Teach Secondary reviews Mary Glasgow Magazines
Keeping students enthused about learning another language can be difficult, not least because textbooks often fail to appeal to the very demographic at which they are aimed. This is where Mary Glasgow Magazines can help; because as a specialist language publisher, it produces finely tuned print, audio and video resources specifically tailored to teens.
In fact, Mary Glasgow produces nine colourful magazines for French, German and Spanish (each with five issues per year), all linked to the curriculum, and featuring contemporary, relevant and exciting content, covering topics from ‘gender, identity and social media’ to ‘film & TV’, and ‘school life’.
These magazines are a colourful cultural language ecosystem teeming with life and packed with things to do, discussion, debate, bilingual vocabulary and links to multimedia. Every subscription also gives you access to some superb resources online, where you can access a complete language toolkit with videos, audio listening tracks, differentiated weekly news articles and Language Lab.
The online learning units offered via the Language Lab are a brilliant way of linking interactive assessments with the magazine
articles, giving teachers an overview of pupils’ progress and understanding. Teachers can assign particular learning units as
homework to boost comprehension, grammar and vocabulary skills; and the automated marking system saves on workload and time.
Students can watch other teens talk about everyday life, meet their friends, see their schools and towns, and listen to their
stories via superb, authentic videos with transcripts and online activities.
The Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review, published by the Teaching Schools Council, recommends using enriching and stimulating resources, including authentic reading material, so that students can pursue their own interests. Mary Glasgow Magazines goes well beyond this by mixing bags of style with stacks of substance.
Textbook language can be too specialised, so introducing students to a wide variety of words, topics and real life contexts can be a problem. These resources plug gaps galore, by having their finger on the pulse of what teenagers really like.
You can also take advantage of Mary Glasgow’s new cashless group ordering service for schools which has been designed to cut back on the admin and save time. An annual teacher subscription starts from £13, students £6.
The verdict on Mary Glasgow Magazines:
- low cost, attractive and high interest
- full of cognitive challenge and powerfully supports automaticity
- extends students’ knowledge and widens their perspectives
- brilliantly brings the ‘four skills’ together
- comprehensive, differentiated and extremely well constructed
- perfect for school and home use
[Use them if] you are looking for empowering ‘outward looking’ magazines and vibrant resources that cover all the subjects that teenage students love, to improve language teaching and increase pupils’ interest and success.
Find Mary Glasgow Magazines here.
John Dabell is an experienced educator and writer. He reviewed our Mary Glasgow Magazines in Teach Secondary Magazine. Find out more here: www.teachsecondary.com
