantage, sometimes I can plan up to 6 lessons in one go! Disadvantage, it can be time consuming if you teach from Y7 to Y13! 

When I teach, I always use Smartboard (Notebook 11) Software and I plan nearly a whole topic with as many slides as possible. I personally do not like PPT as it is too lineal for me, although it has its values and it can be good for some games. On my Notebook, I insert all links to all tools I will be using throughout the teaching of a particular topic: from TaskMagic (I will dedicate an entry to this wonderful tool as it is really undervalued) to Wheelofnames, Flippity to Quizziz. I can end up with up to 50 slides for a particular topic.  

My Notebooks include all activities covering teaching/learning stages: Introduction of chunks, controlled production/practice and free production or spontaneity.  On this entry I am going to concentrate on the Introduction/Modelling of a given corpus of Sentence Builders (SBs).This is a typical sequence:

I introduce/model SBs on my Interactive Whiteboard, using my Notebook (below an example of a SB for the topic of Holidays (Y10 low ability group). Students also get a printed copy of this. I do not introduce all this corpus in one lesson but two or even three/four lessons: less is more! as it is important to avoid cognitive load.

In this particular example, I introduced reasons in a third lesson as I spent two lessons introducing the activities and practising the vocabulary via listening/reading exercises.

To introduce these SBs, we do choral repetition, lots of modelling and translations using mini whiteboards (an old favourite) from Spanish to English and vice-versa. At this very early stage, I start using  a competition element among students: who can answer first (after giving some thinking time), tennis choral repetition (girls versus boys or just two teams in the class) or just awarding a sticker for every three correct translations. At this modelling stage, I like checking for understanding from all my students so the mini Whiteboard is and ideal too to do this.  

This is the list of activities I normally use throughout the Modelling stage for two/three lessons:

• Translations from Spanish into English (using mini whiteboards in conjunction with TaskMagic (Flashcard type)

•     Spot the missing word: I say a sentence from the SB sheet but I do not finish it, students need to write on their mini white boards the missing word or words! Sometimes anything can be good as long as it makes sense!
•     Dictations
•     Spot the mistake in listening activities: I read a text with differences from an English version and students need to annotate the mistake.

    Arrange the sentences in the order you hear them

•     Delayed Dictation: like normal dictation but students cannot write down what they hear after a few seconds, 
•     Stealing sentences (level 1: Reading/ gap filling) This is a Gianfranco Conti's classic and it works! Students write in 4 pieces of paper different numbers in relation to the sentences on the board (one number per paper) and start reading random sentences to each other. If students have the number of the sentence that is read to them, they must hand out their piece of paper. The winner is the student with the largest number of pieces of paper.

•      Battleships Listening: I say sentences in Spanish and students write the coordinates of the sentences I say.  Great Listening/Modelling activity!

•      Listening Pyramids: I haven't tried this myself yet! but I got inspired by many people who shared their versions on our MFL twitterati Padlet. Please check this for examples. 
•        Dylan Viñales Listening activities ideas 

Finally!  After I introduce a set of SBs, students always, for homework, must learn these SBs. To help them to do so, I create Quizzlet (for KS4) and Memrise (for KS3) courses with the SBs we work with in lessons.  This promotes retrieval practice and independence in my students.

This is an example of my Sequence of activities for the topic of Holidays for my Y10 low ability class.