3 CHAPTER 1
HOOK THEM INTO LEARNING
One of the learning hooks that I enjoy using in the MFL classroom is asking the question, ‘What is your favourite foreign language word?’ I also ask this question in workshop sessions and at conferences. I love seeing people’s faces as they trawl through their vast philological memory, deftly sifting through all the languages they have learned and selecting one single word. Whether they are teachers, school leaders, teaching assistants (TAs), foreign language assistants (FLAs) or students, their expressions fascinate me. The visible excitement as their brains locate their favourite word is fantastic, although inevitably there is also some conflict in the choice of which word takes the top spot. At this point I add that they can have one word per language, and their anxiety fades and their eyes begin to sparkle. The pleasure individuals show as they share their special words is a joy to behold. Often, the words are well-loved with others in the room; there is nodding, grinning and the positivity spreads like wildfire. It’s wonderful to see.
The emotional connection to a particular word often returns the speaker to a special happy place, perhaps in the classroom, a memory from childhood or an international experience with friends, teachers or peers. When I ask why a word is so beloved, people frequently say that they like the way it sounds, the way it rolls off the tongue, the way it makes them smile or laugh as they enunciate it, the quirkiness of the word, the mix of 4graphemes and phonemes, or simply because it’s such a beautiful word. Regardless of the reason, it always seems to make folk feel happy. These words create a ripple of smiles, like a Mexican wave, moving across the room and creating an excited buzz.
Emotional connectivity to strange and interesting words linked to powerful memories can be harnessed to develop vocabulary range and depth, sentence structure and complexity in spoken and written work. It provides opportunities for pronunciation practice as well as the recall of interesting vocabulary. Below is a small selection of wonderful words which have been generously shared with me over the years – a fabulous philological flaunt-tant that has caused a fillyloo but always much glee!
A strategy for using wondrous target language words with students is to construct a ‘best sentence’ containing as many as possible. They should identify the gender and its 5placement, tackle tenses, negotiate negatives and place object pronouns in the construction. Students can use their creativity to generate fantastically original sentences, which has the effect of deepening the learning experience, not to mention wowing their peers. Students have to be aware of unfamiliar vocabulary in terminal assessments, so venturing off-piste in tasks like this, which forces them to identify and use unusual words, extends their expertise in this area. Best sentences can also be used as a dictation or storytelling activity; speaking tasks create additional opportunities to develop oracy skills. There are lots of options.
I remember my first ever French lesson: I loved learning this amazing new language which is spoken in France, Africa and beyond. It was at this point that I realised I could travel the world and communicate with other people in another language. I was at a middle school in Leeds, dressed in a brown and gold uniform, and in that instant my world changed forever. I ran home at the end of the day and proudly announced that I was going to be a French teacher. Some 14 years later I was graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University with a bachelor of education degree. The lass from Leeds was leaving to start a new life as a teacher, and it was the best feeling in the world – as it still is now. I had made it: I was realising my dream.
I’m not sure that my MFL teachers were aware of how much I adored their lessons (I would invariably complete my MFL homework first, often spending many hours on it) or how desperately I aspired to be a teacher, envisaging myself helping students like me to love languages, to be excited by languages and to travel the world using languages to communicate. It was that ability to converse with other people from across the globe in their native tongue that excited me most. It is such a joy to be able to 6teach others to make themselves understood in the markets of Marrakech, the terraces of Tunis, the cafés of Caen, the librairies of Lille, on public transport in Paris or asking questions in Quimper and Quebec. Moreover, language skills are needed in the UK to support business, trade, technology, finance, government, tourism, the NHS and our local communities. You name the career choice, and I’m certain that the ability to speak an additional ...
