We recently had the opportunity to loan the MFL department at Farnham Heath End School some iPads for trial in the classroom. According to teachers, using the iPads as a resource has opened up countless opportunities for motivating and engaging students through interactive activities.

Here are some of the applications they tried along with their comments:

Touch Tango

Students worked in groups of 4 to test their language skills as well as their co-ordination  in a game of Touch Tango.  The game is almost a miniature version of the game Twister, but for your fingers! All instructions are given in the target language and to win, students must stretch their hands across the screen to access the correct coloured square with the correct finger as instrcuted! This game was particularly popular with the kinaesthetic learners and years 7 and 8, who enjoyed the flashing colours and “whoops” noises if your finger slipped!

Speak Board

Our Foreign Language Assistants worked with individual students using Speak Board. This application was used to test students on useful conversational phrases in preparation for the oral exams and for role plays.

Language application

We found this application, with its vast banks of French and German vocabulary, the most helpful and engaging language application for students. Vocabulary was divided into topics and students worked in small groups, pairs and as a class to learn and test key vocabulary from the topic selected. In this task, students could also choose which type of exercise to complete (listening, reading, spelling etc). The application allowed students to see how many correct answers they had and which they got wrong-a very important tool for language learning and a wonderful example of AfL.

Linguascope on the move

This application taught students the Key Stage 3 French and German vocabulary. With its fun pictures and sounds, this was another engaging tool to use in the classroom.

Summary

Having the use of the iPads in MFL lessons has had a huge impact on the teaching and learning within our department; they have brought lessons to life and helped us to achieve our goal of engaging students in language learning and encouraging them to become citizens of the world. We would strongly recommend iPads as a classroom tool.

For more information contact the education team on: 0844 8751 610