Supporting the new secondary curriculum for languages

Many schools are exploring how to make learning more engaging and meaningful for pupils by planning projects across subjects. One example might be the theme of slavery in Year 7, with a cross-disciplinary approach helping pupils to gain a wider understanding of the topic. How might this approach work?

Art & Design

Art & Design is required to engage with a range of images and artefacts from different contexts, recognising the characteristics of different cultures and using them to inform their creating and making. Often this involves looking at either Aboriginal or African art styles. If west African masks, for example, were explored, this could lead pupils into better understanding the cultural background of those who were taken by slave ships to the West Indies. Pupils could explore the materials used in the artefacts and the functions of the masks in west African societies, to explore their artistic form and function.

English

English reading should enable pupils to appreciate the quality and distinctiveness of texts from different cultures and traditions. Although not specifically listed in the ‘appropriate reading’ lists, Harper Lee’s To kill a Mocking Bird is a text available to and used by many English departments and adds to the cultural understanding of the African American experience. Similar themes can be drawn out of the works of Maya Angelou (who is listed) or other writers from the Commonwealth or Caribbean.

Geography

Geography should include human geography and themes such as migration. By exploring the causes and consequences of migration, geography could examine the enforced African emigration of the 18th century compared with the strictly controlled African emigration of the 21st century. Commentators such as the Senegalese rap singer Didier Awadi may be brought in here, and geography teachers could build on the popular Trading Game to explore his lyrics and thinking. This would contribute to developing global citizens who consider the impact of local and national decisions on global developments. In early 2008, his website features words & images which geographers could use to generate thought & discussion.

History

History ensures coverage of the slave trade within the curriculum, as the programme of study states that all pupils should be taught 'the nature and effects of the slave trade'. History teachers will want to use this as a vehicle to explore key concepts such as cause and consequence, significance and interpretation as well as factual knowledge about the era. They may be able to suggest which aspects of slavery language teachers could best explore with pupils and work with languages to explore original source materials. Some good sources are available on Wikipedia (by enlarging and enhancing images) and there are some superb resources for which history colleagues may be very grateful from Collège Albert Camus, in Versailles Local Authority.

ICT

ICT can also contribute to this theme, as finding information is a key process in programme of study, within which pupils should be able to analyse and evaluate information, judging its value, accuracy, plausibility and bias. Pupils can visit sites such as http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/learning/makethelinkbreakthechain.asp (from the 2007 commemorations in Liverpool), the new international slavery museum in Liverpool http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/index.aspx or Bristol’s Commonwealth & Empire Museum website http://www.empiremuseum.co.uk/ (until the museum moves to London). These sites could be examined for value and any bias.

Music

Music teachers are now encouraged to start their planning for musical understanding from the point of view of cultural contexts for styles, genres and traditions. This makes for ideal links with other subjects, including languages, as music commonly explores African drumming, Blues traditions and reggae. If French and Spanish can assist history in depicting the cultural context for this, then all subjects can benefit.

Languages

In languages, pupils could produce simple texts related to common themes found in beginners’ language courses such as presenting family, home and daily life. They could produce a multi-media presentation of an imagined daily routine of a slave family. This could build on the ICT sample teaching unit of work 7.1, produced by the Secondary National Strategy and used by many schools http://www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/secondary/keystage3/downloads/ictsample.... The unit explores 'fitness for purpose' of presentations and the idea of audience awareness, which is also appropriate for English and languages.

Languages includes Intercultural Understanding as a key concept, so it would be appropriate for pupils to explore this through the web, on such sites as http://goree.ifrance.com/ (with some interesting musical references) or the more general http://webworld.unesco.org/goree/fr/screens/0.shtml where they can look at the many photos (see also www.flickr.com or http://www.woophy.com/map/index.php for general photos from all round the world). Towns such as St. Malo and Bordeaux also have slaving heritages which are worth exploring.

A video (more useful for teachers or older learners) is also available on the Didier Awadi site. A little is also available in Spanish about the slave routes to Cuba on http://www.dtcuba.com/ShowReport.aspx?c=275 and there are other disparate articles on the web about daily life in Uruguay in the 19th Century as described by Lino Suárez Peña or plans to build Argentina’s first slavery museum in Alta Gracia, from an old cinema and supermarket or the Chilean experience can be seen through its virtual art museum, based in Santiago de Chile - LOS ESCLAVOS EN CHILE NO DESAPARECIERON http://www.mav.cl/.

Year 7 pupils could usefully read about slavery and its impact through French or Spanish texts, adapted by a foreign language assistant or teacher, using information from above sites. They could explore daily life on board the slave ships or on the plantations or could read about why the slave trade began. This could usefully support history work on cause and consequence. It could also provide a different angle on the usual daily routine or food topics or be a way of introducing past tenses, thus combining language learning with some content. The lack of intrinsic interest in content and where the learning is all about language structure are often complaints of the young language learner. Finding engaging contexts for including new language is important and, sometimes, it is important to allow pupils to read or listen to material which is for intercultural understanding and does not require any language assessment or comprehension questions.

Reflections with other language teachers: What might be the potential for developing such a cross-curriculum theme within school? What type of learning would we hope to see for languages? How could we contribute to other subjects’ understanding? What other potential themes are there which could draw in a range of other subjects? Reflections with other subjects: Which are the main contexts used by other subjects in Year 7 where joint working could be beneficial?