This page brings together all the references to the June Event 2017.
- Photos
- Report
- Steven’s talk
Our Flickr album has some photos
Many thanks to our new committee member Kerry Phipps who has written this succinct account of the day:
The ALL London June Event 2017
A report from Kerry Phipps
ALL London’s annual June event was this year held at the superb Russell Square Campus of The School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). It was well attended, welcoming over 70 dedicated language teachers looking forward to attending the varied programme of seminars aimed at both primary and secondary staff.
After registration and a warm welcome from the committee, delegates enjoyed refreshments and browsing the exhibition. The generous contributors this year included AQA, Bili, Canela Fina, European Schoolbooks, Goethe Institute, Mary Glasgow, Sociedad Mixta para la promoción del Turismo de Valladolid, Vocab Express and This is Language. Linguascope was unable to attend this time, but provided a discount code for delegates ordering material from them.
Helen Myers, Chair of ALL London branch, opened the conference by welcoming all delegates, thanking sponsors and organisers, introducing the ALL Committee and listing the numerous benefits of joining ALL. She gave an overview of examination updates, and announced ALL’s position on the latest GCSE and A Level grading. Nick Mair, Vice-Chair of ALL London, congratulated Helen of receiving her MBA.
Daniel from SOAS organised the IT. He spoke passionately about the importance of language learning and mentioned the work of Routes Into Languages.
The first seminars featured both primary and secondary talks. Dr Rachel Hawkes’ excellent presentation on ‘Making the Difference,’ shared key ideas and strategies for maximising progress in the four skills. The session drew on her many years of research and practice, was enthusiastically received. Rachel is Director of International Education and Research for Comberton Academy Trust and a published author.
The superb ‘Primary Get Together’ seminar was led by Miriam Paridjanian and featured ALL National Primary Teachers of the year, Noelia Rivas (2017) and Sara Montero (2016). All three speakers inspired delegates with their energising, hands-on presentations, packed with a vast array of activities, both indoors and outside the classroom. The lively sessions included tips for differentiation, assessment, effective use of the target language and suggestions for organising penpal links, language days and language leaders.
Steven Fawkes, ALL Membership Officer and Trustee, and formerly BBC Educator and teacher, delivered an interactive, lively and amusing talk entitled Whatever You Like, full of teaching strategies and tips, which encouraging teachers to reflect on choice, resilience, motivation and positive attitudes.
The programme ended with a GCSE ‘Show & Tell’ session featuring further OFQUAL information from Helen Myers, and then many top tips on for use in the languages classroom from enthusiastic participants.
Those with energy left then headed to a local restaurant for a welcome late lunch in the glorious spring sunshine!
Whatever you like ALL London– a pdf of Steven Fawkes’ beautifully crafted talk promoting strategies which will engage your learners. Helen is now feeling quite smug about asking Steven to ‘talk about whatever you like’. Steven turned this into an over-arching strategy…. if you include what you as a teacher ‘like’ about language learning and culture, and plan for including things which pupil ‘like’, you’ll keep your classroom alive! He certainly demonstrated this in the session, provoking laughter, interest, curiosity and engagement. Everyone needs a Steven Fawkes ‘fix’ at least once a year.