Memorisation strategies for learning a language
Wendy Adeniji, Kings Science Academy (Bradford) ‘When I was learning to be a language teacher […] I became aware that I was learning to […] teach what I call “phonic blobs”. Groups of phonemes that meant nothing to anyone who had never been to France, met a French...
Nurturing intercultural understanding in young learners of French and English
Karen Turner and Kate Cruise, Maura Gordon, Becky Lipsey, Ellen Paige, Philippa Rae (Former full-time PGCE students, Institute of Education, University of London) Government policy underpinning the languages initiative in English primary schools (DfES 2005) has three...
Communicative language teaching or the grammar-translation method? Have we decided?
Jonathan Tyrens (The Grammar School at Leeds) Commenting in the educational supplement of The Independent on the climate of language learning in Britain in 2004 Susan Bassnett wrote that ‘languages are in crisis [….] and part of the problem may be the mainly...
The place of French in a primary language awareness programme
Image: Huw Meredith Photography Peter Downes, ‘Discovering Languages’ Project Director, Association of School and College Leaders REVIEWING THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM As many readers will know, a root-and-branch review of the national curriculum is now under way. As...