USING TECHNOLOGY IN MFL

Like all Specialist Schools, when Prince Henry’s became a Language College it received additional funding to ensure that students and members of the local community had access to the very latest technology in the chosen specialist subject, Modern Foreign Languages.

In October 2000 the new Language College suite was opened, comprising eight teaching rooms and a dedicated multimedia computer suite / language laboratory. Five of the rooms have been fitted with Promethean interactive whiteboards, which have transformed the language-learning experience of students. Staff have been developing their expertise in exploiting this resource, and one of our teachers, Jo Kendall, has become such a specialist in this field that she now runs courses for language teachers up and down the country!

The languages multimedia computer suite is used by all students to support their language learning. It features a teacher control console together with 32 PCs, each fitted with audio and video links to the teacher. This means that the teacher can monitor and support students as they are working, and even take control of their keyboard to help them out!

In order that students can have access to the most up to date authentic resources, the school’s Information Library includes a satellite television viewing point. This means that students can “drop in” on one of the 200+ foreign language channels, to practise their listening skills and keep abreast of current affairs in the relevant countries. Many of the languages classrooms also have access to this.

One of the major recent technological developments for us has been in the area of Video Conferencing. Our dedicated suite has been used by students of all ages to enable them to work “alongside” young people from countries such as France, Spain and South Africa. This technology has also been used by departments such as Science and History, to video conference with institutions in the UK as well as abroad.