Breaking Free from the Topic-Checklist Trap: Planning for Long-Term Retention

In MFL teaching (and let’s be honest, probably every subject out there), it’s all too tempting to speed through topics like we’re training for a 100-metre sprint. We rush to cover everything on the curriculum, cramming as much as possible before the big GCSE finish line. But this “fly-by” approach often leaves students fluent in one thing: forgetting. The essential language skills needed for long-term success? Not so much.

Rather than racing through vocabulary lists and throwing grammar rules at students like confetti, I’ve found that hitting pause and rethinking how I sequence lessons and schemes of learning works wonders. Eureka! EPI teaching. It turns out that drilling isn’t just for making holes in walls. Repetition is key to locking down core language skills, and gamified activities can keep things fun without losing sight of the learning. Grammar needs to be served two ways—sometimes incorporated through language use, sometimes dished out explicitly, so students actually understand how the language is built and see it being applied in realistic situations. After all, spending lessons conjugating verbs isn’t always the most exciting prospect in the world, especially for teenage students! So implict acquisition of grammar is also essential (learn more about this in this cpd which I found really useful-https://networkforlearning.org.uk/courses/2024-11-07/mfl-grammar-13-oct-2023)

And speaking of balance, a multifaceted approach is crucial. Dr Gianfranco Conti taught me the importance of this approach and the benefits of well thought out sequencing, along with persistent embedding. Both receptive (listening, reading) and productive (speaking, writing) skills need regular workouts. Think of it like language workouts: students have to keep lifting that vocab and flexing those sentence structures if they ever want to spontaneously “speak French” without collapsing halfway through a sentence. Throw in some gamification, and suddenly, language learning feels less like a chore and more like a game with levels, the higher (but entirely achievable) of which being spontaneity and fluency. A clear analogy of this, to consider it from the perspective of the student, is the following. Imagine you are learning a new sport and having had a new skill introduced (eg. a serve in tennis), you have seen it, practiced it for about 20mins, then would you expect to go and play a match using it confidently? A new skill needs exposure to examples, drilling in a variety of ways and practicing in different contexts.  So the question remains, how do we expect our learners to apply new language so quickly without giving opportunities to embed? 

To make this happen, we need to give students enough time to engage with sub-topics until they actually know what they’re doing and no rushing them through to the next chapter. The Sentence Builders Trilogy Series is a great example of how to sequence and space language themes with a variety of activities, following the trusty MARSEARS method (which is like the sat-nav for great language teaching). This is an excellent blog from Dylan Viñales that clearly explains the purpose of the series:https://mrvinalesmfl.wordpress.com/2024/01/30/new-sentence-builders-trilogy-a-deep-dive/. Present, practice, produce is a familiar teaching method, but EPI has proved that there is a lot more that goes into each of these phases. I remember trying to somehow cram these “three p’s” into a single lesson! In hindsight, it was obviously unreasonable and unachievable for the students to retain anything. 

Reflecting on my own teaching, I’m constantly reminded that real success comes from aiming for long-term memory, not short-term coverage. From my perspective, our lessons need to stop being “checklist-complete” and start being “fluency-first”. With a healthy mix of repetition, engagement, and reinforcement, students will leave with the language skills they actually need. Not just to pass exams, but to thrive in the real world.