One of these things is not the same…

Odd one outs were always an NQT staple of mine, back in the days of Thinking Skills. Forgotten and relegated to a drawer marked 2006, have stated using them again to motivate the kids and get them speaking French, improve their writing skills AND think about grammar.

1) select three similar words or phrases, one is different. Eg

Les maths Le dessin Les sciences

J’aime je n’aime pas. Je déteste

2) pupils say which is the odd one out – but here’s the twist – put up the scaffold for them to say it in French – Je pense que c’est… parce que c’est féminin / masculin / pluriel… au passé composé / au futur, positif / négatif. My Year 7 lower ability can now do this completely unscaffolded and had a wow moment this week when I was being observed and a boy piped up “ah bon madame, c’est au masculin mais ça c’est au féminin” spontaneously.

Ks3 Speaking Assessments

…are like Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, how do you do yours?

This year I’ve been doing five quick questions with opportunity for 2 tenses in Year 7, 3 tenses in Year 8/9.

Kids come up, others revise, then peer assess, do the assessment with me and I feedback, they then complete this self assessment task and finally they do some extension tasks in a carousel. It is chaotic -but it also coincided with my observation lesson yesterday and was told it was a success…

Quick win – questioning technique

Next time you are questioning try asking a pupil a question then say “choisissez un numéro entre 1 et 5” and count around the class to select a “random” pupil. You can also use pose pause bounce technique with this too. “Très bien kiddo no 1, choisissez un numéro entre 1 et 5” “ok kiddo no 2 how could you improve on kiddo 1s answer? What did he do well? Can you add a tense” or make the questions easier for less able.

Voice recording for Assessment for Learning

I’ve recorded myself answering the Year 7 Speaking exam questions using Voice Memo on my phone then sent them to my computer by multimedia text message. I show the pupils to markscheme and get them to grade me! My fake pupil identities are Jean Claude, Bob and Fred and they all have different strengths and weaknesses at French for us to discuss. You could also record the pupils or other members of staff. I will upload the funny Bob and Fred answers when I work out how!

Instant feedback Funtime with Yr 7

Sometimes I like to take live pictures of what my kids are doing in lessons – I find it really motivates them and they love praising each other and finding fault! I didn’t plan to do it today but snapped quick pic to model good work. Then he got up and corrected his own in real time and I snapped a second picture of his improvements which we looked at. All you need is a phone or iPad and then you simply email yourself the pic on messager and open it up -and project it on your whiteboard – voila!

Simple but effective game – Year 7 speaking

This game is called Hunt the Treasure and it’s a bit like battleships but less confusing. You make a simple grid 3 x 3 or bigger on a Ppt. This one révises simple opinions on school subjects for Year 7 lower ability.

You put the boxes in but set the animation to “exit” with a “trigger” of “on click”

Pupils have to find where the treasure is by asking “J’aime les maths?” and you reveal the square – look they’ve found it! They get a sweet or point for their team or whatever.

You can then print it out on a sheet of paper for them to play in pairs as battleships