Collège and Lycée English

English Scheme of Work

The English National English course covers eleven academic years: CEl-Terminale [years 3 to 13].

During the first nine [CEl - 2nde, years 3 -11], we base our teaching on the U.K. national curriculum for English, adapting this to our requirements and constraints with unusual unity across primary and secondary phases as some teachers work in both primary and secondary classes. For them this is professionally enriching: they are up to date with curricular developments in teaching in the UK at both levels. The effects for the pupils are more important and also very positive: it helps to ease their adaptation to the secondary school as there is continuity in our expectations for them as individuals and in the teaching techniques used; in addition, they feel secure as they are familiar with many of the staff.

We follow the UK national curriculum till the end of 2nde when all pupils take GCSEs in English language and English literature.

For the final two years [lère and Terminale, years 12 and 13], our curriculum is linked to the French Baccalauréat. While some pupils take English as a foreign language as part of the already very demanding examination, the majority choose to exploit their bilingualism by taking the International Option of the French Baccalauréat (known as OIB or BOI), which includes an English literature paper, examined by English teacher-examiners, and moderated and overseen by the University of Cambridge Examinations Syndicate.

More details of the courses in the Primary years can be found in the Primary section; details about courses at Key Stages 3 and 4 [6ème - 2nde, years 7 - 11] and in the final two years can be found on the appropriate pages in this section:

· Collège English

· GCSE English Language and English Literature

· OIB English

Relationship with the French system

We benefit enormously from the French educational system in which we work. We try, paradoxically, both to exploit and ignore this: to use the skills pupils develop within the French system while consciously creating the sense of being a school within a school – a separate institution where only English is spoken. Nevertheless, we are trying to develop our understanding about how pupils learn by establishing closer links with French colleagues and, in the case of the primary system, feeder schools.

Our expectations for the pupils and their attainments include love of the English language, choice of it by many as a medium for further studies, acquired delight in the literature and culture of the English speaking world and outstanding examination results. These sometimes obscure the extent of the demand we make of them: total bilingualism based on four to six hours teaching in English per week – it is important to realise that many of our pupils do not even speak English outside our lessons.

Relationship with our English National colleagues

We also, more obviously, benefit from the teaching of our English National colleagues in Mathematics and History and Geography: the skills and vocabulary pupils acquire in these subjects are essential to their development as English users.

The Primary programme

Though our pupils enter at an age [~7], when in the U.K. they would be already starting Key Stage 2 [KS2], most of our CE 1 entrants have not yet learned to read and write English but can do both in French. In consequence, we require only oral fluency for admission to CE 1. This first year is vital as reading and writing skills are quickly put in place, pupils being taught to apply and exploit acquired skills in French, and to transfer these to English.

Despite this, the curriculum content and level of difficulty is that of Key Stage 2: basing our content coverage on the equivalent year-group in England remains our policy throughout the Programme as it ensures that pupils who have come directly from an English-speaking country, at whatever level, will not lose or fail to continue to develop their English skills.

For primary entry we test oral skills at CE1 level and test both oral and written skills for each year group from CE l upwards; we continue to monitor pupil progress to ensure that work set is of an appropriate level of difficulty.

Testing and assessment

We have chosen not to follow the U .K. model of testing at the end of all the first two Key Stages (KSl - age 7, KS2 - age 11). This is partly due to time constraints - the testing would have to take place during teaching time. We also feel that the tests might be both misleading and discouraging for our pupils at the ends of the first two Key Stages: as already explained above, many have not yet learned to read in English by the age of 7, so the Key Stage 1 tests would really only be feasible at the end of CE 1 when most pupils are already working at key stage 2 level.

During the course of their years in primary, however, pupils are regularly assessed using national curriculum materials and, already, a NC level for writing is given in the end of year report. We are moving toward level setting in the other assessment areas - speaking and listening and reading - over the next few years. This will allow a both clearer understanding of the pupils’ skills and more direct comparison with the UK.

Our position on Key Stage 3 testing has also evolved in recent years. We are not an official centre for KS3 testing but we require 4ème pupils to take selected parts of the English KS3 test (the reading and writing papers, but not the Shakespeare paper) at the end of the year - the same point in their schooling as the Key stage 3 tests for their UK peers. Pupils in 5ème and 6ème years [years 7 and 8] also take final year tests on similar models. These tests are prepared for during the year and take place in May. Pupils are therefore given national curriculum-based attainment levels in Reading and Writing at the end of each collège year.

Pupils’ work, over the course of all the collège years, is likewise assessed against national curriculum criteria levels are awarded for individual assignments. This ensures that pupils are familiar with the level descriptors - common criteria against which to assess reading, writing and oral work - which motivates them to achieve higher levels by giving them clear targets to concentrate on. These targets are explained at the start of each school year and students are therefore able to monitor their own progress.

The end-of-year KS3 grade is expressed as an attainment level, before being converted into a mark on the French 0 - 20 scale.

More details of the courses in the KS3 years can be found on the Collège English page in this section.

The English and English Literature GCSEs taken in 2nde are the English KS4 tests. We are a centre for Edexcel examinations. More information about GCSEs generally and about the English and English Literature courses can be found on other pages in this section. These are taken by all pupils in 2nde in mixed-ability classes. Recent results are on the Exams results page.

The French Baccalaureat

The courses in 1ère and Terminale are based on the requirements of the International Option of the French Baccalauréat [OIB] and the LVl / LV2 French Baccalauréat examinations. In Première all pupils follow the OIB course, which develops their analytical skills, encourages the reading of challenging texts, the writing of demanding pieces of work, usually in essay form, and requires participation in group and individual oral assignments. Terminale classes are split into OIB and LV groups, as this allows detailed preparation for each examination.

The OIB examination is explained in much more detail below.

The programme’s LV1 course takes into account that many of these students will be using English as their medium of communication at University. The course ensures the development of high-level reading and analytical skills as well as teaching the oral and written presentation of clear arguments with relevant supporting evidence.