1. L ANGUAGES HAT P ROJECT P RESENTATION Teacher Name: Stefan Mummert School Name: Presbyterian Ladies’ College Project Title: Learning About the Learner

2. W HAT I DID … Set up profiles of my students based on my current assumptions/presumptions, recent experience, conventional formal assessment and notes from my colleague. Surveyed my students about their backgrounds, language learning experiences so far, attitudes towards languages and their aspirations. Provided various learning experiences and surveyed students about which one of the ways they found the most useful, and then compared their responses with my own observations. Observed the students’ response to, and interest in, various learning experiences, and their progress. Compared my new insight into my learners’ profiles with my initial judgements.

3. W HAT I LEARNT … spoken languages at home: mainly Asian languages/dialects; importance of the parents’ attitude spread of attitudes towards ‘language’ in general I learnt about my students’ self-perception, and their intrinsic or extrinsic motivations Most students chose to learn German because of fun and curiosity. 40% expected German to be easier than other languages. Only a minority wants the teacher to speak a lot of German in class. Half of the students prefer interaction. Almost all students agreed with the statement “The teacher explains what I need to know, and I will learn exactly that.” Also, only half of the students want to explore and find out things by themselves. mixed responses about using iPads and iPhones for learning German

4. L EARNER P ROFILE 1 no other languages spoken at home, parents only speak English student believes that language broadens the way you communicate with people is eager to learn for her future, chose German for fun and curiosity, and also thinks that German will give her an advantage finds languages fascinating attention to detail and accuracy, amazing German knowledge and skills, well ahead of her class, independent learns through reading and writing, but also interaction and visual assistance very independent and a deep thinker

5. L EARNER P ROFILE 2 parents speak Singhalese and Tamil does not see any particular value of ‘language’ told by parents to choose German; she expected German to be easier than other languages seems fun-seeking only says about herself that she is not able to learn a language and that she is behind weak, but could be better if she made a greater effort needs to be forced with tests, learns for grades not able to assess her own learning style needs continuous guidance and encouragement; requires very small steps

6. W HAT CHANGED … I feel that I have become more sensitive. I am far more observant of how my students respond to particular tasks and activities. I moved away from a black and white perspective, such as “able/strong vs weak students”. My approach to parent-teacher interviews was different this year. I asked more questions and tried to really find out more about my students and their parents I started teaching in Year 10 what I would normally start with in Year 11, without putting off “weak” students. Numbers of students continuing German from Year 10 into Year 11, even IB, next year, are much better than last year.

7. W HAT NEXT … Develop an ongoing profiling process for my future classes. Develop a Year 10 course that offers an ongoing holistic learning experience that is intellectually demanding and rich in variety, but also offers a supportive environment.