By Danielle Boaler

I have recently completed my tenth year as an MFL teacher in the UK and this year I covered the Head of Spanish role while my colleague was on maternity leave. I have always found languages a tricky subject to win students over on. ‘Why bother learning another language if everybody else speaks English?’ As a nation, we need to break free from these views. Being primarily a monolingual nation really has an impact on young people’s views towards language learning. Convincing students to see languages as a serious option is a challenge. 
 

The current situation

Language uptake is at an all-time low at UK universities and at GCSE level. Currently, around 42% of students take a language at GCSE. The hardest hit languages are French and German. Many universities have scrapped language courses and others are following suit, which in turn sends out a negative message towards language learning. If our higher institutions don’t take languages seriously, then who else will? I’m currently encouraging my Year 12 students to study a language at university but the three closest universities no longer offer languages as a degree option meaning that any students in the Midlands wishing to study a language will have to move away from home. Language learning opportunities are scarce. As a teacher fighting to increase GCSE uptake, it is a huge blow to the language learning community. ‘Who does actually care about languages?’ Well, I do. So this year, I upped my game.
 

Our goal…

One of the Spanish department’s targets this year was to increase the numbers of students taking Spanish at GCSE, so I did everything in my power to increase uptake. Students at my school are not obliged to take a language at GCSE. Last year, eight students chose Spanish. This year, twenty-four students have chosen it for GCSE. Many others would have actually chosen it if they had three option choices rather than just two as students in my school must choose either Geography or History as a GCSE option. Our hard work has paid off!

What we did to increase our uptake

1. Ensure your students are aware of the potential career paths requiring languages 

Educate your students on the opportunities brought about by learning languages. The only reason I had any idea about language careers was because my mum used to tell me about her jobs. She worked as a European Tour Manager in Germany and Switzerland, taught a handful of French Nottingham Forest football players English and had worked as a translator, a teacher and for several German engineering companies. From a young age, I knew that the world was my oyster.

Having an end goal and being aware of the opportunities out there increases student engagement as students see language learning as beneficial and purposeful for their future. At the start of every academic year, I deliver a lesson on careers for all year groups, regardless of whether they are Year 7 or sixth formers. After this lesson, they rarely ask me why they are studying languages.

This year, I asked my colleagues to do exactly the same. Share experiences you have had with languages or those of your friends and family. You can even reach out to professionals on LinkedIn and ask them to record a video about what they do. I always tell my students about my job at Disneyland Paris and stress that the only reason I got the job is because I spoke French.

Our Year 9 students attend a careers fair before they choose their options. I have been a speaker at the fair for three years. I also asked my sister to come along this year as she has experience using her languages in IT, a subject our students are incredibly interested in. If I come across any interesting language job vacancies over the year, I show them. They were particularly interested in a Player Liaison Officer at Sheffield United that required languages.
 

2. Praise works wonders

It is a well-known fact that most students believe language learning is difficult. This can put them off choosing them at GCSE. We have just interviewed students on their thoughts about Spanish. Despite increasing numbers this year, many of them believe it would be too difficult for them. Our next target is to make Spanish more accessible.

If your students are good, tell them. Phone home, award them star of the lesson, reward sweets for good answers, give them stickers or write them a postcard to send home. I made postcards with my Spanish holiday photos on. Children love praise. Make them believe in themselves. If they believe they are good at something, they are more likely to choose it as a GCSE option. Languages have always been labelled as ‘challenging’ often putting students off so we need to do whatever we can to make languages accessible. It is easier said than done as I often find that finding time is an issue. Can you give your department fixed amounts of time in department meetings to phone home for students succeeding in your classes?

In May we ran a Spanish food tasting event. We invited our top thirty students who had worked hard throughout the year. The students thoroughly enjoyed it. Our invitations read ‘Thank you for your hard work in Spanish lessons this year’. Funnily enough, many of the students who came to the food-tasting event have chosen Spanish for GCSE.

3. Build students' curiosity to learn languages

Reward students when they attempt to learn other languages. We solely teach Spanish at my school but when students tell me they are learning Czech, Polish, French, Japanese or another language, I ask them about it, encouraging them to share their new knowledge. I try to instil a love of languages in my students regardless of the language they are learning and also award achievement points.

This year, I created a Language Exchange. I did my best with this but I was limited on time due to having a full timetable. Our students speak over eighty languages between them so I this is why I set it up. Some of the pairings were incredible. Some included: Farsi-Arabic, French-Polish, Bulgarian-Czech and many more. Once again, I aimed to instil curiosity in our students. I always stress to my students that they may just be learning Spanish at school but they can pick up a second language later on or simply learn another outside school.

I always show students my holiday pictures of places I have visited. I recently showed them my photos of the Dordogne in France. I don’t just try to raise the profile of Spanish but other languages too. I also share my own views telling students how appreciated I am when I speak to someone in their native language.

4. Combine language learning with students' passions

All of our students have different interests. Spain winning the World Cup certainly got our students talking about Spain! The majority of my current students are football crazy. A few months back, I organised a Spanish football tournament for our Year 9 students just before they chose their options. Before they played in the tournament, we prepared a football lesson on the history of Real Madrid and Barcelona. We also taught them key football vocabulary and informed them that the students who use the most Spanish in the tournament will win prizes. Prizes included Real Madrid and Barcelona stationery and a Real Madrid football. They absolutely loved it and they used their Spanish in a real-life situation.

Every time there is a World Cup, a Euros tournament or a Copa de América, I prepare a lesson on it demonstrating the importance of learning Spanish as it is so widely spoken. On occasions, I just quickly show them match highlights.

I occasionally show students videos of English football players such as Trent Alexander Arnold or Jude Bellingham conversing in Spanish in order to demonstrate the benefits of language learning to students and to also show that they can do it too!

5. Use authentic materials and prepare meaningful tasks

Look over your unit plans. Where can you use authentic resources and add in meaningful tasks? I went through our unit plans at Easter and added an extra column for authentic and creative task ideas. I also thought about where I could drop in snippets of Spanish culture. In our Year 8 unit on food, I added a lesson on The Colombian Exchange. Students were amazed to discover that many foods come from Latin America. We also did a lesson ordering food from authentic menus and a lesson on food production in Spain.

Building on cross-curricular links has also been a success. When Year 8 studied music, I prepared a lesson on Spanish speaking artists and playing them many songs which they then added to their playlists at home.

Are the tasks you prepare purposeful? Could your students imagine using language in real-life situations? I have recently taught things in a town. I explained to my Year 7 that Nottingham has Spanish visitors and they would like to know what to visit so would need a tourist information leaflet on Nottingham. My Year 9 had to pretend they were going on holiday to Spain and brainstormed useful vocabulary they may learn before they go. We discussed tourist information, directions, greetings etc. Then they watched a video on Cordoba and had to write down where they were going to visit. Then we practised directions using a map. If you are teaching a cultural topic, show them videos and allow them to do purposeful speaking tasks. Allow them to put their knowledge into real life practice.

Students also enjoy variety. If time allows, expose them to what is going on in the Spanish (French/German) speaking world. We have recently taught them about missing people in Mexico, the Venezuelan earthquake and global warming in Spain.
 

6. Make the country of the language you are teaching as accessible as possible

I have previously mentioned bringing culture to the classroom but do your students want to even visit the country of the language they are studying? If they don’t, they’re going to see little point in learning the language. Being in a very poor catchment area means that a very very small number of my students have been to Spain. A few weeks back, I asked students how much they thought a flight to Spain was. They responded £200/£300. Then I got Ryanair up and searched for flights for the following week. They were £25 each way to Malaga. My whole class gasped. Simply doing this made my students believe travelling to Spain was more of a reality.

We haven’t done it yet but I highly recommend planning a trip. It is challenging to constantly bring a language to life within four classroom walls in a UK school so it is important to provide them with opportunities to experience the language. Blue Stamp Travel provides a huge variety of trips abroad including work experience trips, language learning trips and much more. I will never forget my trip to Paris in Year 9 with my school. It certainly was a game changer. A trip abroad opens young people’s minds and adds to the purpose of language learning.
 

Bring on the challenge…

To conclude, please do take some of the above ideas on board and share them with your colleagues or heads of departments. I have mentioned Spanish but you can use any of the above ideas with any language you are teaching. If you have done something well that you think has helped to increase uptake or engagement in lessons, please do share your comments below. We are in this together! Let’s raise the profile of language learning in the UK! I am also happy to expand on ideas and share materials. Feel free to get in touch.

Danielle Boaler is a Spanish teacher in an inner-city school in Nottingham and has recently finished a role covering as Head of Department for her manager.

Danielle studied both French and Spanish for her degree, starting Spanish as a complete beginner - one of the biggest challenges of her life. She loves languages and loves to travel.

In her free time, Danielle runs a travel blog, works as a Spanish speaking Tour Guide, writes for magazines, goes hiking, plays football and looks after the school garden.

Danielle is passionate in her belief that language learning deserves more attention in school. It has allowed her to have a  varied career path, allowing her to travel easily, and simply making her a more open and accepting person, a message she tries to pass on to her students.

You can contact Danielle on LinkedIn.

Views expressed on CIOL Voices are those of the writer and may not represent those of the wider membership or CIOL.