MFL in the Isle of Wight

25/26 October saw the third MFL Conference on the Isle of Wight hosted by Joe Dale and his very, very organised wife, Heather. Experts and those that simply wanted to know gathered to work and enjoy two days of looking at how ICT can support and enhance the teaching of MFL in all schools. The range of expertise on show was evident in the excitement as people moved from presentation to presentation but for me the essence of it all was in the asides and the help freely offered on the finer points of 'How did you do that?'

The 'Show and Tell' on Saturday evening opened up even more short, sharp ideas and personal teaching experiences and I feel that the ethos of the event was well met here.

Talking to Paul Harrington in between times got us both to thinking about names and labels and the fact that we didn't like them and that often they were a barrier to people actually doing things. So we decided that the real answer to the question 'What does it do?' or 'What do you do?' is 'Stuff' ... 'We do stuff' or 'It does stuff'. As long as you don't define stuff you are not restricted to any name or code or preconception. Stuff is what it is and it is what we do. And we do it on and with anything that seems to be appropriate at the time or is within reach (in all of the possible aspects of this)

These were the speakers (who did stuff):

Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her pupils
Sharon Balch - French teacher, Swanmore Middle School
Nathalie Bonneau, LCF (UK) Ltd
Drew Buddie - ICT coordinator, Royal Masonic School for Girls and eTwinning ambassador
Joe Dale, leader of French, Nodehill Middle School, SSAT languages lead practitioner and eTwinning ambassador
Doug Dickinson - Independent ICT consultant
Chris Fuller - Spanish teacher, Edgehill College and SSAT languages lead practitioner
Andrew Goff, ConnectED
Jenny Gowin, Heinemann
Lesley Haggar-Vaughan, Shireland CLC manager
Kathleen Holton - HoD in MFL, Argoed High School
Nick Mair - HoD in MFL, Dulwich College
Carole Nicoll – The Language Factory and winner of the CILT European Award for Languages 2003
Mark Pentleton - Director and Creator of the Radio Lingua Network and winner of the CILT European Award for Languages 2007
Jo Rhys-Jones - Primary Language Consultant for Hampshire, AST in MFL and eTwinning ambassador
Lisa Stevens - Spanish Teacher, Whitehouse Common Primary School and runner up of eTwinning award 2007,
Adam Sutcliffe - MFL teacher, The Gordon Schools and Glow Champion
John Warwick - Deputy Head, St Luke's School and eTwinning ambassador
Lesley Welsh – AST in MFL, English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College and SSAT languages lead practitioner coordinator
Kathy Wicksteed - Subject Lead for languages for DCSF/ALL subject specific support for the new secondary curriculum
Steve Whittle, Sanako, Deputy Head and MFL teacher, Hayes School

Keep your eye on Joe's blog for the conference report.

Isle of Wight MFL Conference

Over 70 MFL teachers gathered on Friday and Saturday 12/13th October at Nodehill Middle School in the Isle of Wight for a Conference to reach out and accelerate the use of ICT across all aspects of the teaching and learning of languages. It was a truly multi-national affair with delegates from as far afield as Scotland, Wales and Portugal !

The sessions kicked off on Friday evening with a structured 'un-conference' show-and tell session in the Castle Inn in the centre of Newport. The evening began with David Noble from Fife setting the scene on the things he is currently thinking about. Have a look at his Future Lab interview on the subject. At 9.30 we tried a Flash Meeting with people from around the world ... New Zealand to USA ... the concept was great and it showed the potential of the medium but was let down by the speed of the connection.John Warwick was the man for Flashmeeting and he did a well visited presentation on Saturday. There were many interesting projects brought to the fore during a long evening the main thing coming through time and time again was the enthusiasm and commitment on the part of the presenters and the audience to quality education for young people. I finished off with a look at how Textease Studio CT could be used to read the page and record sound in different languages.

The Conference proper on Saturday had a host of presentation with many delegates really wanting to get to grips with blogs and podcasts and Joe 'keynoted' with a how to get started with podcasting. I know that there will be videos etc from him about all of the other presentations on his blog ( as soon as he and his wife have recovered from their organising efforts).

My session on the Friday evening provoked a good deal of interest in Textease Studio CT and the presentation stand had a great turn over of vistors wanting to know more. The Podium session attracted 15 or so who were looking to compare and contrast methods of podcasting before they dived into it. In using Podium I responded, in answer to a question, that ... 'Yes, it was a 'paid for' application' but felt that there was nothing that came entirely free and that people must judge for themselves about speed, simplicity, security and 'fit for purpose'. I also commented that it was up to those working across the educational arena to ensure that all colleagues and students had access to technology which fitted their learning and teaching contexts''

Keep your eye open for next year's Conference.