LANGUAGES

The acquisition of languages is a priority in our school´s educational system.

The learning of ENGLISH starts in 1st year Infant Education (3-year-old children) and lasts until their Secondary Education and A-levels.

The aim is to get a high oral competence at the end of Primary Education and an improvement of both oral and written skills when students finish Secondary School and A-levels.

In order to achieve our objectives, our bilingual program is based on:

• cultural and linguistic immersion in English, with a high number of lessons in this subject.
• Teaching of different subjects of our curriculum through English (Physical Education, Arts and Crafts and Science)

To obtain our goal we provide the following:

• Qualified teachers at all levels.
• Teachers who have been awarded a special recognition by the “CAM” as suitable for the teaching of our curriculum through English.
• Language assistants (whose mother tongue is English) from England, Ireland and USA. From this year onwards, our school will count on them as an essential tool for the achievement of our project.

For the teaching-learning of languages we offer these facilities:

• Language laboratory
• Interactive whiteboard
• Software programmes prepared by our staff (EAO)
• “Learning in English” books, also prepared by the teachers in our school, which give an approach to different subjects through English. The units follow the Spanish syllabus so that the acquisition of contents is done both in English and Spanish.

We also participate in projects where the main focus is on the improvement in English Language Learning, open to both students and teachers in our school.

We are currently participating in the following  in European programmes:

• E-twinning programmes which allow us to have a brotherhood with another European schools through the Internet.
• Comenius Project, to host Language Assistants.
• Leonardo Program, to develop and improve our teachers´ communicative and teaching training skills.

We also get an external evaluation of our work and of our students´progress, as our students have the chance of taking the TRINITY COLLEGE OF LONDON examinations as a way of testing their knowledge of English into the Common European Framework of Reference.

We offer our students the opportunity of travelling abroad either to Ireland or Canada, usually under the supervision of one of our teachers. The duration of the courses can be a fornight, a month, a term or a school year long.

To enable our students to stablish contact with foreign languages and cultures, we offer them a second foreign language –French- starting at 1st year Secondary School and continuing throughout  their Secondary Education levels. For that purpose, we use the methodology, materials and technology already mentioned.