@carmenzs.bsky.social
And all that harm so that there would be no people like me in schools and hospitals. And the outrage that after years of working in the UK we would have some entitlements. And the people responsible for Brexit sell the same scare stories about other migrants. Project Fear indeed.
November 22, 2025 at 11:39 AM
And all that harm so that there would be no people like me in schools and hospitals. And the outrage that after years of working in the UK we would have some entitlements. And the people responsible for Brexit sell the same scare stories about other migrants. Project Fear indeed.
I plan lessons following the textbook and I get brain fog making sense of the content. Unit 7: double spread on passive sentences followed by a double spread on how to avoid them! There is no passive voice in Spanish, the past participle works like an adjective agreeing with the subject.
November 22, 2025 at 10:17 AM
I plan lessons following the textbook and I get brain fog making sense of the content. Unit 7: double spread on passive sentences followed by a double spread on how to avoid them! There is no passive voice in Spanish, the past participle works like an adjective agreeing with the subject.
I doubt that if schools had freedom to choose the exam students take we would be choosing this GCSE. We are trapped in this moronic and elitist view of language by Ofsted and league tables. "Use a verb, use more than one word..." that is not communication.
November 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I doubt that if schools had freedom to choose the exam students take we would be choosing this GCSE. We are trapped in this moronic and elitist view of language by Ofsted and league tables. "Use a verb, use more than one word..." that is not communication.
I wrote Edexcel about errors in the textbook. They told me that the expert in grammar knew a lot. I said me too and referred them to a series of articles and a grammar endorsed by the RAE that proved my point. The reply was that they did not understand most of what I had written.
November 22, 2025 at 10:08 AM
I wrote Edexcel about errors in the textbook. They told me that the expert in grammar knew a lot. I said me too and referred them to a series of articles and a grammar endorsed by the RAE that proved my point. The reply was that they did not understand most of what I had written.
And that is difficult for A Level... The pseudo-science behind this GCSE annoys me: let's select the most frequent words (used by who?) but let's have random grammar requirements and very normative mark schemes, full of mistakes and exclusive of varieties used my millions of native speakers
November 22, 2025 at 10:02 AM
And that is difficult for A Level... The pseudo-science behind this GCSE annoys me: let's select the most frequent words (used by who?) but let's have random grammar requirements and very normative mark schemes, full of mistakes and exclusive of varieties used my millions of native speakers
Add the creators of the new GCSE. Last week I had to teach the imperative to my Y11. What use is the imperative to A2 students? Only there because you can explain it "grammatically". Parroting grammar rules they don't have enough time to practice presented as "knowledge"
November 22, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Add the creators of the new GCSE. Last week I had to teach the imperative to my Y11. What use is the imperative to A2 students? Only there because you can explain it "grammatically". Parroting grammar rules they don't have enough time to practice presented as "knowledge"
Me too! I came here fully qualified, met my local partner for more than 30 years and now I have to pay 2000 to show that I am grateful for the opportunities given as a very successful teacher. Which included being bullied, being accused of smelling and doing somebody else's job as well as mine.
November 16, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Me too! I came here fully qualified, met my local partner for more than 30 years and now I have to pay 2000 to show that I am grateful for the opportunities given as a very successful teacher. Which included being bullied, being accused of smelling and doing somebody else's job as well as mine.
The specification might be overambitious, but the real problem is how poorly designed the exams are. Which seems to be spreading to the hurried GCSE we are suffering now. And the bizarre selection of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.
November 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
The specification might be overambitious, but the real problem is how poorly designed the exams are. Which seems to be spreading to the hurried GCSE we are suffering now. And the bizarre selection of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.
That is a very good question. Fear of the headlines: "languages dumbed down?".
November 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
That is a very good question. Fear of the headlines: "languages dumbed down?".
I think my Spanish became more precise as a consequence of "living" in English.
November 11, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I think my Spanish became more precise as a consequence of "living" in English.
From memory: conjugated regular forms are not vocabulary, because they follow the rules. Irregular forms are included in the wordlist.
November 10, 2025 at 8:40 PM
From memory: conjugated regular forms are not vocabulary, because they follow the rules. Irregular forms are included in the wordlist.
I agree that phonics should be sorted out early and I always thought that - allowing for interlanguage variation - my students did well. But I was wrong, because "it takes years". We allow fossilization because of the pillars "evidence" and we are interested in grammar, so it must be important.
November 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I agree that phonics should be sorted out early and I always thought that - allowing for interlanguage variation - my students did well. But I was wrong, because "it takes years". We allow fossilization because of the pillars "evidence" and we are interested in grammar, so it must be important.
Unfortunately mostly they don't, for a variety of reasons: what you mention (practise what you are going to be tested on), because we prefer spread over depth (damn you, spiral curriculum!) and because the English literacy and motivation to support this approach is not there.
November 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Unfortunately mostly they don't, for a variety of reasons: what you mention (practise what you are going to be tested on), because we prefer spread over depth (damn you, spiral curriculum!) and because the English literacy and motivation to support this approach is not there.
I found it very interesting and useful too! I will be reporting to my dept who are very pro-grammar and pro-vocabulary list.
November 9, 2025 at 11:09 PM
I found it very interesting and useful too! I will be reporting to my dept who are very pro-grammar and pro-vocabulary list.
Your statement about good SEND teaching being good for all caught my attention. I have always had SEND children in my classes and I don't think they flourish in the shadow of Ofsted's three pillars.
November 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Your statement about good SEND teaching being good for all caught my attention. I have always had SEND children in my classes and I don't think they flourish in the shadow of Ofsted's three pillars.
Let's hope so, because I am tired of reinventing the wheel and it getting wonkier and wonkier!
November 8, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Let's hope so, because I am tired of reinventing the wheel and it getting wonkier and wonkier!
Are you planning to share your beautiful notes in your blog? I always found them very interesting :)
November 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Are you planning to share your beautiful notes in your blog? I always found them very interesting :)
And it is difficult for me to plan on previous knowledge from primary, since the experience is varied and often students have studied a different language from what I will be teaching them.
November 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM
And it is difficult for me to plan on previous knowledge from primary, since the experience is varied and often students have studied a different language from what I will be teaching them.
Yes. What I meant is that I do not see advice on how to sort out the mess we have in secondary. The new GCSE includes content that used to be A Level (avoiding the passive) and content many are going to struggle with, as it includes structures whose equivalents they have not mastered in English.
November 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Yes. What I meant is that I do not see advice on how to sort out the mess we have in secondary. The new GCSE includes content that used to be A Level (avoiding the passive) and content many are going to struggle with, as it includes structures whose equivalents they have not mastered in English.