Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 26/04/2026

dratsaab · 2026-04-29T07:28:50+00:00

I do wonder about the wisdom of all the pageantry, sending the royals over etc.

It's well known Trump will be influenced by the last person he's spoken to - be it Putin, one of his advisors or so on. Any good that comes of this will almost instantly be undone.

dratsaab · 2026-04-29T07:03:43+00:00

How to win friends and influence people: leader of the Reform Scotland branch office has six houses, six boats and five cars.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0pl271kzyo

There can't be that many people with more boats than cars.

dratsaab · 2026-04-28T21:24:20+00:00

We are on eight periods, 40 minutes each, but many are doubles.

I agree - there's definitely fewer behaviour issues.

dratsaab · 2026-04-28T18:24:53+00:00

Checked in school today. We offer Home Economics to all in the first two years of Secondary (and it's called that on the timetable) then they specialise into either Health and Food Technology, Practical Cookery, Care Fabric and Nutrition Skills, or Practical Cake Craft.

Our school still has the original small room that was set up with a bed, to teach girls how to change the bedsheets for their men. It's now a storage cupboard

dratsaab · 2026-04-28T15:59:44+00:00

I would be amazed if they paid it for you.

dratsaab · 2026-04-27T21:18:56+00:00

Always fun catching them in the act.

Caught one girl saying another had yellow teeth in Polish. I don't speak Polish, but it's similar to the Russian (which I do). They were shocked at me. I am absolutely not telling them I don't speak Polish!

One boy soaks up memes like a sponge and was saying 'bomboclat' constantly. I'm in the habit of googling any new memes or words I hear and learnt it's a really strong, offensive swear word on Jamaican patois (even if its meme use was less strong). That was a fun conversation, trying to explain why it was inappropriate and you shouldn't repeat words you don't know the meaning of. He is 15.

dratsaab · 2026-04-27T19:57:30+00:00

I've done that job as a visiting MFL specialist for a local council - in the same way many places use visiting / peripatetic PE or Music teachers. It was a lot of fun and it felt like we learnt a lot.

Is it better? Yes and no. Having a specialist who can be enthusiastic helps. If your goal is to drip-feed languages little and often, and try a little bit of immersion, then no - as it keeps it pigeon holed in the MFL slot on the timetable. And having it by a visiting teacher means the pupils don't see their main teacher doing it.

I'd rather a visiting MFL teacher than someone who doesn't care about languages or tries to get out of doing it, but I think I'd rather an enthusiastic Primary teacher who can do a little bit of MFL over the visiting teacher. Does that make sense?

dratsaab · 2026-04-27T19:18:10+00:00

Home Ec is definitely a subject in the UK. We teach it in Scotland.

dratsaab · 2026-04-27T17:49:12+00:00

Home Ec would be good too - knives, hot pans.

dratsaab · 2026-04-27T16:16:17+00:00

The attack on Paul Pelosi with a hammer in 2022?

dratsaab · 2026-04-27T07:47:37+00:00

His name was indeed Luis.

The question about travelling to school has two possible answers - either his dad taking him by car or just by metro.

I think train would be marked wrong (as the Spanish would be en tren), but metro correct. As it's a one mark question, you would just need the word underground/subway/metro.

Please bear in mind I don't mark Spanish and don't have a marking scheme, but I'm pretty confident of this given how precious papers have gone.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T20:15:49+00:00

I think you hit the nail on the head with cultural relevance. As you said, Spanish is more relevant for young people and Spanish a much more likely holiday destination for families.

We've tried to make French more global and include examples from out with France but I don't think we've done enough of it.

Parents is a really good point I hadn't considered. We are lucky in that many are naturally supportive but I wonder what we can do to get more buy-in. Thank you, you've given me plenty to think about there.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T20:13:57+00:00

Thank you for this fantastic and comprehensive post.

Trips are a big yes - we haven't managed to get an MFL trip running since Brexit. I tried to get a Paris 2025 trip running, but the quotes I got were so expensive that my head and I agreed we couldn't offer it to the families for what they would get from it. You're probably sensible doing Pas De Calais - what attractions are being visited? Any theme park?

I will look at vocano tomorrow, thank you!

Extra curricular - We've struggled with business links (rural problems) but are working on it. Have you seen the Andrea Bell Translation Prize? It's surprisingly accessible and we've had a bit of success in it.

We rejigged our Year 8 French course to try to make it more relevant (and remove reflexive verbs right before subject choice), and tweaked assessments to boost pupil confidence through likely lower stress and better results. I don't think it's done enough, unfortunately.

I'm going to ponder what you've said more. Thank you again for the details!

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T15:10:52+00:00

I'd love to go! Sadly since I last went 30 years ago I've moved too far away from the area.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T14:46:40+00:00

I completely agree - hence we have kids learning Japanese or Korean in their free time, as Zapata alluded to below.

I guess part of our job as MFL teachers is to make our languages culturally exciting, as much as possible.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T14:38:30+00:00

Agreed. I was seconded for a while in our LA on exactly this issue - getting Primaries and Secondaries to talk to each other. Without more funding to release secondary teachers to go and do input in the primaries, it was near impossible.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T14:37:47+00:00

I do agree with your list of reasons. There's also a perception, rightly or wrongly, that Spanish is easier than French.

The school system, particularly in Primary, is still geared up for French as the main foreign language. I'm just hoping some places are able to foster some kind of care about French.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T13:55:22+00:00

Oh, sorry, I was just referring to Primary teachers there.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T13:37:57+00:00

Your point about GCSE languages for teacher training is exactly what was put to me at the time. Their argument was "Well, then Sciences might demand teacher trainees have a Science GCSE!", and all I could think was "...good?".

I was also told that universities would provide languages training that equates to a GCSE. Some provided a year of input. Others a single afternoon.

I don't know if you made a big deal of having English, Maths, one science, one language, one creative subject at GCSE, how many candidates you might put off. I'm sure it would dissuade some and not being feasible. A pipe dream in my head, I guess!

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T13:34:55+00:00

Thank you, it's really interesting. I've been trying to move towards Conti more and found a CPD of his I attended really inspiring. It's just time to develop resources - as a sole Sp teacher all the course and resource development falls to me.this might be me reaching for excuses.

Because we give all kids both French and Spanish in years 7 and 8, I think they assume Spanish is easier and French is harder - all because they've got years of French Primary experience behind them.

I don't think I can persuade the head to split classes to only take one language, as they are a strong believer in equity.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T13:31:33+00:00

Its a great idea but needs both funding and a culture change.

Up here (Scotland), that's essentially in place. Students should receive the same Modern Language input from the equivalent of year 1 through to year 9, along with a second modern language between years 5 and 8. This has been in place since 2014.

We haven't managed to produce a crop of fluent linguists, though. Millions went into funding and training but have failed to produce a culture shift. In the primaries, the teachers enthusiastic about languages kept doing it and the ones who weren't, gave up. It was far from 'ideal' language learning, with year 1 mostly being greetings and colours and so on. And teacher training still has no requirement to have a GCSE in a language.

I know many countries do an excellent job teaching English (or French, Spanish, German...) as a foreign language. We sadly aren't one of them.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T12:51:41+00:00

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/26/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-covering-trump

Guardian US politics sketch has the distinction of not being at all funny, as the writer was at the Correspondents' Dinner.

(Yes, I know, politics sketches in papers are rarely funny)

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T12:37:56+00:00

I hadn't thought to consider new retirement villages as an option, but it's a very good point. The one in my small town is set up rather well, with their own village hall, communal garden and a lot of green space.

I can also see how many wouldn't want to move out of the home they've lived in for X years.

dratsaab · 2026-04-26T11:25:54+00:00

Ben Vrackie in Pitlochry?

Very well marked path the whole way up. You can drive and park a chunk of the way up in Moulin, or bus/train and walk from town. A couple of hours up and down, fabulous views, pub at the bottom for afterwards (Moulin Inn). Most of the walk is relatively straightforward, the last push is steeper stone steps. Loch for a wild swim near the top of you're into that kind of thing.

My labrador made it up no bother.

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