A Round Up

WEBSITE

I have finally uploaded the new version of the www.languagesresources.co.uk website, but still have a fair few bugs to work out. Luckily the original version of the site can still be accessed through each languages’ home page. So far, Spanish has been uploaded (bar A Level and one or two smaller topics) and I have been able to find out what is working and what isn’t.

As I have a very small amount of knowledge with regards to how to use Dreamweaver it is often a stumble in the dark and a trawl through Google to figure out how to do things, but I have the general pages up and now it is just a question of adding resources. I plan to upload the remaining resources over the summer holidays, and then I can start working on the new games pages and develop pupil orientated language games for each topic as I teach it at school. I plan to use free software such as hot potatoes and languagesonline Australia. I know the type of things I would like to develop for my pupils, but if you have any requests or ideas let me know via the comment facility on this blog.

WIKI

Over the last few weeks I have written out my 4 year overview for Spanish (Year 8 – 11), with a focus on the new AQA GCSE. On the same wiki I have a page with useful web 2.0 tools for the MFL classroom which is slowly being added to. The aim of the wiki is to develop a selection of useful tools specifically aimed at MFL, and I will then incorporate them into the curriculum for Spanish, only using them if they have a relevant and focused aim. I look forward to more people collaborating with me on this project.

TWITTER

As usual, my twitter PLN have been an excellent source of information. Top Tips from Twitter this last week (or so) are:

1. Fickr Image sharing -for example the Images to teach languages group. Blog post on this by @aliceayel here.
2. Wallwisher.com to share ideas on a wall
3. Using Prezi instead of powerpoint in the classroom
4. Finding primary languages websites to help with the construction of the KS2 Curriculum for next year – useful links are on my delicious account
5. Wordsift – similar to Wordle, but with a slightly different focus…..

Updated website!

I am pleased to announce that I have finally uploaded the new version of www.languagesresources.co.uk! Unfortunately I have only managed to get round to linking to the majority of the Spanish resources on the new versions of the website, but fear not! – the old version of the site is still accessible via each language’s page.  If you spot any broken links/problems with viewing etc then please let me know and I can sort things out at my end. Slowly but surely I will upload French and German resources to the new version of the site, and the A Level pages will get a face lift to reflect the new specification AQA A Level.

LanguagesResources.co.uk

In November 2006, I started my own website with the aim of sharing resources with like-minded MFL teachers. My colleagues in and out of school offered resources to add to the site, and I created the current version of LanguagesResources.co.uk as it is seen today. With over 220,000 hits in just over 2 and a half years I can truly say that the website has been successful and I am always pleased to receive a thank-you email for the site.

 I have absolutely no clue about webdesigning (I made the first version of the site in FrontPage – a Microsoft program that is not too difficult to use with a little Microsoft common-sense) so the current version online is not technnically astounding by any stretch of the imagination. For the last 6 months I have been working on a new design of the website, using Adobe Dreamweaver C3 and it is taking a long time to re-input all of the resources into the new design as I have to do it ALL by hand. I will not upload the new site until I feel that most of the resources have been transferred over, as I do not want to put anyone in the position of not being able to access resources, however here is a sneak preview of the home page and a resources page. Any suggestions to improve are welcome!

 

A new blog, a new beginning

So, this is my first post on this brand spanking new blog.

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Samantha Lunn, and I am Head of Spanish at a school in the north west of England. I am the webmistress of www.languagesresources.co.ukand I have been known in the virtual world of the TES, previously as SpanishSam and now, as LingoLass.

For the past three years I have taught both French and Spanish, and I try to actively seek ways of using ICT in the classroom to enhance both teaching and learning.

I enjoy working in partnership with the University of Cumbria (previously St Martin’s College – see our old group blog at http://stmartinsmfl.wordpress.com) , I am in the process of mentoring my first trainee teacher, and I am also completing an MA module on mentoring.

I have recently delved into the depths of Twitter and Delicious and really enjoy stumbling across other teachers’ blogs as I like to read what other people have to say (maybe I am just nosy!) and I thought that it was high time that I put my thoughts down on paper. I especially enjoy the blogs of Joe Dale, Jose Picardo, Isabelle Jones and many more. I hope to talk about these in a future post.

It is now getting a wee bit late on a school night for me to write much more, however, over the coming days I aim to give a brief account of what I have been doing recently both in the classroom and out, both with MFL and ICT.

For now, goodnight.