bc fla mentor briefing presentation 13-14
TRANSCRIPT
All images © Mat Wright
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants 1
FLA Mentor Briefing:
Getting the most from your FLA experience
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
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
PART 1: WEBINAR BASICS
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
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
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
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
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
Top tips and best practice for mentor teachers
Email follow-ups to face-to-face discussions
Establish communication process
Monitoring progress - FLA log/ diary
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
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
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
Supporting the assistant AFTER their arrival – Integration into the school
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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?
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
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
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
PART 3: USING YOUR FLA IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
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
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.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
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
PART 4: OTHER BRITISH COUNCIL OPPORTUNITIES
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm
Other British Council opportunitiesOther British Council opportunities
eTwinning
SchoolsOnline
Connecting Classrooms
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
Question Time (2)
Any final questions?
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
Thank you for your attendance and participation!
Evaluation form and slides will be sent by email
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm