As I write this, the last time I was on a train was in March 2020 to go to Language World, the Association for Language Learning‘s annual conference, in Manchester. This year, the event was held online, so I attended form the comfort of my own home, between uni webinars and Petite Ecole teaching. For the 1st time in years I did not put a proposal in to present, as I knew I had a lot on already.
The conference was a huge success, though I did really miss the social side of things, catching up with friends and meeting new people. Below are my main takeaways, the things I want to remember and do something about.
- Michael Wardle and Ofsted: look out for a blog for primary curriculum inspections to be published soon
- Clare Seccombe from Lightbulb Languages and Ideas Education: check out the ASCL transition toolkit here
- Professor Li Wei: remember that learning a language is a social experience and has social cognition as well as cognitive benefits; best if used actively
- Prof Nicola McLelland, Dr Simon Coffey & Dr Lina Fisher: explore Language learning – learning from the past
- Olly Richards: do pre-reading (eg predictions), while-reading (eg check predictions) and post-reading activities (eg create personal connections)
- Richard Tallaron, Sioned Harold and Stephanie Ellis-Williams: do more CLIL! Donaldson Review & ELAPSE resources
- Jérôme Nogues: Microsoft accessibility tools through Word Online (use more!), Edge; immersive reader available
- Ellie Chettle Cully: click here for her presentation on how to cater for SEND pupils; note to self: use knowledge organisers more
- Dr Marie Petersen: with CLIL, start small! And have a class translator
- Lisa Panford and Melina Irvine: diversity is not enough! Voices and narratives are needed, anti-racist
- Do Doyle: multi-literacies; it is about progress, not perfection
I sincerely hope that next year we can all be together again – in the future, I am going to limit the time that I spend away from home, but for Language World I will make an exception! Theme: “Language Learning for social justice”.
See you there!
Nathalie