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

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I am also sad that the combination of German and Latin is not possible becausethe choice of Latin has often supported our best Germanists. However,I am convinced that the strengths outweigh these problems. I hope that itwill create pupils with a greater understanding of language and a deeper passionfor the individual languages they have opted for.<strong>The</strong>re is scope for improving the system further. My personal preferencewould to be to make Latin compulsory and place it outside the threelanguageframework. Instead pupils would have the choice of Russian or German.I suggested earlier that I had been free to consider languages provision fromscratch. That's not quite true. Given an entirely free rein I would move awayfrom the languages currently taught almost entirely and all of our pupilswould learn Sanskrit, Mandarin, Arabic and Finnish....... but that might be astep too far even for Whitgift!Andrew HuntWhitgift School24
Training the next generation of teachers – canyou help?Many ISMLA departments are alreadyinvolved in initial teachereducation (ITE) in various ways,possibly through the GTP route orin partnership with a universityprovider for the PGCE route. <strong>The</strong>current landscape for initialteacher education is changing fast,as the GTP route is about to endand the School Direct initiative isestablished as another route totrain as a teacher.Whatever the landscape, there is absolutely no doubt that partnerships withschools are central to the successful development and progress of traineeteachers. As Furlong and Maynard (1995) stated: ‘…the quality of the nextgeneration of teachers will, in large part, depend on the quality of mentoringsupport they are given.’ This is as true now as it was when it was writtenalmost two decades ago!Two main benefits are cited by teachers working with trainee teachers:• Mentoring is a really good way to reflect on one’s own practice and todraw on new and innovative approaches from the trainee;• Working in partnership with a university provider gives a direct routeinto a job supply source – great when vacancies arise in your department!Suitable MFL placements are often very difficult to find for ITE providers, soplease consider becoming involved in some way, even if only for one PGCEplacement each year. A full list of ITE providers (and information about otherroutes into teaching) can be found at:http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teachingJust contact your local ITE provider for more information about working inpartnership to train the next generation of MFL teachers. We’d love to hearfrom you!Anna Lise Gordon MFL PGCE Tutor / PGCE programme Director, St Mary’sUniversity College, Twickenham, London. annalise.gordon@smuc.ac.uk25
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 18 and 19: terested only in black players.Cant
Page 20 and 21: • The development of new A level
Page 22 and 23: Thinking Outside the BoîteChanging
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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