Friday, 6th November

Today we were supposed to be attached to a Sixth Form student, but there seemed to be some misunderstanding, so we had to wait in the library for quite a long time before we could finally see what a Sixth Form class looks like.

THIRD PERIOD - SPANISH

After the break, we follow a student who goes to a Spanish grammar class. They are working with a Spanish teaching assistant. There are only 4 students, and they are revising the Spanish tenses, as they will have to conjugate them in their AS level exam next May. The teacher has created a table, that the students should have learnt by heart but which they haven't had time to memorize. The table includes the endings for different tenses. The teacher has some cards, showing different situations (people watching TV, playing, swimming, eating…), and she also has a dice. What the students must do depends on the dice. They have to conjugate the verb in all the different tenses, but using only one pronoun depending on the dice: 1- I  2- You  3- He, she, it  4- We  5- You all  6- They

The teacher explains to us that there is a great gap between the GCSE and the A level in Spanish. The GCSE exam on foreing languages can be prepared memorizing conversations or texts, as they know the tasks they will be tested on. They have 4 tasks which can be prepared in advance, and which amount 60% of the final mark. The other 40% is reading and writing. But this means that they can have a very good mark without being really able to speak Spanish. This implies that if they want to have a good mark in their A levels they must make a great effort in their Sixth Form.

After revising the verbs, the students work with the pronouns. The teacher asks the students to tell her the reflexive verbs, revising what they already know about them. Later, she gives them some English sentences that they must translate into Spanish.

FOURTH PERIOD – ENGLISH

The students are reading Shakespeare's “The taming of the Shrew”. The teacher has given them two different assignments:
Create a collage of images, cuttings and words to represent how society's representation of gender has changed
Create a clear way (images, diagrams, etc) of representing the historical references to art and mythology that we have encountered so far in the play and how it depicts characters and ideas
Students can do their task on the computer and send it to the teacher by email

Today the teacher has to meet students individually to discuss their respective progress reviews. Whilst doing that, the rest of the students can choose one of the following tasks:
Discuss the annotations they made for homework, sharing their thoughts with other students
Read each others' essays and, if they feel confident enough, mark in green pen the work against the Aos.

In order to help the students with their individual work, the teacher shows a slide with different topics and ideas to discuss about the play

This subject (English literature) is focussed on three specific works, that the students will have to read and analyse thoroughly throughout the year: Emma, by Jean Austen, The taming of the shrwe, by Shakespeare and The importance of being Earnest, by Wilde. Their A level exams will be centred on these three specific works. Instead of memorizing a list of authors and literary styles, they focus on studying certain novels and plays in a very deep way, including intertextual links and connections with contemporary problems and topics.

While the teacher is revising each pupil's academic progress, talking to them individually, the rest of the pupils work in pairs, discussing the questions that the teacher has given to them.

FIFTH PERIOD – SPANISH

The teacher introduces the Spanish visitors to the class, but pupils seem to be very shy.

The students are revising the Spanish words used in ICT. In their A level exams, they will be shown different images and they will have to give their Spanish names. The teacher gave them some examples as homework, and they tried to image what was their purpose. Some of their sentences were very creative and imaginative. This is a good occasion to make them interact with the teacher and use their Spanish in a real conversation. They love this activity and they learn a lot of Spanish with it, as they must use all their knowledge to communicate their opinions in a real situation!