1. Looking back to the first year of Linear A-level English Language…
How was it for you?
Any schools / colleges where students sat the AS exams this year?
What was it like teaching the AS in 1 year?
If you didn’t do AS, but went truly linear, what was that like?
In your opinion, how do the new syllabuses compare to the “old” modular AS ones?
And an apparently random question:
5. Does your school / college take part in the Linguistics Olympiad?

2. Integrating Olympiad materials in (A-level) English Language teaching
UKLO resources in English lessons
Linguistics as Extra-curricular activity / Enrichment
Babette Verhoeven-Newsome
Aquinas College, Stockport
UKLO “Problem Team” & LAGB Education Committee

3. UKLO is an annual competition for students who are still at school / college – any age, any ability level (KS2 – KS5) – in which they have to solve linguistic data problems;
No prior knowledge of languages / linguistics needed – just logic, problem solving skills;
It is completely free;
The UKLO website has 100s of puzzles (of varying difficulty) to be used either in ‘linguistics clubs’ or in English lessons;
All students get certificates if they take part; formal competitors can win bronze, silver, gold certificates;
KS5 students can enter formal competition for ultimately a place on British team(s) for the International Linguistics Olympiad competition.

4. Why do it? (what you can tell your SMT)
General educational value - encourage students to develop transferable problem-solving and independent thinking skills;
Subject-specific educational value - particular “problems” / concepts that students tend to find hard in English Language can approached differently through UKLO problems;
Develop cross-curriculum links – students are encouraged to see connections between language(s), mathematics, and computing for example;
Equality & Diversity – broad appeal to boys & girls, values EAL students’ linguistic experience, differentiation built in (everybody can succeed & some serious stretch & challenge);
Make learning fun – GCSE and A-level courses tend to be very exam focused, while student feedback suggests these “extra bits” are considered as some of the best of the course, and cited as inspiration for degree choices.

5. Examples in the hand-out:
Background to the problems
The problems
Zulu making new words
Estonian, Finnish & Swedish words
Shavian alphabet – a better way to write English
Amele morphology
Finnish case forms
Telling time in Estonian
Problems 1 and 2 are “starter” activities;
Problems 3 – genuine, early Round 1[UKLO] problems - intended as a longer activity;
Problems 4 & 5 – genuine UKLO R1 of greater difficulty (problems / questions near end of paper tend to be hardest);
Problem 6 – genuine NACLO R1 problem – available as on-line practice (self-marking)
Feel free to have a go at 1, 2, and 3. Have a look at 4, 5, and 6.
Any ideas as to how you / your colleagues could use these (and similar) problems?

6. Solutions: (c) thrashing stick = isibhulo
Problem 1. Zulu
Problem 2. Estonian, Finnish & Swedish
Finnish words borrowed from Swedish: “hän” and “torstai”. (borrowing)
2. Swedish is the elite’s language
(prestige).
For the others: see sparate handout with solutions.
(c) thrashing stick = isibhulo
(d) inspector = umthuli
(e) thought = umcabango
(f) question = umbuzo
(g) tailor = umthungi

7. How to use these problems in English lessons:
Problem 3: Shavian Alphabet
Problems 1 & 2
Starter / introductory activities;
English Language students across KS3 – KS5;
Zulu is used to introduce derivational morphology in A-level English;
Estonian, Finnish, & Swedish to introduce lexical change in A-level English.
Lower 6th / Year 12 to introduce phonology and look at phoneme- grapheme correspondence in English;
Other colleagues use it as a way into phonetics & IPA;
Since 2014, used with Year 10 and 11 students visiting from feeder schools to give them taste of how English Language at A-level differs from KS3 / KS4.

8. Linear A-level English Language & LO:
The Linear A-level:
The first year is less pressurised (no exams),
BUT we will have to keep students going without “stick” of exams;
The syllabuses are more densely packed with (linguistic) content;
There appear to be “higher” standards / expectations with regard to linguistic terminology, knowledge & understanding (still, let’s see what exam results will be like in August…)
Linguistics Olympiad Materials:
Focus on developing skills (language frameworks, Knowledge About Language) in first year of A-level course in a fun, interesting, and useful manner by using LO materials.

9. Linguistics as Enrichment Activity:
Taking part in UKLO:
Linguistics Club:
KS2/KS3/KS4/KS5 can all take part;
No preparation needed – let students download practice papers; can even let non-Round 1 competitors mark each other’s work!
Exam-style conditions for 3 hours in 2nd week of February for Round 1 (KS5);
KS2/KS3/KS4 students can work informally & as teams;
Several schools / colleges can work together if there are problems with space etc.
Can be linked to participation in Round 1, BUT doesn’t have to;
Half hour slot over lunch – look at one problem at a time;
Longer slot after the school day ends;
Mix of students (older students helping younger ones);
Can be run together with Maths, ICT, MFL colleagues;

10. Currently available & in development:
UKLO Competition & non-competition problems with varying levels of difficulty, suitable for KS2 to KS5;
Starter problems (mainly for MFL / English – but can be used in other subjects, too e.g. History, Geography, Mathematics for example);
New very short starter problems are being produced this summer;
More detailed explanations for non-specialists;
There’s an idea for Youtube video tutorials by problem setters talking through problems / demonstrating how to tackle them.
If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

11. Resources: Linguistics Olympiad & Linguistics Club
the home of UKLO (you can post questions & there’s usually a fairly quick response)
(starter questions / activities, easy, some suitable for KS2)
(UKLO’s sample questions)
(North American LO – lots of useful resources)
(International Linguistics Olympiad’s site: information, inspiration & sample questions)
Other countries’ Olympiads includes AILO (Ireland & NI) (also has sample problems to download)

12. Useful Organisations for LO:
LAGB: Linguistics Association of Great Britain – discount membership for teachers (£10-20 a year), access to academic linguists (visiting speakers).
NATE: Yearly conference (late June) with talks, demonstrations, CPD etc.
CLiE: Committee for Linguistics in Education - joint project of LAGB & BAAL (British Association for Applied Linguistics), useful links and resources.
Your local university’s Linguistics Department – many universities do outreach (send visiting speakers for example) to colleges & schools’ 6th forms.
The University of York, University of Manchester, and University of Huddersfield have all hosted the national round (R2) and have staff and UG / PG students who know all about LO.
University of Lancaster’s Linguistics Department is also very keen (some of their members volunteer for UKLO).

13. Linguistics Resources for teaching English Language:
Babel -The Language Magazine (very accessible & interesting range of language topics, including LO-style puzzle) – students & teachers
(UCL’s site for teaching of English esp. grammar, Grammar App & Youtube channel) – students & teachers
English & Media Centre (publish Emagazine, organise conferences in co-operation with UCL, usually at British Library in London), magazine & videos – students & teachers
(Leiden University’s on-line intro course) – students & teachers
Virtual Linguistics Campus & (MOOC from Marburg University with loads of videos on Youtube) – some suitable for students, most for teachers
TED talks on language & linguistics topics – students & teachers
iTunes U - app on iPhone / iPad (access to Linguistics lectures) – tends to be more university level, teachers

14. Thanks  englishteacherbabette@gmail.com www.uklo.org