Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School

Mentoring Languages Teachers in the Secondary School helps mentors of trainee and early career languages teachers in both developing their own mentoring skills and providing the essential guidance their beginning teachers need as they navigate the roller-coaster of the first years of teaching. Offering tried and tested strategies based on the best research and evidence, it covers the knowledge, skills and understanding every mentor needs and offers practical tools such as lesson plans and feedback guides, observation sheets, and examples of dialogue with beginning languages teachers.

Research suggests that the role of the mentor is highly influential to the beginning teacher, and this book considers language-specific aspects as well as a focus on the holistic wellbeing of the beginning teacher. Together with analytical tools for self-evaluation, this book is a vital source of support and inspiration for all those involved in developing the next generation of outstanding languages teachers. Key topics explained include:

• Roles and responsibilities of mentors
• The subject knowledge and understanding required by beginning languages teachers
• The lesson planning process
• Guidance on teaching core skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening
• Development opportunities in each of the languages that they teach
• Observations and pre- and post-lesson discussions

Filled with the key tools needed for the mentor’s individual development, this new text offers an accessible guide to mentoring languages teachers with ready-to-use strategies that support, inspire and elevate both mentors and beginning teachers alike.