1. FLAs in the UK
•The aim of the assistant programme
• Your subtopic goes here
•The English education system
•Practical ideas

2. Not everyone Are you thinking or sinking?
speaks English

3. The ENGLISH education system

4. The language of education
What are we talking about?
•KS3 (SATs) - KS4 (GCSE / GNVQ) - KS5 (AS/A2) (Sixth Form – Year 12 + 13)
•AT1 - AT2 - AT3 - AT4 (Attainment targets) Listening – Speaking – Reading - Writing
•DfE Department for Education
•AQA Assessment and Qualifications Authority
•OCR Oxford, Cambridge and RSA
•EdExcel [London based board]
•GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education

5. The examinations
– the boards

6. GCSE

7. The examinations
GCSE
The GCSE exam
• Listening 20%
• Speaking 30%
• Reading 20%
• Writing 30%

8. The examinations
GCSE
- speaking
The GCSE oral exam
Speaking and writing: Controlled Assessment
Teachers select the tasks, set them and
supervise them.

9. A level
Year 1 = AS
Year 2 = A2

10. The examinations
AS
- speaking
The AS oral exam
An aspect of culture or society in the TL country
Discuss a text with the examiner (time given for preparation e.g.
20 minutes)
Discussion of the text + further areas related to the same topic
20 minutes
•Unprepared questions are an essential part

12. The examinations
A2
- speaking
The A2 oral exam
The student is assessed on quality of language,
justification + debate, and understanding.
The examination can take the following form:
1 minute presentation
4 minute discussion of the topic chosen
Spontaneous discussion of two further issues

13. Find out which
examination
board you use +
be clear on the
expectations of
the examination

14. The expectations
of teachers
RESULTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
End of Year 9 – level 5+
GCSE grade C+
AS grades A+B
A2 grades A+B

15. The expectations
of teachers
Year 9 – end of KS3 levels – level 5+
Write a short paragraph of 5 or 6 longer sentences, including 2 time frames one
generally accurately and the other used correctly at least once. If appropriate
questions should be asked. Dictionaries are regularly used to find unknown words
and to check spellings for words they have learnt.
GCSE grade C+
Good competent language knowledge. Grasp of the past, future and present tense.
Good grasp of basic regular and irregular verbs. Opinions expressed and some
basic adjectives. Can answer questions on the exam topics without having to ask for
them to be repeated. Speaks at a reasonable pace and does not leave long pauses
in answers. Written coursework of 180+ words per assignment.
AS grades A+B
A2 grades A+B

16. The language of
the students
What are they talking about?
•bare (adverb) a lot of / very
•to cotch (verb) to hang out, relax, chill out or sleep
•(al)low it! “let me ….?”
•to switch to suddenly get angry
•safe (adj) good
•skeen (adj) I see, I get it
•sick very good
•wasteman (noun) person who does the minimum

17. How can the FLA
make a difference?
•Making them talk!
•Enthusiasm
•Experiencing the real thing
•Age gap
•You are not the teacher
•It is fun!

19. Divide the paper into 6
sections. In each section you
will draw something to
represent the words you will
see shortly. There is a time
limit – you must be FAST!

21. An item of food
A member of the family
A pet
An item of furniture
A method of transport
A type of weather

22. Show your pictures
to your partner +
he/she must guess
what they are

23. Show your pictures
to your partner +
he/she must give an
opinion on each
thing shown

24. Say something different

25. I hate onions
Make one change

26. Cats are weird
Make one change

27. I like to go for long
walks in the mountains
Make one change

28. My sister went to see
Lady Gaga in concert
last year
Make one change

29. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Progression
……. French
What is your favourite school
subject?

30. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Progression
I like French
What is your favourite school
subject?

31. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Progression
I like French because it is interesting
What is your favourite school
subject?

32. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Progression
I like French because it is interesting and the teacher is
good.
What is your favourite school
subject?

33. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Progression
I like French because it is interesting and the teacher is
good and in the future I would like to study Italian.
What is your favourite school
subject?

34. How can we make
GCSE
them talk??????
What do they want to talk about?
Starter questions – Did you see Eastenders?
Chelsea or Arsenal?
Big Brother or X Factor?
Mobile phones.

35. Coping with questions

36. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Questionnaires Ask me a question
•Name
•Age
•Home
•Date of birth
•Place of birth
•Brothers / Sisters
•Likes
•Dislikes
•Ambitions

37. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Questions
Maths 8.40 He is No, it is
strict difficult
15.10 It is I eat in Yes, I go
mixed the to Drama
canteen club

38. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Questions
What did you do last weekend?
What didn’t you do last weekend?

39. The importance of opinions

40. Si te entiendo
bien, piensas Tienes toda
que.. pero no es
la razón
verdad..
Has dicho
que ….pero
¡ni hablar!
En mi opinión
¡En
Estoy absoluto!
totalmente Bueno,
de acuerdo depende

41. Making speaking fun

42. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Making dialogues fun (?!)
•Act it out
•In a mood
•(acting techniques + memorisation)

43. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Millionaire
Who wants to be a millionaire?
A great teaching game! A sense of competition adds a
reason for student to talk.
Contestants have three lifelines:
1. They can phone a friend – and ask them the answer in 30 seconds
2. They can opt for 50:50 – and have two wrong answers taken away
3. They can ask the audience – i.e. their friends
They can only use each lifeline once.

44. Your answer must contain EXACTLY 7 words!
Your answer must contain more than 9 words!

45. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Using dice
Throw 1 – starter Throw 2 - opinion
1 I like 1 It’s…
2 I prefer 2 I find it…
3 I really like 3 Because it’s…
4 I don’t like 4 For me it’s…
5 I hate 5 I think it’s…
6 I can’t stand 6 Most of the time it’s…

46. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Using dice
1. I
2. You (singular)
3. He/she
4. We
5. You (plural)
6. They

47. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Using dice for pronunciation
1 A Londres tout est trop cher
2 A mon avis Paris est plus chic que Londres
3 Pour moi, c’est New York - c’est génial
4 J’aimerais aller à Tokyo – il paraît que c’est très zen
5 J’ai entendu qu’ à Sydney – on ne dort pas
6 Avec tous les films Bollywood, Bombay est très
à la mode

48. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Using dice for opinions
1 You are surprised by this viewpoint
2 You must defend this viewpoint
3 You agree
4 You disagree
5 You do not hold an opinion
6 You play for time on this topic

49. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Learning vocabulary
•Card games
•Bingo
•Repeat if it is true
•Pictionary
•Which one is missing?

50. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Different contexts
•Big Brother / X Factor / I’m a Celebrity (Get Me
Out of Here)

51. Creo que soy muy perezosa. En la casa
no hago nada. A veces lavo los platos y
mi ropa.
I think that I am very lazy. In the
house I do nothing. Sometimes I wash
the dishes and my clothes.

52. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Different contexts
•The Simpsons

53. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Different contexts
•The zoo

54. A conversation between cats
What are the cats talking about?
•Mice
•Their family
•Other cats in the area
•Last night
•Their kittens
•Food
•Dogs
•Famous cats (Garfield, Pink Panther, Puss in
Boots, etc)

55. Spend the Words
Take it in turns to ask and answer the same questions as before. This time,
rather than speaking for as long as you can, you need to try and include the
words below and ‘spend’ the words as you answer your 5 questions. Your
partner will cross them off as you use them and you need to do the same for
your partner. The first to use up all the words is the winner.
es
um...zu... schwerer als leicht aufstehen
würde...geben
man darf
wir müssen streng nicht leiden Mobbing
(nicht/kein(e))
meiner ...fällt
dreckig AGs gestern
Meinung nach mir/fallen mir
letzte Woche Deutschland Schulregeln weder…noch… können
Mittagspause gute Noten vielleicht Schuluniform Gang

56. Talk about your family
Opinion Present Future
Time
Reason Comparison
expression
Reference
Complexity Past
to others

57. Interviews
Students can conduct interviews on selected
topics with various people. It is a good idea that
the teacher provides a rubric to students so that
they know what type of questions they can ask
or what path to follow, but students should
prepare their own interview questions. After
interviews, each student can present their
findings.

58. The key elements needed
to get higher grades
need to be emphasised

59. How can we make them talk? GCSE
IMPORTANT!!!!!!
•Results
•Opinions
•Tenses
•Extended language

60. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Keeping their attention!
Think about the length of lessons. If you have slots that
are longer than 25 minutes, you’ll need to think about the
number of activities to cover. Pupils learn in different
ways. Some respond well to the written word, others to
pictures, others to sound, others to very active tasks. Try
and include different types of activities in your work to
appeal to different learner types. Vary your approach
from week to week.

61. Using pictures

62. What? Where? Who?
When? How?
How many?
Why?
AQA Spanish AS Level
© Nelson Thornes 2008

64. en Espagne.
L’année dernière, je suis allé(e) aux Étas-unis
en France.
dans un hotel confortable.
Je suis resté(e) dans un camping et c’était bien equipé(e).
dans une gîte très moderne.
des monuments j’ai fait du cyclisme.
J’ai visité des musées et j’ai nagé dans la mer.
des galeries j’ai fait des excursions.
les plages la chaleur.
J’aimais bien les boîtes de nuit mais pas les toilettes.
les restaurants les embouteillages.
Écosse faire de l’alpinisme.
L’année prochaine, j’irai en Autriche pour faire du canoë-kayac.
Australie visiter les attractions.

65. Picture Describing
Another way to make use of pictures is to give
students just one picture and have them
describe what it is in the picture. For this
activity students can form groups and each
group is given a different picture. Students
discuss the picture with their groups, then a
spokesperson for each group describes the
picture to the whole class.

66. Spot the Difference
For this activity students can work in pairs and
each couple is given two different pictures, for
example, picture of boys playing football and
another picture of girls playing tennis. Students
in pairs discuss the similarities and/or
differences in the pictures.

67. Décris les différences:
Questions
Il est dix heures – il est trois heures
il y a combien de personnes
le chien est grand – le chien est petit
dans les deux photos?
La voiture est jaune – la voiture est noire
Quel temps fait-il?
il y a des chaussures dans le magasin – il y a des gâteaux
Le chien est de quelle
il y a un velo – il n’y a pas de velo
couleur?
la dame dans la voiture est jeune– la dame est vieille
Quelle heure est-il?
l’homme lit un journal- l’homme boit un coca
Que fait l’homme?
la dame dans la voiture n’écoute pas de musique- la dame dans
Il y a combien d’arbres?
la voiture ecoute de la musique
il fait mauvais – il fait beau
il y a deux arbres – il y a trois arbres

70. GCSE
How can we make them talk?
AS/A2
Use of video

71. Prediction

72. Imagine what is happening in the video for each sound

75. Which of these is the baby doing?

77. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Use of Youtube / Google video
•School filters
www.keepvid.com

78. How can we make them talk? GCSE
Techniques for exploiting film/video
•freeze frame description/ prediction
•brainstorming – adjectives for characters/scenes
•sound down
•sound only
•listening for presence/order
•Summaries

79. Use of song
Memorising words / lyrics

81. Brief texts as prompts for speaking

82. Estudia el anuncio y
prepara tu comentario.
1 ¿De qué trata? ¿Cuál es el
tema?
2 ¿A quién va dirigido el
anuncio?
3 ¿Cuáles son las palabras
clave del eslogan?
4 ¿Te interesaría esta clase
de vacaciones? ¿Por qué?
5 ¿Qué importancia tienen
las vacaciones en tu opinión?
AQA Spanish AS Level © Nelson Thornes 2008

83. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
1. Text to prompt talk

84. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
1. Text to prompt talk
2. Use of headlines

85. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
1. Text to prompt talk
2. Use of headlines
3. Questionnaires

86. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
1. Text to prompt talk
2. Use of headlines
3. Questionnaires
4. Match headline to text

87. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
1. Text to prompt talk
2. Use of headlines
3. Questionnaires
4. Match headline to text
5. Incorrect summaries

88. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
1. Text to prompt talk
2. Use of headlines
3. Questionnaires
4. Match headline to text
5. Incorrect summaries
6. Key words + invent story

89. How can we make them talk? A level
Use of text
Create your own text.
www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

90. Pronunciation

91. Other ideas for prompting talk
Tongue twisters for pronunciation
Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.
Mrs. Smith's Fish Sauce Shop.
Unique New York.

92. Listening
How you can help us

94. More ideas?
www.britishcouncil.org/flasonline