Why learn Chinese Mandarin?
Chinese is the language of nearly 1/4 of the World's Population. Speakers of Chinese not only live in China, Taiwan, and Singapore, but also spread throughout Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe, where large Chinese communities congregate. Chinese people today have been playing increasingly important roles worldwide. Also the People's Republic of China currently boasts the fastest growing economy in the world and is widely regarded as the potentially biggest global market in the twenty-first century.
We strive to ensure that the language learning experience for all our students is fun, challenging and enjoyable both in and out of the classroom. We are a dynamic, forward thinking department which achieves excellent French results at both GCSE and A-level. In 2010 we are developing the language learning opportunities of our students by offering Spanish at GCSE and Chinese Mandarin.
The language department aims not simply to teach a language but to share a culture. We organise a number of day trips and a residential trip to France each year, giving students the ideal opportunity to experience a different culture first-hand whilst experimenting with and developing their language skills in real situations beyond the classroom. Through our contact with a school in France, students enjoy sending and receiving letters from French students. Our GCSE and P16 students benefit from oral preparation sessions with our native speaker Language Assistant to maximise their exam performance.
We aim to prepare all our students to achieve and exceed their potential at Key Stage 3, GCSE and A level. Equal emphasis is placed on each of the four skills of language learning (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and lessons are planned to incorporate cross curricular elements and opportunities to develop independent learning skills, communication skills, thinking skills and enterprise skills. We have excellent media resources including an interactive language laboratory with 28 computers linked to the internet, satellite tv and an extensive library of French films.
