Modern Foreign Languages
Pupils have the opportunity to learn French and Spanish. The aim is to encourage language proficiency and cultural understanding. From the outset they follow a proactive course of study in order to develop their confidence as linguists.
Modern language learning begins in year 4 when pupils follow an interactive course. This provides a lively communicative approach with plenty of enjoyment and practice. When pupils join the senior school the emphasis is on French for the first year. Here the aim is to develop a strong foundation in the principals of grammar and pronunciation. Spanish is added the following year when the focus then turns to listening and speaking.
Our well-resourced classrooms offer intensive practice in the key skills. Pupils follow the course books Tricolore Total for French and Mira! for Spanish. Both use current authentic language and offer plenty of opportunity for writing and advanced reading exercises which are thorough and enjoyable.
We believe in the importance of bringing a language to life by spending time in the country in which it is spoken. Year 8 pupils participate in a 4 day residential stay in Paris and our GCSE and A Level students are given two opportunities to spend a week in either France or Spain.
A measure of the success of language learning at Bishop Challoner is the encouraging number of students who continue to study a language at A Level and then go on to read modern languages at university.