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

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
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