Was machen wir ?
STUDENTS
German is introduced to year 8 pupils who are taught
in "mixed-ability" forms and pupils continue the
language into year 9 where there are 2 bands each with an Upper
and Lower set. In years 10 and 11 there are 3 sets. The more able
linguists take both French and German within the 4 period allocation
for Modern Languages and the other boys have opted for just German
as their core language. Currently there are 55 + boys in each
of M5 and U5 studying German to GCSE.
In the Sixth Form in 2007, 7 students are currently studying for AS level and 7 to A2 level.
STAFF
There are 3 full-time Modern Languages staff teaching in the German
department: the Head of German, Ms Claudia Weiler, teaching 25 periods and Mr W Croston teaching 13 periods
throughout the school. Mr
Fabien Hanique, and Mr Curtis who teaches several periods in KS3 and KS4.
RESOURCES
There are 2 classrooms available to larger groups, equipped
with a tape recorder, CD player, video and OHP, laptop computer and digital projector. Each pupil is issued
with at least one textbook and workbook and for GCSE/ A Level
a specialist vocabulary and a grammar book. In addition classrooms
are equipped with class sets of additional textbooks, workbooks,
readers and newspapers, and old exam papers. NB5 contains a library
of German literature. In NB5 we have a resources area for project materials,
tapes and videos with listening and viewing materials, which Sixth
Formers can use in private study time. The school library houses a selection
of bi-lingual and monolingual reference works as well as a selection
of Landeskunde.
Where possible we take larger classes into the computer room to use ICT. Students are encouraged to produce homework and coursework on computers where appropriate. Mr Croston is our designated IT link person and we have a well-developed Web page linked to the school website and produced a Magazine on the Web with our exchange school as part of a Comenius partnership: These provide us with valuable teaching resources and there are numerous materials for students to access and practise the language.
Mr. Croston is responsible for holding our UEA library ticket,
which, together with the Internet access, gives the Sixth form
access to a wealth of research material. The sixth form can make
termly visits to the UEA.
EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
We have 2 flourishing exchange schemes. Years 9 and 10 visit Linz am Rhein under the auspices of Ms Weiler and Mr Croston organises the Sixth Form exchange
to Liechtenstein. In addition
we have a short year 8 excursion to Hamburg
organised by Mr Croston and Mr Hanique and an U6 trip to Berlin has been organised by Frau Weiler.
There are cinema and theatre visits, as and when something appropriate
is performed and sixth form visits to German days in London. Frau
Weiler runs a German Club in the Lower School once a week with the German Assistentin.
METHODOLOGY
Within the German Department individual teachers are free to use
whatever methods and approaches suit them and their pupils best
within the parameters of the content of the Klasse and Logo coursebooks. Year 8 use Klasse 1 and Year 9 Klasse 2. The Teacher's Books offer practical advice on
how to exploit the material and practice sections to best advantage,
and teachers will need to take this into account, together with
many other factors in deciding the best forms of presentation,
development, consolidation and expansion. As a department we are
constantly learning from one another, sharing ideas and new materials.
A few obvious guidelines should be borne in mind in lesson planning:
1 Attention should be given to both receptive and productive skills.
2 Every lesson should contain some variation of activity.
3 Where possible lessons should contain some element of revision
practice and the introduction of some new elements, even if this
is confined to brief question and answer work or new items of
vocabulary.
4 Ideally in the short periods lower down the school classroom
activities should concentrate predominantly on listening and speaking.
However time should also be found for short written activities.
Higher up the school and particularly when coursework is underway
there are times of year when a considerably greater amount of
work in class may be written. Homework (set twice weekly and regularly
marked) is used for reading, writing and revision and necessary
research.
5 Use should be made, where appropriate, of visual support eg
flash cards, authentic realia, OHP or video material and where
the room permits powerpoint..
6 Frequent use should be made of the CD and cassette recordings
which accompany the coursebooks as these represent the only way
to ensure that a variety of native speaker voices, accents and
intonations are heard eg male/female, old/young, formal/informal.
7 Frequent use should be made of group and pair activities, where
appropriate.
8 With all groups there should be some element of fun to facilitate
learning. Younger pupils respond well to songs, rhythm eg raps,
rhymes - pupils can be encouraged to make up their own, and art
work. All pupils even Sixth Form students enjoy word games and
quizzes.
9 Pupils should be encouraged to take responsibility for their
own learning and class activities should not always be teacher
centred.
10 Pupils should understand clearly the purpose and objectives
of any section of work.
USE OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE
Teachers should aim to make optimum sensible use of the target
language without being hidebound by doctrinaire approaches. In
general this means "the more the better" but it is important
to remember that the use of the target language in a particular
situation acquires a negative value when it interrupts the flow
and rhythm of the lesson, takes an excessive amount of time to
convey a minor point or leads to confusion or uncertainty in pupil's
minds about what they are required to do. These general rules
should be borne in mind:
1 From the outset students should be exposed to as much target
language as possible.
2 Routine written and spoken instructions and details of classroom
management should normally be carried out in the target language.
3 Classroom display should illustrate as relevantly as possible
the target language and should include a large proportion of the
pupils' work.
4 Every lesson should contain some spoken use of the target language
by as many pupils as possible, even if this is confined to initial
revision conversation or a short concluding spoken activity.
5 The use of target language and English should not intermingle
but it is recognised that this is not always easy to avoid.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Furniture should be arranged in such a way that you have eye contact
with all the pupils and the pupils can clearly see the board,
screen etc. It should also be so organised as to facilitate communication
between the pupils.
A modern languages lesson will never be silent. There will always
be interaction between at least 2 people and invariably in pair
and group work there will be considerable noise levels. This should
not however be allowed to impede communication and pupils need
to appreciate just what noise level is acceptable. There should
be a clear signal, which the pupils understand when the teacher
needs to regain everyone's attention.
Disruptive behaviour and bad language should not be tolerated
and should be dealt with according to the school's normal system
of sanctions.
Homework should be set twice weekly according to the published
homework timetable and regularly marked. Sixth Form students need
to understand that homework will be required after every lesson.
Attention should be paid to Health and Safety issues and tripping
hazards in particular removed.
Whilst it is important that we have adequate opportunities to
assess pupils'progress, this should not be at the expense of coverage
of material. We should guard against consolidating in the minds
of weaker pupils the notion that they cannot cope, leading to
demotivation.
1 Teachers should regularly and routinely set and mark work in
all skill areas. Our six point mark scheme mirrors the German1-6
system and translates easily into the School's report grades.
All pupils have a sheet glued into their book explaining the mark
scheme which contains advice on how to improve their work.
2 There is a place for short regular vocabulary/grammar tests
after a prep but the end of unit tests should reflect the type
of testing used at Keystages 3 and 4 and should contain some element
of the speaking, listening, reading and written skills required.
Klasse, Logo and Deutsch Heute and Authentik Assessment materials
are available for this purpose and after each session, particular
weaknesses should be addressed.
3 Half term grades should be based on a combination of 1 and 2
above and full reports will contain comments on each of the 4
skills.
4 Pupils are assessed formally in an end of year exam in years
8, 9 and 10 in May and June and
the examination should contain the four skills of speaking, listening,
reading and writing in equal measure.
4 As the Keystage 4/GCSE examination is set mainly in the target
language the end of year exams for years 8, 9 and 10 must be set
in the target language and where possible reflect the GCSE type
of testing. The Year 10 examination will be based on the Foundation
Tier papers and a writing mark is an aggregate of the three best
pieces of coursework units from 4 written throughout the year.
5 Year 11 have Mock examinations in January based on the Higher
Tier papers after which it will be decided in consultation with
pupils and their parents which pupils will sit which tier in each
skill area to ensure them all the best possible mark attainable.
This examination is set and marked according to the assessment
criteria and mark schemes as published by the Edexcel examinations
board. A further two pieces of coursework are written by January.
6 The Lower Sixth AS students have a number of short assessments
throughout the year and a Mock examination at the start of the
summer term. They follow the AS OCR modular syllabus.
7 For the Upper Sixth Two pieces of assessed coursework are to
be set and marked in the Autumn term. There is a Mock examination
held at the start of the summer term. They follow the A2 OCR modular
syllabus.
It is recommended that all assessment should stress as much the
positive achievement obtained by pupils as the areas in which
their competence might be deficient.
All students are monitored through the regular assessment points
and those who are under-performing are highlighted and remedial
action is put into play with specific targets set.
DIFFERENTIATION
Departmentally this is understood to mean allowing for different
levels of achievement by pupils of differing abilities and aptitudes
and in some groups differentiated tasks will also be necessary,
especially in the coursework and oral options offered at KS4 or
where we have a native speaker. Pupils with Special Educational
Needs are flagged up by the SENCO and the appropriate needs addressed.
In year 9 setting allows the more able to extend their writing
and the less able to focus on improving basic written skills.
There are some longer written tasks for the top set to extend
grammar and vocabulary and shorter tasks for the lower sets to
consolidate recent grammar and vocabulary. (See appendix.( As
there is no setting in Years 8, 10 and 11 teachers will need to
seek ways of accommodating different levels of performance within
a given group. In the KS3 years there are a number of differentiated
and extension activities offered in the Arbeitshefte. We must
quickly identify the strugglers and encourage their strengths.
In year 8 all pupils can achieve well in oral and comprehension skills and differing linguistic ability really only becomes apparent when they put pen to paper and written tasks become longer and more involved. All pupils should be able to communicate fairly effectively even in writing and the more able will be able to write accurately and be more ambitious in their adaptation of language. The KS3 workbooks have a variety of such activities.
By year 9 we can identify a very small number of pupils for whom complex grammar will always be a mystery. These pupils will need careful support to maximise their potential in other areas eg speaking, listening, or vocabulary recognition and their achievements must be recognised and praised. We will need to be able to assess the degree of involvement in oral work as well as the length and quality of an utterance. Abler pupils will communicate more effectively in writing and at greater length and there will need to be classroom and homework tasks of an open-ended nature - letters, vocabulary and sentence building exercises etc.
In years 10 and 11 our aim must be to support the lowest achievers, so that where possible they can gain a GCSE grade C whilst ensuring that the high achievers gain high grades and develop their skills beyond the immediate parameters of the examination. A whole range of differentiated tasks is set for coursework - see appendix. (This example has been commended by the Edexcel Board in the 2003 report as an example of best practice.) All students have the chance to review and improve their work. Not all students will enter for the same Tier of the final examination and decisions at the end of the Mock exams will confirm a range of differentiated final objectives. Most students at this level have a reasonable passive vocabulary and can cope with quite advanced reading and listening material. The weaker students may need extra practice in these skills and close attention should be paid to encouraging them to confine their writing to simple but accurately used structures and carefully chosen vocabulary that they can be sure to spell. All students should be prepared for the 2 Tiers of oral skill but those who are unable to cope with the complexities of the past tense will have little chance of obtaining a high grade in this area and should be encouraged to concentrate on the simpler conversations. The majority of pupils should however be encouraged to develop their sentence structure and to be ambitious in their use of vocabulary and grammar. As the 2-year course progresses there will be an increasing need for group work especially within the core set.
DEVELOPMENT
Having adjusted to the New AS and A2 level syllabuses we are currently
addressing developments at Keystage 4. A new coursebook for Keystage
4 (years 10 and 11) has been introduced.We are constantly updating
our web pages and looking to new ways of using ICT. All our rooms
now have network and internet access. We intend to maintain links
with our former Comenius partners and hope to establish a new
EEP.
See separate Development plan
STAFF REVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT
An annual review is carried out in accordance with the school's
review policy. Staff are encouraged to attend courses and subject
specific days. Recent courses have included use of the Internet,
improving standards at GCSE, A-level teaching and the development
of coursework.
See attached list of courses attended.
CROSS-CURRICULAR links and CAREERS reports are also included
elsewhere as is our return for the PHSE AUDIT.
KEYSTAGE 3
AIMS
1 To introduce a new modern language to all pupils in year
8 and in year 9 to provide a good basis on which to make an informed
decision as to whether or not to continue with 2 modern languages
into Keystage 4.
2 To foster an awareness of the life, culture and customs of the
4 German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and
Liechtenstein.
3 To give as many pupils as possible the opportunity to visit
Germany - see exchanges and visits.
4 To foster European awareness.
5 To encourage each individual pupil to achieve his full linguistic
potential
Each form has 4 x 30 or 35 minute periods and 2 x 20 minutes
homework a week
Year 8 pupils use Klasse 1 published by OUP and year 9 students
follow the Klasse 2. The Year 9 top sets will also work from Abgemacht,
Briefwechsel and additional material to develop more extensive
productive German.
Additional materials for all groups are used, in particular Mary
Glasgow magazines and BBC Video material. A detailed termly scheme
of work follows.
AIMS
1 To build on the achievements of the foundation course in
years 8 and 9
2 To meet the aims set down in the Edexcel GCSE syllabus.
3 To achieve the best possible grade for each pupil.
4 To encourage the study of German in an appropriate framework
after GCSE.
The 3 sets follow the GCSE syllabus and examination of Edexcel
which is included at the end of the Scheme of work. Each form,
with the exception of the dual-language sets in years 10 and 11
has 4 x 30 or 35 minute periods and 2 x 30 minutes homework a
week. The double linguists have half this allocation.
Year 10 pupils have started Logo 4 (Red-Higher Tier).
Year 11 pupils complete Deutsch Heute Neue Ausgabe Book 3 and
use additional revision material, in particular extracts from
Mary Glasgow magazines, Projekt Deutsch 4, Briefwechsel, Alles
Klar, past papers and BBC Video material. A detailed termly scheme
of work follows.
NB Attention all colleagues
In drawing up the new Logo 4 Scheme of Work I have kept to
our M5 former topics and coursework pattern as this seemed to
best suit the boys' needs as far as the exam pieces went.
You will see the book is designed to be used in any order to suit any exam course and so I hope the new scheme will work well.
So for example for the first topic we will need to use units 1 (parts 1,2 & 3), Unit 10 (parts 1 & 2), Unit 3 (parts 1,2,3 & 4) and Unit 7 (parts 5 & 6)
As we are not using the complete units in the order they are published we will not initially be able to use the Logo Assessment tests and so we will stick to the Deutsch Heute ones, which are relevant and excellent.
However the Logo Edexcel pack will be very useful later and we may be able to replace using GCSE Foundation papers for the Listening and Reading exams.
Finally please note that although I have given subtopics and page references from the students' book I have not linked in the new Arbeitshefte. On first glance these seem rather simple even though they are the higher differentiated level. They will certainly provided reinforcement for the single linguists. We will see what used they are for the double linguists as we go.
WHJC / CW
July 2007