English

The college English program prepares pupils for lycée where they will continue their studies in the International section working towards the OIB.

Students join the Anglophone section with widely differing levels of English. Over the four years in college, ASEICA teachers and their colleagues from Éducation Nationale work closely together to ensure that their pupils’ linguistic and literary skills are developed effectively.

The main aims of the language program are to develop:

Interactive communication skills; namely listening, reading, speaking and writing.
Academic language and the skills needed to manipulate and interpret language in all discourse and genre.

Through the course pupils will acquire adequate vocabulary, produce coherent text (written and oral) and detect and present convincing arguments.

The literature course aims to develop critical ability as well as awareness of self and others together with knowledge of both English speaking and other cultures.

During the four years pupils will—

  • Use text as an example and inspiration for creative work
  • Familiarize themselves with literary genres
  • Analyse literary works – themes, plot, characterization
  • Identify structure and style
  • Make an independent personal response to the literature studied

In choosing works to study we refer both to national programs (such as the A level syllabus) as well as the International Baccalaureate curriculum. All genres and time periods are reflected, and works of high literary quality are chosen. The texts studied will of course increase in complexity each year, and, as of 5eme, each group level studies one play by William Shakespeare.

In addition to studying literature, our 6eme, 5eme and 4eme students benefit from classroom Theatre sessions with a qualified Theatre teacher or a professional actor. The focus is mainly on oral expression and confidence building. The Theatre teacher will often explore a theme or characterisation from a play, novel or poem which the students are studying as part of the curriculum with their English teacher.