Patterns first: enhancing language learning through extensive processing instruction

This CPD course for MFL teachers will provide delegates with a deeper understanding of the cognitive mechanisms involved in language processing and acquisition and with a wide range of evidence-based instructional strategies for accelerating learning and modelling and enhancing writing instruction.

Delegates will consider:

  • How languages are processed and learned according to current research;
  • The challenges that traditional models of MFL instruction pose to language learners;
  • How effectively your current instructional approach and curriculum address those challenges;
  • The applicability of the facilitator’s strategies to your learning context.

Session 1: Basic language acquisition and processing principles every teacher should know

This session will:

  • Provide an account of the key processes involved in language learning and processing;
  • Discuss the challenges the finite resources of the human brain pose to language acquisition;
  • Identify mismatches between research and classroom practice;
  • Propose viable solutions to address deficits in current instructional approaches.

Session 2 : Working with human forgetting rates - how to maximise curriculum time through Extensive Processing Instruction

This session will:

  • Suggest a wide range of strategies designed to maximise the use of curriculum time to enhance retention (e.g. Implicit Learning Routines and Thorough Processing Tasks);
  • Propose a principled approach to the teaching of Usage Based Grammar through patterns and chunks;
  • Model effective instructional sequences based on Extensive Processing Instruction.

Session 3 : Teaching writing to novice-to-intermediate language learners

This session will:

  • Explain how the writing processes unfold in the human brain;
  • Provide an understanding of the vast array of cognitive challenges novice writers face;
  • Suggest evidence-based strategies to developing writing fluency, accuracy and complexity.

This course is suitable for Primary and Secondary Language teachers.

Presenter Profile

1-861-Passport Photo (ESD)_Gianfranco Co

An applied linguistics MA and PhD graduate with lexico-grammar acquisition, listening skills, metacognition, error correction and learner autonomy as his main research interests, Gianfranco Conti has been teaching MFL for over 25 years both at secondary and tertiary levels.

Formerly head of languages at various schools in England and abroad, he is currently a French and Spanish teacher at an international school in South-East Asia where he has been implementing his methodological approach: Extensive Processing Instruction (EPI).

Dr Conti is also a renowned conference speaker and CPD provider mostly active in England and Australia. This is what CEO of researchED and educational influencer Tom Bennet has written about one of his workshops:

“As an organiser of research conferences I am constantly looking for individuals who can do something very special- disseminate a broad field of complexity, in a way that is intelligible to practitioners but loses little in the process; simplification without reductivism. Gianfranco was wonderful in this regard: witty, literate, personable and very, very engaging, but all the while absolutely focussed on content, quality and the effective transmission of useful information and techniques. As such he was one of the most popular speakers of the day, and in my opinion one of the best presenters I have seen in the UK. I wish he was available more often, as the impact he has on his audience is palpable.”

He is well-known internationally for his teaching resources that have won him the TES Best contributor award and have been downloaded over 3,500,000 time by over 100,000 teachers around the world. His blog on MFL pedagogy, The Language Gym, is one of the most influential in the world and has won him several international awards.

Dr Conti is also the founder of the interactive language learning website www.language-gym.com and the co-author of the best-selling handbook for MFL professionals, ‘The Language Teacher Toolkit’. He is currently co-writing with Steve Smith his second book ‘Breaking the sound barrier: teaching listening bottom-up’ based on his own classroom research.

Feedback from teachers on Gianfranco’s courses

Amazing ideas. This will change my way of teaching!
Fascinating and very detailed. I can’t wait to try these out.
Thank you very much. Lots of ideas. I feel very inspired/motivated. So many ideas, I’m buzzing!
Very informative and thought-provoking.
Outstanding. Very enthused and can’t wait to take back to school.
Excellent presentation, which links to real practice and feels feasible in real life! Very much enjoyed the course, thank you!

Cost: £165 per delegate which includes lunch and resources

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