An old problem... The Prioress, Chaucer, Prologue, late C14

The Draft National Curriculum: Good Teaching meets Brain

Research.

Westminster Forum, March 2013

johnbald.typepad.comjohnbald@talktalk.net

An old problem... The Prioress, Chaucer, Prologue, late C14

And frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly,  After the scole of stratford atte bowe,  For frenssh of parys was to hire unknowe. 

...but getting worse.

The Linguist, Vol. 51.2, 2014

GCSE 2001 2012

French 321,207 153,436

German 130,627 57,547

Spanish 45,629 72,606

CILT Language Trends Analysis, 17.3.3013

A Level 1997 2012

French 25,881 12,511

German 10,440 4,478

Spanish 5,606 7,351

ALL member update, 22.8.2012

University language courses 2000-2011

French - 42%

German - 55%

Spanish - 34%

Our new knowledge. The Learning Brain, Blakemore and Frith, 2005

As we learn, brain cells form connections with each other that build into networks. These connections are strengthened with practice.

Brain cell Neuroscience and Education, Teaching and Learning Research Project, 2007

Brain cell connections Neuroscience and Education, Teaching and Learning Research Project, 2007

To promote new networks, we need to:

• Understand how children need to adjust their thinking to use the new language

• Explain new features clearly

• Present work simply and attractively

• Encourage and answer questions

• Encourage children to practise

We hinder the formation of networks by

• Copying. Children continually switch their

attention between the master version and their own. This breaks connections before they have had a chance to form.

• Overloading. Connections can’t form if we give too much new material at a time, or present spoken language that is too fast for people to understand.

The brain adapts itself to different languages

Reading Aloud in English and Italian, evidence from brain scans (active areas in black)

• Left: reading system of English and Italian combined• Centre: sound processing more active in Italian• Right: word form area more active in English

The Learning Brain, Blakemore and Frith, 2005

As we learn a new language…

• The structures formed in our brain as we learned our first language are extended and adapted.

• These initial structures influence the way we learn, both the parts we find easy, and the errors we make. Swan and Smith, Learner English, CUP, 2nd Edn, 2001

English speakers need to adapt to:

• New relationships between written and spoken

language, though still with a basis in phonics.

• Gender in nouns that have no physical gender, and in associated pronouns and adjectives.

• Greater variation in verb forms than in English (except for Mandarin!)

The areas of the brain used for written and spoken language are interlinked and overlap

Dr. Matt Davis, MRC, Languages Today, Spring 2013

• Hearing • Reading • Both

The Draft National Curriculum

• Takes account of evidence from brain research, HMI reports and successful work in schools.

• Uses a balanced approach that teaches spoken and written language together, using all channels of communication to build understanding.

• Contains a clear pattern of progress in key skills, including sentence construction (grammar).

• Leaves scope for professional judgement.

Zim Zam Zoum www.taughtbysong.com

Little Tails of the Unexpected...Val Thornber, www.beelingua.com

Key Features:

• At least four years of language before secondary school.

• Time for children to understand and make adjustments to their thinking without pressure or overloading.

• No requirement to use spoken language at full speed before children can understand it.

• No set units, prescribed resources or schemes of work.

• Writing from memory, not copying.

Copying, Babylon, c1700 BC(The History of Writing, S.R Fischer)

Copying errors from a Year 7 mixed-ability class

• Quel as âge tu. Quel âge as-tu?• O habite tu Ou j’habites-tu Où habites-tu?• Où habite a Londres. J’habite à Londres.• Common t’appelle tú_ Comment t’appelles-tu?• Je onzo age J’ai onze ans• Ja un douze J’ai douze ans

(experienced teacher, pupils had models of the sentences they were trying to write, from which they could copy.)

My First Steps in Spanish.

• Colours. Rojo, azul, verde, amarillo, marrón introduce most of the variations between Spanish and English pronunciation, and the accent. Begin with rojo, say together, study, look away and “write” with finger on sleeve. Check. Repeat with other colours.

• Explain ¡Buenos Días! as a greeting, and what it means.

• Sing Ser to 10 green bottles, with actions, explaining how Spanish takes advantage of its word endings to omit the short words we have to put in front of verbs.

• Introduce masculine/feminine, via the idea of boys’ and girls’ words for younger children. Eg Soy una niña/un niño.  

• Build sentences about family/pets, around tengo/no tengo.

Key Features of French…

• The French like their spoken language to flow, and their written language to be precise.

• All nouns have a gender. (Very occasionally, two – le or la professeur)

• The form of verbs varies more than in English, and the negative is tricky.

... a suggested first order...

• Colours have key features – vert, bleu, rouge, blanc, jaune, orange, noir, violet, marron. Say together, study, look away, write on sleeve.

• Bonjour! (G’day). Drop the tongue to pronounce.

• Sing and point (to self and people) pronouns

• Sing and point être. I usually do negative first.

• Sentence building with family and pets introduces gender and avoir, positive and negative.

Clicker…www.cricksoft.com

Extensions suggested by Y4

Year 7, girl, assessed as dyslexic, before sentence building work

Year 7, girl, assessed as dyslexic, after six weeks’ sentence building work

Year 7, boy assessed as dyslexic

Year 4, higher-attaining girl