Product reviews for Independent Thinking on MFL

I have recently concluded my MA dissertation and I cited Crista's work in my thesis, as I feel it is one of the best books out there on MFL. The pedagogical aspects discussed in the book are clearly inherent and substantially important in foreign language teaching, and I thoroughly agreed with and loved the following statement, to the extent that I cited in my thesis: -˜I believe that if a student can speak it, they can write it, especially with the strong foundation of phonics.'

The book takes into account innovative aspects of teaching languages as well as resuming basic consolidated ideas that have always worked well within the learning environment. It is a great learning tool for trainees, NQTs and RQTs, because it gives a series of practical activities that can be adopted to increase confidence. 

Crista's writing style is extremely interesting and empathic, because Crista not only analyses the challenges and benefits of learning a foreign language through an explanation of effective techniques or previous theories, but throughout the book she always relates her own experience as a student and a teacher, which gives the book a lively and passionate narrative, that engages the reader not only in a pedagogical and
impersonal sense, but also in a more tactile way with subjective perception.-¯

The impacts within the learning environment that the book gives are many, and upon an examination of the contents, all the four skills involved in learning languages are clearly subdivided to avoid confusion.-¯I believe this to be a great strength as it enables a constant revision to aid an immediate solution of what is being searched. Each section is very well structured and logical - for example, in Chapter 3, on oracy, before moving to the activities used in the classroom, it explains the prior skills involved - such as decoding and phonics - and only after this explanation or the learner's acquisition does she then move to speaking.

Each chapter is current and involves not only aspects of learning itself, but also a wider perception of teaching languages in schools, such as the CLIL, the effective use of TAs or FLAs, and tips and advice on-¯how to integrate novice teachers-¯in schools and support them on their learning journeys to becoming exceptional MFL teachers.

The subtitle-¯How to make modern foreign language teaching exciting, inclusive and relevant-¯supports teachers' everyday life and work as the book includes tips, strategies, methods and activities which were successfully used by Crista in the classroom.

The cost-effectiveness in terms of educational aims and results are various, as many of the activities require little preparation prep - and, as we are all extremely busy teachers, providing-¯us with a bank of them-¯is always extremely welcome. Thank you.

The price itself is ridiculously good - not even '£10 for almost 250 pages - and to be honest I pre-ordered it a good six months before its first release. I have found each of the Independent Thinking On -¦ series titles useful and I love collecting and reading books involved in education.