I went to the Primary Languages Show in Manchester today. I wasn’t presenting this year, but I was back in the UK mixing the new album so figured I’d pop along.

It is amazing to see how the situation in the UK is almost identical to that in Asia, with many teachers worried about having to teach a language they don’t speak. However I was also impressed today with the many teachers who clearly did know what they were talking about both from the theory and practical aspects of primary language teaching. A couple of other things that struck me as different were:

Interactive Whiteboards
Everybody was using them! Even though all the Genki English materials are interactive whiteboard ready, hardly any teachers in Asia use them. But they make life so much easier. No more bending down to type or move a mouse, just touch the screen and off you go. I wish more teachers would make use of them!

So many European Languages
In the business world all we hear about these days is Chinese, Chinese & Chinese. One of the lines I use in my workshops is “There’s only one valid excuse not to do English in primary school. It’s if you want to do Chinese instead”. Today most of the materials were for European languages and mainly French. I have a feeling that will change soon.

The prices!
English teachers certainly do get a great deal for their money compared with teachers of other languages. Today’s conference was around $600 for the workshops and most of the materials were several hundred dollars. I should put my prices up!

The Language Ladder
The UK government have issued a “language ladder” to help examine how children are progressing. It’s very useful. I picked up lots of nice posters about it, but sadly couldn’t find anything but this on their website. But here’s the one for “speaking”:

1. I can say and repeat single words and short simple phrases,
2. I can answer simple questions and give basic information.
3. I can ask and answer simple questions and talk about my interests.
4. I can take part in a simple conversation and I can express my opinions.
5. I can give a short prepared talk, on a topic of my choice, including expressing my opinions.
6. I can give a short prepared talk, expressing opinions and answering simple questions about it, using a variety of structures.
7. I can answer unprepared questions in a conversation or following a presentation
8. I can narrate events, tell a story or relate the plot of a book or film and give my opinions about it.
9. I can take part in a discussion, giving and justifying my opinions and ideas.

It’s a very useful tool when building a multi year curriculum. It’s a shame they don’t have the reading, listening and writing ones online.

Activities
Activities wise I didn’t see anything new that jumped out, most of the stuff we have on the games pages already. Although the government is wanting oracy before literacy, many of the activities were relying on children being able to read to do many of the activities.