Senior School
Modern Foreign Languages
Dégustation Européenne - Open Morning 2011
The Languages Department hosted a European food tasting event as part of Polam Hall's Open Morning and it proved to be a huge success!
Open Morning 2011 - French Cafe
Cara, Anna, Charlotte and Katie all acted as waitresses encouraging all our visitors to sample a whole range of tasty treats from Stollen and Lebkuchen to tortilla,briôche,crêpes and olives. Even some of our guides and students busy hosting our visitors managed to pop in to the Languages Dept for a tasting. With Edith Piaf singing her heart out on the CD and balloons and bunting decorating the top floor of Mounsey, there was a continental atmosphere everywhere. French news was broadcasting via the internet projection in room 10 and numerous games and activities online were being tried by young and not-so-young proving that there is no barrier to language learning
AN OVERVIEW OF THE LOWER SCHOOL CURRICULUM-FRENCH
Autumn term
L4 Themes-greetings,numbers,dates,expressing likes & dislikes. Grammar - gender,negatives,plural forms,present tense verb formation,prepositions
U4 Themes shopping, quantities, countries&capitals, nationalities, transport, school life. Grammar -er/-ir/-re verbs, partitive article
L5 Themes-exchanging personal info. Offering opinions, asking and answering questions, understanding tourist information. Grammar-irregular verb formation, adjectives,reflexive verbs.
Spring term
L4 Themes-weather,sports,leisure activities,understanding directions,places in a town Grammar- à/à la/au/aux, an introduction to some irregular verbs.
U4 Themes-clothes,buying souvenirs,presents,snacks.Ordering food in a restaurant. Grammar-an introduction to the past tense (avoir), negative formation.
L5- Themes- time phrases,leissure time activities,justifying opinions,school life.Grammar - distinguishing past & present tenses,comparatives& superlatives,future tense ( aller+infinitive).
Summer term
L4 Themes- telling the time, 24 hour clock, talking about a typical day.Grammar -possessive adjectives,reflexive verbs.
U4 Themes- Travel, health issues. Grammar - past tense (être verbs), the imperative, direct object pronouns.
L5 Themes - Holidays. Grammar future tense development.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE LOWER SCHOOL CURRICULUM-GERMAN
Autumn term
U4 Themes-exchanging personal information numbers, countries, birthdays, alphabet, time,snack food, clothes. Grammar - present tense, definite & indefinite article, genders,accusative case, negatives.
L5 Themes- Holidays, shopping, food and drink. Grammar -present and perfect tenses,um...zu, in + dative
Spring term
U4 Themes - friends, family physical descriptions,pets, free time, hobbies, likes & dislikes, opinions, arranging to go out with friends. Grammar - possessive pronouns adjectival endings,qualifiers,word order, question formation,verb inversion, modal verbs.
L5 Themes - after school activities, health and fitness. Grammar - word order,time, manner ,place, possessive adjectives, changing pronouns in the perfect tense, using different tenses, modal verbs.
Summer term
U4 Themes - describing where you live, rooms in a house,weather, transport, directions, ordering food in a café, holiday plans. Grammar - prepositions, dative case, imperfect tense, imperatives.
L5 Themes - arranging to go out, going on an exchange holiday,accepting & refusing invitations,daily routine, describing a recent shopping trip, giving information about a town. Grammar -future tense, adjectives and adjectival endings, word order/inversion, question formation.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE LOWER SCHOOL CURRICULUM-SPANISH
Autumn term
L5 Themes - personal information,food,shopping,healthy living. Grammar - comparatives,superlatives,immediate future.
Spring term
L5 Themes -clothes, buying clothes, describing holidays. Grammar pronouns,preterite (past) tense.
Summer term
L5 Themes - going out, arranging a meeting. Grammar - imperfect tense, consolidation of preterite tense.
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As part of languages studies at GCSE level, there is an opportunity for all linguists to participate in a school/business collaborative venture called 'Eurolinks'.
This one day event aims to raise awareness of the importance of foreign language skills in local business/industry. Pupils become 'employees of the Eurolinks company' and work off-site, in office situations, to very tight deadlines on projects profiling the north east as a base for inward investment. In the afternoon session, students work alongside Business Representatives using their language skills to promote local companies.
In recent years, this has become a highlight of language studies at GCSE level and it is, without doubt, always extremely enjoyable.
Here is an account of one recent Eurolinks day;
M5 linguists experience ‘Eurolinks’ at Bannatyne’s Hotel
Eurolinks 2011
Here they were treated as ‘employees’ of a company seeking to promote the North East region at an international trade fair. Part of their brief for the day was to use their linguistic skills to promote the products of local businesses. Thus the day offered participants a real insight into the importance of language skills in a professional context.
Once participants had been assigned to offices, they began to work through a series of tasks in their in-trays.
Eurolinks 2011
Tight deadlines were set and delegation was needed in each group to ensure all of them were completed in time. One such challenge was to receive and deal with a telephone enquiry from a European company interested in exploring possibilities of future investment in Darlington –a difficult enough task in English perhaps but M5 students tackled it in French, German and Spanish!
For the afternoon session, M5 were joined by business representatives who, following a brief introduction of their company to everyone, sought the help of each language office to produce a foreign language advertisement featuring their products.
Everyone enjoyed the opportunity of seeing the results of each group’s efforts at the end of the afternoon.
Eurolinks 2011
As always, such an event would not have been possible without the support of so many people but especially those who gave so generously of their time to join us.
Thanks also to Darlington Tourist Information Office for materials, Routes into Languages, Newcastle University and not forgetting Bannatyne’s Hotel management for ensuring everything went smoothly on the day. All students without exception offered extremely positive feedback. Here are some examples:-
‘Working alongside the business consultant, I felt a bit awkward at first but as we got some ideas together, it was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it!’
‘The best part was having no teachers! We could be treated as adults and get to decide everything!’
‘At the beginning, I was slightly daunted by the amount of work we had to complete but with everyone working together, it turned out to be fine’
‘It was fun to have another person relying on our ideas’
‘I really enjoyed it and thought it was an interesting and worthwhile experience’
‘It was a fun challenge’ ‘I had a great day!’
Eurolinks 2011
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LANGUAGE STUDY ABROAD
As part of the AS French course, students have the opportunity of participating in a one week's intensive language course on the Côte d'Azur during the Easter holiday prior to their speaking examinations. It is an excellent opportunity to become immersed in a culture whilst staying with host families in Nice. During their week at the Language School, Polam Hall linguists get the opportunity of studying with similar aged students from all over the world who also wish to perfect their oral skills in one of the most beautiful regions of France.
Here is an account of the 'Nice' experience
My ‘Nice’ Experience by Alex Craggs
When I first got to France I was quite nervous as I was worried about how I was going to be able to talk to a French lady, in French, for a whole week! But when we arrived at her apartment, I was soon at ease, she was very friendly and she was very helpful when we didn't understand what she was asking.
On the first day, we explored Nice, walking along the Promenade and around the old town and Mrs Harvey showed us our way to the school. The people at the school were really friendly and the teachers were very helpful and we all soon made friends with the others there. At lunch times and after lessons we had lots of time to do what we wanted like go the beach, swim in the sea, or even hire rollerblades and the school also organised a number of activities for us to do which was great fun. The lessons were really helpful as it improved your ability to listen in French and we did a variety of reading, writing, listening and speaking tasks. Although we did get some homework, it was not too much and so I think it was really helpful to improve your French and a great week away!
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The French Assistant experience at Polam Hall
Over the past few years,we have been very fortunate to have the benefitsof a French assistant working in the Languages Department to help our students build their oral confidence and improve their accent, pronunciation and intonation.
Here is an account written by our last assistant of his experiences of Polam Hall life.
How many times in our life do we have the opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and meet new people who, without being different, do not look like you? When I began my studies in France, I had wanted the experience of travelling abroad for a year and now my year in Darlington is over, I have learnt so much about the English way of life and about myself. It was stimulating to arrive here last October and discover so many new things like understanding the layout of English supermarkets (so different to French ones!) and to cope with a visit to an English hairdresser – all quite frightening to a foreigner experiencing independent life abroad for the first time!
I have often envied the pupils I have met here –how lucky they are. To have small classes, to see all the language classrooms covered with posters (in France walls in schools are just white) and to have a brilliant teacher like Mrs Harvey. I wanted to be a pupil myself all over again. It was strange to begin with-changing from a familiar role of student myself to a real teacher, from someone who mostly listens to being the one who had to speak, to have to be well prepared and to explain why in French we say things which are governed by no particular rule at all.
When I learnt I was to come to an independent school, I imagined that the pupils would be like those I had known in my French school. What I did discover was something very different. Very sporty students (contrary to their French counterparts) a big companionship between them and so many of them so busy doing so many things all the time!
I do hope that by being at Polam Hall this year I have been able to encourage everyone to make progress in their language lessons. I do know they have helped me progress in correcting my English mistakes sometimes!
So what have I learnt about life in England? When I left France to come here, I was told that I was going to eat very badly, that it would rain all the time and that it would not be very beautiful. In fact this was all wrong. We do eat the same things. I even have to admit that Mr Bell’s cooking is much better than the French school dinners I once had. It’s also much less rainy but it is cold compared to sunny La Rochelle on the west coast of France where I come from. On some occasions I have felt a little stupid wearing my coat when most people in Darlington were wearing light clothes. It really surprised me to see that here 13 degrees is a pleasant temperature. It also surprised me to see how much French is present in England. It is incredible the number of French words we find in the streets or on TV. I have also been very amused with the English habit of eating at 6pm, putting milk with tea and eating cheese with strange dry biscuits. All these amusing things have made my time at Polam Hall so worthwhile. I must admit, I did not think the north of England would be so interesting. I would like to thank everyone for making me feel welcome and especially to Mrs Harvey and the languages teachers.
Julien Cortot
French Assistant
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