Modern Languages Blog

The ThinkQuest web competition is now open for applications. http://www.thinkquest.org

ThinkQuest is an international web competition for school students between the ages of 9 and 19. Students form teams of 3-6 people, with a teacher or other educator as a ‘coach’, and then build creative and educational websites on a wide variety of topics. The whole programme is sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation. This year the winning students were all invited to San Francisco for an awards celebration.

The students discuss and negotiate the subject they will cover, and the roles they will take on. e.g. writer, graphics artist, webpage specialist, etc. Then they plan their production phase and get underway, with their teacher coach mentoring their progress. The students learn more about their subject, working together, communication, and the uses of ICT for text, graphics and online publishing.

Languages teachers should note: The evaluation criteria used by the judges encourage collaboration among team members and teams that are from multiple communities or countries. So a website created in both English and another language would be eligible for extra points.

Completed websites are published online in the ThinkQuest Library, which forms an incredible resource for teachers. It already hosts hundreds of websites on many subjects, and is essentially a vast ‘peer education’ resource in which young people educate other young people.

It would be great to have a strong Scottish entry this year! If you want to ask anything, contact me, Nick Morgan, at LTS. n.morgan@ltscotland.org.uk

In an article from the Times Educational Supplement we learn that those studying a foreign language are more likely to meet with success in national examinations than in other subjects (“They speak in tongues”, September 16 2005).

The percentage of pupils gaining A or B passes in 2005 shows a huge advantage in language learning over other subjects in the search for good results:

Spanish = 66%

French = 64%

German = 60%

Physics = 52%

Maths = 44%

English = 34 %

The article also shows that the number learning a foreign language is overall on the up from 2001, compared to the huge slump in uptake south of the border. Is this down to the greater variety in courses suited to different abilities or a particularly vibrant MFL community shouting from the rafters? Is the rise in positive results related to this somehow as well?

Higher French = 4272 up to 4515

Higher German = 2015 down to 1703

Higher Spanish = 831 up to 1162

Standard Grade French = 38,736 down to 34,270

Standard Grade German = 15,748 down to 11,276

Standard Grade Spanish = 2,846 down (just) to 2,823

Int 2 French = 944 up to 2245

Int 2 German = 479 up to 624

Int 2 Spanish = 342 up to 732

Int 1 French = 61 up to 1136

Int 1 German = 47 up to 151

Int 1 Spanish = 398 up to 672

Acc 3 French = 1295 up to 1736

Acc 3 German = 481 up to 587

Acc 3 Spanish = 123 up to 391

The BBC Online Magazine features 20 Unusual Words, a collection from readers that reflect the quirks of translation in many languages. It makes a nice starter for a class.

Starters are current being discussed on the forum. What do you do to get the kids warmed up, settled down or jumping out of their seats? Tell us on the forum.