Marginal gains in MFL

Wendy Adeniji

Marginal gains

1. Quality first teaching

2. Effective intervention

3. Teaching exam skills

Quality first teaching

Have a clearly planned curriculum with

clear intent and rationale.

What are the key features of your

school context?

Curriculum time, two languages?, how

options work, quality of teaching.

Quality first teaching

A ‘spiral curriculum’

How is your curriculum planned so that it

progressively gets more challenging but also

reviews previously learned content?

Generic language Tenses Infinitive

phrases &

complex

Negatives Opinions Time phrases &

connectives

Y7 Present

Je vais + inf

Je suis allé

Je vais

Je veux

Je dois

ne … pas J’aime/adore/

déteste/ pense

Normalement

et mais

En plus le soir

Y8 J’ai joué/

fait/compris

C’était

On peut

J’ai l’intention

Je voudrais

ne … rien A mon avis

Je trouve que

Le weekend

dernier/prochain

Tous les jours

Y9 Imperfect

Future

J’irai/serai

pour

J’ai envie de

Je peux

ne …

jamais

Les avantages/

inconvénients

trop/ tant de

il y a + time

Quand à l’avenir

cependant

Y

10

Conditional

J’irais/serais

Je suis en train

de

au lieu de

ne … plus D’un côté… de

l’autre côté

Il me paraît

D’ailleurs

Toutefois

Ensuite

Y

11

Pluperfect

Après avoir

joué

En regardant

Je viens de

avant de

Bien que ce

soit

ne …ni

…ni

Ce que j’aime le

plus/moins

J’espère que …

soit

Tandis que

Pendant que

Malheureusement

même si

Why is revisiting vocab & structures

when learning MFL so important?

A foreign language is strange – apart

from cognates, little to connect it to

our current body of knowledge

e.g.

Once you’ve chosen the generic language you

want to revisit over and over, plan for it to be

included in high and low stakes activities

A foreign language is strange – apart from

cognates, little to connect it to our current body of

knowledge

e.g.

John Dunlosky video – the testing effect

Include generic language in

register routines

1 J’ai toujours voulu 9 Je dirais que

2 A l’avenir j’ai l’intention

de + inf 10 D’un côté … d’autre

côté …

3 Il me paraît important

de 11 afin que je puisse

4 Quand j’étais plus

jeune 12 au lieu de

5 Après être allé 13 J’aurais aimé + inf

6 Bien que ce soit difficile 14 Si je pouvais

7 C’est un rêve devenu

réalité 15 Avant de + inf.

8 Je me suis bien amusé

Include generic language in ‘Do

nows’

Qu’est-ce que tu as fait le weekend

dernier?

Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire pendant le

weekend?

Où vas-tu pour célébrer ton prochain

anniversaire?

Recycle generic language

Add recycling opportunities to your schemes

of work

Include generic language in Knowledge

Organisers and homework activities and in

register routines

Homework should …

Be regular (every week) and have a consequence

for non-completion

Include a variety of activities:

memorising vocab (single words from TL to

English and chunks from English to TL)

reading comprehension questions

translation

listening (put sound files on school website or use

ActivLearn or Language Nut)

Y11 French Homework for Mrs Adeniji for Monday 21 October Learn these words for a vocab test, complete the activities on the back and do your ActivLearn online homework.

C’est important d’aider les autres It’s important to help others

C’est important de participer dans la vie

en société

It’s important to participate in society

J’aime developer de nouvelles

compétences

I like developing new skills

J’aime rencontrer de nouvelles

personnes

I like meeting new people

C’est une expérience enrichissante pour

moi

It’s a rewarding experience for me

Ça me donne plus de confiance en moi It gives me more confidence in

myself

Autremonde travaille avec des sans-abri Other people work with the

homeless

J’ai décidé de devenir membre de

l’organisation …

I decided to become a member of

the … organisation

J’avais décidé de travailler avec Oxfam I had decided to work with Oxfam

Je fais du bénévolat … fois par semaine I do voluntary work … times a week

Plus tard, j’aimerais … Later I’d like to ..

Je vais chez mes voisins I go to my neighbours

Je fais du babysitting pour mes petites

soeurs

I babysit my little sisters

C’est It is

C’était It was

Ce sera It will be

Pour moi For me

Je pense que I think that

Je vais faire I’m going to

do

quand when

comment How/ what

like

Exam style reading question: Voluntary work

Translate this text into English:

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

L’année dernière, Juliette, 17 ans, a travaillé dans un

magasin Oxfam deux fois par semaine pour faire du

bénévolat. Elle a dit ça me donne plus de confiance en

moi, j’aime rencontrer de nouvelles personnes et pour

moi c’est important de participer dans la vie en société.

Une de mes amis travaille avec des sans-abri. Plus tard

j’aimerais devenir membre d’Oxfam et peut-être je

travaillerai pour cette organisation.

Read the article and answer the questions below.

1. The programme:

A started quite a few years

ago.

B started this year.

C will start next year.

2. The programme encourages:

A teachers to volunteer to help

pupils.

B pupils of the same age to support

each other.

C older students to help younger

pupils with school work.

3. The support sessions take

place:

A in several schools.

B all year round.

C only on Sundays in term time.

4. Volunteers:

A work all day long.

B have a free breakfast.

C work with groups of forty

pupils.

The testing effect

New Ofsted framework from September 2019:

Quality of Education – implementation:

Teachers ensure that pupils embed key concepts in

their long-term memory and apply them fluently.

The subject curriculum is designed and delivered in a

way that allows pupils to transfer key knowledge to

long-term memory.

John Dunlosky video

Y11 French Homework for Mrs Adeniji for Monday 4 November Learn these words for a vocab test, complete the activities on the back and do your ActivLearn online homework.

Cet événement est connu dans le

monde entier

This event is known throughout the

world

L’événement encourage la pratique du

sport

The event encourages the practice of

sport

L’événement unit les gens The event unites people

C’est le plus grand festival de I like meeting new people

Nous avons vu We saw

J’ai vu I saw

Nous avons rencontré We met

J’ai rencontré I met

L’année prochaine j’irai … Next year I will go …

Ça crée du travail It creates work

Les prix augmentent Prices increase

Il y a du pour et du contre There are pros and cons (for and

against)

Ça laisse une empreinte carbone

importante

I babysit my little sisters

D’un côté …, d’un autre côté … On one hand …, on the other hand …

Je suis allé I went

Je vais aller I’m going to

go

J’ai toujours

rêvé de

I’ve always

dreamed of

Il y a There is/are

Il y avait There was

Il y aura There will be

où when

quelque

chose

something

Vocab test

French short cut sheet for Foundation photo card task

Can be laminated as a support mat

The same sheet for testing with the French gapped

Subjunctive

Autant que je sache…

Il faut que je sois…

Bien que je sache…

Imperfect Tense

Quand j’étais jeune/ petit, je…

Je jouais

Je mangeais

Je pensais

Je visitais

Il y avait

Il n’y avait pas de

Higher level phrases

Pluperfect tense

Car j’avais visité… je suis

allé aussi….

J’avais + past participle

Conditional

Je voudrais + infinitive

J’aimerais + infinitive

Je changerais…

Je visiterais…

Je jouerais…

Je visiterais…

Ce serait…

Negatives

Ne…pas de

Ne…ni…ni…

Ne…que…

Ne…rien…

Ne…jamais…

Ne…personne…

Some others…

J’ai toujours rêvé de…

Je viens de…

Je suis en train de…

Après avoir + past

participle

Success breeds success

Plan for recycling opportunities

In a Y10/ Y11 scheme of work, what

is the optimum time for spacing

practice?

Every 3 - 4 weeks for each topic.

Plan for recycling opportunities across

Y10/11(start GCSE course in Y9 even if

options do not start until Y10)

Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk10

Friends/family x x x

Technology x x x

Free time x x x

Customs x x

Home & area x x x

Social global x x x

Holidays x x x

School x x

Work x x x

Develop a knowledge organiser for

each topic

Uses spacing, retrieval and low-stakes testing

practices such as drilling, recap and self-quizzing.

This gives learners the factual and procedural

knowledge which allows them to make connections,

transfer meaning and manipulate language

effectively at a high level.

Effective intervention

Sell it

Food, drinks etc.

Encourage friendship groups

Have a defined plan and keep it varied:

e.g. 3 weeks - Verbs focus

3 weeks - Speaking exam prep focus

3 weeks – Listening exam prep focus

Effective intervention

Practise timings – speaking exam prep:

Photo task 8 mins

Role play 4 mins

Effective intervention

Writing exam - practise choosing from the 2

options.

How to make the right choice

Vocab learning – a before and after vocab

test during the session.

Fun Vocabulary Activities –

Jake Hunton

Motivation

Challenge

Models what retrieval

practice needs to look like

1st attempt 2nd

attempt

29% 70%

1st attempt 2nd attempt

Torture tenses – my adaptation As Michel Thomas said, ‘When you can handle verbs, you can

handle the language’.

Practise, practise, practise

Translate bullet points from writing exam questions

and picture tasks into English

Then write one or two sentences about each

lundi, quatre novembre

Do now Do now: translate the bullet points into English

Écris un article pour une magazine pour attirer plus

de gens aux événements musicales internationaux.

• ce que tu as fait.

• le festival le plus intéressant et pourquoi.

‘t’ at the end denotes

the past tense

Speaking and writing exam prep

RTFQ

Listening exam prep

Delayed dictation

Shorthand and note taking

Focus on tense

Similar sounding pairs of phrases

1. j’ai / j’aime

2. je joue / j’ai joué

3. moi / moins

4. achète / acheté

Listening exam prep

Train students in what they should be doing

while listening.

Write ‘half words’/ shorthand versions.

e.g. jn=jeunes soc=sociedad

pis=piscine fa=fâché

Helps recall

Students should be exhausted after a listening

exam as it requires a huge amount of

concentration.

Listening exam prep

Can you set regular listening

homework?

3. Revision skills and exam

technique preparation

Month by

month revision

challenge

Month by

month revision

challenge

Tips from the Chief examiner for

exam success in the writing exam

Translation

The biggest problem is lack of precision (e.g. ‘a dog’ should be ‘the dog’ = no mark.

Foundation Q1 photo

Students can’t say what there isn’t.

40/90 word question – if students don’t understand what a bullet point means take a word from it and make it an opinion

e.g. bâtiment …. J’aime les bâtiments.

Question choice

Help students to make an informed choice – lots started one, got half way through then gave up and started another but did not finish it.

150 word question

Does not refer to many time frames but for complex language need to include a full range of tenses.

Students need lots of planning practice.

The language of the bullet points can be manipulated to help students to write.

e.g. Décrivez votre destination préférée de vacances.

Ma destination préférée de vacances est …

Tips from the Chief examiner for exam success in the writing exam

Listening: Feedback from chief

examiner

The vast majority of students struggled to answer

questions in the target language.

Two thirds of the higher listening paper is aimed at

grade 6+ - think carefully about which tier you enter

students for.

Questions where students only need to give one piece

of information but they hear 2 or 3 items, examiner will

only accept their first answer (even if wrong and the

second is correct).

Listening: Feedback from chief

examiner

Students honing in on individual words rather than

listening to the whole e.g. Je trouve les musées

ennuyeux, je trouve l’avion ennuyeux

Less successful students confused correct statements

with a random range of incorrect statements based on the

recognition of single lexical items rather than listening to

the whole extract, for example incorrectly ticking answer

E, to travel abroad from hearing , voyager ne m’intéresse

pas and ticking G, to have lots of holidays, from hearing

Mon père pense que les vacances sont importantes

mais….

Listening Feedback from chief

examiner – common errors

Failing to recognise the use of the negative in the

sentence, on ne nous donne pas de devoirs

less successful students failed to recognise pour moi, ce

n’est pas intéressant and correctly match it with the

correct

answer ennuyeux

Some students ticked too many boxes, thereby, failing to

score any marks for a question

Words not understoon by students

généreuse

escalade

randonnées

portable

les États-Unis

travailler

déjà

sauver

café (coffee)

commerce

équitable

Listening examiner tips

The question title e.g. ‘School’ provides an important clue.

Advise students to use the reading time available to think

about the question title and the keywords they are likely to

hear.

Students sometimes ticked too many boxes in the grids.

Advise students to check the number of marks available for

each question. These are noted at the bottom of each

question set.

Advise students to use the reading time available to think

carefully about the questions asked. For example, in Q5 (b)

Give one reason why she likes her, an opinion is required

for the answer.

Listening examiner tips

Short answers only are required. Too much information

given can sometimes negate the given response.

Advise students to listen to the whole sentence and

not just to hone in on individual words, they should

listen for the use of negation, time indicators and

tenses, qualifiers, the use of the comparative, positive

and negative opinions.

Advise students to use the reading time to try and work

out in Question 13 which part of speech is required to

complete the sentences . For example, In Question 13

(a), Il va souvent aux… needs to be followed by a

place. In Question14 they should take time to work out

the meaning of the individual statements.

Ideas from ‘Breaking the sound

barrier’ book (Conti & Smith)

Ideas from ‘Breaking the sound

barrier’ book (Conti & Smith)

Walking talking mocks

‘Pre-public exams’

A step by step walk through an exam paper

in detail.

The mark system and what this means

Helps time management

Key words and exam terminology

Completion of the paper – what to do

first

The taste of success

It helped me to

understand how to

work through a

difficult question

instead of just giving

up or guessing.

“It was really useful – I

heard Miss’s voice in

my head during the

real exam.”

Warm up session before exam

Workload

Keep it simple and repetitive

Success breeds success