Institution: John Warner School

Context
'German has been really fun this year. We’ve learnt a lot and it has been more interesting because we’ve done some good topics like the environment, health and the media.'

'It’s way better than doing it in English because no one takes it seriously then, but in German we are learning about the topics and learning German at the same time.' Pupils from The John Warner School

John Warner is a medium sized, mixed comprehensive, 11 to 18 foundation school. It is located in Hertfordshire and has specialist Science college status. More than 55% of its students pursue Modern Foreign Languages at KS4. Since the beginning of the academic year of 2006, 26 students at The John Warner School have been doing PSHE through the medium of German. Initially, the realisation that fewer students opted for language GCSEs provided a strong incentive for piloting the scheme. It was thought that the CLIL approach would motivate and stretch the more able students in languages.

How the programme is organised
First to be targeted was a top set of Year 8 students in German. The scheme caters for their instruction of PSHE in German alongside their normal German lessons. This scheme, better known to the students as 'Accelerated German' currently happens on the basis of one 50 minute PSHE lesson per week plus two 50 minute German lessons per week. The programme has now been extended to 2 classes whose PSHE lessons are now in French.

Results/effect
So far, the students involved have seemed very passionate about their language learning within this new context. They have produced high standards of work and it has also prompted in them an unprecedented enthusiasm for taking part in a language school trip. It is still early days in terms of evaluating the scheme’s full impact on the learning of the students enrolled but the prospect of students taking early language GCSEs is already under discussion. According to Mr Taylor, the Head of German, the motivation of the students far exceeds what one would normally expect of Year 8. The majority of students are already achieving National Curriculum Level 6. The original German classes are progressing well and there are now 12 pupils studying AS German in Year 10 to take their exam at the end of Year 11. They are very much enjoying discussing the global issues and current affairs which are discussed at this level.

Future developments
There are plans to broaden CLIL practice at the start of the coming academic year. The current group will continue into Year 9 and there will also be fast track groups in Years 7 and 8. Again, this is to apply within the context of PSHE lessons, if possibly delivered through the medium of French.

Author: Mrs Caroline Lewis, Head of MFL