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

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terested only in black players.Cantet suggests that the liberalism of the teachers, including Marin, goesonly so far when put under pressure. Souleymane becomes the object of adisciplinary procedure after a confrontation in class turns violent. Souleymaneand Marin have used the same questionable language against one anotherbut, while the boy is held to account, the teachers close ranks to protecttheir colleague. The adults know that, if expelled, Souleymane will besent “back” to Mali by his father – which they all assume, in rather patriarchalform, would be a disaster for him.Professor Harrison closed by linking Entre les Murs to a 1965 essay byGeorge Steiner in which the critic explores the loss of our cultural attachmentto written languages, the myth that literature might manage to capture a‘national spirit’ and the blown assumption that the studying the humanities‘humanises’ – Steiner was particularly thinking of Germany.Alex FrazerROMA FRANZISKA SCHULTZ:Goethe zum AnfassenThis year’s German offering was a wonderfully interactive workshop entitled“Goethe – Up Close and Personal ” run by Roma Franziska Schultz, Advisorfor German at the Goethe Institut London. The aim of the workshop was toexplore ideas for integrating biographical information into teaching, usingGoethe’s life as an example. Frau Schultz showed, or rather asked us to participatein, a variety of activities, including for example using the Deutschlandposter(a collage of German people and things: http://www.goethe.de/lhr/mat/lkd/de8444030.htm) to discuss which of the things depicted wouldhave been available in Goethe’s time; showing the trailer for 2010 film aboutGoethe to talke about clothing and society; using a board with milestones inGoethe’s life to practice listening to numbers. We presented family membersand their biographical information and explored Goethe’s many fields of expertise.Most of the activities could equally be used with different personalitiescould be easily adapted for use with pupils in different year groups. Allin all a very enjoyable and useful session.FRANCISCA GARCIA-ORTEGA: Revitalicemos la enseñanza de literaturaespañola en las aulasTo give a talk entitled ‘teaching literature through technology’ at a schoolwith technology with which one is not familiar was an ambitious task but18
delegates were clearly interested by the various ways Francisca Garcia-Ortega had found of enlivening our literature teaching with some 21st centurywhizz-bang. Her talk, while focussing in on two particular texts, wasintended more as a general idea of what one might do with interactive whiteboards,youtube and the like to allow students to engage with literature. Thewarmth with which she spoke was most engaging and I’m sure many, likeme, were prompted by the talk to reassess the ways in which we use (ordon’t use!) technology to bring literature to life in our classrooms.Jim HoughtonBARNABY LENON: Trends In Education In The UKAt the end of the conference, Barnaby Lenon, ISC chairman and recent appointeeto the Ofqual board, conducted what he called a series of 'thoughtexperiments' based on what he had been hearing and what we were likely tolearn soon about the future shape of public exams.He was speculating about what might end up happening, what Michael Gove& Co could be planning and how we as an association were likely to need torespond. All highly conditional, if not subjunctive. His rallying call centred onthe fact that in the next ten months (from February 2013), consultation periodsfor both the EBacc (now shelved - Ed.) and the new, reformed A levelwould need to be completed. While he was healthily sceptical over the extentto which all this consultation would get done on time, he still stressed howessential it was that associations like ours should be involved, whenever theconsultation happened. We probably left Barnaby's talk with that adviceringing loudest in our ears, and it was something which the ISMLA committeewould surely take up.Most intriguing in Barnaby's account was the change in ethos that seems tobe at the heart of much of Gove's thinking: the revision of the idea that mayhave existed that aptitude and notions of intelligence are destined to underpinmeasurement of performance; the increased esteem in which sheer effortis held; the belief that such effort should be expected to enable the majorityof pupils to achieve success; the regard felt by the government for educationin Singapore and the Far East in general as models for Britain.These statements remained necessarily abstract, since the programmes ofstudy to which they would give rise were not yet in existence. But certainprinciples were nonetheless already clear:• By the time all of Gove's reforms were in place, it was going to beharder to get top grades, but we as independent schools should welcomethe fact that academic rigour was being foregrounded.19
Page 3 and 4: ContentsFrom the Chairman 4Language
Page 5 and 6: Language Trends Survey - You should
Page 7 and 8: Notes from the Editor’s Diary17th
Page 11: ISMLA National Conference 2013The I
Page 16 and 17: France’s imperial presence for bo
Page 20 and 21: • The development of new A level
Page 22 and 23: Thinking Outside the BoîteChanging
Page 24 and 25: I am also sad that the combination
Page 27 and 28: The Times Stephen Spender PrizeOnce
Page 29 and 30: EL FESTIVAL HISPANO DE TEATROINTERC
Page 32 and 33: British Academy Schools Language Aw
Page 34 and 35: LANGUAGE LABSNetworked Language Lab
Page 37 and 38: A level French conference/workshopw

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

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