Year 10 MFL learning

[donkeyshrekmom]

What are other people's experiences of remote learning of foreign languages? My DS school has made a blanket ruling about no online learning for any subject, so obviously speaking practice is not possible. But what about other stuff? My son has been sent past GCSE papers (which are all far too hard as he hasn't covered the content) and dozens of links to online resources, but not a single targeted lesson nor any work submitted nor any feedback. This would have been fine for a few weeks (chance to revise) but it's now just really discouraging. He was a bit behind in one of the languages anyway, and he's finding it difficult to organise and motivate himself. He's not lazy but - like us all - he's fed up.

DS has no text books (and not even a dictionary) as school have never provided or suggested buying them. Next step will be for us to buy some (if I can find out the exam boards / syllabus) as I think working through books might be less stressful than having 5 different tabs open on the computer.

I realise it's not easy to teach remotely but I find other subjects are making a bigger effort but MFL badly lagging behind. Just wondering about other people's experiences (teachers and pupils).

We are getting PowerPoints with 'taught/spoken' soundtrack for most lessons and she had to submit a speaking assessment for German last week, plus lots of website and app tasks.

Thanks Scrap.

So, definitely an attempt at teaching rather than revision/DIY?

I think DS school's Maths dept have done a similar thing with powerpoint/spoken instructions to get round the 'no online learning' rules. It seems to work ok - we appreciate the effort at least!

Yes, they upped their game after the Easter holidays, and there is now more variety (but most subjects using the same platforms and structure so that it's consistent) and they submit a piece of work and get feedback for each subject on a set schedule. One subject is asking them to submit all work, but not giving feedback on it all, and my dd is finding that irritating and demoralising (she is just about keeping up but tight deadlines for submission when she has frankly more important pieces of work to do). Also PowerPoints spoken over mean they can write notes like in class and revise easier later.

Dd has her Spanish lessons online via Teams. The teacher teaches for 20 minutes and then sets work to be sent in, which is then marked.

DD's school is setting work via Google Classroom, but no 'live' teaching so to speak.
I have organised a French tutor for her once a week as I just don't believe a language can be taught with no interaction. I realise that this isn't affordable for everyone, but maybe there are other online, free options available?

I’m a languages teacher and this is what I do.we are not allowed to do ‘live teaching’

I adapt the Powerpoints that I usually use to teach in class and ensure that they are user friendly by adding extra explanations etc. I also put all the answers at the end of each PowerPoint for the listening, reading, grammar and vocab tasks. I provide a sheet where pupils can write their answers and send back to me for feedback though some pupils prefer to write it in their books and send me a picture. Any work that comes back to me is marked and sent back to the child. I also ask that where possible written tasks are sent to me so that I can provide more detailed feedback and a grade. I also try to give them something a bit creative that we wouldn’t usually have the time for in class so they can use their language skills in a nine exam focused way, but this is more voluntary stuff that I don’t expect the pupils to do, but I am surprised by how many do!
We are lucky because we invested in an online textbook a few years ago which all pupils have their own login details for. This means the majority of pupils can access high quality listening tasks too, which I like as it is traditionally the skill they struggle with the most.
I intend to use the time I will get with year ten during the next few weeks to recap everything that they have learnt themselves over the past few weeks and address and misconceptions.