Last Saturday, it was my pleasure to attend and present at the MFL Show and Tell session expertly organised by James Padvis and Joe Dale at the Foxford School and Community Arts College in Coventry.

It is truly humbling to meet people, some for the first time, whose excellent work and innovation you have followed over the years. It was also tremendously reassuring and invigorating to depart from the more common conservative attitudes to teaching and learning and enter an atmosphere in which everyone is motivated by the same urge to teach in a way which is relevant, motivating and engaging.

Suzi Bewell, Samantha Lunn, James Padvis, Isabelle Jones, Clare Seccombe, Kath Holton and Joe Dale inspired us all with their innovative practice, tips and advice on issues ranging from phonics to using wikis, from improving CPD to procuring the best classroom resources.

In my own impromptu presentation, I talked about our new departmental website and our efforts to use it as a showcase for students’ work and a repository of language related resources, but also as a tool to raise the profile of our department within the school and, hopefully, beyond.

Our use of Xtranormal and Edmodo were both referred to by popular demand and it made me extremely happy to note that, for the first time, I wasn’t the only person in the meeting using Edmodo.

The chat and conversations taking place in between presentations alone made the event worthwhile. I learnt about different microphones and digital recording devices directly from their users, I discussed policy and management issues with fellow heads of department and I gained a deeper insight into what motivated all of us: a desire to improve ourselves for the sake of our pupils.

Despite the wealth of internet and other ICT resources on show, it was also refreshing see how innovative practice is not confined to the use of computers and interactive whiteboards and how a classroom can become a wonderful teaching and learning environment with just a little bit of imagination and some cuddly toys.

A fluffy toy and the latest, trendy web application are just tools. Whichever tool you use is not important, what is important is how you use the tools available to you.

Finally, I am delighted to announce that the next MFL Show and Tell will take place in the brand new Sixth Form Centre of my own school, Nottingham High School, on Saturday 10th July. Further details will soon be made available on this website.

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This post is tagged Conferences & Shows, modern languages, show and tell