Middle School

French

Our Middle School programme gives students the opportunity to use French as a working language. We study one subject in French throughout the year, and topics covered range from Science to Social Studies to Career Education. This approach allows students to develop their language skills in an authentic context, beyond what is generally covered in a language class, and to learn the concepts central to the topic being explored.

The content is covered in a way which is designed for second language learners: highly visual and hands-on, in a safe environment which allows students to progress wherever their starting point. By the end of the programme, students will be able to communicate comfortably in a wide variety of settings.

Middle School students participate in a Fair presentation in French, in which they communicate to their parents what they have learned. During last year’s Fair, centred on Scientific Thinking, students designed and conducted experiments in groups. They then analyzed their findings and created visual aids to explain the results. They also led a game for parents to introduce key concepts and vocabulary, and prepared short reports based on research of real experiments currently taking place in the scientific world.

Every second year, the grade eight and nine class will participate in a language exchange programme. They will be twinned with a group from a francophone area of Canada, and will travel to their home town to experience life there for a week, and also host those students here.