English at Ecole du Centre, College Pierre Poivre
Transcription
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