Summer 2013 - The Independent Schools' Modern Language ...

ISMLA N E W S L E T T E R
Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association
www.ismla.co.uk
Summer 2013

Contact the Committee
Chairman
Nick Mair,
Dulwich College
Tel: 020 8693 3601
mairn@dulwich.org.uk
Vice Chairman and Membership
Secretary
Geoffrey Plow,
University College School
Tel: 020 7433 2302
geoffrey.plow@ucs.org.uk
Treasurer
Peter Ansell,
Stonyhurst College
Tel: 01254 826345
p.ansell@stonyhurst.ac.uk
Secretary
Jenny Davey,
Glenalmond College
Jennydavey@glenalmondcollege.co.uk
Newsletter Editor
Peter Langdale,
North London Collegiate School
Tel: 020 8952 0912
plangdale@tiscali.co.uk
Reviews and Website Editor
Thomas Underwood,
University College School
Tel: 020 7435 2215
Thomas.Underwood@ucs.org.uk
Awarding Bodies Liaison Officer
Alex Frazer,
Mill Hill School
atwf@millhill.org.uk
Liaison with Prep Schools
Gillian Forte,
St Christopher’s School, Hove
Tel: 01273 735404
gforte@stchristophershove.org.uk
Exhibitions Organiser
David Cragg-James
david@evecraggjames.plus.com
Jane Byrne,
The Manchester Grammar School
Tel: 0161 2247201
j.m.byrne@mgs.org
Duncan Byrne,
Cheltenham College
Tel: 01242 265604
duncan.byrne@sky.com
Jim Houghton,
Highgate School
Jim.Houghton@highgateschool.org.uk
Liz Hughes
lizhug1949@hotmail.com
Astrid McAuliffe,
Alleyn’s School
(Responsibility for German)
Tel: 020 8557 1506
mcauliffeaj@alleyns.org.uk
Richard Oates,
Sherborne School
Tel: 01935 812249
roates@sherborne.org
David Sheppard,
Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
David.Sheppard@tts.edu.sg
Julia Whyte,
St Francis' College
Tel: 01462 670511
jwhyte@st-francis.herts.sch.uk
Liaison with ALL, ISMLA representative
on Executive Council
Kevin Dunne,
Ampleforth College
Tel: 01439 766000
kjd@ampleforth.org.uk
ISMLA Representative on AQA
consultative committee
Patrick Thom,
The Manchester Grammar School
Tel: 0161 2247201
thompat@mgs.org
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Contents
From the Chairman 4
Notes from the Editor’s Diary 9
Over and Out! 12
French Debating Competition 15
Action Research: Using Skype to reduce oral-exam anxiety 19
“Il était une fois…..” 21
Studying French Cinema...As easy as 1, 2, 3? 26
The ISMLA Top Films 27
Teaching abroad 34
What does your MP think about the importance of languages
and language learning? 38
Dates for Your Diary
⇒
ISMLA German Day: Saturday 16th November,
2013, Goethe-Institut London
⇒
ISMLA National Conference 2014: Saturday,
1st February, City of London School for Boys
The image on the front cover is A Summer Pastoral by François
Boucher (1749) in the Wallace Collection, London
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From the Chairman
Say ‘No’ to Foreign!
Regular readers will not be surprised that I start with the latest developments
in the coalition government’s education policy, as they affect the teaching
and learning of modern languages. Or more precisely: the definition of the
measures by which schools’ public examination results will be judged is now
clear.
The EBacc (English + Maths + Science + Humanity + MFL) still exists and will
be used as a measure of performance but the key ‘floor standard’ now consists
of eight subjects (English + Maths + 3 further EBacc subjects + three
other high-value qualifications (EBacc or other academic/art/vocational).
In short: MFL is one of the 5 EBacc subjects (one measure of schools’ performance)
but can be avoided by pupils when choosing their preferences in
the ‘eight subjects’ measure of performance (the key ‘floor standard’).
Few language teachers or even businesses need convincing of the importance
of learning a modern language – but as the Key Stage 2 frameworks are solidified
I would advocate the following approach. Primary and Secondary
Heads are all aware of the importance of Maths and ‘Literacy’ (English at first
sight – but actually far wider ranging) – can we not help them see that
‘Literacy’ is hugely helped by the study of a modern (or ancient) language? A
further step is to suggest that a useful halfway house is the study of linguistics
– ‘Literacy’ is boosted by the study of linguistics (to include grammar)
and modern languages are an obvious choice after linguistics. A further personal
observation is that there is a correlation between linguistics and maths
(look, for this correlation, at the pupils who score well in the United Kingdom
Linguistics Olympiad). Tell your Head – improve English and Maths scores by
studying languages!
On a crusading note – I have yet to meet a teacher who thinks modern languages
are enhanced in parents’ or pupils’ eyes by the addition of the word
‘foreign’ – and know of many who are convinced that the word ‘foreign’ is a
distinct disadvantage. Do positive words habitually spring to mind that might
go before the word ‘foreigner’? And you can surely think of some less than
positive expressions that might precede it…
4

Ofqual Survey
I hope you have been aware of the Ofqual survey into teachers’ views about
the marking of examinations. Some think that the closing deadline of 31st
May was unhelpful given that hard-pressed teachers will have found it hard
to respond whilst in the final stages of preparing pupils for examinations. We
would be interested to know how many teachers were aware of the survey
and the deadline – and how they became aware – head teachers? forums?
colleagues in the same or different departments?. Please email your one-line
response to this to info@ismla.co.uk.
Given your and, by extension, ISMLA’s interest in the awarding of the A*
grade and the issues of severity and unpredictability in ML marking at all
levels I hope you will read with interest our letters to Ofqual and to, the Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare, Elizabeth
Truss printed in pages 6 and 7 of this issue.
May your invigilations be short and your holidays long.
Nick Mair
Contributions to the Newsletter
We value all articles, letters or reflections in any form which
contribute to enriching the debate about modern language
teaching in our schools. Contact the editor, Peter Langdale
(plangdale@tiscali.co.uk).
The Reviews Editor, Tom Underwood, would be happy to hear
from anyone wishing to review books, websites and other
t e a c h i n g m a t e r i a l s . C o n t a c t h i m a t T h o -
mas.Underwood@ucs.org.uk if you would like to help in this
way.
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Letter to Glenys Stacey, Ofqual
23 May 2013
Dear Glenys
You will recall that ISMLA was in correspondence with you in the Autumn of
2011 (your last letter to us was dated 16 December 2011) over the severe
and unpredictable nature of grading in modern languages and, in particular,
the issue of the awarding of A*.
We note that you have, as was your stated intention in that letter, launched
a survey of teachers' experience of public examination marking. We hope
that you will be interested in our own collection of comments, made by heads
of department in independent schools –which, you will note, we have anonymised
to reassure participants and which we attach.
This survey is specifically to do with the A* issue at A level in modern languages.
We have attached the comments of all respondents, so that this is in
no way a selection. You will also be aware of the existing synopses of previous
surveys, available at www.ismla.co.uk, which led to our meeting with
both you and Nick Gibb, at that time Minister of State for Schools.
Our experience over the current Ofqual survey has been that teachers appear
to be unaware of the opportunity you have provided to make their comments
known. Heads of department and individual teachers seem not to know of the
existence of the survey. There is in addition the problem of its timing. Many
teachers who one might expect to contribute are involved in the final preparation
of A level candidates; a deadline one week later than the one you have
targeted would have allowed respondents to provide useful and accurate information,
given that examination candidates would by then be on study
leave and teachers would have more time. If we had been informed, we
would have been better able to encourage schools to respond.
We would welcome the opportunity to meet either formally or informally
since, as you will see from the contents of this letter, we believe we can provide
constructive input in this area. Such a meeting might include independent
schools - or, we would prefer, state schools and grammar schools too.
Yours sincerely
Nick Mair Chairman
Geoffrey Plow Vice Chairman
6

Letter to Elizabeth Truss, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of
State for Education and Childcare
Dear Ms Truss
23 May 2013
We are writing to make you aware, should this not have occurred already, of
correspondence and meetings which took place in 2011 between ISMLA and
both Nick Gibb and Ofqual (we were supported by individuals with experience
of examination statistics, schools and universities (1) over our concerns as
to the severe and unpredictable nature of marking in GCSE, AS and A2 exams
in modern languages.
In the light of the recent Ofqual survey into schools' experience of examination
marking, we would like to draw your attention to comments made in our
own survey of heads of modern languages departments in independent
schools in September 2012, which we enclose, and of our own recent letter
to Ofqual, also included here.
As you will see from the latter, we have made the suggestion to Ofqual that
an open discussion on the subject of modern languages results, involving
independent, state and grammar schools, should take place. Given our concerns
about the position in the school year of the Ofqual inquiry, we feel that
such a meeting might prove more useful than an attempt to draw conclusions
on the basis of an unfortunately-timed survey alone.
Yours sincerely
Nick Mair, Chairman, ISMLA
Geoffrey Plow, Vice-Chairman, ISMLA
(1) Nick Mair- Chair ISMLA, Bernadette Holmes - President ALL and University of Cambridge,
Helen Myers – Chair ALL-London and Deputy Head, David Blow – Head of the Ashcombe
School and statistician)
7

Notes from the Editor’s Diary
23rd March, 2013
Attended a gaudy (a reunion of former students) at
Magdalen College, Oxford where I studied back in
my heady student days. These events offer the
opportunity of a good dinner (at a price) and to
meet up with fellow students. Not everyone attends,
so it can be a bit of a lottery as to who else
you will encounter from among old partners in
crime. I was fortunate as several of my fellow linguists
from the 1975 vintage made the journey to
Oxford, more than one from overseas. What are
former language students up to? At my table were
a journalist based in Rome, a professional singer, a
translator (proudly proclaiming his translation of
Winnie the Pooh into Luxemburgish), a EU official, a psychologist and a
teacher. Absent were the international banker, the stockbroker turned jazz
blogger, the antique dealer, the HR director of a City bank - and those are
the ones I can remember. I am also aware of contemporary linguists who
have become successful lawyers, accountants, academics and writers and I
am sure that readers could add to the list from their own experience. Linguists
end up in such a wide range of professions. I think it worth celebrating
with pupils and their parents the tremendous opportunities that studying
languages opens up.
8th May, 2013
Took my Italian sixth form students on an afternoon
visit to the Estorick Collection of Italian art
in Islington just as they were released on examination
leave. Established 15 years ago, it
houses, according to its web site “ some of the
finest and most important works created by
Italian artists during the first half of the twentieth
century and is Britain's only gallery devoted
to modern Italian art”. We had a guided tour in
Italian given by a delightful lady who spoke with
great clarity and appreciated the linguistic level of the students, most of
whom began to study Italian at the beginning of this academic year. Our
school does not offer History of Art, but there is no doubt that for students of
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Italian (or of any other language) an appreciation of the art of a nation can
only serve to enrich their understanding of the culture of the society.
16th May, 2013
Today I said farewell to Year 13 students of French and Italian. At the beginning
of this academic year our department took the decision to abandon A
Levels in favour of Pre-U, so the current year 13 are the last in our school to
sit AS and A2 modules. Is this a matter of regret? Hardly. Change has been a
major feature of my teaching over the last 20 years, but I could not say that
all the changes have been positive and the change to Pre-U marks for me a
return to many of the best features of the A Level syllabuses of the past, a
full two years for linguistic skills to develop, a more rigorous and challenging
study and assessment of literature and grammar and the opportunity to do
some proper independent research. And when one adds the uncertainty over
the quality and consistency of assessment at A Level highlighted elsewhere in
this Newsletter, the choice to move to Pre-U was for us even inevitable as
senior management demanded to know why the percentage of A*s did not
match that in other subjects. Time will tell whether SMT will applaud our
choice, but for now I feel certain that the next generation of language students
will get a far better deal.
Now we await the design of the new linear A Levels for first teaching in 2015.
Decision time again? Who is charged with that redesign? Will the Russell
Group, who have been asked to express their views, be able to come up with
a common and sensible line? Let us hope that in time there will be a coherent
and sensible choice between the different A Level boards and Pre-U!
20th May, 2013
Today marks the start of a week when our IB students are off-timetable to
write their Extended Essays, for me one of the most precious aspects of the
IB Diploma. Model for and precursor of the EPQ, it allows students to research
and write an essay of up to 4000 words on a subject of their own
choice. For linguists this entails writing it in the target language. When I first
encountered the Extended Essay, I must confess that I was a little nervous of
advising linguists to do an essay of this length in the target language which is
marked to all intents and purposes against the same mark scheme as if it
was written in English. But over the last few years I. Have been incredibly
impressed by what students have achieved, indeed the process has Ben incredibly
beneficial for them not just as an opportunity for independent research
but equally as a tool for improving their language skills. The need to
read source material and critical works in the target language as well as that
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of expressing themselves clearly and accurately at such length has developed
tier skills. I supervised a pupil who wrote her essay on Ionesco and the Theatre
of the Absurd which was intelligently and cogently argued in French and
with barely a grammatical mistake in sight. Perhaps they should all have to
do something like that.
27th to 29th May 2013
Accompanied a visit by our IB students to Brussels. The ostensible reason for
the trip was to appreciate aspects of internationalism so often overlooked
when we follow the IB Diploma in the UK. But it did make me think that there
would be some excellent opportunities in Brussels for students of French. It is
a predominantly French speaking city of a manageable size, with markets,
chocolate factories to visit (heaven for the girls), museums and art galleries
(the Magritte museum is a must) and some fascinating architecture. On this
visit I particularly enjoyed seeing the Horta Museum, house of the art nouveau
architect who did much to shape the city as we see it today and the
Comic Strip Centre, housed in an old art nouveau department store. What is
more, if ever one wanted to promote la francophonie, where easier to get to
(barely 2 hours by Eurostar from London)?
11

OVER AND OUT!
Julia Whyte, longstanding member of the ISMLA Committee who many may
have met at our annual conferences, retires this summer after some 35 years
in teaching Modern Languages. As a parting shot, she looks back over her
career
At the time of writing, I calculate that there
are 30 teaching days left of my career as a
languages teacher (French and German) and
HOD, a career that began all those years ago
in 1977. I originally intended to leave next
year with the big 60, but late in April realised
that were many things I wanted to do and,
without being miserable, could not be sure
whether there would be enough time to do
them!
I did not scale the dizzy heights of great things in schools and have stayed
rooted in the classroom (am not apologising, but sometimes others can make
you feel you should have aimed higher). This has given me an interesting
perspective on how things have changed and has been of great use when
others have come along claiming to have found the Holy Grail of language
teaching when in fact you can remember it being discovered at least six
times before as your career has bowled along. I was also pleased to have
had a variety of experiences in different schools – State and Independent,
some good, some less so – and have taught a massive range of abilities, personalities,
pupils from dreadful backgrounds and others from amazingly privileged
families and everything in between.
Having been taught in a small girls direct grant school run by the Sisters of
Notre Dame, it is probably true to say that my view of languages teaching
was somewhat limited when I chose to become a teacher and thought that I
was going to do the same sort of job! How wrong I was. In between 1972,
when I did A levels (Whitmarsh, six literary texts, essays written in English),
and 1976 when I began my PGCE at Bath University (the course was led by
Bob Powell), a great deal had seemingly happened in the world of MFL which
certainly was not in place when I was taught at my school. One had to use
reel-to-reel tape recorders and play French on them so that pupils could actually
hear the French language. (I swear my right arm is one inch longer
than the left one due to lugging the blessed apparatus around). And what
was more, there were pupils who did not get what you were trying to teach
them. How could this be when I understood it perfectly? Textbooks were: en
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Avant (Nuffield project?) A Votre Avis (for the middle groups) and Le Français
d”aujourd’hui (for the top set).
It was O level and CSE in those days. I could never quite understand that
CSE was meant to be easier and yet when you looked at the textbooks designed
for CSE they were pretty demanding and surprise, surprise hardly
anyone ever got a top grade. My first school used the AEB GCE board. I am
fairly sure we did dictées as part of the examination (which I have to say I
think are still a good teaching tool when getting over the gap between what
you think you hear and what it means; essential for highly developed listening
skills later on). We also had to train O level pupils to be able to do the
Use of French paper and this involved a good knowledge of the past historic,
being able to convert it to the perfect, and turn direct speech into indirect
speech and vice versa. There was a brilliant book to support this task called
In your own Words by Tony Whelpton and Daphne Jenkins. It really
stretched pupils to think about the interplay of words when you changed language
around; not for the faint-hearted.
For a long time (until we adopted the Cambridge Board in about 1990) literature
and coursework essays were done in English not the target language.
(As an aside to that, I was once at one of the Cambridge Colleges a few
years ago and I asked if undergraduates submitted literature essays in English
or the language they were studying. The answer I received took my
breath away; English, as it was not felt that the students had the subtlety of
expression needed in the language of study to convey their thoughts and
ideas. Pause for thought. Why do we expect this of pupils at A level barely
out of the nappy stage of GCSEs? ) Listening passages changed from being
read out by teachers to real language (delivered by native speakers) sometimes
delivered at dizzying speed. I do not mind admitting I had to do some
serious private work to improve my listening skills. That was also the time
when candidates did not have the ability to use their own machinery and play
passage over and over as they do now.
Many different changes have come and gone. I recall the move to GCSE and
all that ensued. The move to languages for all saw my creativity for engaging
the very lowest groups sorely lacking although I did my best, but at enormous
cost to my well being I have to say. Thank the Lord that I always managed
to get out of choosing a National Curriculum level for a pupil; it seemed
only to be necessary in a department just as I was leaving. Once in the Independent
sector it was not needed. I never did understand the amount of
time that seemed to be wasted on deciding whether someone was 2b or 2c
and whether at the end of the day it really told you anything. And as for SLT
wanting targets for languages learners, and who do not understand that very
few year 7 pupils having only started a language in year 7 are hardly able to
get to a level 5 or 6 after one year, is so daft you almost think it cannot be
14

true. Controlled Assessment certainly has made the past three years feel like
ten and our department is now moving to the new Edexcel Certificate
(happily devoid of any CA). It was a departmental decision and is just as well
as I now retire and hope against hope that it proves to be the correct one!
A huge change over the past years is undoubtedly the exciting opportunities
afforded to MFL teachers by the progress of technology and the myriad of
ways in which it can be used to deliver excellent materials, authentic images,
lively music and so on, all to help captivate the attention of and, hopefully,
motivate learners. My skills developed a bit slowly at first but I soon became
hooked. I still believe that it should be used alongside more traditional
methods because pupils do not like all lessons being exactly the same: I
know, they have told us! Having listening files stored digitally and not having
to fiddle about with CD payers or cassettes is bliss. I have not become proficient
in using Smartboards and am not going to try, as it is too late. I can
see the value of pupils using iPads and tablets in class and have seen pupils
making excellent use of them.
The chance to be able to communicate with other MFL teachers via places
such as linguanetforum (where I first learned of ISMLA, the rest is history)
MFL resources and so on has meant that my knowledge of developments in
the world of MFL has broadened and I have not simply looked inward and
paddled my own canoe oblivious to what is on offer out there. I am eternally
grateful for the support given to me by people I have never met but who
have been great sources of advice.
ISMLA has been very active in beating the drum for a fairer process in the
marking and grading of MFL exams and that has probably been the one thing
that has really vexed me in recent years, particularly with the marking of
orals at A2. I have in my possession a letter from the then Admissions tutor
at Selwyn College, Cambridge, praising the performance of one of our pupils
when she went there in December for her interview. The tutor could not
have been more fulsome. Yet, for her A level oral exam in the following summer
she scored a mid B grade (along with four other excellent candidates).
Nothing could get those marks shifted and I am still at a loss to know how
her performances could have been judged to be so different. I have seen
those who are clever little actresses and who can sound very confident although
their language use is all over the place, score the same or higher
marks than quietly spoken, able linguists who think before they speak! Another
issue of concern is the way in which native speakers have been entered
for A level and I would like to see an end to this and a different A level being
offered to people who have that subject as their first language.
How things will work out in the future I do not know. The current situation
that is developing with the anti-EU views of certain politicians is worrying and
15

I fear that this could drive us further back into the bunker of Little England.
ISMLA, ALL and various other bodies will I know continue to fight for the future
of Languages and in retirement I hope that I can be of some use.
I have been asked several times whatever will I do once I am retired! A little
journey to Provence and Nice is planned, followed by, if I get accepted,
studying for the CELTA in Cambridge (just 12 miles up the road). Fascinated
as I have been by all the Nordic noir offerings on BBC4 on Saturday evenings,
I have a desire to learn Swedish. I am also looking at the possibility of
becoming a tour guide!
Good luck to you all.
Julia Whyte
French Debating Competition
National Final 2013
The 2013 National Final of the “Joutes oratoires” (French debating competition),
during which this year’s best teams from the various regional events
faced each other, took place on 19 March. Following a now well established
tradition, it was hosted by the French Institute in Kensington in their beautiful
upstairs salons.
This occasion saw more regions involved: whilst North London (represented
by Wycombe Abbey and North London Collegiate), South London
(Westminster and Sevenoaks) and the North of England (Altrincham Grammar)
have been long time guests, we were able to welcome for the first time
teams from the West (Radley College) and the Cheltenham area (Dean
Close).
Competition was, as ever, extremely fierce. The three motions that were debated
certainly gave audience and participants enough food for thought:
1. L'intervention française au Mali est une bonne chose.
2. La mondialisation de l'économie cause plus de torts qu'elle n'a d'avantages.
3. Le divertissement médiatique est le nouvel opium du peuple.
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Participants were well prepared and impressive with their factual knowledge,
strength of conviction, mastery of French and ability to answer du tac au tac
even after long periods of heated verbal fighting. The winning teams of the
two pools, Westminster and Sevenoaks, finally confronted each other, with
much deployment of panache, on the issue of fee paying universities versus
free education for all. You can listen to the debate, as well as the feedback
that was given by following the link on the ISMLA website (www.ismla.co.uk).
This final debate was adjudicated by Laurent Burin des Roziers, director of
the Institute, and Yves Letournel, from the cultural service of the French Embassy.
Attributing the victory to one team rather than the other was a difficult
decision, both having given a very strong performance. Sevenoaks finally
came out as the winning team, their contestants all the more derìserving for
being only in year 12. Thanks to ISMLA’s generous endowment for prizes,
both winners were presented with the newest edition of the Petit Robert,
while the runners up received a dictionary of synonyms.
Participants seemed to have enjoyed the occasion, which gave them a brilliant
setting to practise their French, as well as their debating skills - excellent
training for those of them who will now just have taken their A2 oral
exams. It also gave a welcome opportunity to students and teachers alike to
socialise with their peers from other schools.
ISMLA and the Institute are very keen to support this event and to see it
grow further. This involves more individual schools setting up a regional heat
in their area, and I know plans are already afoot for next year, notably
around Cambridge. If you are considering hosting a competition in your
school, the rules and format of the competition can be found on the ISMLA
website but please do not hesitate to get in touch with me
(Helene.may@spgs.org) if you would like to discuss the project and find out
more about practical aspects of organisation. I shall look forward to hearing
from you.
Hélène May St Paul’s Girls’ School (organiser of the South London regional
competition and coordinator of the National Final)
17

Action Research: Using Skype to reduce oralexam
anxiety
My Year 10 Spanish group of 14 students is mixed ability for the Independent
context. Although all are keen to succeed, it was following a routine end of
term speaking assessment that I stopped to think about why so many of
them dreaded orals. To start with a measurable, I asked the girls to do the
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale questionnaire (1), which explicitly
assesses feelings such as fear, embarrassment and confusion generated in
the language classroom. A score over 99/165 denotes a high level of anxiety,
and I found that 6 out of 14 girls had scores well above this.
So what could I do to help to reduce their anxiety? Naturally, we do oral and
pair work in class, but I was convinced it was the absence of opportunities for
sustained dialogue that was the problem, as well as the fact that they tend to
gravitate towards a partner of similar confidence levels. Without the benefit
of a language assistant, I needed to find a way to make them experience one
-to-one conversations much more frequently, so that when oral exams next
came round, they didn’t feel like such an unusual and stressful experience.
This was where Skype came in.
Every two weeks, girls now come to a computer suite, set up their webcams
and headsets, and call each other. They have 3-4 conversations a lesson,
each lasting 10-15 minutes. Following evaluations completed after each session,
I modify subsequent tasks, giving them a mixture of pre-prepared or
guided conversations and spontaneous “free talking”. In a 55 minute lesson,
all students speak for a good 45 minutes, only breaking when I tell them to
say “¡adiós!” and to call the next person on their list. Each girl has a Spanish
code name so it’s a surprise who will answer their call (in each lesson, they
are sometimes the stronger and sometimes the weaker participant) and, to
ensure they are not approachable by strangers online, a set of class accounts
were set up by the ICT department with suitably generic names (e.g. gtyskype-01,
etc).
Reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, with one girl saying “it’s the
most fun, relaxing Spanish lesson we do” though admittedly she was the one
with the lowest FLCA score to begin with. The girl with the highest FLCA score
reported for the first few sessions that it was “silly” and “no different to talking
face-to-face”, but after five sessions, she admitted it was “less intimidating”
and “very useful” oral exam practice. The majority response is that they
feel “more comfortable” and “more confident”, find it “beneficial”, “helpful
and fun”, and most commonly, that they speak “much more Spanish than in
(1) Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J., Foreign language classroom anxiety (1986: The Modern
Language Journal, 70 (2), 125-132)
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a normal class”. The only downside has been when the headsets don’t work
properly and time is wasted, but I’ve been told that headsets that plug in
with a USB connection are much better, so I’ll be investing in some of those
soon.
Despite the fact that the primary aim was not to improve their language, but
to reduce their anxiety - which was a barrier to learning - some initially questioned
how much they would learn if they couldn’t correct each other. Research
suggests that when non-native speakers (NNS) are put together, they
work harder to negotiate meaning, making it a “good forum for obtaining
input necessary for acquisition” (2). On the other hand, a native speaker
(NS) or expert may use a variety of strategies to keep a conversation going,
such as using simplified language, ignoring mistakes and tolerating irrelevant
answers, thereby reducing the authenticity of their input (3). In such dialogues,
a NNS will always be in the inferior position, and may pretend to understand
to avoid embarrassment, whereas with another NNS, they recognize
their “shared incompetence” and are less intimidated. After sharing this research
with the girls, I found they became increasingly proactive in Skype
sessions and increasingly articulate in how they evaluated its usefulness,
saying things like “it takes the pressure off because if you make a mistake
it's not embarrassing as the other person also makes mistakes”, and “I felt I
could correct and help the other person”.
Although the idea is not a million miles away from the old language lab pairing
function, such software is precisely for use in a language-lab, whereas
Skype is an everyday communication tool with obvious real-life relevance,
and using webcams greatly increases the fun factor. They are also encouraged
to multitask by having various windows open at once (an online dictionary,
a word doc to take notes) which suits they way they are accustomed to
working with computers, while wearing headphones makes them focus more
and not get distracted by what is going on around them.
Skype is increasingly being used in MFL classrooms and while the next step
would be to establish authentic on-line exchanges with students in Spain or
perhaps learners of Spanish in other countries, for now, it is proving to be a
successfully student-centered, ICT-based approach to oral work that builds
confidence and encourages girls to be more collaborative and reflective in
their learning. As one girl simply put it, “the point is to spend more of the
lesson orally participating without all eyes on you.”
Helena Matthews The Godolphin & Latymer School
(2) Varonis, Evangeline Marlos, and Gass, Susan, Non-native/Non-native Conversations: A Model
for Negotiation of Meaning (1983: Applied Linguistics, Vol. 6, No. 1)
(3) Long, Michael, H. Native speaker / non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of
comprehensible input (1982: Applied Linguistics, Vol. 4, No. 2)
20

“Il était une fois…..”
Mark Etherington, Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Bradfield College,
reflects on the power of storytelling and its place in the teaching of languages
today.
The front cover of the summer edition of “Languages Today” (the magazine
of the Association for Language Learning) featured a picture of Little Red
Riding Hood, with the muzzle of the Big Band Wolf poking menacingly
through the trees, and the headline “TELLING STORIES – powerful resources
for helping children to learn a foreign language.” This, I thought to myself,
was singularly apposite, as very recently I had been in conversation with a
colleague concerning the learning of foreign languages, and how we have
forgotten the power of stories. More of that to come – but what really has
prompted me to put pen to paper is a vague feeling (after nearly 15 years in
the business) that the teaching and learning of MFL has rather lost its way in
the packed and frenetic world of 21st century programmes of study. What
are we actually trying to do, when our Year 11 pupils troop into the classroom?
What precisely is our aim? And why are we doing it?
I suppose I know why, really. But then again, do I…? I mean, are we doing it
because we feel that an MFL should be part of a balanced academic diet?
Well, yes, I suppose so. But does the content that we have to teach for GCSE
justify this rather high claim? I don’t know about anyone else, but when we
teach our GCSE pupils how to say “I do the hoovering every weekend” I do
wonder whether we are providing a decent dietary intake, to continue the
metaphor. Of course I am exaggerating slightly, but the point is surely worth
raising (and it is not a new issue, of course) – the content of our programmes
of study is in desperate need of a clear-out. At the time of writing, I am wading
through some Common Entrance French marking. I always find this a
rather depressing task – not through any fault at all of the prep schools and
their wonderful pupils, but because of the similarity between what these 12
year olds are doing, and what (if they continue with French) these pupils will
find themselves doing aged 16 – virtually the same thing, in terms of content.
And they will probably be disenfranchised and bored witless by the
whole thing by then – and who can blame them?
So why else might we be teaching an MFL? Well, perhaps because we want to
broaden our pupils’ minds to other languages and therefore other cultures,
cuisines, senses of humour, mind-sets….and let’s face it, this sort of broadmindedness
and inter-cultural tolerance is desperately needed in today’s
world. This is a point I find myself making to both pupils and parents when
(rather defensively) I am trying to make a case for MFLs. But again – does
anyone feel that they do broaden their pupils’ minds? I mean, really? Genu-
21

ine cultural awareness only occasionally bubbles up in the many lessons that
I have observed across several schools, and even then it is usually more by
accident than by design. So I am not yet convinced on that score either.
Some GCSE pupils will have started French aged 3, and 13 years later still
don’t really know what to be French really means. That may admittedly be an
unreasonable target, but if it is unreasonable, we can’t really justify teaching
our subject on those grounds.
Here is a radical thought – perhaps we teach MFLs because we want the pupils
to be able to speak another language. Well, for sure. That’s what everyone
wants to do, isn’t it? How many adults have we met over the years who
express a regret that they can’t speak another tongue? It is a pity, therefore,
that we have to spend so long training our GCSE pupils to write an article
about what they do for the environment, or trying to unpick a complicated
text about unicycle hockey (anyone else seen that one in an iGCSE paper? I
mean, come on...) So I don’t really feel that I am teaching pupils to speak -
not properly or in a meaningful or useful way, anyway. They might know
their 1 minute oral presentation absolutely perfectly…but what use is that,
and where is the fun or purpose in it?
Hmmm. I’m starting to run out of ideas now. Oh yes – what about the learning
of a foreign language being a good academic discipline? It is, isn’t it? I
mean, it trains you to understand grammar, words, etymology…it encourages
you to read, to think critically, to reflect….yes, but again, how many of us
could claim to be encouraging these virtues in our junior school lessons on a
regular basis, and incorporating them in our teaching? I daresay that most of
us would admit to underselling them, again because of other pressures.
Well, I’ve racked my overtired brains enough. I am sure that there are other
great reasons for learning an MFL, but do you see what I mean? We’ve rather
lost our way, haven’t we? We may be using new textbooks, with interactive
whiteboards, digital language labs and all sorts of other gizmos, but I don’t
think that the industry actually knows what it is doing anymore. MFL teachers
all know the inherent value of what we’re doing, and how crucial it is, but
we’re not packaging it in a way that is helpful, relevant or attractive for adolescents,
and we’re not at all sure what’s wrong and what to do about it.
Which brings me back to stories. Back in 2010, The Times ran an interesting
article entitled “Why learn French?” – a good question – and I wrote a letter
to the Editor to try to answer this. My letter was published, along with several
other letters, including one from Dr Robert Vanderplank, the Director of
the Oxford University Language Centre. I contacted him, and he was kind
enough to share several thoughts with me, and indeed an article that he had
written in the TES magazine in August 2012. The main drive of what he says
is this: pupils would be keen to learn an MFL provided that the material keeps
22

them coming back: “ Look at the French textbook, Encore Tricolore 3, which
is still widely used in schools. At first sight it looks rich and engaging, and the
topics cover a raft of everyday subjects. It is full of useful functions, important
grammar and the exercises are varied. Each section ends with information
on French history and culture. So what's wrong? Well, if I was in Year 9,
I would think it recycled. How many times can you relearn about friends,
hobbies and family? Nothing really happens. There is no plot. There are about
200 characters that appear in the book. How are young learners supposed to
get involved when there is no continuity and no characters to engage with for
longer than a paragraph? In case you think I am being unfair to French and
Encore Tricolore 3, look at other standard key stage 3 textbooks. Most follow
the same formula. Recently, I came across an excellent series of French fiction
for young learners at A1 and A2 level (published by Didier and available
from Amazon). There was more French to be learned in the page-turning
“Quinze Jours Pour Réussir” than in all the hollow pages of Encore Tricolore
3.”
According to Dr Vanderplank, this is a teaching technique that ancient languages
have not forgotten:
“If pupils are following the Cambridge Latin Course, they get a cracking story
about Caecilius, his family, the impact of disasters such as the eruption of
Vesuvius, death, treachery and violence, as well as tales of everyday life in
the Roman Empire. There is also humour; I love the section in Book I when
slaves working for the family in Britannia complain about the local weather.
Nothing could be more topical. It may not be The Hunger Games, but it is
compelling enough for learners to return to pursue the associated grammar
and vocabulary.”
I remember learning Spanish at a school, and the textbook we used followed
the fortunes of La Familia Sanchez. We got to know the members of the family
like our own. I can still remember la madre (“prepara sopa, patatas, tomates
y fruta”). But that was nigh-on 25 years ago. Perhaps Dr Vanderplank
is on the right path here? When was the last time that our pupils had a story
to follow, rather than the bland and ephemeral content of the modern text
book? I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t stand modern textbooks,
my heart instantly sinks whenever I open one. We’ve forgotten about learning
language through telling stories – and anyone who has ever read to a
child of any age knows the power of stories. My six year old daughter cannot
wait for the next instalment of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” this evening,
and I regularly hear her using words in everyday speech that she has
learned from Roald Dahl. That’s a great way to learn language, surely?
And for me, the key point is this: by using stories, you might not need to
justify the teaching and learning of MFLs anymore – all those rather insincere
23

statements about how French lessons broaden the mind become redundant.
Your pupils don’t think in those terms anyway, do they? They like any subject,
provided it is fun, taught in a sparky way and they feel they make progress.
I suggested to Dr Vanderplank that – if we are really serious about trying to
turn adolescents into interested linguists, we need to seriously re-think the
way we package what we do. His reply:
“My eyes were opened to the reality of MFL in this country some years ago
when I was co-researcher in a large ESRC-funded project on Year 12
French. I could not believe what I was seeing when I looked at scripts in
‘pidgin’ French written by year 12 students taking AS French. I have formed
the view that attempts at reform are a complete waste of time and effort and
your position, having completely different programmes, is the only positive
way forward.”
Abandoning the GCSE qualification altogether may be a step too far
(although at Bradfield, we have considered this and instead offering the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages– DELF, DELE, DaF etc)
– but perhaps that is irrelevant anyway. Surely what matters is the journey,
more than the end product, and if the pupils have gripping stories and absorbing
plots that keep their interest (and which by definition will be full of
great grammar and vocab) then we’d be doing them a favour, and they could
still succeed in GCSE at the end of it. And it would certainly be different to
what they did at prep school!
I mean, just read this:
Au même instant, deux yeux menaçants la regardaient de
derrière un arbre. Un bruit étrange dans la forêt fit bondir
de frayeur Petit Chaperon Rouge, et son cœur se mit à
battre. "Je dois trouver le chemin et m'enfuir d'ici! Rapidement!”
Petit Chaperon Rouge courut et courut, et retrouva
enfin le chemin. Mais alors qu'elle commençait à se relaxer,
elle entendit un autre bruit étrange derrière elle...
It’s got everything – vocab, grammar, interest, suspense….and
could even inspire some of our pupils to write their own versions
or their own stories – that would beat writing about “My Local Area”. So, to
quote a recent piece of Google-translated homework: “Je repose ma valise.”
Happy storytelling!
Mark Etherington Bradfield College.
24

Review Article: Studying French Cinema...As
Studying French Cinema I Vanderschelden
ISBN-13: 978-1906733155
easy as 1, 2, 3?
The image of the delightful Jojo, one of Etre et avoir’s most engaging protagonists,
holding up the paint-stained palms of his hands for inspection, is
an appropriate choice for Isabelle Vanderschelden’s new publication Studying
French Cinema. Not only is it representative of the diversity and contemporariness
of the range of films presented by the author but will also resonate
with Modern Foreign Languages teachers; teaching film can be a messy business.
However well-read our pupils may be, and however many films they may
have seen, the majority of sixth formers will not have studied cinema before.
That their first experience of doing so is as part of a foreign language syllabus
which is dense enough already does not allow much time to learn the
skills and terminology of film studies. Instead, we expect them to apply their
knowledge of analysis of literary texts to their reading of film or we may introduce
some key vocabulary in the target language on a specific point of
interest, such as different shots or camera angles. In certain contexts, this is
absolutely appropriate; we may only be showing an excerpt of a film as a
stimulus for a debate or role-play or to introduce a culturally specific phenomenon,
such as ethnic diversity, violence in schools or evolving family
models. However, when more detailed interpretations are required, sixthformers
do need more focused guidance on how to study cinema. Nine of the
twenty-one texts listed as options for the Cambridge Pre U French cultural
topic are films and they remain a consistently popular choice among A Level
pupils for the Oral Examination. Not only will taught, rigorous analysis enhance
their studies and enrich their reading of the films in question, but it will
prepare them for any future study within the medium of film.
The title of Vanderschelden’s new book suggests itself as the perfect aid to
French teachers trying to deliver such a programme. Arguably, the rather
general designation is misleading and would benefit from a subtitle at the
least; readers expecting to discover the necessary techniques and theoretical
frameworks to explore the narrative, artistic and cultural nuances of French
cinema will not find them here. However, this book is a valuable resource,
containing ten excellent essays based upon a variety of well-chosen films,
from Les 400 coups (1959) to Le Grand voyage (2004). Each chapter begins
by assuming no knowledge of the film’s makers or context or its thematic
and artistic qualities but quickly develops, offering succinct yet comprehensive
studies that raise interesting questions; Les 400 coups is given a fresh
25

angle when treated alongside L’Argent de poche
and two cinematic representations of the Occupation
are portrayed as meetings of ‘the personal’
and ‘the historical’. The bibliographies are exhaustive
but the essays alone provide Sixth Form
teachers with ample material to teach these films.
Pupils will find the essays accessible yet exhaustive
and they could equally use them as a stepping
stone to reading about cinema in French.
Vanderschelden has deliberately picked ‘suitable
set texts for a wide range of academic courses’
that ‘can be studied in different educational contexts’
and there are some exciting choices. Agnès
Varda’s Sans toit ni loi alone explores the themes
of social exclusion, homelessness, social responsibility,
youth and the limits of freedom. Le Grand voyage beautifully depicts
the realities of a second generation immigrant existence through a moving
road trip. Eyebrows might be raised at the prospect of showing scenes from
Christopher Gan’s Le Pacte des loups but boys, especially, love this film and it
might prove an original and engaging way to introduce the concepts of legend,
the Enlightenment or pre-revolution France, for instance, at the end of
term. Certainly, Vanderschelden’s essay demonstrates the film’s potential as
a topic for an A Level or Pre U oral presentation. Equally, the chapter Traits
and Traditions in French Film Comedy suggested to me the value of showing
a film like Le Dîner de cons as a prologue to teaching, say, a Molière text. A
recent Year 10 trip to see Le Bourgeois gentilhomme in Paris demonstrated to
me that although the ‘developed drama conventions for situation comedy,
farce and slapstick’ may have ‘now been written into the specific national
identity’ in France, they need to be taught elsewhere; sadly, for our pupils,
the exaggerated, physical production was simply unsophisticated out of context.
Doubtlessly, a country’s cinematic output is a way into other elements of its
culture and, given the paucity of screenings of French films in Britain outside
of London’s art house venues, it is often up to Languages departments to fill
the void. Serge Kaganski defines French auteur cinema as providing a ‘better
understanding of the world [and] the discovery of its reality’, furnishing
French teachers with the perfect excuse to stock up their library of films.
Vanderschelden’s essays are a great place to find inspiration and, even if you
are not convinced by her choice of titles, following the format of one of her
chapters to build up materials for any film that you are studying will ensure a
successful scheme of work.
Davina Suri North London Collegiate School
26

The ISMLA Top Films
Need some ideas for end of term viewing? To get you started, or perhaps
refresh your ideas, here are a few suggestions for French, Spanish, German,
Italian and Russian. Do you, our readers, have other suggestions? Almost
certainly. Why not send them to us with a brief supporting statement We
hope to publish a selection in the next Newsletter and perhaps have some
online voting on the ISMLA website. Emails to the editor at plangdale@tiscali.co.uk.
German
Lola rennt (1998): a gripping story of two teenagers in Berlin, with three
different plots mapping the far-reaching consequences of minor events.
Repetition of vocabulary makes this ideal for Key Stage 3 groups.
Das Kabinett des Dr Caligari (1920) makes an unlikely hit among
younger learners; an early silent psychological thriller with strong Expressionist
notes, the minimal language challenge of this opens up scope for activities
involving discussion, subtitling or voiceovers, and the early days of
German cinema.
Lore (2012) : Recently released, Lore depicts the dispossessed children of a
Nazi officer crossing a Germany in the immediate aftermath of the Second
World War. It deals sensitively with the issues of trust, identity and g r o w -
ing up in the generation fathered by the Third Reich.
Good Bye Lenin! (2003): Easy to follow for GCSE classes A beautiful comedy-drama
depicting the changing fortunes of an East Berlin family around
the fall of the wall. Kitsch and laced with 'Ostalgie', this long-time favourite
sits well alongside the more recent Das Leben der Anderen.
Das Leben der Anderen (2006): tells an altogether darker story of the
DDR, in which the Stasi rules supreme.
Cabaret (1972): While in English it can nevertheless be justified as an excellent
introduction to Weimar depression and the rise of Nazism.
Spanish
Diarios de motocicleta (2004): Immensely popular voyage of discovery as
much for its humour as for its stunning scenery and inspirational story of a
young man whose gap year changed his life. Equally satisfying is revealing
the man behind the iconic Che slogan (see also Che, Parts 1 & 2).
27

Bombón el perro (2004): Gentle and heart-warming tale of a down-andout
man whose meeting with a dog changes his life. This may be a slower
film than our pupils are used to, but the characters win them over every
time.
El Orfanato (2007): Where El Laberinto del fauno (2006) is too violent, this
offering from Guillermo del Toro may be too frightening for younger pupils,
but it is a gripping, impeccably crafted ghost story that provides a rather
different take on the Blockbuster ‘película de terror’ that our pupils tend to
seek out at the multiplex.
Héroes (2010): A successful city-slicker reacquaints with a childhood friend
and their trip down memory lane together (complete with many 1980s references
of which we may rather not be reminded) leads to a reassessment of
his apparently soulless existence.
No (2012): there is more eighties nostalgia here, this time through the ‘No’
publicity campaign against Pinochet. The 1988 referendum was called due to
rising international pressure and this true story gives an insight into the regime
whilst being entertaining and engaging throughout.
Tres metros sobre el cielo (2010): Real end-of-term treat in the form of a
light Spanish romantic comedy; the kind that makes teenage girls go weak at
the knees and the rest of us run for the door…
Miss Bala (2011): For a change from the also excellent María, llena eres de
gracia (2004), this tells the story of a beauty-contest winner, caught up in
Mexico’s drug wars. The story is told from the point of view of Laura whose
limited awareness of what is going on gives a unique perspective and a compelling
angle to the film.
Italian
La notte di San Lorenzo (1982). In English The Night of the Shooting
Stars. Moving story of Tuscans wandering aimlessly between German and
Allied lines towards the end of WWII. A tragic tale seen through the eyes of a
small girl.
Mediterraneo (1991): A unit of Italian soldiers is stranded on a Greek island
during the war. Entertaining reflections on the Italian character.
Maybe best for 6th form.
Ladri di bicicletta (1948) : Classic neo-realist film by Vittorio de Sica set in
post-war Rome. Powerful moral themes played out by amateur actors. Introducing
the wide eyed innocent child Bruno.
La vita è bella (1997):
Benigni’s comedy about the power of laughter to
28

overcome adversity never fails to enthral despite the setting. Buongiorno
principessa!
Io non ho paura (2003) Based on a novel by Niccolò Ammaniti much
studied for A Level, this is nevertheless worth showing in its own right as a
powerful tale of kidnap and betrayal through a child's eyes.
Il postino (1994): An illiterate postman meets Pablo Neruda exiled on a
southern Italian island. Some beautiful scenery as well as a seductive Maria
Grazia Cuccinotti. It contains the best definition of a metaphor you are likely
to encounter. Great for 6th formers who (also) study Spanish.
Cinema Paradiso (1988) Classic story about a film maker’s youth in a
small Sicilian town and his discovery of the medium. Great for all ages.
Worth noting that there is also a (longer) director’s cut on the market which
the writer prefers to the original Oscar winning film.
Russian
Ballada o soldate (Ballad of a Soldier), 1959. The film recounts, within
the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love: the romantic love of
a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love
of her child, as a Red Army soldier tries to make it home during leave, meeting
several civilians on his way and falling in love.
Sluzhebnyi roman (Office Romance), 1977. The film tells the story of
Ludmila Kalugina, a general manager of a statistical bureau, and her subordinate,
economist Anatoly Novoseltsev, who come from mutual aversion to
love. The film is noted for its scenes of Moscow in the late 1970s, and for its
comical depiction of the everyday life and customs of Soviet society during
the Era of Stagnation.
Utomlennye solntsem (Burnt by the Sun), 1994. The film depicts the
story of a senior Red Army officer and his family during the Great Purge of
the late 1930s in the Stalinist Soviet Union. Like a tragedy by Sophocles,
Burnt by the Sun takes place over the course of one day.
Vozvrashchenie (The Return), 2003: This is the story of two Russian boys
whose father suddenly returns home after a 12-year absence. He takes the
boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood
of almost mythic proportions.
Piter FM, 2006. Romantic comedy about Masha, a DJ on a St Petersburg
radio station, and Maxim, an architect newly arrived in the city. When Maxim
picks up Masha’s mobile phone by chance, his failed attempts to return it to
its owner leave him no option but to call the radio station.
29

Stilyagi (Hipsters), 2008. The Russian musical dramedy cult film depicts
Soviet youth subculture (the stilyagi) of the late 1950s, and their methods of
self-expression during the Soviet regime.
French
Intouchables (2011): Relationships, uplifting, mirth beyond measure and
great for getting pupils talking about character traits.
Ma Vie en Rose (1997) About a boy who is sure God meant him to be a
girl and how the family have to cope with this.
Persépolis (2007) A young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop
of the Iranian Revolution.
Les Choristes (2004): A new surveillant arrives in a home for difficult
boys and starts a choir much against the director's better judgement. This is
a wonderfully uplifting story about the redemptive power of music. A winner
with the musical and especially year 9 girls!
Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010) : Luc Besson
does Indiana Jones. Derived form a comic-book series by Jacques Tardi.
“Enter intrepid tomb raider Adèle Blanc-Sec resplendent beneath an array of
flamboyant bonnets that she only discards in order to disguise herself as a
nurse or a moustachioed jailer, or to lounge at length in a bathtub.” The
Guardian.
Welcome (2009): A swimming coach tries to help an illegal Kurdish immigrant
to swim across the Channel; great for “what would you do?” discussions
with 6th formers.
Le Dîner de Cons (1998): High art it certainly is not, but this tale about
who among a group of friends can invite the stupidest person to dinner is
classic slapstick – boys love it.
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (2008) : More slapstick and farce for the boys
as a Southerner is posted to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
(Contributions by members of the ISMLA committee, Davina Suri , Matt Russell
and Nick Massey of North London Collegiate School)
30

A guide to the rules governing showing and
studying films in school
This is not an easy issue at the best of times, but some advice is given in a
helpful publication ‘Using Film in schools – a practical guide’ which can be
f ound online at: http://old.bfi.or g.uk/education/teaching/
using_film_in_schools.pdf. This is very exhaustive but we reproduce the section
from that document that most directly concerns showing and studying
films in schools. But given the complexity of the legal situation, we would
draw your attention to the disclaimer below. At least this can help point us in
the right direction, if not necessarily defend us in a court of law!
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
You can show films at school – in whole or in part – but it must be for
‘instruction’ rather than entertainment. You can only show them to
your students within the school and not to the general public.
If you want to show films for entertainment (e.g. at an after-school
film club or at the end of term) you need a Public Video Screening
Licence from CEFM/FilmBank, who cover the vast majority of films.
Your local authority or school may already have a licence. If you
charge for viewing films you will need a specific licence for each
screening, normally from FilmBank. www.filmbank.co.uk
You are breaking copyright if you copy films, e.g. ‘ripping’ extracts
from DVDs for use in teaching. Some teachers do this to make it easier
to access individual scenes in the classroom. The legal alternative
is to use DVD-playing software, or a standalone DVD player, which
will allow you to ‘bookmark’ the sections you want without copying the
disc.
The terms and conditions of some video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube
www.youtube.com) prohibit you from downloading and storing films
from their site.
If your institution has an ERA licence you can record, copy and use
terrestrial UK television programmes, subject to certain restrictions.
You can make extracts from them but you can’t modify them (e.g. by
adding a different soundtrack).
You can also use cable or satellite programmes (which aren’t covered
by the ERA www.era.org.uk) within a school for educational purposes,
as long as they aren’t accessible from outside the premises (e.g. on a
VLE or Intranet which students can access at home).
You can legally show films to your students even if they are below the
31

Disclaimer:
age specified in the BBFC classification. It is advisable to get permission
from parents, explaining why you are showing the film and the
exact nature of the classification (you get details of this from the BBFC
site – search for the film, select the video version and look under
‘consumer advice’
This is provided as a guide only. Film Education and ISMLA do not guarantee
the accuracy of its contents or information contained in its pages and any
person using information contained in them does so entirely at their own risk.
To the extent permitted by law, Film Education and ISMLA exclude all representations
and warranties (whether express or implied by law), including all
implied warranties as to satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose,
non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy. While we try to ensure
that all content provided by Film: 21st Century Literacy is correct at the
time of publication no responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of Film Education
(or ISMLA) or any errors, omissions or inaccurate content in this
guide.
32

Settling in Singapore
Teaching abroad
ISMLA committee member David Sheppard decided to leave these shores
after his first teaching post to work at Tanglin Trust School in Singapore. We
asked him to write a few words on his experience so far.
It was with much trepidation that I attended the 2012 London interview for
my present school, located in Singapore. It was only after receiving an invitation
to interview that I realised quite how competitive the post would be.
Nonetheless, I was fortunate to be asked the right questions, for example on
Madame Bovary – a text for which I was just finishing the 7000 th annotation
on my website Tailored Texts – and I was offered the job.
I had always wanted to “go international”: for the cultural opportunities as
well as the linguistic experience (I’m currently learning Mandarin); for the
food and travel, of course, but also because of the career opportunities. The
international schools market has doubled in size over the last ten years and
is expected to do so again (1) . Indeed, British schools are often quoted as one
of our most valuable exports and I felt excited to be venturing overseas to
become involved, safe in the knowledge that my school is an active HMC
member.
My brief for this article was to write about how life in an international school,
teaching a modern foreign language, might differ from that in a UK independent
school and here are a few of my observations…
Going international- what’s the difference?
Community: serving an expat community with expat teachers immediately
places new demands on a school but also provides it with many opportunities
which are simply unavailable to UK school management. Straight off the
plane, I was whisked away to my furnished flat, shown the milk in the fridge
and presented with a hand-annotated map of my neighbourhood. In the following
days, I was given various tours and presentations by locals to facilitate
acclimatization to my newly adopted country. As months went by, this
high level of support continued and a strong bond was struck up between all
new staff as well as with those existing staff members assigned to help us
settle in. I was touched by the thoughtfulness of everyone and felt indebted
to the school, especially in the knowledge that not every school would go to
this effort. The vulnerability of teachers moving to work thousands of miles
from home creates an opportunity for the school to reach out and offer sup-
(1)
Nick Brummitt, Managing Director of ISC Research, www.tieonline.com/view_article.cfm?
ArticleID=87
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port and this in turn creates strong bonds of loyalty between new staff and
the school.
The school doesn’t only reach out to teachers, however. My observation is
that it also acts as one of the focal points for expat families new to Singapore,
often without a significant support network. Parental involvement here
is thus extremely high and there is a vast array of events organised for children
and their parents each week. In fact, parents are frequently seen about
the school site and can be observed meeting their children at break time, for
example, in one of our cafés. Everyone is monitored upon entry and the
campus feels both extremely safe and relaxed as a consequence.
Auxiliary Staff: in a culture that has ever-increasing amounts of childprotection
legislation, one may frown at the idea of parents milling around on
the school site. No such fear with us: thanks to our large security team, everyone
is monitored upon entry and the campus feels both extremely safe and
relaxed as a consequence.
Large numbers of auxiliary staff is not exclusive to security and there are
nearly 200 staff members plus 50 teaching assistants working around the
clock to assist teachers in their professional lives and also, as seen above,
their personal lives. This is an impressive number for a day-school! Reprographics,
displays, trips, technology for learning and ICT support: it all works
like a dream. This really does make a difference to teacher’s lives because
one is left to focus on the important aspects of teaching and learning and to
build professional relationships with students and colleagues.
Pastoral Care: turnover of students is high in all year groups, with the exception
of Year 10 and Year 12, because parents’ jobs require often moving
around the international job circuits, e.g. Tokyo to Shanghai to Hong Kong to
Singapore. A very special attention is thus needed to ensure all new members
to the school are made to feel welcome and the ethos of the school
must, by necessity just as much by strategy, be centred on an openness that
can brook such fluidity of its student body. Expat-child syndrome (ECS) is
also a very prevalent issue unique to international schools that must be taken
seriously by all members of the community.
Modern Foreign Language Teaching
A multitude of tongues: there are more than 40 nationalities amongst pupils
and this creates a cultural dynamism amongst the student body that
forms the basis for many unique opportunities to a MFL department in an
international school. In a recent survey, 25% of students in Year 11 were
found to speak another language as their mother tongue, in addition to
speaking English fluently (a requirement of the school). This is generally replicated
in other year groups and such linguistic diversity provides for ample
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opportunities both inside and outside the classroom: peer-teaching; mentoring;
an increased mother-tongue provision at IGCSE/ IB (we teach both IB
and A-level) and, of course, use of pupil’s own linguistic knowledge to reinforce
points made in class. For example, in the teaching of French possession,
similarities with English, Mandarin, German or Spanish can be drawn
out from pupils in most classes. Students seemed most aware of the usefulness
of their gifted knowledge when preparing for the UKLO 2013 competition:
large student numbers meant that we could always find someone fluent
in a language that had similar traits to one of the weird and wonderful languages
presented to us by Dick Hudson and his team.
Local lingoes: most international schools are fortunate enough to be located
in a country where the local language is not English. This provides many cultural
and linguistic opportunities and, importantly, it also acts as a highly
visible motivator for students to understand the importance of language
learning. Our school has seen a very successful uptake of both Mandarin and
Bahasa (Malay), two of the local languages.
Colleagues: although mostly British, colleagues come from hugely varied
backgrounds and the private/state divide in the U.K. seems like a world
away. The school is not only a melting pot of students but also of staff and
the consequent cultural awareness and diversity undoubtedly leads to enhanced
learning as well as very edifying staffroom chats.
Challenges: distance from the British Council and Europe, however, does
provide challenges. The provision of reliable, employable language assistants
to enhance the students’ spoken French/Spanish/German - a basic service
expected in all UK schools - can be a very testing task. Meaningful and pedagogically
effective exchanges, likewise, can be difficult to arrange because of
the cost of travel and the difficulty of building up links with schools found
thousands of miles away. Local European international schools certainly exist
but, unfortunately, their students speak English and I fear that this must
reduce effectiveness for our Anglophone pupils. Residential trips, online exchanges,
in-house events and innovative usage of telecommunication devices
(hat tip: Nick Mair!) have thus taken centre-stage at our school.
Farewell
These observations are made after only a few years in the profession and
just one in an International School so I am sure that, as years pass, they will
be amended and added to. However, if you would like to know any more
about my experience abroad, please do not hesitate to contact me.
David Sheppard Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
36

What does your MP think about the importance
of languages and language learning?
Speak To The Future, the campaign for languages, has taken on the task of
contacting all 650 MPs and challenging them to spell out their views on languages
and language learning. The more views collected, the more UK policy
-makers will be forced into taking languages seriously, thus ensuring that
educational and economic policy reflects the ever-changing demands of the
global workplace. If our young people are to compete on this stage and enjoy
the opportunities offered therein, language learning must be at the heart
of education at all levels.
If you share our views and can help us by contacting your MP, please get in
touch at www.speaktothefuture.org where you will be able to access an ‘MP
finder’ and sample letters. An example letter from Mike Rauh and responses
from Chris Kelly MP and Elizabeth Truss, Parliamentary Under Secretary of
State for Education and Childcare are included below for inspiration. A teaching
pack will also be available after the summer half term with resources to
encourage pupils to get in touch with their MP too. Replies make a good article
for school magazines… Working together, we will be well on our way to
contacting all 650 MPs. Join us now and speak up for the future of languages!
Nick Mair
Example letter to an MP:
Dear Mr Kelly,
My name is Mike Rauh. I live in your constituency and have taught Modern
Foreign Languages for 29 years. Eleven years ago I was appointed as an Advanced
Skills Teacher (AST) for Primary Modern Foreign Languages (PMFL)
and successfully led Sandwell Education’s agenda (as part of the then national
programme) to introduce PMFL into over 94% of the primary schools
there. I was one of 40 so-called National Trainers who trained primary practitioners,
head teachers and primary school improvement advisers, and was a
member of the DCSF (now the DfE) Steering Group for the Longitudinal
Study “Language Learning at Key Stage Two” (Research Report DCSF-
RR198 Final Report January 2010).
Because of a cut in funding by your Government, my Academy could no
longer afford to keep me on as an AST and I was made redundant in Summer
38

2012. Today I work as an independent PMFL adviser/ consultant to schools
throughout the West Midlands.
My last employer, an “outstanding” (2010-11) academy in Sandwell, was first
of all a Language College, and then for reasons unknown to me, a few years
ago took the decision to play down the Languages element and by 2011-12,
there were only five students out of a cohort of 180 who sat a language at
GCSE, and this year I know that in the current Year 11 cohort of 180 less
than 20 are studying a language to GCSE level. This particular academy has
decided that more of the “more able” students ought to study languages to
GCSE and yet in Year 7 and 8 students are exposed to between only 30 and
45 minutes language study, which can only scratch the surface, and then it is
only in Year 9 that students (and only those likely to get an EBacc award)
who are encouraged to take one language as an option. Students are then
expected to get good GCSE grades in less than three years instead of the
more normal 4 - 5 years. You will doubtless be aware of research into socalled
“neuro-linguistics” and that the optimum time for children and young
people to learn languages is before age 12. After this there is a sharp decline
in motivation and ability to acquire and retain long term language skills. To
start a more serious study at age 13 is too late for most young people.
Although I work mainly in Sandwell, I am confident in saying that there are
similar stories to be heard across the whole of the Black Country, including in
Dudley South. National trends show that well under 50% of Year 11 students
will be sitting GCSE exams in MFL over the next two Summers and
the long-term prospects look just as grim if not even worse.
This reminds me of the definition of a language learner (or not) in Britain
today, which would be funny except that it is tragic: “What do you call someone
who can speak more than one language?” “A multi-linguist.” “What do
you call someone who speaks one language?” “British”. The UK is a laughing
stock certainly across Europe for its inability to promote the importance and
advantages of learning languages. I should respectfully like to ask you therefore
what you personally, as my MP, intend to do to address my concerns.
Yours Sincerely,
Michael Rauh
The Member of Parliament’s reply:
Dear Michael,
My views on the importance of modern foreign languages are as follows. I
will also forward you the Minister’s response when I receive it.
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I believe that as communication, education and business become more
global, languages play a great part in supporting international diplomacy and
generate a greater understanding of the world in which we live. I also recognise
that learning a language can bring important social and economic benefits
to the UK. The ability to understand and communicate in another language
is a lifelong skill for education, employment and leisure in this country
and throughout the world.
There is clear evidence which suggests that children are also better able to
learn the sounds of new languages when they are younger and internationally,
compulsory language teaching is consistently introduced in the primary
phase.
I am pleased therefore that the Government has proposed schools teach one
of seven languages at Key Stage 2. The languages being considered include
French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish or a classical language (Latin or
ancient Greek). Schools would, of course, be free to teach other languages in
addition to one of these.
I am also very encouraged by the introduction of the English Baccalaureate,
which has seen an immediate impact on the numbers of pupils taking a foreign
language at GCSE. It has not only arrested but reversed the decline in
languages in our secondary schools.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
With best wishes,
Chris
Chris Kelly MP. Member of Parliament for Dudley South (Conservative)
Follow up:
Dear Michael,
Please find below the response I have received from the Department for Education
on the teaching of foreign languages in schools.
With best wishes,
Chris
Chris Kelly MP. Member of Parliament for Dudley South (Conservative)
40

From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and
Childcare
9 May 2013
Dear Chris,
Thank you for your email of 26 March, enclosing correspondence from your
constituent, Mr Michael Rauh of 37 Crystal Avenue, Stourbridge, West Midlands,
DY8 4AW, about the importance of foreign language learning in
schools.
I appreciate the points made by Mr Rauh, and agree that learning foreign
languages is important. It is because we are committed to reversing the decline
in language teaching, which occurred under the last Government, that
we have introduced reforms to reinvigorate the learning of foreign languages.
Mr Rauh will be aware that the national curriculum already stipulates that a
modern foreign language must be taught to all pupils in maintained secondary
schools in key stage 3 (ages 11 to 14), and we have no intention of
diluting that requirement. Pupils aged 14 to 16 also have an entitlement to
study a modern foreign language if they wish to do so.
Mr Rauh will be pleased to learn that research, from the Centre for British
Teachers, showed that 51 per cent of state secondary schools now have a
majority of their pupils taking a language in Year 10, compared to 36 per
cent in 2010. This rise is partly attributable to the English Baccalaureate
(EBacc) performance measure. This is intended to encourage more pupils to
study key academic subjects, including languages, and to open up opportunities
for all pupils to have a broad and well-rounded education. EBacc subjects,
which include foreign languages, when supplemented with wider study,
will provide an excellent foundation from which any young person can build
their further education after the age of 16.
Evidence, including from other countries, shows that children benefit from
being taught languages from an early age. This can inspire children with a
love of languages that will stay with them throughout their secondary education
and beyond.
Primary schools are not currently required to teach a foreign language, but
we are putting a new obligation in place for them to do so from September
2014. We want primary schools to teach French, German, Italian, Mandarin,
Spanish, Latin or Ancient Greek, as these languages will provide a strong
grounding for further language study. We have recently consulted on a new
draft national curriculum, including new programmes of study for languages,
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which can be found at www.education.gov.uk/nationalcurriculum.
In terms of supporting the implementation of the new curriculum the Teaching
Agency (now integrated into The National College for Teaching and Leadership)
facilitated meetings between January and March this year for representatives
from teaching schools and subject associations. This allowed them
to consider new directions for teacher training to make sure that teachers
and trainees would be supported to teach the new curriculum from September
2014.
Thank you for writing to me on this important matter, and I hope my reply is
helpful to Mr Rauh.
With best wishes,
Elizabeth Truss MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare
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