North School Leads Way in Language Learning Breakthrough
Posted on: Thursday, 8 May 2008, 18:00 CDT
A HEADMASTER claims that an innovative scheme which uses computer technology to teach foreign languages has pupils learning twice as fast as children using textbooks.
Dr Paul Kelley, head of Monkseaton High School in North Tyneside, believes that pupils need a new approach to help them master foreign pronunciations.
So he is opting instead for a CD-Rom to teach languages such as French, Spanish, German and Mandarin.
Dr Kelley said: "This is a new way of doing this. We have come up with ideas that are written by other teachers. We offer them digital learning. That is anything that can be done digitally from sound to images.
"It's all the resources you need. A complete course in a box, or a course on disc if you like."
A study of 1,000 pupils at the school found those who were learning French delivered through a CD-Rom attained higher achievements.
The results, evaluated by researchers at Durham University, show their performance went up - on average - by between 0.5 and 0.8 of a level more than those using textbooks over the course of a term.
A pupil is normally expected to take a year to progress by one level.
The study is the first to indicate a big difference in performance between pupils learning through new computer technology and those learning from textbooks.
Dr Kelley added: "This already appears to be working in its first year. It's a miracle that it's happened so quick.
"This educational breakthrough has come to the North East and we should be proud."
The findings have a significant impact on Government requirements for every child to be learning a foreign language at the age of seven by the end of the decade.
Fears raised by teachers' leaders suggested that there were not enough teachers to meet this target, but Dr Kelley believes this new project will ease the pressure.
He said: "If the Government is saying we need to do this by 2010, we do not have time to bring in teachers.
"It's not going to make teachers redundant and kids stuck in front of the computer screens."
PARTNERS IN INNOVATIVE EDUCATION
MONKSEATON High School works with partners including Microsoft and the Open University in the country's first trust school scheme, which aims to bring innovative education methods to the North East.
The trust is a partnership between the school, North Tyneside Council, institutes of higher education and computer company Microsoft.
Monkseaton became one of the UK's first trust schools as part of the Government's aim to form schools which are part of the local authority system, but supported by a charitable trust and governors.
Despite being a trust, the school manages its own assets, employs its own staff and sets its own admissions arrangements.
(c) 2008 The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne
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