Effective GCSE teaching 2 - Hertfordshire Grid for Learning

Effective GCSE Teaching 2
Progression
Examples of how to move pupils on:
Pets: In Year 7 the focus could be mainly lexical. Add a few useful adjectives
- my dog is lazy; my hamster is greedy. In Year 9 and above this could be
extended to more detailed descriptions of their appearance and habits.
Daily routine: In Year 7/8 the focus could be on a short set of simple
statements and times. In Years 10/11, aim for more detail - where, why,
opinions. Develop the statements using the past, present and future. Do lots
of work on contrastive structures: Normally I get up at 7.00 but yesterday I got
up at 12.00. This helps to reinforce grammatical rules. I get up at 12.00 on
Sundays but my grandpa gets up at 8.00
Illness & Injury: At KS3, the emphasis is generally on generating the
phrases. J'ai mal à la tête, Je suis enrhumé. Plenty of mime and visuals help
to reinforce the word-sound patterns. At KS4, extend the focus to give
reasons and to use the phrases with other tenses. I drank too much
yesterday. Now I have a headache. I've got a cold because I went swimming
in a lake. The present-participle can be usefully introduced in French in the
context of injury. Je me suis cassé le bras en jouant au foot. Most pupils
should be taught ths for recognition purposes only. The more able can be
trained to produce it.
Weather expressions: Years 7 and 8 normally learn sets of expressions - try
to tie it in to everyday questioning - it can be part of a routine set of regular
questions. I sometimes begin a piece of written work with a brief 'weather
report' under the date and title. Years 10 & 11 will need to recognise and
sometimes use weather expressions in the past tense. Link the expressions to
relevant activities. The sun was shining so we went for a walk. It was raining
so we stayed in and watched a video.
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
Characteristics of Grades C & A
Grade C
Listening
Extract specific detail
Specific vocabulary
Largely familiar contexts
Identify and note main points
Some accuracy (60%+)
Speaking develop conversations and simple
discussions, involving the use of
different tenses.
personal opinions
show an ability to deal with some
unpredictable elements.
Although some errors, they convey a
clear message, and their
pronunciation and intonation are
generally accurate.
Some accuracy (60%+)
Reading
Extract specific detail
Specific vocabulary
Largely familiar contexts
Identify and note main points
Some accuracy (60%+)
Writing
Grade A
As for grade C,
Lists, labelling
Short messages/post card/ e-mail
based on stimulus
Gap fill
Opinions
Longer replies, accounts and
descriptions with opportunities for
using past present and future
Marks for covering the answers
(content as much as communication)
Fair grasp of grammar
Some accuracy (60%+)
Basic style but conveys the message
Some accuracy (60%+)
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
plus:
Understand longer items; gist
Deal with synonyms
Recognise opinions
Infer meaning & nuance
Deal with some unfamiliar elements
and more complex, longer pieces
Past present future
Draw conclusions
Answers highly accurate with relevant
detail (85%+)
initiate and develop conversations and
discussions, and narrate events.
express and justify ideas and points of
view,
produce longer sequences of
speech using a variety of vocabulary,
structures and verb tenses.
confident, good pronunciation and
intonation.
message clear although some errors,
especially when candidates use more
complex structures. (85%+)
As for grade C, plus:
Understand longer items, gist
Recognise opinions; deal with
synonyms
Infer meaning & nuance
Deal with some unfamiliar elements
and more complex, longer pieces
Past present future
Draw conclusions
Answers highly accurate with relevant
detail (85%+)
As for Grade C , plus:
More extended writing tasks
Simple narratives
Opportunities to express ideas and
justify opinions
Marks for communication and
accuracy as well as content
More ambitious
good grasp of grammar
spelling & grammar ‘generally
accurate’
Longer sentences, subordinate
clauses, connectives
Range of vocab, structures and tenses
(avant de/ après avoir)
Answers highly accurate, clear and
unambiguous with relevant detail
(85%+)
Tips for the Effective Teaching of GCSE Listening Skills
1) Initially short chunks – do a short extract from a paper then go through it
2) Choose extracts which fit in with a particular topic area (text-book tie-in)
3) Do it once then do it again in the lesson or the following lesson
(assessment for learning) – then ideally again a few weeks later
4) Identify key vocab first before listening
5) Do plenty of framework-type work on sound-spelling links
e.g. numbers: deux, douze
cinq, quinze, cinquante
six, seize, soixante
Draw their attention to si(x) and di(x) but six chats, dix poissons
Rhyme: pain, vin, copain, vingt,
Related words: copain/copine; magasin/ magazine
Related sounds: Écoute, ca coute; chambre/ jambes cuisine/ cousine
Chevaux/ cheveux ; jeux/yeux
Importance of context : lis/ lit
porte/ porte
Solution? More reading – lists of words: as above
Phrases: Elle m’a dit: Bonne nuit. Va au lit et lis avant de dormir.
un bon vin blanc
6) Identify which items are consistently proving hard for pupils and why pupils
are not understanding them – play an extract and ask what think they heard
– this can be quite revealing:
la météo – lamé téo
l’avantage la vantage ma lade
7) Short mini-dictée can help listening skills
8) Do a ‘spot the diference’ dictation:
a. Pupils have a short text in front them- alt lines
b. Stage 1 you read a version, with some details changed; pupils
simply underline the details changed
c. Stage 2 you read it again and pupils write in the changed details
d. Optional stage 3
e. Then issue same text with gaps. Pupils fill in the gaps from
memory
f. Stage 4 – issue a skeleton version of the text with just a few
keywords; pupils reconstruct it from memory (could be done in
groups)
9) Avoid the free-for-all where the class shout out the answers as they are
doing it – this is disasterous and counter-productive. Similarly, even when
going through the answers, target individuals to give answers without
shouting out. In this way, you can gauge the success rate of the group as a
whole and identify those who are struggling.
10)
Do formal listening assessments 3 or 4 times a year with targets and
strategies for improvement next time
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
Tips for the Effective Teaching of GCSE Reading Skills
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
Shorter then longer extracts. Use real exam questions.
Exam reading exercises on OHP/ whiteboard – do answers jointly
Target accuracy and detail: group collaboration and competition
Topic –based to begin with then general exam questions.
Int/higher: Synonyms (see below)
Identify key vocab first
Pupils should practise generating word substitution paradigms
Higher: pupils should practise generating word relations
Vary the activity: simple translation, multiple choice, vrai-faux/ spot
your translation error, then move on to full scale comprehension in Eng
& target lang
10) Instant feedback; re-do the task soon after then some time later
11) Manage feedback from pupils in order to gain a real sense of the
group’s strengths and weaknesses.
12) Practice reducing news type articles to who/ when/ what happened/
where/ why (the same could be done with listening)
13) Occasionally use authentic material from the internet (French: a good
source of amusing, bizarre material is – Yahoo.fr actualités – insolite).
Adverts, tourist info, museum opening times, maps are also really
good. OFSTED like this too.
************
Synonyms – higher levels (grade B / A/ A*) global understanding is more
important than individual lexis)
Work with pupils on identifying phrases of similar or opposite meaning
Use the FLA to help develop a worksheet
e.g.
1. Je vais très rarement au
cinéma
2. Je n’ai pas de sœurs et pas
de frères
3. Mon père est au chômage
4. Je préfère habiter à la
campagne parce que c’est
calme
5. la plupart de mes profs sont
gentils
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
A. Je ne vais jamais au cinéma
B.Je vais au cinéma environ une fois par an
A. Je suis solitaire
B. Je suis fils unqiue
A. Mon père est paresseux
B Mon père ne travaille pas en ce moment
A. La campagne est traquille et agréable
B La campagne est ennuyeuse
A. En général mes profs sont sympathiques
B. Tous mes profs sont nuls
Tips for the Effective Teaching of GCSE Speaking Skills
Probably the most difficult skill of all to practise effectively, given the agegroup and size of classes
1) Divide them into small groups and target a few pupils at a time
2) Use the FLA. Ensure the FLA does what you want and doesn’t just do
the question answer thing (see below)
3) Pupils should have opportunities to question and teach and mark each
other
4) Show them marking criteria and get them to evaluate each other’s
performance
5) Plenty of listening and modelling – you and the FLA. Record/ video
them
6) Use BBC site: holiday/ business contexts
7) Pupils should keep neat, detailed file of oral answers – but the
challenge is not to make it tedious
8) Pupils should have plenty of tasters of the GCSE oral exam: role plays
and general conversation
9) Mini presentations – groups, pairs, individuals. E.g. 2 mins on Ma
maison
10) Give them plenty of time phrases and tense triggers ( attached)
11) To gain B or above: At every point stress:
OPINIONS 3 TENSES and possibly: 3RD PERSON
A mon avis,
c’est / c’était
Normalement; le dimanche
samedi dernier/ l’été dernier
le weekend prochain / l’été prochain
Moi j’aime …. Mais (alors que) mon père/ mon copain/ mon grand-père
12) Higher level: they also need to practise some Pour/ contre
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
Speaking
How to vary the GCSE question & answer routine (some ideas for you, your
colleagues and the FLA). Ask the FLA to make some resources.
a. Question and answer chain cards: do sets of cards with a question of
one side and a different answer on the back. Give each pupil a card. Any
pupil asks their question and the others have to listen out for their answer.
The pupil who has the answer reads it and then reads their question on the
card. Make sure all the questions have answers to go with them
b. Menteur! FLA gives an answer which is factually slightly wrong. Pupils
have to guess the correct answer.
c. Game board – devise a snakes and ladders type grid
Other game formats can be used such as Millionaire, Blockbusters, 4 in a row.
d. Musical mobiles. 2 (old or fake) mobile phones are passed round the
room as music is played. When the music stops, the two pupils with the
phones have to ask and answer a question from a list. Also good for the role
play practice. Written versions should be available for support. You could
keep one phone whilst one other circulates round the room. Then you play
one part examiner/questioner
Variation: I sometimes have a pupil with a phone at the front who operates the
music with their back to the class. When he/she stops the music, he/she
starts the conversation. The person with the phone is allowed to disguise
their voice and the pupil at the front has to guess who they are.
e. Get the pupils to ask you the questions once in a while.
f. Model correct answers – Round the class: pupils repeat the model
sentence but they have to change at least one detail each time. See if you
can do about 5 variations for each answer.
g. Celebrity Interviews. Let the pupils choose a celebrity (real or fictional).
They should then answer the oral questions as though they we that person.
Variation: The teacher or FLA is a celebrity – don’t tell the pupils who you
are. They ask you the GCSE questions and have to work out who you are.
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
normally present
tense
phrases
LE DIMANCHE
ON SUNDAYS
aujourd’hui
maintenant
today
now
une fois par semaine
deux fois par
semaine
une fois par mois
une fois par an
chaque semaine
chaque mois
tous les mois
once a week
twice a week
chaque été
à Noël / Pâcques
every summer
at Christmas/ Easter
Grammar index
GCSE
Topic index
Practise
this item
once month
once a year
every week
every month
every month
Future
DIMANCHE
demain
après-demain
ce soir
plus tard
demain matin
demain après-midi
demain soir
samedi prochain
dans deux semaines
le mois prochain
l’été prochain
l’an prochain /
l’année prochaine
la semaine prochaine
dans trois ans
dans l’avenir
From www.langweb.co.uk
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
Past Tense
dimanche
dimanche dernier
hier
hier soir
après-midi
hier matin
avant-hier
on Sunday
last Sunday
yesterday
yesterday evening/
yesterday afternoon
yesterday morning
day before
yesterday
le weekend dernier
le mois dernier
l’an dernier
l’été dernier
la semaine dernière
l’année dernière
last weekend
last month
last year
last summer
last week
last year
il y a quelques jours
il y a deux jours
il y a trois semaines
il y a quatre ans
a few days ago
2 days ago
3 weeks ago
4 years ago
pendant les vacances
during the holidays
autrefois, avant
formerly, in the past
ON SUNDAY
tomorrow
the day after
tomorrow
this evening
later on
tomorrow morning
tomorrow afternoon
tomorrow evening
next Saturday
in two weeks
next month
next summer
next year
next week
in three years
in the future
General time
phrases
toujours
souvent
régulièrement
normalement
généralement
d’habitude
de temps en temps
parfois,quelquefois
rarement
peu souvent
presque jamais
jamais
chaque jour
tous les jours
toute la journée
always
often
regularly
normally
generally
usually
from time
to time
sometimes
rarely,
not often
hardly
ever
never
every day
every day
all day
Tips for the Effective Teaching of GCSE Writing Skills
The real challenge is to get pupils to produce extended, largely accurate
and unambiguous pieces of writing on a range of topics.
1) Gap fill and word-substitution tasks are a good starting point
Writing frames - Gradual withdrawal of support. E.g. gap-fill with words in a
help box to choose from ,
gap –fill with extra words (distractors)
gap-fill with no words given
2) skeleton piece of info as a stimulus to tell a story
e.g. a programme for a school day: lessons + a trip out in the afternoon
an exchange programme for the week
diary extracts in note form
3) importance of tense trigger phrases – see attached sheet. Cut it down and
drip feed gradually for middle to lower ability groups.
4) practise converting present to past tense;
5) Lots of work on past tense – start with passive differentiation tasks,
presenting pupils with sets of sentences to be classified into past or
present. Higher level requires mastery of past tense, conditional, simple
future in French (j’irai, je ferai etc) and imperfect
6) Practise converting a third person narrative into the first person – what prerequisites are needed here? What sort of access would pupils need to
grammar information to do this task successfully?
Do the same the other way round: first person to third person narrative
7) Familiarise yourself with the requirements of your GCSE exam board
e.g. Edexcel:
grades E/D: lists of items for a picnic or subjects and opinions
D/C Verb gap fill (present or past including reflexives)
D/C: postcard; short answer (70-80 words) based closely on a stimulus
C/B: (overlap question which is common to foundation and higher paper) short
e-mail answer on a specific topic area involving some past tense and future
tense response
B/A/A*: more extended piece (120 words): opinion about something – e.g.
your town, plans to build a motorway nearby, advice a friend who wants to
leave school and become a rock star, favourite forms of transport- pros and
cons
a narrative aspect – a trip with an incident, work experience with something
that went wrong, restaurant visit that went wrong, an accident
8) Do lots of collective writing , matched against a GCSE question; get pupils
to contribute answers as a class. You write it up on the board. They copy,
adapt and learn.
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
9) Issue mark schemes and success criteria to pupils. Match your marking to
the critieria. Set targets for the next piece of work. Get pupils to self-mark
and peer mark. Pupils should also set their own targets, identifying areas
of weakness and strategies for improvement.
In this piece of work the following aspects were
very good:
good:
quite good:
I need to improve the following:
I will do this by
Looking at my grammar book
Checking spelling
Learning genders
Checking my adjective endings
Looking carefully at verb forms (especially plural –ent)
Looking carefully at tenses (especially past tense)
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
10)
Idea for a group writing task: there is no need to always set individual
writing tasks. Pupils can work collaboratively on a piece of writing. In
theory, they learn best from each other. Procede as follows:
a) Divide a class into 5 groups
b) Give them a GCSE writing exercise on a topic – e.g. loisirs, ma ville,
mes vacances (include gen questions + questions that elicit past and
future answers)
c) Give everyone in the class a piece of paper
d) They all write the names of all the members of their group at the top
e) Clearly instruct them to do this
f) Clearly instruct them that every member of the group has to write the
answer but they are allowed to talk and collaborate within the group –
effectively copying their answers from each other
g) They are NOT allowed to communicate with other groups.
h) The exercise is a competition to see which group produces the best
collective answer
i)Tell them that after 20 mins you will take in one piece of paper from
each group at random (you will select blindly from a pile face down)
j) Pupils work collaboratively within groups and competitively against
other groups. It is essential that every pupil writes an answer as their
piece of paper may be chosen for marking by the teacher. They must
be clear about this.
k) After 20 mins, ask each group to put their answers face down in a
pile. You then pick up one from each group at random.
In the last 10 minutes of the lesson you can then mark the five pieces
of work and decide on the best. Whilst you are marking, pupils should
be engaged on another task, silently and individually.
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005
11) Try the following gradeboosting task below for pupils that you are
grooming for a grade A or A* Pupils rewrite a basic text adding more
complex aspects: subordinate clauses, connectives, adjective
qualifiers/intensifiers
Ma ville
J’aime ma ville. Elle est grande et animée.
Je n’aime pas la circulation. On ne peut pas respirer. Il y a beacoup de
pollution. Il n’y a pas de cinéma.
Nous avons une piscine. Elle est assez vieille et sale. Les magasins sont
petits.
Pour les grands magasins je vais à Londres.
On peut jouer au tennis dans le parc.
Samedi dernier je suis allé au magasin de sport. Je suis allé avec deux
amis.
Dans le magasin j’ai acheté un maillot de foot.
Nous avons mangé au Macdo.
Nous avons fait du lèche-vitrine.
J’ai vu des chaussures. Elles étaient trop cher. Je n’ai pas acheté les
chaussures
Je suis rentré à la maison à six heures
J’ai mangé. J’ai fait mes devoirs. J’ai regardé la télévision. J’ai lu et j’ai parlé
sur MSN. J’ai joué à un jeu vidéo. Je me suis couché à dix heures.
Your answer should include as many of the following as possible
Après avoir / après être + pp
Avant de + inf
Il faut + inf
On s’est bien amusé and other
reflexive verbs
C’est / c’était
Preceding object pronoun:
je les ai acheté(e) (s)
Puis, ensuite, après
Le matin
L’après-midi
Le soir
Donc
Aussi, et, également
(Mal) Heureusement
Mais, pourtant
Parce que / car
Qui - relative clause
© Jon Meier, AST, Verulam School
Oct 2005