What are language teachers talking about? Gail Robinson listens in to your views on the TES website

Should we bother to teach our children French and German at all? The long-term future of these languages in schools is the burning issue for many teachers on our discussion forums.

User haggisman asks is it “really necessary for Brits to master these languages in the 21st century? The days of French as a major international tongue are fast coming to an end while German doesn’t have much of an impact outside Germany.”

Paul E Howard agrees, but suggests “the status quo is maintained because of economics; there aren’t enough teachers of the other languages.”

Malaguena argues that we should look beyond the language. “You’re on dangerous ground if you start pandering to the `oh we won’t need that in the real world’ mentality.” It’s about the skills learnt, in reading, analysis and research, she says. Join the debate at www.tes.co.ukmfl1.

On a practical level, there’s an interesting discussion around how the key stage 3 objectives fit into the new MFL schemes of work for September (www.tes.co.ukKS2). Bouquets go to the user wp72, who has actually mapped the objectives against the new programme of study and has uploaded his work into our resource bank at www.tes.co.ukPOS1.

And if you’re looking for inspiration for end of term games, you should check out the MFL games discussion. There are heaps of suggestions for language games here, including a version of the drinking game 21s where you swap vodka for vocab (www.tes.co.ukgames).

So the classics teachers don’t feel left out, there are a handful of fun ideas for classics language games too, including Roman numeral bingo and Top Trump cards based on Roman gods and mythology (www.tes.co.uklatinfun).

Now the nation has got over the trauma of not making it through to the Euro 2008 finals, language teachers are looking for ways to incorporate footie into their lessons. You’ll find a few suggestions of sites to visit at www.tes.co.ukfootball1 and there’s a great selection of football themed MFL resources on our resource bank at www.tes.co.ukfootball2

Gail Robinson is the TES website community producer www.tes.co.ukmag

MOST POPULAR LANGUAGE RESOURCES

- Suitable for key stage 1 and 2, these visual prompt cards will help Polish children develop language skills: www.tes.co.ukpolish

- Quick and easy starters for key stage 3 French: www.tes.co.ukstarters

- French and Spanish classroom posters to help pupils learn dates. Suitable for key stage 2 and 3: www.tes.co.ukposters.