Author: Sylvia Georgin, Aberdeenshire
Around 100 primary and secondary teachers attended a ‘Making languages relevant’ event in Meldrum Academy at the beginning of November 2019. The day started with a keynote from Laurence Findlay followed by a discussion panel with representatives from Education Scotland and University of Aberdeen languages and IT departments. The panel discussed the themes of motivation and engagement, partnership working, transition, employability, sustainability and innovation.
This was well-received and was followed by a session on ‘Transition to support language learning’. Participants then chose from an array of workshops including ‘Promoting target language use’ by Dr Colin Christie, ‘Power Language Schools primary and secondary resources’, ‘Getting started and making progress in L3’, ‘Progression from first to second level’, ‘Moderation in BGE’ and ‘Increasing engagement in the senior phase’ from Education Scotland, as well as sessions on Scots and Mandarin. Professor Ed Welch led a workshop on ‘Preparing senior phase learners for further language study’ and there was a session by Meldrum Academy staff on using Teams and OneNote in the Modern Languages classroom.
Here are some comments we received as feedback:
- I found this day to be unbelievably valuable. It was reassuring to speak with secondary colleagues to discuss issues around progression and transition. Also nice to hear that what we are doing is along the right lines.
- Enjoyed the panel event. Always good to network.
- Interesting to find out where resources can be found and about expectations for L3.
- The workshops I attended were both useful and informative with up-to-date information on progression and links to the National Improvement Hub. Fresh ideas for listening/talking activities.
- Really fun and helpful. Met with academy colleagues and this has given a new link which will result in better transition.
The feedback indicated that languages and engagement with this policy is in a positive place in Aberdeenshire and there is a very keen appetite for more events like this!
