1. All images © Mat Wright
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants 1
FLA Mentor Briefing:
Getting the most from
your FLA experience

2. Welcome and Introductions
Language Assistants team members:
Eduardo Lees – Project Manager, Edinburgh office
Lynsey Dinwoodie – Project Officer, Edinburgh office
Rosanne Hirst – Project Officer, Edinburgh office
Susannah Wallace – Project Officer, Manchester office
eTwinning/ Connecting Classrooms:
Chris Swift
Eduardo Lees – Project Manager, Edinburgh office
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

3. Agenda
Part 1: Webinar basics
Part 2: Role of the mentor and supporting the assistant
Q & A
Part 3: Using an FLA in the language classroom and beyond
Part 4: Other British Council opportunities
Q & A
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

4. PART 1: WEBINAR BASICS
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

5. The BasicsThe Basics
oUse the Chat facility
oVote
oUse the non-verbal communication tools
oRaising your hand

6. This is the chat facility
where you can ask
questions and talk to
other participants
Write your message in
the text box and hit
enter
Choose who you want
to write a message to

7. Click the green tick for yes or
the red cross for no

8. PART 2: THE ROLE OF THE
MENTOR TEACHER AND
SUPPORTING THE ASSISTANT
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

9. Role of Mentor Teacher
 Professional
 Pastoral
 Arrival and settling in
 On-going monitoring and support
 Regular meetings
 Give feedback to the FLA
 Give feedback to British Council
 End of year report
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

10. Top tips and best practice for mentor
teachers
 Email follow-ups to face-to-face discussions
 Establish communication process
 Monitoring progress - FLA log/ diary
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

11. Supporting the assistant BEFORE their
arrival
 Sharing arrangements
 Administration/ Paperwork
 Offer letter / Confirmation of appointment
 Payments – P46 and tax cover letter
 Police checks
 Accommodation advice
 School system and curriculum
 Maintain contact and build relationships
 Find out about them and their interests
Please see: www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-contacting-your-assistants
British Council Information Booklet for Employers of FLAs coming soon!
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

12. Supporting the assistant: Initial
weeks
 Observation
 Class lists/ staff lists/ map of school
 School policies
o Child protection / Internet/ health and safety / absence
 Systems and equipment
 Timetable
 Code of conduct
 Statement of employment
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

13. Supporting the assistant AFTER their
arrival – Integration into the school
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants
Top tips:
 Welcomes!
 Introductions
 Discuss expectations and role
 Opportunities to involve them in
 school trips/ events/ concerts/ staff social activities
 extracurricular life of the school

14. Supporting the assistant: Integration
into the community
 Register with doctor and open a bank account
 Local area advice
 Clubs/ libraries/ churches/ sports/ events
 Mobile phones
 Internet access
 Other FLAs in the area?
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

15. Problem handling
 Best dealt with quickly and at the source
 Open discussion
 Use code of conduct
 Use performance management
 Disciplinary process
 Contact with British Council
 FLA line of referral
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

16. Support for Language Assistants
 Local authority training
 Cultural institutes training and support e.g. Institut Français, Goethe
Institut, Instituto Cervantes, Consejería de Educación
 British Council inductions
 British Council Information Booklet for Foreign Language Assistants in
the UK coming soon!
 Language Assistants team at the British Council
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

17. Question Time (1)
Let’s take a short break to give you the opportunity to reflect
and ask any questions you may have at this stage
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

18. PART 3: USING YOUR FLA IN
THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
AND BEYOND
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

19. What is a Language Assistant?
 Model of authentic pronunciation, intonation and usage of the
language pupils are learning
 A ‘living’ cultural reference point, with a unique set of experiences,
skills, and interests
 Pivotal figure to help broaden the school’s cultural provision and
perspective
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

20. How a Language Assistant can support
the school’s modern languages
programme
 Develop and improve
o accuracy of pupils’ use of the target language
o pupils’ self-confidence in the target language,
o pupils’ engagement in language lessons
 Increase capacity to address the departmental priorities e.g.
o teachers’ subject knowledge (language and culture)
o uptake of language classes at the non-compulsory stage
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

21. How a Language Assistant can benefit
the whole school
 Raise the profile of language and culture at all stages in the school
 Build capacity to strengthen the language element of the curriculum
 Broaden the international perspective of the school
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

22. Language Assistant roleLanguage Assistant role
 Work in a variety of contexts including whole classes (under
teacher supervision), with small groups or individual pupils
 Model authentic pronunciation, intonation and usage of the
language pupils are learning
 Revise new vocabulary or grammar points covered in a particular
lesson in the form of a game or other type of interactive activity
 Prepare pupils in senior classes for speaking assessments
 Prepare resources for teaching
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

23. Getting the most from your FLAGetting the most from your FLA
experienceexperience
Prepare pupils for local or national language-based
competitions
Support senior pupils in promoting language learning to younger
age groups
Establish or reinforce partnership links with another country
(e.g. through parcel or video exchanges)
Contribute to school gaining International School Award
Use the resources and support from the cultural institutes
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

24. Getting the best out of your Language
Assistant
Consider a project approach
 Giving them the opportunity to plan activities for a longer-term/ on-going
project reduces the need for teachers to plan their input on such a
frequent basis
 Games and other ‘fun’ activities do create a buzz in the language
classroom but do not necessarily change pupils’ underlying views about
the role of languages in today’s global society
 By harnessing the Language Assistant’s unique set of knowledge,
interests, and skills and channelling them into a project has a greater
chance of helping pupils to recognise the importance of language
learning
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

25. Project Successes
Get FLAs and students to apply language skills in new
contexts:
subtitling
radio broadcasting
drama competition
travel guidebook
song-writing
multilingual magazine
For more examples please see: www.britishcouncil.org/scotland-
education-fla-school-project-initiative-case-studies.htm
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

26. Helping the Language Assistant
implement a project successfully
 Find out about the Language Assistants strengths (knowledge of their
own and other countries, interests and skills in other subjects)
 Discuss ways of incorporating them as an independent slot in the
overall scheme of work (i.e. as part of a weekly lesson)
 Provide lots of advice and encouragement at the start but let the
language assistant take the lead in moving things forward
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

27. PART 4: OTHER BRITISH
COUNCIL OPPORTUNITIES
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm

28. Other British Council opportunitiesOther British Council opportunities
eTwinning
SchoolsOnline
Connecting Classrooms
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

29. Question Time (2)
Any final questions?
www.britishcouncil.org/schools/language-assistants

30. Thank you for your attendance and participation!
Evaluation form and slides will be sent by email
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants
Assistants.uk@britishcouncil.org
www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm