Living Languages: An Integrated Approach to Teaching Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools

Living Languages is simply bursting with practical and original ideas aimed at teachers and trainee teachers of foreign languages in secondary schools. Written by a team of experienced linguists, this book will inspire and motivate the foreign language classroom and the teachers who work within it.

Living Languages comprises eight chapters and is structured around the integrated classroom, merging language learning with different aspects of the wider curriculum such as multimedia, theatre and music, celebrations and festivals, sport, and alternative approaches to teaching languages. A DVD is also included with the book containing additional teaching materials and the associated films and audio recordings which make this a fully developed and effective teaching resource.

Twenty-eight real-life case studies and projects are presented, all of which have been tried and tested in the classroom with many having won recent educational awards. Ideas and activities outlined in this unique resource include:

• Languages and multi-media projects involving different uses of technology such as film-making, Digital Storytelling and subtitling in different languages;
• Languages and theatre and music including the work of the Thêàtre Sans Frontières with its Marie Curie Science Project;
• Motivating pupils to learn languages whilst keeping fit including examples from Score in French, The German Orienteering Festival and Handball in Spanish;
• Continuing Professional Development to inspire secondary language teachers to continue their individual professional development. The chapter contains concrete examples of others’ experiences in this area and includes details of support organisations and practical opportunities.

Each project is explored from the teachers’ perspective with practical tips, lesson plans and reflections woven throughout the text such as what to budget, how to organise the pre-event period, how to evaluate the activity and whom to contact for further advice in each case. Activities and examples throughout are given in three languages – French, German and Spanish.

Dr Catherine Watts is currently Director of the Routes into Languages South consortium and is Principal Lecturer in English Language and German with the Faculty of Arts as well as contributing to the EdD, PGCE and MA in Education at the University of Brighton, UK.

Clare Forder is the Programme Manager for the regional Routes into Languages South consortium at the University of Brighton and has had sustained contact with teachers and pupils in the secondary sector over the past few years.