Having a Game Plan for GCSE Speaking

 This might be a good time for this, or actually we might all have just realised how boring football is. Anyway, here is what started as a simple metaphor with one Year 11 group - the idea of going  into the exam with a game plan - and turned into a complex strategic masterplan!

Languages Today Magazine

Full details are in this article I wrote for the Association for Language Learning's Languages Today Magazine. Or in this webinar for Linguascope.

Before we start, some basics on the modern game! You will have seen teams "playing out from the back". Instead of kicking the ball up the pitch, the goalkeeper passes the ball to one of the defenders. The defenders are confident on the ball. They protect the ball, often standing facing away from the goal they are attacking, to shield the ball from any attackers. They pass it around with no urgency, and could keep the ball all day.

In GCSE languages, this phase is the opinions and reasons phase. Pupils have to be able to confidently keep talking, accurately and quickly. They use verb + infinitive and conjunctions to keep moving the ball along with no pressure. Things like:

J'aime aller en ville parce que je peux aller au cinéma avec mes amis parce que j'adore voir un film, mais je n'aime pas faire les magasins surtout si  je dois y aller avec mes parents parce que je préfère aller avec mes amis...

We can incorporate the "one-two" with if sentences - always in pairs: si je vais avec mes parents... mais si je vais avec mes amis... or s'il pleut... s'il fait beau... If you don't know what a one-two is, we're in trouble because the offside rule is coming next.

We could use opinions and verbs + opinions all day long. But at some point we have to move into attack. This is going to be where we show off some of our fancy language, take some risks, and string together a narration in the past.

First we have to be "onside" as we move into the attacking half. And we need to change our body position to receive the ball. Instead of facing back towards our own goal to protect the ball with our body, we should stand sideways on, ready to turn and run forward.

For us, "being onside" means before we launch into I went or I played, we have to specify a time frame. So Le week-end dernier or pendant les vacances, for example. And changing our body position means shifting tense. We start with the imperfect to set the scene: j'allais aller en ville or je jouais au foot or j'étais dans ma chambre...

Then we use the rest of our repertoire. We can do an attacking version of the one-two using direct speech: mon ami a dit... j'ai dit... This sets up a clash of wills, with different people wanting to do different things. You then say what you decided to do: j'ai décidé d'aller nager avec mon ami. And if you set it up well, you can finish with what you would have preferred to have done: j'aurais préféré...

Here's a couple of examples:

As well as being a strategy for developing an answer in speaking or in writing, it also helps with attitudes to learning. Pupils understand the idea of training, practising something over and over until you can do it fluently. It's also interesting for them to think about their attitude to difficulty. At football training, they don't want to spend ages on the all-important basics of passing and receiving the ball. They want to practise Maradona turns and Rabonas. So in languages, when things are difficult, they are the things to work on until you are good at them and people are impressed!

Of course, not everyone is interested in football. So you'll have to develop your own extended metaphors!