Insitution: The Piggott School
'It is challenging to begin a
new course and hard work but refreshing and worth it.
Assessment at regular times when the students are ready is a good
aspect of the course.' Matt Connor, The Piggott School, SSAT
Leader Practitioner for GCSE in Applied French
Context
The Piggott School is a mixed
comprehensive school with around 1150 students on roll. It is set
in Wargrave, a middle class area just outside Reading.
Key objectives
- To use genuine work-related contexts to motivate learners in
French in KS4.
- To offer a more adult alternative to the conventional GCSE
course.
How the programme is organised
- Applied French GCSE has been offered to students in KS4. Those
opting have tended to be middle ability students.
- Real business scenarios have been devised to motivate the
students.
- Links have been set up with Futuroscope in France as well as
Microsoft and local hotels in the Reading area.
Principles of teaching
Teaching Applied
French gives you the flexibility to create contexts that fit best
with your learners. There are fewer obligatory topic areas than in
standard GCSE and this gives much scope to be creative. In
addition, Applied French allows teachers to create real business
scenarios to motivate students.
Evidence of success
There has been no
major impact on results as yet, but it is believed there will be an
improvement as the exam board provides more support and as staff
and students become more accustomed to the course requirements.
Future developments
Further development of http://www.appliedfrench.co.uk/ website to help all
students.- Better liaison with other vocational areas in school
- Improved business links.
Author: Matt Connor, The Piggott School