These ‘Something Old, Something New, Something to Read and Something to Do’ cards are great for ensuring interleaving of prior knowledge with current learning. They are designed for use with GCSE German classes. Each card gives students 20 words to revisit and revise, 20 new words, a reading activity and an exercise to carry out usually related to grammar or translation. The first batch of SoSnStRStD cards focus on Unit 1; family, relationships, future plans and technology. There will be more to follow for the other units. I give my students the cards for homework every 3 weeks and they annotate the German in their books. We discuss it in class but they are not allowed to write anything, then they do the tasks at home individually. I give them a vocab test on the new and old vocab to make sure they are learning it. Finally when we are done with them I stick the cards up in my classroom on the back wall in a plastic wallet - there is an answer sheet in there too so they can take a card home whenever they want and do some independent revision.

An adaptable resource to enable students to prepare for the question and answer element of the speaking test. Students prepare answers on the wheel. There is a sheet of vocabulary and phrases to help them. The wheel is best printed out on A3 paper to give students ample space to write their responses. It also works best if the students colour-code their responses to match the colour of the question. Teachers can change the questions easily electronically if they prefer to use different questions. At the end of the Technology document there is a photograph example of a completed wheel to share with students by means of an explanation. Important - the final step is to print off a blank pro forma. Students cut it the circle in the middle so they can see the questions and cut it the ‘triangles’ which cover their answers. They can then reveal questions one by one whilst learning, bit by bit for testing or get partners to test chosen segments. More themes to follow.

A booklet to help students practise the skills necessary for conducting the role play part of the speaking exam. The booklet addresses some of the themes in the Identity and Culture unit of work (relationships, technology, sport, food, festivals etc.). Students are encouraged to learn key generic vocabulary and phrases, ask questions in the familiar and polite forms and translate questions and answers on. Could be a useful homework / independent work booklet.

In supporting our students with the new GCSE we need to get them writing spontaneously and freely. Here is a small collection of ideas to encourage students to write creatively at KS3 creating good habits in preparation for their GCSE written work. This could be used as prompt for departmental discussion or a stimulus for work on writing skills. Some of the ideas can be lifted directly from the information here but most will need to be developed to suit individual schools / departments.

A selection of worksheets and information sheets aimed at second or third year of learning German. Can be used to introduce and / or practise the past and present tenses (past perfect with haben and sein). Uses a small selection of verbs to build confidence with grammatical structure before exploring more vocabulary and a bigger range of verbs.

Formulation and use of conditional verb forms. Authentic text about ideal partner (written by our assistant teacher from Cologne). Emphasises use of connectives to build complex sentences. Can be used in a simple way for foundation pupils concentrating on simple sentences with a range of adjectives to describe people or in a more challenging way for more able students. Lots of opportunity for reading, writing and speaking.

A booklet of (homework?) tasks which students can use once the unit of work is complete to help them revisit vocabulary and phrases to help keep them fresh. The tasks could be given straight after completion of a unit of work or for example at the start of Year 11 to review work covered in Year 10. This unit is based on the me, my friends and family unit of work which my students study in Year 10. I will give these tasks to them over the next 6 weeks as revision home works and then reissue the booklet in Year 11 for further revision. The tasks are best printed out as an A5 stapled booklet.

Get your students to draft, redraft and perfect their writing skills using exam style tasks in an easy to use format. Could easily be adapted for other languages by changing the tasks.

Past tense formation with verbs which use sein as their auxiliary verb. The lesson takes the students through the formation across all the subject pronouns and the word order rules. The formation help sheet will help students work with verbs which use haben and which use sein and consolidate their learning.

Get students to better understand where they could improve in their listening and reading exams. For each question the students work out where they lost marks so that the teacher and student can work together to improve performance. Identifying the type of question students struggle with can inform future whole class teaching. Identifying patterns can help individual students recognise what their personal targets for future learning might be. If students use this form when attempting past papers for independent revision it can help them revise more effectively.

Tried, tested and loved - my 'go-to' resource for introducing the past tense with 'haben'.

First in a series of resources to help students of German master the grammar of the language. This set deals with regular, irregular, strong, reflexive, modal and separable verbs. Ideal for high ability GCSE and first year A-level students. The initial information sheet is accompanied by a practice sheet and test sheet making them ideal for homework and independent work as well as use in class. Tried and tested - the students have found them very user friendly. Further resources will be published on TES which cover all the grammar aspects of A-level. The overview grammar sheet attached shows which aspects are covered by the resources in the series.

Ideal resource for exam revision or end of unit revision. Students work in small groups or pairs with an A3 version of the worksheet. As the topic areas come up on the PPT the students have a set amount of time (e.g. 2 minutes) to think of as many words related to that topic as possible. When the time is up the teacher can reveal the words they have listed on the PPT, each word carries either 1, 2 or 3 points and the students gain these points per word they have on their own lists. Any additional words which are valid that the students have which are not on the PPT earn the students 4 points. The winner is the group with the most points but the key aim is obviously to revise key vocabulary and to broaden vocabulary by discussing the options available. The resources attached are easily adaptable so you can change the words, the topic areas and even the language. Quick, easy resource to use and fun for last minute revision.

Presentations and resources to teach school subjects and opinions in French.

A student resource full of tips on how to use the last few weeks when the focus is totally on Reading and Listening and honing the skills necessary to get the best marks possible in the exam. There are tips on how to use exam papers, how to learn vocabulary, how to structure revision time and how to spot patterns in the types of error students make. The attached resources support the presentation and give students resources to help make their independent revision more efficient and effective.

Ideas and resources to help teachers tackle the new MFL GCSE. This could be used individually or as a departmental resource to inspire staff to think about the challenges of the new GCSE; increasing spontaneity, grammatical accuracy and creativity. Some of the resources are attached and these are easily adapted to suit your own SOWs and languages including the translation maze, mood and thought board and an example of use of poetry.

Ideal resource for current Year 9 preparing them for the new GCSE speaking exam and talking spontaneously about picture stimuli. Students think about the type of language they need to state facts, add their opinions, hypothesise (simply) and describe pictures. They use the English version as a prompt for the type of language they will add to their TL version below, add language (supported by teacher) then fold in half and use the board they have created to talk about any picture stimuli they use in the coming weeks to help them build confidence. As the progress and use more and more phrases spontaneously I issue them with a new card (different colour) and we add more advanced or different phrases to extend their knowledge of generic phrases.

Another translation maze this time focussing in on the past and present tenses. Instructions are on the PPT. All you need is a photocopy of the blank maze and you have a whole lesson's worth of material. My students absolutely love this - it is so simple to use and the discussion that comes out of the translation tasks is so useful for building confidence and awareness of tenses and sentence structure.

A lesson presentation and smartboard activities which explain the agreements and positioning of adjectives in French. I have included the lesson plan as this was produced for an Ofsted inspection (judged outstanding). The tasks are simple and intuitive and this is a tried and trusted lesson that has worked consistently well over the years. It carries on well from my Mr Men lesson also here on TES which introduces colours and extended reading.

A simple PPT game based on an idea shared years ago at a training session. Bring a pupil to the front and they have 10 or 20 seconds to name whatever comes up on the board. There is an inbuilt timer and sound effect. A great warm up activity or plenary. You can change the items they have to name according to what you have been teaching them. This one is based on health and subordinating conjunctions. My students love to do this in teams and take it in turns to take the 'hotseat'. But sometimes we play it as a 'beat the teacher' or 'beat the FLA' game. Great to get discussion going after each slide too - students love to make suggestions about what their peers could have said in response.