MFL SKECase Study

Joanna shares her experience of her MFL SKE.

Subject

MFL (French and German)

SKE Provider

Eureka

SKE Length

French 16 weeks full time – my first lang.

German – 16 weeks part-time – but this was stopped at my e-Qualitas tutor’s request, because it was simply taking up too much time that should have been spent on my ITT work.

When did you complete your SKE? (roughly which month/s)

French – late July to October half term, but in reality I did much of it in August, flat-out, and by doing that completed the course after 8 units not 16. German – Dec and Jan, mostly in the Xmas holiday.

What were the key features of the SKE structure?

Rosetta Stone language platform.

2 tutors – MFL teacher and native speaker (also a teacher) – in French. In my German course, both roles fulfilled by one person. All my tutors offered help for occasional language queries after the end of the course, which was very nice – and I took up the offer a couple of times!

Some induction activities and a placement test on RS. Then c.25 hours pw if full-time, spent on RS and other language sources (but mostly RS) and doing some reflective writing (in English) and a learning journal (in the target language) each week. This also includes time spent on the tutorial – 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week (if you have 2 tutors they alternate). A final essay, which is a reflection on the course and not a hugely onerous thing.

I believe RS is now offering optional online speaking sessions too as part of their package.

Did you use any other resources to improve your subject knowledge before your training began?

Not before the SKE, but during it and since I have also used Lawless French/Kwiziq websites for refreshing grammar – v. good (LF is free and part of Kwiziq is too). And News in Slow French podcasts (website and phone app) were good for getting my ear back in to the language (and there is a German equivalent). Frenchteacher.net is useful for examples of teaching topics. I also re-read a couple of French novels (from A Level) and watched some French TV and films (Amazon Prime, Netflix, Curzon)

Please share any other insight into your experience of completing an SKE course

I recommend Eureka – the admin is good, tutors high quality (my French MFL teacher was a current Head of Dept) and very helpful, and the RS platform takes a lot of the pain out of refreshing your language. The reflective writing is also good practice for the ITT course.

I strongly recommend getting the SKE done before school starts and never doing two! (I am the only MFL trainee I know of who was set two.) Despite it having been 40 years since I studied languages at school (didn’t do a language degree) and being extremely rusty, my French has now been assessed as sound and capable of teaching A Level and my German adequate despite having only got half way through the SKE – so 2 SKEs definitely not necessary. As soon as you start using the language again regularly, it will come back at a rapidly increasing rate!