Reall Languages

Another recommendation. This time it's for REALL-LANGUAGES. A fantastic website for practising vocabulary in French, German, Italian, Russian, Swedish , Latin and English. It also contains exercises in other subjects, too.

There is a link to this site on my department's wiki but I had forgotten about it until I saw a link to it from Steve Smith on twitter.

The exercises are in the form of interactive games and students from beginner to GCSE standard will find them a great way to revise and practise vocabulary.

It's completely free to use and all you need is an internet connection and java.

Sur le pont d'Avignon?

I was taught this song at primary school. We drew pictures of people dancing on a bridge. In crayon. Probably.

Before un kilo de chansons came along, this was the song that every student of French learned.

Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tout en rond

However, I found out today that it is, historically, wrong. You probably knew this already and are saying to yourselves "Isn't he stupid? Didn't he even know that?"

Today, as I was leaving Oldham to drive home I was accosted by my mother's neighbour. He had just, that second, arrived back from a holiday in the South of France and, as there was nobody else around, proceeded to recount his holiday adventures to me. (I could hear a collective sigh of relief from all the other neighbours!)

Anyway, he explained that the song was originally entitled "Sous le pont d'Avignon" because in medieval times, under the arches of the bridge on the Ile de la Barthelasse, there were all kinds of nefarious entertainments going on, including dancing. And dancing on the bridge was forbidden.

I checked this information and he is correct. So, now we all know. Thanks, Neil.

Learning German with Henning Wehn

The BBC German Languages site contains some excellent resources for learners of German. Self-proclaimed German comedy ambassador, and stand up comedian, Henning Wehn presents a series of hilarious and educational clips entitled "What so funny about German?"

The videos each last 3 or so minutes and the series includes advice on learning the German alphabet, word order, using genders, and finishes with advice on telling jokes in German.

I have embedded two of the clips below.

In the first, False friends, Henning explains that sometimes words sound the same in German and English but have totally different meanings.

In the second clip, Pseudo-anglicisms, Henning shows us that sometimes German takes English words and gives them a completely different meaning.

Do you know what Smoking, Evergreen and Bodybag mean in English? Watch and find out.

Lost in translation.

Translation has always been a tricky business. It isn't just a matter of changing words in one language to another and we can all quote examples of poor, but hilarious, translations from and into English. We can tell immediately if something has been translated by a student using google translate. In short, translation is only as good as the translator.

I read an article today from abc news about Pixar's new film (I refuse to use the word "movie") Cars 2. It has been released around the world and dubbed into 44 different languages and that is where Pixar's problems begin. One character in particular, Mater, proved extremely difficult:

"Mater's kind of a redneck, but that means nothing to anyone overseas because they don't have that particular vocal culture," says Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of Disney Character Voices. "So we had to figure out what region of Germany, for example, has more of an uneducated population without being offensive."

Good luck with that one, Rick.

This article got me thinking about the word "redneck" and how it would translate into other languages. In French, according to wordreference.com the word is "péquenaud". However, if you translate it back into English it gives the meaning as "hillbilly", "yokel" or "country bumpkin". All of these translations mean something completely different in English with differing degrees of offensiveness .

I'm sure that CBS would not have had such a hit in 1962 with a programme called "The Beverly Rednecks" or that the film "Deliverance" would not have been the success it was had Adge Cutler and the Wurzels been cast instead of Bill McKinney and Herbert Coward as the "mountain men".

I think that what I'm trying to say is that translation without intercultural understanding is pointless and if I didn't teach both I would be doing my students a huge disservice.

Learn French in One Word

I love this video. It is from Michelle Chmielewki's youtube channel.

What more can I say?

CILT Cymru – Using peer assessment to improve writing skills

I was contacted a few weeks ago by Kristina Hedges from CILT CYMRU asking if I would allow them to put a link to a blogpost I wrote in November 2009 about effective feedback in one of their training modules. I was surprised and flattered (I still can't believe anyone reads this stuff!) and said "Yes" immediately. Kristina contacted me again last week to tell me that the module was on their website and give me the link.

The link was to one of CILT's training modules on Assessment for Learning entitled Barry Comprehensive - Using peer assessment to improve writing skills.

It is an excellent module and includes discussion points, activities to discuss before and after watching a video clip and some follow up activities (which is where the link to my blog can be found). I really like the module and think it would be useful to discuss and trial some of its ideas with my departmental colleagues.

Whilst browsing the CILT CYMRU site I came across another of their training modules, this time on skills based learning. This module shows how Blackwood Comprehensive has tried to raise student motivation and achievement by using interactive starters and games. Like the other module this comes with discussion points, activities and ideas for moving on.

I was impressed by both modules, they have given me a lot to think about and made me think about lots of different ways in which I can try to improve my own practice in the future.

Insomnia or How to have fun with a Random Letter Generator.

Recently, when I couldn't get to sleep I invented a new game using my digital alarm clock. Here's how it works: look at the time on the clock -

in this case 03:50, turn the numbers upside down so that they read O S E O and then try to think of as many words as you can which contain that sequence of letters .eg OStEOporosis.

So how can I use this amazing idea in the classroom?

Well, David Reed Associate Professor of Computer Science at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska has created a Random Letter Sequence Generator.

It is ideal for improving word power of MFL students. It allows you to choose the length of each random letter sequence and lets you choose which letters to randomise

For beginners you could choose to have 2 random letters and more for more able students. depending which language you are choosing, you can remove the less common letters. For example, if I were to be doing this task in French I would probably remove the letter K from the list before I started.

It is one of those games which students of all abilities could use and is easy to differentiate.

I haven't used it with my groups yet as I only discovered the generator very late last night. I imagine it will be really good and urge you to try it.

What could possibly go wrong?