Introduction to the
English Language and Literature Subject
Welcome to the Department of English Language Web page: The
importance of English language is a consequence of new times. Further studies
or successful working careers are frequently based on a good level of
English. As far as the English department is concerned, our target is
to prepare students with a four skills competent level of English by the end
of secondary school. The
acquisition of a language competence is not always an easy path; that is why
we restlessly work to make the teaching-learning process as attractive as
possible. English teaching sequences always combine the theoretical aspects
of the methodology with the funniest ones. This approach is knitted following
a sequential structure, which consists on including any objective or
procedure into a main topic - whose selection depends on its relevance,
accessibility and appeal to teenagers - which rules all the interrelated
workshops towards a final conclusive project. The topic-based procedure
allows students to re-use the language they have learnt all trough the unit
with consequent sense of achievement . Moreover, the sequencing structure
makes them, most of the times, share competencies with other areas like
Maths, Music or Arts due to cross-curricular tasks. Finally, from an
attitudinal point of view, this procedure has important benefits too. The
final production is both displayed on the classroom wall and shown in an oral
presentation to the rest of the class, offering to the pupils the opportunity
to do a piece of group work built on the social skills via collaborative
learning. Teaching
resources are highly important to operate effectively. Our main point is to
obtain the maximum benefit from the new industrial technologies, but combined
with the traditional and eminently practical material. In our classrooms,
reading books, dictionaries, practical application exercise handouts designed
by the department, cassettes, videos or CDs coexist with PowerPoint
expositions, HTLM activities or internet searching. All of them chosen
according to the learning to learn
criteria, which trains students to take more responsibility for their own
learning progress and helps us to cope with the different degrees of language
competence or diversity. When
we say the word assessment we always panic, but it is not that bad. Apart
from the mid-way examinations –used not only to check the students progress
but also the effectiveness of our teaching method- our system demands a final
mark. In our school, English conceptual tests are designed following the
international concept of English exam: Oxford, Cambridge or British Council
exams such as: PET, KET or First Certificate have a general format that
consists on grammar, writing, reading, listening and speaking parts.
Foreseeing and taking for granted that our students will undergo these exams
I n future, we want them to get used to this format in order to make them
more self-confident. Language
is communication. Therefore, the oral fluency of our students is outstanding.
During class-lessons we keep n providing opportunities to use grammar
structures or simple vocabulary in communicative situations. However, once a
week, students enjoy half-group lesson, where we make eminently practical
activities that imply a substantial listening-speaking practice, always
paying attention to the pupils’ phonological careless acquisition. Not only
this, any project will have a percentage of the final mark ruled by an
oral exposition. Although many students feel that speaking is an important
objective and we encourage them not to worry about making mistakes, the lack
of confidence makes it difficult to get them to communicate in English; that
is why we use continuous assessment as a method of evaluating oral
performance. This may provide students with an extra incentive to try harder;
but always seen not as an end but as a means of encouraging them to think
about their own learning and to suggest ways of overcoming problems. The
situation is similar when we face towards the written part of the language.
The lack of vocabulary or predetermined structures and expressions fights
against motivation. The way to fight back is to make the students seen
writing as a process. The first step is to give them the motivation to write,
next, offer support through the use of model texts and simple guidelines, and
finally offer an audience for their written texts. That is why classroom
displays are so important in our teaching-learning process. The
aim of this report has been to give a general view of the syllabus and
methodology of our Department. If you are interested in any further information
keep in contact with any of the members of the Departments of English of the
Escola Andorrana d’Encamp, who will be more than pleased to help
you. Objectives
The
main aim of the Department of English Language is to consolidate and build on
the English that students have learnt in Primary School. It assumes that
students will be familiar with some basic grammar structures and vocabulary,
and will be able to communicate at a simple level. However, there is likely
to be a wide range ability in each class and a need to reinforce the English
learnt in previous years, we aim to give all learners a chance to make a
worthwhile contribution, regardless of their level of English. At the end of
the secondary period students will be required to prove that they have
grasped the theoretical aspects covered in the four courses in the grammar,
listening, speaking, reading and writing ambits. The
phonetic acquisition and the development of a correct listening-speaking
competence is the main objective of Secondary School due to its substantial
practical component. Students should be able to correctly develop an aural
comprehension of everyday speech in the different communicative situations
and to take part in simple conversations, working collaboratively, as well as
having an insight into cultural differences of which accent is just one
aspect. When
students read a text in English, there will nearly always be words that they
do not understand. It is important to train them to concentrate on extracting
the main idea and not to worry if they do not know every word; in other
words, mastering scanning and skipping skills. Pupils
will be required to create texts with a correct English grammar structure
following model texts and paying attention to the genre and register, and
mastering paragraphing correcting and redrafting skills. Practical
application of theoretical grammar will be asked too. Basic syntactical
structures and the semantic fields of the different conceptual units, the
accurate knowledge of all verb tenses, the passive voice and the reported
speech. At
first view, it seems an ambitious target but we are all sure that thanks to
the enthusiasm of our motivated pupils we will broadly achieve it.
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