bc fla mentor briefing presentation 13-14

All images © Mat Wright

www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants 1

FLA Mentor Briefing:

Getting the most from your FLA experience

http://www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

Welcome and Introductions

Language Assistants team members:

Eduardo Lees – Project Manager, Edinburgh office

Lynsey Dinwoodie – Project Officer, Edinburgh office

Rosanne Hirst – Project Officer, Edinburgh office

Susannah Wallace – Project Officer, Manchester office

eTwinning/ Connecting Classrooms:

Chris Swift

Eduardo Lees – Project Manager, Edinburgh office

www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

Agenda

Part 1: Webinar basics

Part 2: Role of the mentor and supporting the assistant

Q & A

Part 3: Using an FLA in the language classroom and beyond

Part 4: Other British Council opportunities

Q & A


PART 1: WEBINAR BASICS


The BasicsThe Basics

oUse the Chat facility

oVote

oUse the non-verbal communication tools

oRaising your hand

This is the chat facility where you can

ask questions and talk to other participants

Write your message in the text box and hit

enter

Choose who you want to write a message to

Click the green tick for yes or the red cross for no

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 FLA

Give feedback to British Council

End of year report


Top tips and best practice for mentor teachers

Email follow-ups to face-to-face discussions

Establish communication process

Monitoring progress - FLA log/ diary


Supporting the assistant BEFORE their arrival

Sharing arrangements

Administration/ Paperwork

Offer letter / Confirmation of appointment

Payments – P46 and tax cover letter

Police checks

Accommodation advice

School system and curriculum

Maintain contact and build relationships

Find out about them and their interests

Please see: www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-contacting-your-assistants

British Council Information Booklet for Employers of FLAs coming soon!

www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

Supporting the assistant: Initial weeks

Observation

Class lists/ staff lists/ map of school

School policies

o 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 FLAs 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

FLA 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

British Council inductions

British Council Information Booklet for Foreign Language Assistants in

the UK coming soon!

Language Assistants team at the British Council


Question Time (1)

Let’s take a short break to give you the opportunity to reflect

and ask any questions you may have at this stage


PART 3: USING YOUR FLA 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 stage


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 roleLanguage 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 FLA Getting the most from your FLA experienceexperience

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 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 FLAs 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: www.britishcouncil.org/scotland-

education-fla-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 opportunitiesOther British Council opportunities

eTwinning

SchoolsOnline

Connecting Classrooms


Question Time (2)

Any final questions?


Thank you for your attendance and participation!

Evaluation form and slides will be sent by email

www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants

[email protected]


bc fla mentor briefing presentation 13-14

Education

foreign language assistants

language lessons

fla mentor briefing

british councilwww

fromyour fla experience

edinburgh officewww

role opportunities

o pupils engagement