English at Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre

English at Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre
Ecole du Centre is a French school situated in the centre of Mauritius and attracts students
from all over the island as well as all over the world. It has a picturesque setting being
surrounded by fields of sugar cane and rolling mountain ranges. The parent body of our
school is made up of people committed to the French education system but who, for the most
part, attended English schools themselves. This familiarisation with the English school system
has meant that our parents understand the vital role played by the English language in
Mauritius and are committed to its importance in our school programme.
The teachers at our school are all native English speakers or are individuals that have spent
many years living in English speaking countries. They represent a broad range of different
English cultures and have lived in many different Anglophone countries including England,
Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the USA. Our English teachers bring to the school not
only their enthusiasm and love for the language but also their knowledge of the English
speaking world, a most valuable resource.
Students at Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre start their English instruction in PSM at
the age of 3 and the time they spend with the language gradually increases until they leave our
institution at the end of 3ème at the age of 15.
English hours and classes:
Class
Group
6ème English & LEA
5ème English & LEA
4ème - English
Full Class
Full Class
Full Class
Selected Students
Full Class
Selected Students
4ème - European Section
3ème - English
3ème - European Section
Duration of
Lesson
1 hour
1 hour
1 hour
1 hour
1 hour
1 hour
Lessons per
week
5
5
4
2
4
2
Total hours
5h
5h
4h
2h
4h
2h
Our school is proud to be part of a number of pedagogical projects which add to the English
language programme and provide the students with greater opportunities to learn and enjoy
the English language. These projects include Language projects, the European Section, and
the Big Challenge all of which add another dimension to English language learning at Ecole
du Centre, College Pierre Poivre. In the same vein as the European Section students of all
ages participate in EMILE (DNL) or LEA sessions where other parts of the curriculum such
as science, technology or history are taught in English. CERCL evaluations are done with
most students attaining the A1 level in CE2 or CM1 and the A2 level in 5ème.
While the school is committed to fulfilling all aspects of the National French Programme,
Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre, none the less attempts to go further than the
Programme's confines and bring our students up to a higher standard overall. One of the ways
in which we do this is to introduce the study of English literature, both classical and
contempory in nature. This begins very simply in CM2 and continues to be an integral part of
our programme until the end of 3ème. We fully respect the Programme outlined by the French
Education department but go a great deal further and many of our students leave the school
being bilingual or close to it. Our students’ results speak for themselves.
Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre is committed to the learning of English and recognises
the importance of the language both locally and on the global stage. Our objective is to
maintain the high standards being achieved at our school while at the same time searching for
ways of positively looking to the future and making our school into a centre of excellence for
English language learning.
The Big Challenge
The Big Challenge is an English competition organised for college students in French schools
inside and outside of France. Its aim is to motivate students and bring a little fun into English
language learning at the same time. The competition is extremely well run and the organising
committee relies heavily on its partners; Cambridge University and the British Council.
The Big Challenge provides an opportunity for the students of Ecole du Centre, College Pierre
Poivre to demonstrate their abilities and achievements in English. Our results show that
English at our school has a huge advance over most French establishments as is shown by the
figures below:
Big Challenge results
The following graph shows competition results from 2003 – 2012 and compares the school’s
averages with worldwide averages. The marks out of 350 not only show that Ecole du Centre
scores much higher than most French schools but also that the difference between the
worldwide averages and our averages has gradually been increasing. In other words our
students achieve vastly superior results in English and are only getting better.
300
282
238
250
235
242
249
246
250
257
255
218
200
183
168
155
162
160
155
160
152
164
153
Worldwide
Average
150
Ecole du
Centre
Average
100
50
0
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2010
2011
2012
2013
Big Challenge Rankings and Individual Results
Students at Ecole du Centre not only achieve high scores, they also rank very high on a yearly
basis. In 2013 99.3% of our students were above the national average. As in all schools
certain individual students often achieve particularly good results. At Ecole du Centre we
have had a large number of outstanding achievements in the Big Challenge exam over the past
few years. We have had students ranking 1st worldwide, students coming in the top five
worldwide on many occasions as well as a very large number of pupils ranking in the top five
in our region.
The CEFR – A1 and A2
The CEFR is the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, known as the
CERCL, the Cadre Européen Commun de Référence pour les Langues in French. The CEFR
was developed by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and its aim has been to achieve greater
unity among its members in terms of language education. The CEFR is a document
concerning foreign language learning and it describes what learners have to do in order to be
able to communicate effectively. The French Education department's programme for "langues
vivantes" is now based on the CEFR.
The CEFR also defines different levels of proficiency which allow learners' progress to be
measured at each stage of learning a foreign language. There are six very broad levels of
proficiency described by the CEFR ranging from A1 for beginners, to C2 for those who have
mastered the language. France is the first European nation to insist that students attain certain
CEFR levels prerequisite to obtaining either the Brevet des Collèges or the Baccalauréat. The
2007/ 2008 school year was the first year in which 3ème students have had to obtain an A2
attestation before being awarded their Brevet. The following table briefly describes the six
levels of proficiency and the way these levels correspond to our English programme at Ecole
du Centre.
A1 BEGINNER
This level should be attained by the end of CM2 but most of our students
achieve this level in CE2 or CM1.
A2 ELEMENTARY
This level must be attained by the end of 3ème. At our school most students
in 5ème have already attained this level.
B1 INTERMEDIATE
This level must be attained by the end of Terminale. At our school many
students in 3ème have already attained this level.
B2 LIMITED PROFICIENCY
Some students in Terminale have already attained this level.
C1 EFFECTIVE PROFICIENCY
University or work place level.
C2 MASTERY
University or work place level.
Using a combination of class work and tests the English teachers are able to evaluate the A1
and A2 CEFR levels of all the students from CE2 to 3ème. The vast majority easily attain the
A2 level by the end of 5ème with some of the students reaching a B1 level, particularly those
in the European Section class.
English in the Classroom
DNL or LEA
DNL stands for Disciplines Non Linguistiques which is the teaching of other subject areas in
English in the secondary school. This is done in part by the English teachers in 6ème and
5ème (LEA - Langues Étrangères Appliquées) where one hour per week of English
instruction is dedicated to teaching other subject areas such as history, geography and science.
In addition DNL sessions are also taught by the college teachers who have acquired their
“Habilitation” in English. These sessions are prepared with the help of the secondary English
teachers where necessary but are carried out by the college teacher with his or her own
students.
The European Section
Selected 4ème and 3ème students participate in 2 hours of European Section lessons per
week. In these classes the students do extra English in order to prepare them for coping with a
subject taught in English at the Lycée. At College Pierre Poivre we concentrate on developing
the students’ skills in English through themes, which may include the Kings and Queens of
England, Shakespeare, the Economic Crisis in the USA, etc. There is great demand for this
section at our school and we now have two classes for each year level including over 80
students overall. The students are particularly motivated and know that the European Section
can help their English as well as provide them with bonus points in the Brevet and the
Baccalaureate.
Special Projects
The ESU Spelling Bee
In May 2013 College Pierre Poivre decided to participate in our first ever Spelling Bee run by
the ESU, the English Speaking Union in Mauritius. The Spelling Bee is a competition where
students are eliminated one by one after being asked to spell increasingly complicated English
words until only one winner is left. The school chose one winner in each age group and we
then participated in the regional heats held in Flacq. Considering we were participating
against very good English schools such as MGI and Bocage we actually did very well. Our
6ème candidate came 2nd and our 5ème candidate came 3rd. Not bad for a French school in its
first participation in such a competition.
Ambassadeurs en Herbe
Our school participated this year in
the
Ambassadeurs
en
Herbe
competition where a chosen team of
students presented and debated a
number of current affairs topics. The
competition was organised conjointly
by the AEFE and UNESCO with the
Mauritian heats being held at the
Lycee des Mascareignes, the regional
heats in Madagascar and the final in
Paris. One member of each team had
to take the role of a “mediator” or
translator and summarise all that had been said by his or her team in English. The mediator
for the Mauritian team was Lisa Ducasee who was a 3ème student at our school in 2012. Lisa
went on to win as best “mediator” in the African region and in the final in Paris was also
victorious. A real achievement in a competition which had more than 5000 participants. Lisa’s
success using the English language is a testament to her own talents and abilities but also
shows that the English language instruction she received at Ecole du Centre was of a very
high standard. Our congratulations go to Lisa as well as all the other participants.
Language Projects
Once again this year Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre participated in the Language
Projects. The projects this year involved all the French school in Mauritius and worked on
particular themes. The best work was then published in books which were distributed to the
students and schools involved.
The college worked on the theme A Mauritian Mystery where students from 3ème to 2nde
were asked to write about a well known mystery here on the island or create a mystery story
based in Mauritius such as Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyal might have done. The
Secondary project was set up as a competition where various prizes were attributed, Ecole du
Centre winning the award for the best piece of poetry which was written by Tanya Fitzgerald
in 3ème. The winners were announced by the jury members on Monday the 3rd of June in a
ceremony held at the Lycée des Mascareignes.
What am I?
I am the symbol
Of the fight for liberty
I am a witness
Of a nation’s history
Some say my legend is untrue
That there is no proof
But I was there
And I know it’s true
I was there when
The blood fell into the earth
I was there to see them suffer
I was there to see their pain.
You’re probably asking
Who am I talking about?
I’ll answer, I’m talking about the slaves
Desperate for freedom
They jumped off my summit.
You must have guessed
I am The Morne
By Tanya Fitzgerald