To get a reaction, while pointing out the window, I asked ‘Well, if the plural of mouse is mice, why isn’t the plural of house hice?’ This is an example of confusing plurals that I have often used over the years during Y7 lessons when one of the learners has commented on something in the foreign language being difficult or even stupid. When I looked recently at the Oxford Words blog I noticed, Why is the plural of ‘moose’ not ‘meese’?

This post could be really useful in form time or literacy sessions. The more our learners of foreign languages understand about language the better their chances of success!

I was talking to the PGCE trainees last week about why I think the ‘old’ KS3 Framework and accompanying exemplification document still have a lot of value and are worth keeping alongside new planning tools. The content of the two strands KAL Knowledge about Language and LLS Language Learning Strategies is still extremely useful. In the current KS2 PoS pupils should ‘understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.

In KS3 they will have to ‘provide an accurate English translation of short, suitable material’ so they need to keep working on their understanding of grammar in English and whatever additional language they are learning.

I have always thought that KS3 is a very crucial stage of learning, and when the Ofsted report came out on KS3 last September, I was of course disappointed to note that MFL still features negatively in some ways.

Well, let’s keep going as enthusiastically as we can and think about all the fantastic work that is going on in the UK. The lessons taught by dedicated teachers that I have had the privilege of being part of certainly can’t be described as ‘wasted’ time. Anything but! The people I work with are devoted to their jobs and constantly looking to provide the best for their learners and to improve their schemes of work. If you are planning new SOW or adding to existing ones, please do look at the work of the ALL Connect project, now in the second phase of funding. There are a lot of modules that can help and they are available at no cost to language departments. If you are trying to add ideas and materials about the use of literature a great source of ideas is the ALL literature wiki.

Finally, following on from the last post, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz4M0pE5tro do watch this and watch to the end it will encourage you to keep going when you are tired.

Source BBC Larry Lamb’s comments, ‘Languages, for me, are about opening the world up. It gives you another soul, it gives you another person…are well worth considering with your learners, whatever age they are.’