This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Ca va? Ca va bien.
03/02/2003
Pupils at an Aberdeen primary school are benefiting in a number of ways from learning the curriculum in French, an evaluation report has found.
In 2000 Walker Street Primary School piloted a "partial immersion project" in which primary 1 pupils are taught the expressive arts component of the curriculum through the medium of French.
The immersion teaching will be increased as the pupils progress through the primary stages so that by primary 7, 80 per cent of the curriculum will be delivered in French.
The report was published on the day that pupils from Walker Road came to Edinburgh to tell Education Minister Cathy Jamieson and her deputy Nicol Stephen - in French - how much they enjoy their lessons.
Ms Jamieson said:
"One of the first things I was told about when I became Education Minister was the Walker Road project and the buzz it had brought to pupils and teachers at the school. Children with fantastic French accents, switching from Aberdonian to French without hesitation.
"And this first evaluation proves that when an innovative approach is taken to learning - in this case language learning - the benefits come through as greater pupil confidence and greater pupil interest.
"It's good to celebrate one of the many success stories in language learning and teaching and I am pleased that good use is being made of Scottish Executive funding.
"Diverse approaches to language teaching and learning are bringing real benefits for pupils in schools across the country. Our new funding structure means that local councils and schools have greater flexibility in the use of language funding.
"We are already supporting more than 20 innovative language projects, with room for more next year. We have also produced support materials for teachers, most significantly CD roms in French, German, Spanish and Italian which will soon be available to every language teacher rather than one per school."
She concluded:
"Aberdeen City Council and Walker Road Primary School are to be congratulated on their efforts in making this project a success. Without the support of pupils and their parents it would not have been possible and, for that, they too should be applauded."
The Evaluation Report, Early Partial Immersion in French at Walker Road Primary School, Aberdeen. The First Two Years: 200/01 and 20001/2 was prepared by Professor Richard Johnstone, University of Stirling, Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching & Research.
An extract from the report's summary says that the findings thus far suggest that:
- the perceptions of the project held by immersion teachers, headteacher and staff, Aberdeen City Council and parents are highly positive in respect of the pupils' development of proficiency in French, pupils' attitudes to the language and to French-speaking culture, and pupils' own sense of self. No view has thus far been conveyed of the pupils being at a disadvantage in their learning of important curricular subject-matter on the grounds that this is being accessed in part through French; on the contrary the feeling seems to be that there is 'added value'. These stakeholders also consider that the project has brought benefit to the local community (giving it special 'kudos')
- appropriate provision has been made for the project, including the provision of one hour per day allocated to accessing (mainly) the expressive arts curriculum through French, two suitably qualified native-speaker immersion teachers, links with the Total French school in Aberdeen and support for parents who themselves wish to learn or renew their French
- the processes observed to take place in class are consistent with best-practice immersion methodology. In particular, the immersion teachers provide a substantial amount of varied, interesting input which is directly relevant to the curricular areas being studied. They are highly skilled in creating a relaxed yet concentrated classroom atmosphere and at drawing the pupils into a wide range of verbal and non-verbal interactions with them
- the pupils display excellent skills in comprehending the flow of French-language input which comes their way and their accent and intonation are very good. There appear to be no signs of individuals or small groups falling behind or becoming disaffected. The project seems to appeal as much to boys as to girls, and at present all abilities and disabilities are catered for within a friendly, inclusive approach
- the P2 pupils have progressed beyond the levels reached by those in P1. In particular, they are more able to cope with communication which is purely verbal; they are able to comprehend longer strings of language; they are beginning to be able to perform complex cognitive tasks through the language, e.g. mental arithmetic; they are beginning to access literacy in French by taking initial steps towards reading and writing; and they are beginning to create their own phrases (as opposed to producing stock phrases which they have learnt or to producing very short one-word answers).
The Executive is providing some financial support for the project - 30 per cent costs in the first two years of the project, rising to 50 per cent costs for this and the next financial year.