KS1/2 MFL - Absolute Beginner

Everything the teachers say below is right, both for and against. There are areas that Andy feels uncofortable with, and he's totally open about it. He's also fully aware of his lack of subject knowledge. However, you just need to watch the video through, with an open mind, to see how much progress he has made in hos personal study of French and confidence to teach it. Everyone has to start somewhere, and yes, it would be better all round for a specialist to teach from the outset, but I'm wondering whether a specialist would have that instant rapport to draw upon from eth outset in the way that Andy did. I think, all in all, he has done a fantastic job! I've commented more about Andy and his efforts on my blog at primaryschoolfrench.net

"How many KS1 teachers know anything about the Aztecs or Islam, as an example?" asked Vivienne. Probably not many, she is right !
But it only takes little time to learn about it in a book or on the net. As for languages, I'm afraid it takes years... You may notice that my English is still not perfect.
Primary teachers are asked to do more and more. They have to be specialists in many areas. Too many to be efficient.
I admire Andy Gaunt for making the effort of introducing French language to his pupils and for being enthusiastic about it.
It probably will work for the first few lessons (with an approximative pronunciation butwell who cares?).
But what happens after a while, when it gets a little bit more complicated?
I totally agree with Vivienne when she says that its not that important when foreign people mispronounce a wordwithin a sentence that is understandable (after all communication IS the key word!). But when it turns to incomprehensible gibberish, it is another story! Imagine the disappointment when the children ask a question to a French person and the only answer they get is a puzzled face?!
If the teachers pronunciation is inadequate (and also the intonation in that case), then the pupils is bound to be as bad.
Im totally in favour of teaching foreign languages as early as possible. Young children learn much quicker and better than adults, we all know that.
But wouldnt it be better to have native speakers like Language assistants or even trainee language teachers helping out?

By the way, the colour label stuck to the wall behind the teacher should really be changed.
The one behind the teacher would only be used for hair, eyes or a type of bear.
It would be something like teaching the colour hazel in English, instead of brown, which is not wrong but not really useful at primary level.
This is something a proper French teacher would have known.

The puppet is an excellent idea!
The pronounciation is ok, and I found it very good that the teacher was so anxious to get it better. I wish I had the same kind of introduction to English when I was a little girl.

As a secondary teacher of French, I am all in favour of teaching in Primary Schools but I really do think that getting it right is important because, when an 11 year old pupil says, 'You are wrong, Miss. My old teacher said it was .....',it can be very difficult to convince them otherwise, especially when their 'old' teacher was someone they were very fond of.

http://youtube.com/user/Les2vents

watch this!!!!!

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I admit, I've been a bit harsh.
Mr. Andy Gaunt certainly is a courageous man!

A few months ago I was at Barking Abbey School, as I wanted to enroll my two sons, who are in Primary School, for GCSE in German and Spanish.
I was amazed by the two language teachers who received us: They both fluently spoke various languages with hardly any noticeable accent at all.

Thanks for the advice; Ill pay attention not to forget to use the spell checker before posting.

Concerning teaching and learning French:
I wish more accent were placed on correct pronounciation.
It is hard, especially French.

Thank you for your comments, I appreciated what you said.
Please read other comments about what people said. I still feel that you are being quite elitist about your language skills and those of your children. You should remember that, in this country, ANY foreign language learning is a bonus, be it in schools, on the street, abroad on holiday, whatever! I don't think that view is right, it is just how it is in the UK. We are a lazy population because English is worldwide, so why bother? However, I acknowledge that this too is an elitist view which is why I endorse language learning whenever I can. Soooooo, what next? Well, let's embrace what the Government is trying to do, for once they
are getting it right by introducing MFL into primary schools, it just might take a bit of time for the teachers to catch up. Bonne chance! Amities Vivienne

Before commenting on my thoughts on the video I found it very interesting to read the previous messages. I was very surprised as many of the points mentioned had not occured to me whilst I watched.

However, I recall learning languages and being afraid of speaking in case I made a mistake and could not be understood. Having recently spent time with Polish people who were learning English as our friendship developed I realised how pronunication and grammar mistakes are not that important. They are always understood and their bravery in speaking a new language always astounded me and motivated me to test my French again.

I watched and enjoyed the video and thought it to be a useful tool in demonstrating to fearful staff within my school that it can be done. Even if you start with no knowledge. I thought that the use of a puppet - even if only to hide behind may also be a suggestion some want to take up.

My only concern with the clip was the costume that Andy wore for the assembly. As a large part of the KS2 framework involves intercultural awareness I disapproved of his reinforcement of stereotypes - or in fact creation of stereotypes. As important as it is for children to learn the language I think it is important for them to understand the country and the people.

Common sense tells you that teaching without knowledge
doesn't make sense.
(German proverb: If a blind (person) leads a blind (person)
they both plunge into the pit.)

Teaching to pronounce words which you can't pronounce yourself correctly doesn't make sense either.
It's a complete waste of children's time.
They acquire a wrong pronounciation.
To correct wrong pronounciation takes up immensly more time and effort than learning it the right and correct way in the first place.

I hope my son who is in year three in a primary school,
does not come home with that pronounciation as I have heard it on that video clip.

Worst of all: "un"
Sorry, there is no "n" audible when you pronounce the indefinate article "un" or the numeral "un" when counting.

Simple and efficient advise:
The tongue touches the root of lower teeth while you say "un" and doesn't move from there.
( exception: if the following noun starts with a vowel, for instance "un avion"; but that's the exception).


What about voice training and learning to pronounce sounds you've never pronounced before?

My son aged seven speaks perfect German without any strange accent and he speaks pretty well Spanish.
Yes, and he pronounces French better than on that video clip.

Because you don't want to spend time and money to get teachers' pronounciation up to scratch, pupils' pronounciation will provoke pity or hilarious laughter, and will confuse the native speakers who have to listen to it.

Mr. Huber

Dear Mr. Huber, yes, I understand what you say and I agree with much of it. However, learning anything is not an exact science; primary teachers are generalists, so sometimes, especially when we change year groups, we are faced with a wall of subject knowledge we do not have. That seems acceptable? How many KS1 teachers know anything about the Aztecs or Islam, as an example? How do NQTs develop their knowledge to embrace their teaching? We all know the answers to this, swot up, and sometimes we are just ahead of the children, if we are being really honest.
So I think you are being a little hard; how many foreign people do you meet on holiday in GB who mispronounce something? Does it really matter? NO, what you are saying is that teachers have to get it right, yes. I agree, but it does not always work that way.

And while I am on the subject, YOU need to separate the word advice/advise into a noun and a verb so that you can get it right because if you don't EVERYONE is going to notice and think badly of you.
Of course they won't, I accept that people make mistakes, I knew what you meant - THAT IS THE MAIN THING. Also indefinate should be indefinite - no I am not being picky - you are. No one is perfect, don't set yourself up to be!

Try to accept what is being done and think what it will look like a few years down the line. I hope this helps.
Vivienne

I viewed this after reading the above comment and thought - oh dear... BUT actually I disagree. I think Andy Gaunt has been incredibly brave and honest about his language skills - and for someone who has never done this before the lesson was highly commendable.

Mr Gaunt knows his class. He knows how they learn and what motivates them, their backgrounds strengths and weaknesses, how to pitch his lesson and appropriate methodology for his age group. He is a highly qualified primary practitioner. He is the best person to teach his class.

His remit is NOT to make them fluent in French. It is to install a curiosity about language learning, a sense of recognition and respect for other languages and cultures, and to help them develop their own language learning skills, which will be built upon over the next 4 years by other teachers with their own experiences and strengths.(See the DfES websites, the KS2 Framework for clarification of this remit).

The teacher's French accent is not ideal admittedly - but frankly my 'o' level French teacher (the HOD no less) many many years ago had a far worse accent which near bilingual show-offs in my class, including myself, used to mimic to his face! This didn't make him a bad teacher then because of his many other strengths and nor would it now.

Moreover as Mr Gaunt's confidence and experience grows so will his pronunciation improve. There is plenty of support out there in the form of native speaker soundfiles attached to resources which can easily be employed to help him and his class as they continue on their language-learning journey.

My cousins have been learning English for as long as I have been learning French - they have distinct French accents which people find 'charming' - noone has ever been rude or ill-manered enough to laugh or find this 'hilarious'. This is the real world not an episode of 'Allo Allo'. Nor have my own attempts to learn languages by going to live in the countries ever been met with derision when I have mispronounced vocabulary. Instead people have ALWAYS been very pleased that I was willing to have a go.

To knock soneone down for making such a brave and valient attempt misses the point of introducing MFL in primary schools altogether. Moreover it adds to the sense of unecessary elitism which undermines language learning in this country in the first place.

Well done Andy - keep up the good work!