Dr J's Emporium of Musical Education

So it is the last week of the Autumn term and the school is slowly winding down towards the winter break.  Which means it is a great time to start thinking about what we are going to be doing in the Spring Term of 2018!  Already it is beginning to look like it is going to be very busy, and so any ideas that can help with lessening marking/ preparation workload are greatly appreciated. I must admit that most of these ideas I am looking at are taken from # teachertoolkit.co.uk , which is a website I would heartily recommend, along with the twitter account - I have learnt more from these in the last couple of months than I thought possible.  The site has had some great ideas about differentiation, plenaries and homework that I am already using - check out the takeaway homework menu  which we used as a starting point for developing differentiated homework options which the students love - but what I am finding most interesting is the free online resources that is out there to use. W

Having lived in the Middle East for some time now, I find it somewhat of an embarrassment that my knowledge of Arabic has not got much further than the numbers 1-10, hello, goodbye, thank you, please and a few other one or two word answers.  This feeling was reinforced yesterday when I had to  cover a year 10 Arabic class.  To put it mildly I think I understood maybe one word in a hundred and that is being generous! This actually got me thinking about how we approach teaching EAL students in schools.  We expect them to at least try to participate, and encourage them to answer questions which in a lot of subjects - mine included - are abstract concepts and not recognisably linked to everyday life.  I remember from one CPD session that we were told that the moment an EAL student starts asking to go for the toilet, that is the first sign that they are developing understanding and language acquisition - I cannot even do that! From this experience, I am now rethinking how I appro