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This was the name of the support day for Foreign Language Assistants (FLAs) working in Scottish schools. Organised by British Council Scotland, SCILT (Scotland’s National Centre for Languages) and Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) on 21 January in Glasgow, about two thirds of the 129 assistants working across Scotland - from Glasgow to Orkney – attended. Between them they represented six languages and came from a diverse range of countries including Argentina, Austria, Belgium, China, Chile, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
The aim of the day was to support the work of the language assistants in Scottish schools and to develop their teaching skills. Workshops, an interactive quiz and question and answers sessions deepened the assistants’ knowledge of Curriculum for Excellence, extended their bank of web and paper resources and developed their ideas on how to present their culture to young learners in Scotland and how to prepare these learners for upcoming speaking examinations.
The day culminated in assistants competing to create the best lesson plan based on their experience in Scottish schools and their learning from the day.
Speaking at the event, Professor Kay Livingston from LTS, and John Bissett from the Scottish Government both stressed the importance of languages in the new Curriculum for Excellence.
The fall in the number of FLAs has been highly publicised recently and will have a large impact on language learning and international education in Scotland. This event further emphasised the benefits that an assistant can bring to young language learners.
Two of the best lessons plans produced in the afternoon session clearly took on board the ideas of Curriculum for Excellence and were strongly cross curricular with one asking students to produce a weather report in the target language and another combining with maths in an activity where students had to buy the ingredients for paella.
Foreign Language Assistants play a vital role in the teaching of languages across Scotland. They bring language to life in the classroom and can support students either individually or in a group to improve their confidence in speaking languages and understanding other cultures.
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