 24 students  Year 10  1.5 years of Spanish

 Cross curricular (Biology, MFL, Geography, D/E)  Aim: Study Biology and Geography through L2 in the field  Focus on a central question: How sustainable is human activity in the Gredos regional park?

 Students have Geography/Biology lessons in Spanish  Do research in the field  Interview local stakeholders  Produce a group documentary in Spanish  Work in groups to produce a presentation on their findings to a representative of the national park

 See if use of CLIL & Harkness discussion would improve student confidence speaking, and improve the quality of their speech

1.CLIL to increase confidence and attainment speaking 2.Harkness Discussion 3.Student Documentary Video to reinforce learning orally

◦ CONFIDENCE:  Reported levels of confidence rose by 30%  Those who were under confident before the trip fell from 41% to 8%

Found communicative model more purposeful and meaningful: “Learning it like this was more useful because you had to understand and be able to speak the language to get anything done” “I found it much more interesting actually speaking to Spanish people, as this provided a much more legitimate experience than you would find within a classroom,”

◦ QUALITY OF LANGUAGE:  Measured levels rose by 10%  Students felt they had made much more progress compared to normal lessons. They were 36% more positive about their improvement than normal

◦ 6 students reported speaking as their favourite element of the trip ◦ Students reported that they enjoyed this form of teaching more than traditional lessons: before 47% had registered positive comments about Spanish lessons, this rose to 92% afterwards (+45%)

1. CLIL

 Teaching other subjects through TL, where both subject and TL are objects of study

1. Lots of photos/ graphs/ maps and visual keys 2. Grids to support speaking & key vocabulary alongside most sheets 3. Mini speaking tasks

1.Task Based - match photos with definitions 2. Talk in Spanish to give opinion with the support grid, and with the pictures to point to

1.Map and photos to give clues, and to point at 2. Support grid for speaking

1.Task based (used Heroes for grass hoppers) 2.Speaking task – 30 seconds to explain process

1.How to carry out random sampling 2.Speaking task. 30 second recap. Have photos above, and grids to use.

 Discussion leader (ask questions, draw people out)  Summariser  Recorder  Can add any other relevant roles

 Use question forms  Use other verb endings more  Speak in whole sentences more often  Use more incidental language  Feel less self conscious (communication v precision)  Can use to practise target constructions

FILLERS

With own group Members move round to join a new group In a group of their chosing

Potential disadvantages  Language formulaic/ rehearsed/ read!  Not ‘real communication’  Useful synthesis Benefits  Give students a chance to recap material  Find a way of making them use the language in the field  Fun and memorable  Good for pronunciation (if helped!)

 Google ‘sasowen mfl’ for the report (in wordpress) 