Louise Ferrier

LF

I am a trainee secondary school German teacher.
I currently live in Essex, England where I have lived for one year, I was previously living in Hessen, Germany for 6 years and I grew up in Scotland.

Location Essex, England

Achievements

Activity

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    Hi, i am currently teaching a group of 16 students. Many have issues that i feel i could be better equipped to help. I think this course will give me a better understanding of their problems.

  • Yes i have seen this happen is the work place. People can be quick to jump to the wrong conclusions.

  • I agree with this comment.

  • I have joined to improve my communication skills

  • For Principle 1, yes I agree, we use gestures when learning phonics and I notice children learn these sounds very quickly. For Principle 2, yes I agree, I use multimodal teaching and I observe it helps everyone to understand, it also makes it more fun. For Principle 3, I am unsure, as I teach younger children who are under 6.

  • I think children struggle with the sounds of new words. Some children really want to get it right whereas others are content with having tried to pronounce the word. I think there is a time and place for correction. It doesn't have to sound exactly right the first time they say something. Some children are worried they will get it wrong but it doesn't matter...

  • I'm looking forward to increasing my knowledge of progression

  • My children love most topics to be honest, they are very curious and love to learn new things, for example when we did holidays they loved talking about the mountains, countryside and beaches and discovering new words.
    We play memo a lot, matching two pictures together, taking turns. Sometimes children can be very slow picking two images which can lose the...

  • By making tasks more independent children have a natural increase in difficulty. From being supported to having to find out more pieces of the puzzle themselves. I do worry that some activities might be too hard for the children when I am planning lessons. I don't ask children what they would like to learn but I would be open to doing so.

  • Children could google images of clothes that people in German wear to add to their enjoyment and knowledge of that topic, they could perhaps listen to an Octoberfest song where Germans dress traditionally and enjoy traditional music too. As they progress they could create their own song perhaps. You can tell if children are engaged because they look as if they...

  • She increases the vocabulary and sentence structures. Introducing more language. Yes it is important for children to be able to talk about themselves, as Karen said, this is somthing children are interested in doing anyway in English so why not do it in a foreign language.

  • to tackle engagement and motivation she uses working in groups or making one child the teacher to teach a particular word to the rest.
    Activities we use that really motivate include using individual chalk boards, and telling stories which they can follow along with and colour in the picture of.

  • a reflective opportunity could be to ask the groups to correct each other, this way they are thinking about what has been said and whether it was right and about how they say it. I see some children doing this automatically learning from other children but not all children will do this unless asked to. I try to make this a classroom routine when I am asking...

  • Yes. I think children find it really interesting and are usually fascinated about how and why other cultures do things.

  • I can see the link for young children of lower primary school age to enjoy fun activities, from a confident teacher who they like, as being very important for language learning. I have seen this in the classroom. Now that I know this is how they are learning I feel like I could definitely be more fun.

  • Yes I think so, I think children's brains are at a stage where they can learn things a lot quicker than an adult, e.g. at aged 4. However, learning anything new is difficult and it takes time. I learnt a 3rd language when I was 22 and it was very difficult but at the end it was soo worth it. I am trying to learn a fourth language and I am coming across the...

  • I have joined this course to find new teaching ideas for my group of 4 and 5 year olds, who I teach English to. I also teach my little one a second language who would also benefit from me learning new things.

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    I am currently teaching 4 and 5 year olds at a bi-lingual preschool. I have taught my own child a second langauge from birth. I have been teaching for nearly 2 years. Children begin to learn a second language at primary school.

  • I want to do this course because I am teaching a foreign language to pre-school and primary aged children and I want to see if I can learn something more from this course on how to teach them better

  • Hi, I am Louise. I am currently completing my QTS and PGCE to teach secondary school German in the UK. I am interested to learn techniques to help my dyslexic pupils in the classroom.

  • I think this is a really good way to think about language teaching, and not a framework i have come across before.

  • I think there is a mixture of who is in control, sometimes it humans and sometimes technology. For example, we can decide to not use our phones until certain hours but then when we do pick them up we don't necessarily have control over what we do when we go on them, maybe we spend more time than we would like to playing a game at the expense of not messaging...

  • Trust might be an issue, I think this is quite hard to build as it can take time. Through supporting the child when they are struggling.

  • They are key because when it works they can help the child through every thing and help the child to overcome problems and become stronger

  • I am hoping to be able to better understand students in my classroom who have been through these experiences in a way that I can still engage them in the classroom and give them hope for their future and more confidence in themselves perhaps through useful strategies.

  • I have read the code of conduct

  • I plan lessons for every one that I teach but I am just learning to teach right now so it helps me a lot although it does take a lot of time.

  • I would love to do more differentiating by outcome but I feel like it would take up a lot of time to make separate resources. I used tiered differentiation a lot although I'm not sure it is the best as the higher achievers almost feel they never get that feeling of yes I finished first but are continually given more work to do which can be demotivating. I...

  • Some autistic students I have worked with will choose to use technology because they know it wastes some of their time by getting set up so that they don't have to start the task which actually does not require technology but to make it more fun technology can be added in, but they are not using it because it is fun as they are so used to using technology...

  • I think I would use the one that can give some evidence where possible

  • In the Autism unit I worked they worked with all of the children to come up with their own successes from the previous week and to then reflect on their EHCP aims to remind them of their journey. I feel they used these two things as indicators of success.

  • I love the suggestions from Hampshire County Council I think they would make a good curriculum.
    I particularly like the social stories idea, I had no idea something like this existed, I think it will be a great help, it reminds me of the moral of the story books and being read bible stories when I was little.
    I disagree that learning something like history,...

  • I think the food cards are such a great idea and not only for autistic children but every child.
    I think the point on Generalisation is so important too and I think one that people over look, but something that can be embedded in the culture and inclusive environment.

  • Learning that small changes like moving the position of an ornament or a piece of furniture may make it seem like a different room to the autistic student shows how important it is for a school wide policy and so school wide training.

  • I think the use of the word disruptive is great. It really does summarise how new innovations are thought of particularly when they are not understood.

  • I hadn't really thought about getting to know the students as an activity before but I think it's a great idea and I think one they will really enjoy.
    I wonder if this could be shared to other departments, as it will help other teachers get to know the new students better.
    I'm also thinking about how I can fit this into my German lessons, which would be...

  • I teach children aged 11 to 18, they are all different, they come from all sorts of backgrounds and all add something different to the conversation. They are the same in age, in their classes and in their development.

  • I would see how they respond to the intervention and see at the end of the lesson whether they produced more work or not due to this intervention.
    Evidence would be their books collected in at the end of the lesson.
    In the spirit of participatory research I could ask the child how they felt about this intervention at the end of the lesson, whether they...

  • I think this sounds really good.

  • I think this structure makes a lot of sense. I also believe it would benefit students in a secondary school setting as all of these things are done in the Autism provision I worked in. Some things cannot be calculated, for example, how the child is feeling is not mentioned, but this can be seen through children becoming more disorganised for example, which is...

  • I think it is important to understand these terms to make accurate decisions about which technology to use.

  • I think what they have said about reliable, effective and engaging is important. I think this can be done through trialing a product with for example a certain group for a certain length of time with certain aims in mind to see if the technology does what it says.

  • I think it is clear progress is trying to be made but they have yet to find something that is working but they are still trying. I think this is positive.

  • Our schools meets almost all of these criteria, I feel they could do more but I think they would need extra staff to do more as it is a small but very busy team.

  • I think if bullying is an issue the school's inclusive culture policy needs to be addressed rather than the child being removed.

  • I have seen autistic children in mainstream classrooms form very good social relationships with other students who are not autistic, I think more autistic children coming into mainstream education is a great thing for them, I see the benefits they have through teaching them in mainstream school. Where I teach German. In my second placement I was placed, while...

  • I think all autistic children should be encouraged to go into mainstream school because I think this is where they will learn the most.
    In cases of non verbal autistic children, I feel they should go to a special school as mainstream schools do not usually have the funding to accommodate them.

  • I think my mainstream school is working very hard on inclusion and doing well. There is always room for improvement. Specifically on training for all staff on what autism is. Regular sharing of ideas or updates of what people have tried with students to improve quality first teaching strategies across the school. We have a quiet room for students to go to but...

  • I thought they were really great tips. Thanks!

  • I think systematically piloting technology is a great idea and would save schools a lot of money.

  • I liked the introduction from Neil. It made me realise the huge range of technologies there are available and I can see how it is important to contextualise comments for better understanding.

  • I have used technology to play a match up game with students mid lesson for translation to check understanding.
    Technology has been the starting point for several SEN students in my classroom who are new to using the laptop in the classroom to take notes.
    I can't think of technology being the final piece of the process.. Perhaps through homework that is set...

  • Hi I am Louise, I am training to be a secondary school German teacher and I use some technology in the classroom but I would like to use more as the children enjoy it. I feel there are more benefits to using technology, like improving retention and quicker take up but I don't know the facts, just what I have seen in the classroom.

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    I am a trainee secondary school teacher. I am really excited to understand how teaching English differs to teaching German.

  • When I think back to learning English at high school my favourite lesson was watching part of and discussing a movie, which we then went on to take key words from and key camera/video technique terms from and do a spelling test with which I loved. Over a series of lessons the tally was kept for spellings correct and the winner got a signed photograph of the...

  • The resources from the link are very useful. I think implementation is quite a lengthy process and looks complicated with 6 stages and many sub points. I think the image initially used is helpful to visualise this.

  • Hi I am a secondary school trainee teacher, teaching German, I use technology in the classroom but I would like to use it more.
    I clicked disagree in the poll because I don't think teachers in my school have enough training to use the smart boards and see the benefits of using technology in the classroom.

  • It can be used to write a problem for the student to edit.

  • I was surprised how many features zoom has, I knew very little about this platform before this course.

  • I thought that was really useful to see. I think it really shows how important it is to know your platform and how to do things quickly, I think this would be overcome with practise.

  • I haven't used Blackboard but it sounds good. I had been thinking I would use Skype.
    I think I would use the audio button the most to ensure I am being heard clearly and with out disturbance.

  • I want to keep up to date for sure but the flexibility for me is very appealing.

  • I would like to have my own business but also to be flexible so if an opportunity comes up that is exciting I can still do it. I would like to teach children from 11 up to adults I think. I would be happy to teach people anywhere in the world, that is the good thing about it being online, you can have that freedom.

  • I hope to understand what it is like to teach online and how best to do it.

  • Hello, I am training to be a teacher in the UK and think this course will add another string to my bow, so to speak, to help me get a job.

  • I do agree we are in this other revolution, for example I heard waitrose uses robots to pack their online delivery orders so people are simply delivering food to people now instead of both. This was called a good thing with infections going around as items were not being 'touched' and you could be certain they would be 'safe', according to the news.
    I do not...

  • I loved both of those videos. I haven't really spent a huge amount of time thinking about the negative impacts so I think the videos highlight it really well and like you say I have come across this.
    I think it is addictive and it is enjoyable which I think teachers can use to their advantage to teach children something. But technology can be dangerous and...

  • I would say I use technology every lesson, not for the whole lesson. These are the same tools used again, in the same way, and not necessarily exciting for the children/me.
    I think the term digitalisation is an old fashioned term, I would associate with the rise of the Internet.

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    I hope to learn how to be more free in my classroom like Inger

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    Hi, I am training to be a secondary school teacher and for a research project I have to do I am writing about how the use of technology in the classroom aids learning, I think this course will be interesting.

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    I really love the idea of inclusion and think there is still a lot of learning to be done in this area for schools. I particularly like the right of students to an education in their locality and viewing diversity as the norm.

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    I have loved week 1, it has been extremely informative and enjoyable. I have learnt a lot more than I expected to.
    I am currently training to be a teacher with a school direct programme.
    We had a one hour session learning about autism specifically and a 3 hour session on SEN.
    After being placed in an autism school where I worked for 3 weeks, I soon...

  • Very useful resources. It is great to hear Edinburgh University is looking into making their learning environment inclusive.

  • Having filled in the form I have scored 30/50. This does explain a lot to me about myself. I have only just really started to learn what autism is in the last 6 months and I think it has increased my awareness. At the age of 30 now I don't think it will make any difference for me to get a diagnosis.

  • In rating an autistic child I would say they have moderate autism although some of the other categories cannot be judged from a school setting. For example children rarely need to display organisational skills in an autism school as their days are planned out for them carefully.
    The child has no social skills issues as he attends many social groups and...

  • I think it is very useful to know a child's triggers to avoid the aggressive behaviour and promote a positive learning environment. I was told children's triggers when I worked in an autistic school but it is a shame this is not done in mainstream school more because it is there that I came across a lot of ID and a lot of challenging behaviours.

  • I think these are really good tools and useful questions. I think people can sometimes be quick to dismiss aggressive behaviour and normalise it which does not help get to the root of the issue and help the child.

  • I think this is very interesting, how broad the range of difficulties can be for someone with ID. I wonder if there is any support past the age of 19 as I notice there is no test after this age, although the difficulties mentioned in adaptive functioning sound like they could be life long struggles e.g time and money.

  • I think this is a good topic to discuss. Different people feel differently about whether they like to be called autistic or not. For this reason I think it's a good idea to not use the word autistic unless they bring it up themselves.

  • I find these theories very interesting. I feel like I am able to relate to some of these issues e.g. Problems responding rapidly and perceiving the wider context, although these traits alone do not mean someone is autistic.

  • I really enjoyed week one.

  • I think the best thing is the attitude they have for the elderly in wakabadai and that mutual respect which is lacking in the UK.
    When I go on the bus with the pram and have to stand the whole way, everyday I feel this isn't right to treat young mothers with babies like this when they already have a very hard time.
    One elderly woman I saw had to fall over on...

  • Yes I think this too, for the elderly who have confidence and determination, these are the only ones you see in town.

  • It is very difficult for the elderly where I live. I forced myself to go out to the park in town the other day, rather than the one near me as teenagers have started to loiter there and smoke. It was constant stress to get there, as I was in the way of other people coming and going or bikes wanted to come through. The buses are always late and can't be relied...

  • People tend to gather in the shopping centres in town but there are not enough seats and it gets very crowded as there is no place for people to go without spending money.

  • I live in the UK, the elderly are not valued here. When I talk to someone elderly waiting for the bus for example, they feel weird when more people come to wait, as though we shouldn't be speaking and when the bus comes we get on and they sit in their designated elderly bit and I sit at the top where I should be sitting as the bottom is just for elderly. Both...

  • I don't really think there is a lot of places for the elderly to go. Maybe I am just not aware of them. When I went to weight watchers there was a lot of elderly there at the meetings, I was surprised how much of a community feel that had. The leisure centre here is quite expensive and so not elderly friendly.

  • it was good to see the time constraints for example no more than 5 mins for 2 year olds, that is useful for me to use with my daughter

  • i think in this context it is useful to share how the child has played with english at home

  • to add to this i think assessment should have it's context as if children are just learning in this environment for a few hours a week it is impossible to make a full assessment of the child as there is so much you are not seeing so i think it is positive only what they can do is mentioned.

  • Louise Ferrier made a comment

    my little girl said 'ow' for the first time the other day when she stubbed her toe on the bathroom door, it was so cute but at the same time overshadowed a bit by the need to comfort her.

  • I observe language acquisition, the use of a new word or words, increase in behaviour understanding through playing with a baby.
    A new thing they do physically when dancing.

  • i think it makes assessment more fun but also quite complicated
    assessment can be done by giving children challenges and by watching how they do

  • I would like to have more space than i currently have to center activities round different zones, we have a library zone and a dressing up zone but it would be good to have an art one too.

  • the child doesnt always choose the key person, our key person was allocated to us by the nursery.

  • i do think it is a very important role but my child is already very independent and confident and feels she doesn't need her key worker, she knows the nursery routine very well also and the rules which enable her to get along just fine. Each child is stretched by the planned activities they do each day, it's usually something they all enjoy but is very varied.

  • my daughter has a key worker at nursery but my daughter hates him and she is usually looked after by one of the ladies instead.

  • i went to after school club as my mum would still be working and i had a lot of fun there

  • i really like this idea

  • I really liked listening to her examples. They were interesting. We go to the park and all the other activities like she said that come along with it. We draw as well and read books.