COMMUNITY AND LESSER TAUGHT LANGUAGES PROJECT - COLT

1. COMMUNITY AND LESSER TAUGHT LANGUAGES PROJECT - COLT TEACHER SYMPOSIUM 26 FEBRUARY 2009 Sharon Handley (Consortium Director) s.handley@mmu.ac.uk

2. COLT – COmmunity and Lesser Taught languages project • Welcome • Introductions • Purpose of the session: • Introduction to COLT • Explore how COLT can support schools

3. COLT – COmmunity and Lesser Taught languages project • Consortium of five universities –MMU, Manchester, Salford, Bolton and UCLAN • Language choice determined by profile of urban area • Successful bid for funding through Routes into Languages

4. COLT IDEAL • Community Languages taught alongside European Languages (MFL) in schools and HE • No distinction (implied hierarchy) between Community and European Languages (MFL) • Model for other areas with replicable materials and structures

5. THE PROJECT AIMS: • Work with existing networks to promote Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Italian and Urdu in schools and HE • Develop a support network for teachers and managers planning to introduce these languages • Build bridges between supplementary and mainstream schools • Build on existing research into attitudes to community languages • Develop HE provision in response to market trends

6. Mainstream schools Supplementary schools • THE PRESENT Premises, teaching resources, decline in MFL, limited potential for new languages and lack of resources in CL, community cohesion agenda Native speakers, cultural knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment –problems with premises, materials, training & funding Training and materials Partnerships between SS and MS COLT Events to promote languages Pupils Dropping MFL/ Limited CL provision/ Limited HE Provision in CL/Fragmented experience between SS and MS

7. THE FUTURE Supplementary schools Mainstream schools Trained teachers working in supplementary and mainstream schools (often in the same premises). Offering Community languages alongside MFL through partnerships with supplementary schools and shared resources/database of qualified staff CL and MFL offered at school & HE Greater harmonisation of language learning experience How can we make this happen? Improved teaching and lang choice increases demand for languages HE: PGCE/accredited training for CL/new degrees in CL /new careers in CL

8. THE PROJECT SO FAR: • Promoted study of languages and cultures as positive experience • Needs analysis and provision of training as requested • Research into attitudes of parents and pupils towards CL language study

9. PROMOTE COMMUNITY LANGUAGES TO SCHOOLS • Language enrichment events on university campuses for 1000 Year 8 children in 2008. • Similar events for Year 8 and 9 pupils this year. • Language taster sessions in Arabic, Chinese, Italian and Urdu • Student ambassadors who speak these languages as role models • Multicultural markets and quizzes designed to promote intercultural understanding –and fun!

11. KEY ISSUES • Events provided positive images of the cultures associated with these languages • Events dispelled the myth that ‘everyone speaks English’ • Events provided carefully planned language classes to show that these ‘difficult’ languages could be enjoyable and accessible if well taught • Teachers praised the events and children enjoyed the experience but we need to develop sustainability

12. TRAINING REQUESTED BY SCHOOLS • Materials development • Classroom management • Assessment • Curriculum design

13. FOCUS GROUPS WITH PARENTS FROM ARABIC AND CHINESE SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLS Key issues: • All parents would welcome more connection between supplementary and mainstream schools • All parents want their children to learn Chinese or Arabic at school Survey of Asian parents • 70% of Asian parents surveyed regarded language study as very important to their children’s education • 50% wanted their children to learn Urdu and 50% wanted them to learn Arabic

14. COLT – making it happen • Cultural events in schools –ie ‘Breaking barriers’ event at Parrs Wood School • Film festivals/activities linked to these languages at the Cornerhouse Cinema • Partnerships between SS and MS schools

15. OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCHOOLS • Partnerships are a win-win situation • SS provides linguistic and cultural knowledge • SS can provide support on intercultural understanding and diversity issues • OFSTED community cohesion agenda • MS can provide premises, resources and access to CPD • Partnerships can attract funding under the British Council global partnership scheme

16. GLOBAL SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS • Provide grants to schools that are using a school partnership (between mainstream and supplementary school) as a means for embedding a global dimension within their curricula • Support partnerships between the UK and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean • Two types of grants available http://www.britishcouncil.org/globalschools.htm

17. GLOBAL SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS RECIPROCAL VISITS GRANTS (Up to £6,000) • Enable staff to visit their partner school to plan joint curricular activities with a global dimension theme. • The next deadline for applications is 1st May 2009. GLOBAL CURRICULUM PROJECT GRANTS (Up to £6,000) Enables well established partnerships to further develop joint curricular activities with a global dimension. • The funding helps cover travel costs of at least two teachers from each school to visit the partner school as well as project costs such as materials, training and supply cover. • The grants are renewable for up to three years. • Global Curriculum Project grants are for well established partnerships that are using their partnership to embed a global dimension in the curriculum. • The next deadline for applications is 1st March 2009.

18. HOW CAN COLT SUPPORT SCHOOLS? • Free events hosted by five universities • Support from COLT for language clusters/clubs/events • Student ambassadors to help with language clubs and other activities

19. HOW CAN SCHOOLS SUPPORT COLT? • Allow a trainee teacher of one of these languages to observe some language teaching in your school • Host a supplementary school either for a modest rent or in exchange for teaching or cultural activities

20. OVER TO YOU! • We would welcome any advice on what more you think we could be doing to help schools develop these languages as part of the curriculum or as language clubs.

21. Discussion topics: Partnerships: • Do any schools have children who also attend a supplementary school? • Is there any interaction between the two schools? What could these schools offer each other? • Could some of the cultural/linguistic knowledge taught in SS be kindled in the mainstream school? • Could there be formal partnerships with some of the supplementary schools so that the pupils see a link between the two worlds? Research suggests that pupils and parents appreciate this sort of link. • Can COLT play a role to facilitate this? Setting up language classes • Do any schools have experience of developing these languages into the curriculum? • Have any schools experienced difficulties with this agenda? • How could these difficulties be overcome? Community cohesion Could COLT/Supplementary schools help schools with the Community Cohesion agenda set by OFSTED?

22. TEACHER SYMPOSIUMAGENDA Agenda 1. Welcome 2. Introductions 3. Introduction to COLT 4. General Discussion: Partnerships between supplementary and mainstream schools: • Do any schools have children who also attend a supplementary school? • Is there any interaction between the two schools? What could these schools offer each other? • Could some of the cultural/linguistic knowledge taught in SS be kindled in the mainstream school? • Could there be formal partnerships with some of the supplementary schools so that the pupils see a link between the two worlds? Research suggests that pupils and parents appreciate this sort of link. • Can COLT play a role to facilitate this? Setting up language classes in Chinese, Arabic, Italian and Urdu • Do any schools have experience of developing these languages into the curriculum? • Have any schools experienced difficulties with this agenda? • How could these difficulties be overcome? Community cohesion • Could COLT/Supplementary schools help schools with the Community Cohesion agenda set by OFSTED?