Daily Archives: November 21, 2011

Modern Languages

musik + X Touring Exhibition for Schools

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Our friends at the Goethe Institut have come up with yet another exciting innovation to help learners and  teachers of German!

Following the success of the Musik + X exhibition part of the British Music Experience at The O2 in Greenwich, the Goethe-Institut is pleased to announce an opportunity for schools to experience the highlights of the exhibition delivered directly to their schools.

Musik + X Wanderausstellung aims to inspire students to consider learning German or enhance their current studies by combining the language with German modern music and youth culture. It gives pupils from UK schools an insight into the youth culture of their German counterparts and is a fantastic opportunity for teachers to develop cross curricular work between German and music.

Four music genres are featured in the posters and DVD; techno, pop, indie and hip hop all optimising the use of German language. Students will gain insight into live concerts, fan mail, photos, posters, instruments, stage costume and more.

Schools have the chance to borrow a series of 17 laminated A1 posters with an accompanying DVD to display in their school for a period of 3 weeks. German teachers can plan their lessons using the posters and teaching materials available from our website. The only cost for schools is the return postage of the package in its own courier case. This Wanderausstellung will be a great addition to your school’s environment.

If you are interested, you can get in touch with the insitut at the following address:

Goethe-Institut

3 park Circus

Glasgow G3 6AX

Tel: 0141 332 2555

Email language@glasgow.goethe.org

You can visit their website by clicking here

Modern Languages

Think German and Learn It!

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I was really pleased to be invited to a meeting to discuss the benefits of learning German by none other that the Consul General Wolfgang Mössinger at the Scottish parliament last week.  We talked about the “case” for German in terms of the educational, economic, cultural, political and academic benefits it brings.  Representatives were there from partners in industry, higher and further education and from cultural organisations. 

For practitioners interested in developing UK-German opportunitites for schools and youth groups, the UK-German Connection provides advice, grants for trips and projects, guidance on links and joint projects, a platform for celebrating and showcasing UK-German activity, networks for teachers and young people and the UK-German youth portal and voyage kids website:  to access click here

If you have a project with which you think they might help then you can get in touch with them by telephoning their hotline 020 7824 1570 or send them an e-mail at

info@ukgermanconnection.org

Technologies

Videos from the ICT in Education Summit

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The Scottish Government recently announced a change to its approach to ICT in education. The ICT in Education Summit on October 17 discussed the stated five objectives with educationalists and learning technologists from across the country.

You can watch the videos from the event here.

You can follow the tweets from this topic at #EduScotICT

Modern Languages, Technologies

Say Bonjour to Remote French Teaching

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Cross post from the Glow Scotland Blog.

SAY BONJOUR TO REMOTE FRENCH TEACHING (TESS, 18 November 2011)

Intermediate 1 French at Tiree High is a lesson like no other. The S3 pupils’ teacher, Helene Bernard, teaches them from 140 miles away, in a classroom at Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh.

When Tiree High was unable to fill the post for a French teacher last year, the school and its local authority had no choice but to use Glow Meet as a medium to connect its pupils with a French teacher elsewhere. A number of classes, including a P7/S1 and an Intermediate 2 class, are now regularly taught remotely.

“It has been very much a challenge for us. It has taken us probably about a year to get some basic technology issues sorted out,” said Maggie Irving, education support officer for ICT at Argyll and Bute Council.

There were problems with sound quality initially, and new laptops had to be bought to resolve these. Connecting a large number of laptops to the school’s wireless network also proved difficult, with the result that the computers are now hardwired through the network.

In addition, the new learning environment proved a challenge for younger children. “They have to sit down and listen very carefully and respond on a keyboard – not the best learning medium for those learners,” she explained.

Miss Bernard, a native French speaker, was one of two teachers last year to take on the challenge of teaching remotely.

Last week, she had the five girls in her Intermediate 2 class working on directions and maps, using Google Maps to work out and describe how they would get from one location in Lyon to another. They worked in teams to follow directions, and she marked the group’s homework, which they had uploaded onto the Glow Meet site.

“It was quite a learning curve, but we have been able to do so many things because of Glow,” she told TESS. “In a normal classroom, I can’t have all my children going on the internet and checking out real life in France, but I can do that online via Glow.”

In many ways, the teaching experience was not dissimilar to being there with the pupils, she said. “You have a whiteboard on the site, you have the children in front of you through the camera, and we have a jotter. Because it is a language, we have to speak a lot. The only thing that is different is that we have a chat box.”

Teaching via Glow could even be more efficient: “Each of the kids is in front of one computer, so they are very focused; it makes for a very effective class.”

Technologies

Using Glow for learning, teaching and assessment

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On Friday I visited a cluster of primary schools in Fife to present to them how they might use Glow for learning, teaching and assessment. This was part of an in-service day dedicated to looking at how Glow was used and could be used in their schools. It was great to work with such an enthusiastic group of practitioners.

I started off the presentation with an overview which you can find here. (Glow log in required)

Then I showed some examples of how I have used Glow for learning, teaching and assessment which you can find in the following cookbooks:

Logging pupils into Glow

Developing Literacy and Presentation skills through use of Glow Meet

Incorporating principles of AifL into 2nd level Numeracy

Peer Assessment within 2nd Level Literacy and Language

Incorporating Formative Assessment and Critical Skills within 2nd Level Social Subjects

Using a Document Library to Upload and Assess Homework

Health Week Diaries

We also looked at some of the resources available through Glow:

Daily What News

Glow Science

Aardvark’s Glow Cupboard

Purple Mash

Expressive Arts, Social studies

Scotland’s Songs

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Families and friends, heroes and villains, games and laughter, school and work, love and freedom – it’s all here in Scotland’s Songs. Listen to more than 130 songs and tunes, in Scots and Gaelic, and learn about the long and rich tradition of Scottish music, still very much alive across the nation and known and loved across the world.

You can learn about traditional songs and music, understand themes in Scottish music and find out more about Scotland’s instruments, like the bagpipes and the clarsach.

There’s a short introduction to each song or tune, along with song lyrics and the musical notation for almost every tune.

To visit the website click here.

Mathematics

Learn Fractions The Easy Way!

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Following on from the successful times table event last year Tom Renwick (Maths on Track) returns this time to Glow TV to do a fractions lesson at Curriculum for Excellence level 2.

Working with a P7 class in Kinnaird Primary School, Falkirk (though suitable for P6 or S1/2) Tom will use the effective combination of the visual 100+ board and interactive Wee Red Box flash cards which promote ‘working memory’ and ‘processing speed’. However it is not necessary for you to have this equipment in your classroom, you can always make the flashcards yourself.

There will be a short break during the event, to allow you to replicate the flash card techniques with your own class, then re-joining Tom a few minutes later to see further techniques which enhance fluency (the list of 12 flash cards you’ll require can be found on the Glow TV schedule listing). It should be fun!

Sign up and join us on Tuesday 22nd November from 2-3pm.