In our latest ‘In Conversation with…’ articles from our network leaders, we hear from Ellie Chettle Cully. Here she shares her thoughts, observations and tips on her passion for Modern Foreign Languages in Primary School.
What drives you to keep going and advocate MFL education?
I believe that learning language provides children with an opening to other cultures and turns their eyes out to the world beyond their own experience, without them even having to leave the classroom. I think there is a general perception, in the United Kingdom at least, that everybody in the world speaks English so there’s not much need to learn another language, but in fact 75% of the global population don’t speak English at all so giving children those skills as language learners at a young age is incredibly important and empowering.
What are some of the key issues you think we are currently facing in MFL education?
Within primary schools, I feel that languages can feel very low down on the list of priorities. Lessons are often very short, which doesn’t give teachers time to cover content in much detail, or blocked together over half a term and then not taught in the next half term, which obviously has implications for knowledge retention. We also see that the transition from Primary to Secondary still isn’t very well managed, with pupils usually starting from scratch in languages once they reach Year 7, even if they have had four years of language learning in Key Stage Two. This can negatively impact on pupil motivation.
In your experience, what are the challenges faced by teachers with MFL?
I think a lot of class teachers lack the confidence to teach languages, as they feel that their language skills as not as strong as they might like them to be. I know from experience that the timetable in Primary Schools is also so pressured that languages can often fall off the end. Both of these things mean that languages are often taught very little and by staff who find the process very challenging.
What would be your three Top Tips?
- All school leaders should get creative with their school timetables so that languages lessons happen every week, even if just for 30 minutes. Don’t forget that encouraging staff to do the register in the target language or asking children to change the date or weather into the target language daily are all opportunities for language learning. These don’t take much time but massively help to raise the profile of languages and make them a part of daily life in school.
- If you struggle with subject knowledge, try to adopt the role of facilitator within lessons. If your school has a good scheme that can support you, you have a powerful opportunity to work alongside pupils, modelling what a good learner does, showing them that we are all learning every day! Whilst this can feel a little strange at first, it takes away the pressure to ‘know it all’ and makes languages lessons more enjoyable.
- Reach out to your feeder schools and create networks to share information and best practise to ensure that pupils do not have to go back to the beginning in terms of their language learning when they move onto Secondary.
If you could encourage all Primary school teachers to consistently do ONE thing in MFL, what would it be?
Be enthusiastic! If you appear scared, lacking in subject knowledge or unenthused by any subject, pupils will pick up on it. Modelling enthusiasm to learn and interest in the culture/s of the country/countries where the target language is spoken will encourage your pupils to do the same. I know it’s easier said than done but it really makes all the difference to your class and will make the process of learning languages more fun for everybody.
Ellie led on our Gateway Alliance Curriculum Modern Foreign Languages event receiving fantastic feedback:
‘All concepts were well explained with practical classroom examples. I liked how the session was broken down into clear sections: phonics, grammar and assessment. I know my next steps really clearly.’
‘Having some suggested websites that might help to use alongside the scheme. Thought provoking questions such as what is the grammar, vocabulary progression like in the current scheme we use.’
‘Very helpful and Ellie is incredibly knowledgeable.’
Ellie Chettle Cully is a qualified primary teacher with a degree in French and Hispanic Studies, currently working as the French specialist teacher and Languages and International Dimension Lead at Hazel Community Primary School in Leicester. Ellie regularly speaks at national conferences and writes about the delivery of languages in primary schools and also provides a range of primary languages CPD for teachers and trainee teachers, both locally and nationally. She coordinates the Association for Language Learning Leicester Primary Hub. Ellie is passionate about raising the profile of languages through engaging language lessons, school partnerships, extracurricular clubs, designated curriculum days and trips.
You can follow Ellie on X (Twitter) @eccmfl
Ellie also blogs about all things language learning at www.myprimarylanguagesclassroom.com
If you would like to find out more about how you can benefit from the expertise such as Ellie’s expertise to support in school, please contact us on info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
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