All images © Mat Wright 1 Getting the most from your Language Assistant experience

Agenda Part 1: Webinar basics Part 2: Role of the mentor and supporting the assistant Q & A Part 3: Using a Language Assistant in the language classroom and beyond Part 4: Other British Council opportunities Q & A

PART 1: WEBINAR BASICS

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PART 2: THE ROLE OF THE MENTOR TEACHER AND SUPPORTING THE ASSISTANT

Role of Mentor Teacher  Professional  Pastoral  Arrival and settling in  On-going monitoring and support  Regular meetings  Give feedback to the Language Assistant  Give feedback to British Council  End of year report

Top tips and best practice for mentor teachers  follow-ups to face-to-face discussions  Establish communication process  Monitoring progress - Language Assistant/s log/ diary

Supporting the assistant BEFORE their arrival  Sharing arrangements  Administration/ Paperwork  Offer letter / Confirmation of appointment  Payments – Starter Declaration and tax cover letter (Double Taxation Letter)  Police checks  Accommodation advice  School system and curriculum  Maintain contact and build relationships Please see: next-stepshttp:// next-steps

Supporting the assistant: Initial weeks  Observation  Class lists/ staff lists/ map of school  School policies Child protection / Internet/ health and safety / absence  Systems and equipment  Timetable  Code of conduct  Statement of employment

Supporting the assistant AFTER their arrival – Integration into the school Top tips:  Welcomes!  Introductions  Discuss expectations and role  Opportunities to involve them in  school trips/ events/ concerts/ staff social activities  extracurricular life of the school

Supporting the assistant: Integration into the community  Register with doctor and open a bank account  Local area advice  Clubs/ libraries/ churches/ sports/ events  Mobile phones  Internet access  Other Language Assistant/s in the area?

Problem handling  Best dealt with quickly and at the source  Open discussion  Use code of conduct  Use performance management  Disciplinary process  Contact with British Council  Language Assistant/s line of referral

Support for Language Assistants  Local authority training  Cultural institutes training and support e.g. Institut Français, Goethe Institut, Instituto Cervantes, Consejería de Educación, Institute of Education (China)  British Council inductions  British Council Information Booklet for Language Assistants in the UK coming soon!  Language Assistants Team at the British Council

PART 3: USING YOUR LANGUAGE ASSISTANT IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND

What is a Language Assistant?  Model of authentic pronunciation, intonation and usage of the language pupils are learning  A ‘living’ cultural reference point, with a unique set of experiences, skills, and interests  Pivotal figure to help broaden the school’s cultural provision and perspective

How a Language Assistant can support the school’s modern languages programme  Develop and improve o accuracy of pupils’ use of the target language o pupils’ self-confidence in the target language, o pupils’ engagement in language lessons  Increase capacity to address the departmental priorities e.g. o teachers’ subject knowledge (language and culture) o uptake of language classes at the non-compulsory stag e

How a Language Assistant can benefit the whole school  Raise the profile of language and culture at all stages in the school  Build capacity to strengthen the language element of the curriculum  Broaden the international perspective of the school

Language Assistant role  Work in a variety of contexts including whole classes (under teacher supervision), with small groups or individual pupils  Model authentic pronunciation, intonation and usage of the language pupils are learning  Revise new vocabulary or grammar points covered in a particular lesson in the form of a game or other type of interactive activity  Prepare pupils in senior classes for speaking assessments  Prepare resources for teaching

Getting the most from your Language Assistant/s experience  Prepare pupils for local or national language-based competitions  Support senior pupils in promoting language learning to younger age groups  Establish or reinforce partnership links with another country (e.g. through parcel or video exchanges)  Contribute to school gaining International School AwardInternational School Award  Use the resources and support from the cultural institutes

Getting the best out of your Language Assistant Consider a project approach  Giving them the opportunity to plan activities for a longer-term/ on-going project reduces the need for teachers to plan their input on such a frequent basis  Games and other ‘fun’ activities do create a buzz in the language classroom but do not necessarily change pupils’ underlying views about the role of languages in today’s global society  By harnessing the Language Assistant’s unique set of knowledge, interests, and skills and channelling them into a project has a greater chance of helping pupils to recognise the importance of language learning

Project Successes Get Language Assistants and students to apply language skills in new contexts:  subtitling  radio broadcasting  drama competition  travel guidebook  song-writing  multilingual magazine  For more examples please see: education-Language Assistant/s-school-project-initiative-case- studies.htm

Helping the Language Assistant implement a project successfully  Find out about the Language Assistants strengths (knowledge of their own and other countries, interests and skills in other subjects)  Discuss ways of incorporating them as an independent slot in the overall scheme of work (i.e. as part of a weekly lesson)  Provide lots of advice and encouragement at the start but let the language assistant take the lead in moving things forward

PART 4: OTHER BRITISH COUNCIL OPPORTUNITIES

Other British Council opportunities  eTwinning eTwinning  SchoolsOnline  Connecting Classrooms

Thank you for your attendance and participation!