Welcome to the Primary Languages (PL) site for Milton Keynes teachers. This site has been created to support the development of PL across the city. The intention is to create an information and resource base as well as a forum where teachers can exchange ideas about good practice. It is still very early in the development of this initiative and the site will change in the coming months as the MK system is due to be replaced by a new and much improved version in early 2008. After that point we will be encouraging you to interact with the site content by giving feedback on what you found successful or how you changed things to suit your own class’s needs etc. It is very important for PL development in MK that people use this facility when it is operational. In the meantime please contact Andy Crawford (andy.crawford@milton-keynes.gov.uk) with feedback as you work your way through the materials. Your ideas will be stored and uploaded in due course.

 

We have written a package for Year 3 (or the first year of language learning) based on the new QCA Scheme of Work for KS2 French – but for three languages, French, German and Spanish. QCA is expecting to publish its own SoW for German and Spanish in the autumn, but as there are a number of schools hoping to teach these languages in Year 3 from September we decided to forge ahead and make up our own. There are two lessons that are intended to serve as an introduction to whichever course children follow – ‘A World of Languages’ & ‘Languages in Europe’ You will see that there are accompanying resource packs for all three language courses where appropriate. All sessions have been planned to last 30 minutes and you should find that there are either explicit suggestions as to how to follow up across the week in shorter time slots (3 x 10 minutes or 2 x 15, for example) or that there are ample activities to enable you to follow such a plan. While appreciating the difficulties of timetabling we have set out to emphasise the possibilities of cross curricular language work and so hope that schools will try to avoid the one-hour-slot model. Much of the emphasis of this project has been on producing materials that encourage active learning and teacher and pupil creativity.

 

We hope that lots of teachers will use this site and find it of value in their language teaching. Thanks for the great effort and commitment of the following teachers who met for two days in the summer term and put hours in beyond that time (including a day of the holidays in the case of those asterisked) to create these packs:

 

Jane Solloway (aka Lingo Club)*

Lucy Smith, Giffard Park

Madeleine Calpin, Emerson Valley*

Judith Robinson, Tickford Park

Amy Cavill, Bow Brickhill*

Mel Scudamore, Lord Grey

Julie Herlihy, Lord Grey

Shân Payne, Monkston*

Gareth Williams, Wavendon Gate

Ian Fraser, Christ the Sower

and Julie Bishop, Abbeys, who was unfortunately only able to spend half of the first day with us as the dreaded Ofsted call took her away!