Tagtiv8 in Uzbekistan
When we brought out our letter tags for phonics and spelling, savvy teachers were quick to realise that they could also be used for other subjects. With many schools looking to develop a knowledge rich curriculum, we asked ourselves, “Could they be used for:
- Science, Geography and History?
- RE in church schools?”
The answer to both questions was YES! Who knew knowledge organisers could be this much fun?!
The next stage was to consider whether the tags could be used for other languages. Step forward Crista Hazell and her suggestions of cognates - and hundreds of other creative solutions.
When Crista asked if she could take some tags on her travels, we jumped at the chance. What better way to test and learn than with real teachers in Uzbekistan and other parts of the world.
"Working with a group of teachers for the first time in a new building is always fun. The Head, Connor Vinnecombe asked me to build the foundations of a new and strong team which of course was part of his vision for the duration of my time at the newly built English School of Uzbekistan. The staff were in Uzbekistan from numerous countries; Mongolia, South Africa, the UK, the US, Russia and Malaysia and some local to Tashkent and they are the best in their field appointed to formulate the curriculum, build a curriculum and create the right climate for all of the new learners prior to the school opening in September."
Deep Thinking and Play
"We had a range of activities and serious learning to do but the Tagtiv8 tags brought the team even closer together. Sessions were crafted so that there was serious learning, activities, deep thinking and of course cohesive play. In almost 50 degree heat, sitting, listening and learning can be hard work but the multilingual add ons to sessions created an atmosphere where the teachers became learners and competitive ones at that! The Tagtiv8 funtime opened up opportunities for the whole school team to play. In an instant we had high levels of engagement, incredible levels of competition and lots of laughter. Every member of staff became involved dividing themselves into different teams based on grade levels taught, languages spoken and who their new friends were. Numerous games were played by every member of the team whether it was the Head, Deputy Head, Grade level leads, teachers or support team, learning about one another through Tagtiv8 games had a proud impact on the team. At one point, numerous parents came to register their children for the school and it meant that the teachers were seen smiling, happy and having fun, surely a perfect moment for any prospective parents to come!"
Move And Learn in MFL
"I gave three tags to each teacher, one of each colour and challenged all to make words in a kind of Think, Pair, Share activity. To create more (and better) words we doubled up for Think, Pair, Share, Create Square - pairing up to make the best possible words they could in English, Uzbek and today we had Irish too. So many brilliant words from excited and passionate teachers."
"Another game everyone enjoyed was ‘earth words and alien words’ which everyone absolutely loved. It was quite the creative challenge. To add further stretch and challenge, the head said that to collect more tags they had to walk in reverse - this resulted in a couple of small collisions but so much fun. Everyone in the teams were resolute in their focus to create the best ‘earth’ and ‘alien’ words. Within about 10 minutes all the tags were being poured over and teams fell silent as they were desperate to craft winning words. You will see from the photos the words environmentally and unwearable were created and then a phrase in Malay - badang kulat meaning strong person but sadly not helpful to society. We laughed so hard, a fantastic word and one to be shared with the world. The tags added a new element to learning, doing and training which I am delighted with. It created a platform for all to engage and have fun. The teachers, TAs and admin team plus the Uzbek speaking learners (with very limited English) were engrossed all involved and having fun fearlessly, yet also bonding as a new team developing cohesion, communication, collaboration and of course being creative."
Looking Ahead
"It was such a pleasure to be able to have taken the tags with me to Uzbekistan and I look forward to using these in future training sessions with teachers from across the globe to create meaningful and moments of powerful learning, with a huge slice of fun!"
"The teachers were desperate for me to leave the Tags with them asking several times but I couldn't because there are other teachers who I need to be able to use them with and I absolutely can not wait."
Thank you, Crista for pioneering our #moveandlearn approaches in new settings. Your descriptions are so vivid – we can’t wait to see where you next take the tags on your travels.
To see Tagtiv8 in Action, click here.