Former headteacher and primary adviser, Kathryn Wild, shares her experience as an Spanish learner using NCELP
I have recently completed a Level 2 Languages For All online Spanish course at York University, and I have loved it!
I understand that in her teaching, my tutor Amanda, used her work at the NCELP, and that she drew on research-informed principles and materials that the Centre have developed and provide freely.
She has made every session interesting, purposeful, and highly effective, because during each two-hour session there have been rigorous opportunities to focus on developing specific skills; these have included:
- Specific opportunities to review and practice sounds and pronunciation, focussing on common errors and misconceptions.
- Direct teaching of relevant grammatical structures with opportunities to practice these in pairs or small groups.
- Sequential teaching of verb conjugation in different tenses and their application in meaningful contexts.
- Varied activities to practice reading, writing, listening, speaking – including during homework activities – which are always revisited during each subsequent lesson so that learning is built sequentially.
- Appropriate challenge to address misconceptions in a supportive (friendly) way.
- Sessions constructed within the parameters of syllabus but also in response to the precise assessment of our needs, so that the activities are never too hard nor too easy
- Lots of variety in each session so that there is never a dull moment!
As an ex-headteacher and I recognise the skills which has gone into creating this wonderful learning opportunity.
For me, each session just flies by (and I know I have a low boredom threshold!) and I can hardly believe where the year has gone. I also recognise that my Spanish has really improved (as has my confidence) and I can hardly wait to get to Spain to use it!
