The English word ‘blue’ is a horse of a different colour. While ‘blue’ is related to the words in its Germanic sister languages, such as German ‘blau’ and Swedish ‘blå’, it took a different route. Its Germanic ancestor was loaned to French, where it became ‘bleu’, and then borrowed into English:

On the way home I listened to a convo on the r4 pm programme about AI. Why on earth are we recommending sources for homework that can give the wrong information?? AND casually mention in passing that the information could be wrong... I swear this world has gone mad.

One of the things I struggle with the most with the teaching day is not having the time and space to reflect

During the phse lesson this morning with my y7s, I mentioned Brezit. Quite a few had no idea what this was. I don't know why, but this surprised me

These could be recommended for Y13 (age 17-18). Long, but slow and clear. youtu.be/EY7nwE1yX60?...

Did an old- school " I went to market" type activity except with past activities and sequencing adverbs included. My kids really got into it. In this same class, they're also enjoying the TL challenge. It made my day. Sometimes teaching is good

#mflbluesky Please consider signing 🙏🏻 c.org/wWNrNXSyKK

Retrieval tasks, quizzes and hinge questions are useful tools, but when they dominate a lesson, they take time from the activities that actually build knowledge.

Here is the curriculum review. www.gov.uk/government/p...

An important study that really has some interesting questions & issues for us to grapple with

Things I've taught (apart from French) in my lessons today: 1. What couscous is. 2. How to spell couscous 3. Tunisia is not in Asia.

This rang true to me. I feel I've had more of a learning squiggle than a curve in my life as a teacher, and going against the flow can be exhausting and demoralising.

NEW EPISODE This one was quite hard for me to do, as we talk about antisemitism in England, and the security measures that the Jewish community has to take in schools and synagogues. Tune in and share if you can! open.spotify.com/episode/18IO...

Macron s'est assis sur deux études récentes déconseillant le déplacement de la tapisserie de Bayeux pour la prêter aux Britanniques, révèle Le Monde. "On fait confiance aux experts pour trouver des solutions, on en trouve dans plein d’autres domaines", balaye l'Elysée www.lemonde.fr/culture/arti...

European Day of Languages takes place next month! How are you celebrating in 2025? Visit the SCILT website for activities, games, downloadable resources and lots of ideas for primary, secondary and families: https://loom.ly/29VkIyk #coeEDL

I'm making some practice roleplays for my gcse kids, and it's doing my head in. It's a restaurant roleplay F and I can't ask them to ask where the toilets are because toilets isn't on the vocab list.

As it's in the news again - this is the post I wrote a few months ago on why the disability benefits bill has been going up. Essentially, you can't remove need by removing support - it just pops up as a cost somewhere else. open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

Yes! A new quote for my classroom.

@joedale.bsky.social I was wondering what your thoughts are on the AI bots for practising conversation? I need to brush up my spanish and would like to do something in between real life tutor sessions

New blog post! 💡 bethlingual.blogspot.com/2025/06/how-... #MFLBluesky

You can’t “try harder” your way out of chronic illness. You can’t “healthy diet” your way out of chronic illness. Disability is not your fault. It’s not a moral failing. Absolutely we should do whatever we can to be healthy, but folks need to accept that disability can & will happen to everyone

Thread. 😬

This remains imho the wrong strategy. Reform voters will always push for more. And Farage is justified when he keeps putting immigration at the centre of his campaign. Labour needs to attack Farage where he is weak, instead of following his narratives.

Since the election win Labour have 1. Appeased the far right 2. Delivered otherwise good policy ideas in a bad way e.g. WFA 3. Targeted the disabled with cuts instead of the richest with a wealth tax The result? 808 Reform councillors Labour need to change direction and be less cruel, fast

🚨 Just uploaded! New grammar packs for each unit of the first GCSE French module Tu as du temps à perdre ? 🇫🇷✨ Plus, find lesson PPTs & extra activities in our members' area. Go check them out! 📚🎉 #mflbluesky weteachmfl.co.uk

I think I might show this to my y7 french class to prove they're not the only ones who have to struggle with silent letters m.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUq...

Gianfranco’s latest blog. An easy idea to implement. gianfrancoconti.com/2025/04/24/u...

Today’s screencast describes some purposeful games for intermediate level and above. youtu.be/-lJ1jfAsRUQ?...

ML Teacher Will Marks has launched a new podcast. Episode 1 featured a good general discussion about AI with Joe Dale. Also on other platforms. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

A reminder of a pretty etymology to brighten the day. The ‘daisy’ takes its name from the Old English ‘dæges ēage’, ‘day’s eye’, because it opens its petals at dawn, and closes them again at dusk.

My latest post. frenchteachernet.blogspot.com/2025/04/ways...

Anyone who considers bombing a Church-run hospital claiming it’s a ‘command and control centre…used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute terror attacks’ can reasonably expect to have to provide evidence. Warning to evacuate doesn’t absolve the crime of destroying the means of caring for the sick.

🚨Some major errors & misleading claims from experienced presenter Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4 Today, when discussing British Steel with Treasury Minister James Murray I hope these are corrected on tomorrow's programme, and Robinson sticks to the facts in future. Here's what he got wrong... 🧵

I maintain this links site for language teachers interested in reading about research. It also includes videos and a podcast or two. www.informedlanguageteacher.com

Speaking tests done. I'm done. Happy Easter holidays folks!

"You boy! What tariff is it today?"

Paul Nation’s Principles of Learning. frenchteachernet.blogspot.com/2025/02/paul...

🗣️ New speaking resources for the new Edexcel GCSE 🗣️ I’ve created picture task workbooks with model answers for all 3 languages 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇸 - all available with my resources subscriptions and Buy Everything on my website www.katelanguages.co.uk/store

This week we had a visit from an Italian school. Our students really made me proud - interacting, forming friendships, getting curious. Such visits don't just benefit those directly involved, but rather the whole school. Bring the world to our students, I say.

🧠Not all words are created equal. After hearing Paul Nation speak, I’ve been rethinking how we teach vocabulary and why frequency has to shape what we do. ✨Key takeaways, ideas & why fewer words (taught better) might be the way forward 👉 #mflsky

Tomorrow we welcome a group of Italian y11s to our school. This is the first time in a while our school has been involved in visits. The excitement is palpable. As is my tiredness. #mflbluesky

10 research-informed principles for grammar teaching. frenchteachernet.blogspot.com/2024/05/10-r...

I missed the first bit of the Paul Nation webinar last night. Did anyone take notes that I could pilfer? #mflbluesky

For French teachers. I just uploaded a worksheet based on this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=x57C...

Really enjoying this episode although the sound quality is a bit weird Adam is really quiet! open.spotify.com/episode/0RlD...

✨ NEW post on the TextActivities blog on the many ways of practising 📄✍️ TRANSLATION into the Target Language 👇👇👇 on TextActivities, with lots of LIVE example activities involving translation into: 🇫🇷 French 🇩🇪 German 🇮🇹 Italian 🇪🇸 Spanish textactivities.posthaven.com/translation-... #mflbluesky

This was a great episode. Might have to relisten when I have a functioning brain open.spotify.com/episode/5RnT...

You have until the 4th of April to apply for the Linguastars Residential! A great opportunity to explore what it’s is like studying languages at uni! For more information and how to apply, read below 👇 #languages #mfl #mfltwitterati

Lots of very cross Labour MPs after a meeting with Stephen Timms and Liz Kendall this afternoon. About 80 MPs and v few of them speaking in support. Anger on no impact assessments of the welfare changes and a lack of detail on how DWP intends to get employers to take on new disabled applicants.