TEACHING STAFF FROM throughout the north of Scotland were gathered at Keith Grammar School on Saturday to discuss language teaching in primary and secondary schools.
The ‘TeachMeet CPD’ event attracted over 70 primary and secondary teachers from throughout Moray, Highland, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire – with some travelling from as far afield as Orkney.
Teachmeet was organised in cooperation with the Scottish Association of Language Teachers (SALT) by principal teacher of modern languages at Keith Grammar, Lisa Bayliss.
Lisa was joined by SALT representatives and speakers from the Goethe (German language) Institute in Glasgow and Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT).
“A major focus for the day was providing support in furthering the Scottish Government’s ambitious 1+2 language policy,” Lisa told insideMoray, adding: “That will see primary school pupils start to learn a first foreign language from primary 1 – and a second foreign language from primary 5 at the latest.
“Secondary teachers enjoyed sessions on developing creative local businesses links, skills development, assessment and tracking – as well as ideas for cross sector interdisciplinary projects.
“My thanks to Moray Council for supporting this event, the Deli Shop in Keith for providing the catering and to everyone who came along on the day.”
Teachmeet’s are organised but informal meetings for teachers designed to share good practice, practical innovations and personal insights into teaching and technology.
The idea was originally conceived in Edinburgh in 2006 as ‘ScotEduBlogs Meetup’, later renamed ‘Teachmeet’ by Ewan McIntosh and agreed by attendees at the first event.