This programme shows how MFL teacher Lorraine Thomas has turned her year nine pupils into teachers. Each week her class from Holyhead Secondary School in inner-city Birmingham travels to a neighbouring primary school to teach French to a year six class. Lorraine demonstrates how she provides a lesson for her year nines, training them to teach the younger pupils basic vocabulary about numbers and colours. She finds that the pride her pupils take in their new role is a strong motivational factor in improving their vocabulary and grammar. The sessions also act as useful revision classes, recapping basic language in a different and engaging way. From a wider perspective Lorraine is convinced that the initiative stimulates interest in languages in the younger pupils and gives them a head start before beginning secondary school. Lorraine talks through the main points of the scheme, explaining how she established it and warning about potential pitfalls.

Video Series: KS3/4 Modern Foreign Languages
Release Date 2006