My Lockdown Load

The last time I set foot in a classroom was Tuesday 17th March.  Since then, I've been working at home, joined by my Year 8 and Year 12 daughters and my husband.

Because I haven't been in any of my three schools, my income has plummeted - I am employed by my own company and not directly for the schools, who buy in my company's services.  I don't qualify for any of the Government grants and haven't been able to furlough myself as I have still been doing a little bit of paid work alongside the mostly non-paid.

I have been endeavouring to keep myself busy during the working days (hence the picture of the busy bee!)  Here's what I've been up to:

• BBC Bitesize Daily:  I've provided the content and reviewed the scripts for the French and Spanish lessons.  It started off being 3 French and 2 Spanish, but has ended up being 2 sets of French programmes on BBC iPlayer and 1 Spanish page on the website.  One lot of French has been broadcast already:
  - Age 5-7 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08f9qft/bitesize-57-year-olds-week-6-4-bonjour
  - Age 7-9 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p089rq13/bitesize-79-year-olds-week-6-4-working-out-change
  - Age 9-11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p089zk0k/bitesize-911-year-olds-week-6-4-value-for-money
  The second set of French will be broadcast on BBC iPlayer on Thursday 25th June.
  UPDATE:
  25th June sessions:
  - Age 5-7 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08h0z8r/bitesize-57-year-olds-week-8-4-counting-to-10-in-french
  - Age 7-9 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p089s0kh/bitesize-79-year-olds-week-8-4-food-in-french
  - Age 9-11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08h1m8s/bitesize-911-year-olds-week-8-4-clothes-in-french
  I was asked to be the teacher in the studio, but the 3 hours each way of travelling to Salford was, at the time, an absolute no-no for me.  So thank you to Mr Allen, wherever you are!
  The Spanish is here:
  - Age 5-7 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z82jr2p
  - Age 7-9 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zgvs2v4
  - Age 9-11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zt6296f

• BBC Bitesize - primary Spanish:  The new content for primary French, Spanish and Mandarin will be unveiled in a few weeks' time.  The main part of it will take the form of an interactive game.  This journey started in August last year when I attended the focus group for the new content.  Since then, I've been working with the team to put the content together for Spanish.  It's looking very exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result!

• RiPL MOOC:  I was asked to contribute to the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that has been put together by RiPL (Research in Primary Languages).  It's called Teaching Languages in Primary Schools: Putting Research into Practice and you can sign up for it now on FutureLearn and it's free!  It starts on 6th July.  You'll see me talking about designing a scheme of work and ensuring progression.  Because of current circumstances the interview had to conducted remotely, which wasn't without its technical problems!

• ASCL Transition Toolkit:  I've been working alongside colleagues from ASCL and the British Council, and other members of the ALL Primary Steering Group to produce a new toolkit for facilitating Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 transition.  My 2018 survey revealed that transition arrangements between primary and secondary schools still tend to be poor, so hopefully this toolkit will help to improve the age 7-14 language learning continuum for our learners. The toolkit is currently available in French, and the Spanish and German versions will be ready soon.

• Camembear:  I've been proof-reading and helping to edit the Camembear resources from Headstart Languages.  If you teach French in EYFS or Key Stage 1, it's a really lovely scheme of work and I recommend it.

• Videos and challenges:  I've mentioned before that I've made a series of 58 videos to support children who are learning at home at the moment.  I've also added other activities and online games to support the learning.  I've also added to the website the Lumen Language Challenges, which I have been doing myself!

• New scheme of work for Key Stage 2 Spanish: I've completed what was going to be my summer holiday job of re-writing my scheme of work for Primary Spanish (read its story here!)  I started teaching it just after Christmas with my Year 3s and beginner Year 4s and so thought it needed committing to paper!  It's all uploaded to the website, and I've rearranged the existing resources to suit the new units.  I haven't deleted any resources, but what you're looking for might be in a different place now.  I've also made a lot of new resources to accompany the new scheme and have a lot more on my list.  Check the Light Bulb Languages blog to find out what's new.
  The original scheme of work documentation is all still there, in a zipped file called "Legacy Scheme".

Hopefully I will find enough to keep me busy for the rest of the summer!