Philippa Hastings
CL Modern Languages – French and Spanish
Myriam Hamilton
Teacher of French and Spanish
Francesca Smith
Teacher of Spanish and French
Nowadays, we live in a multilingual world and must take account of other languages and cultures. The Forrester High community itself is diverse and has speakers of many languages.
By learning a language, we see improvements in our level of English, increased memory and it also provides young people with greater career choices. It is widely recognised that knowledge of another language is an important skill in the modern workplace.
In line with the Scottish Government’s 1+2 policy on Modern Languages, all pupils in the Broad General Education phase have an entitlement to study 2 languages. The languages currently taught are French and Spanish. Both of these languages are offered in the Senior Phase as well from National 4 to Higher.
Our Modern Languages department is a lively and blossoming department where technology is used to facilitate learning and access meaningful and authentic resources. Aside from the literacy skills of Reading, Writing, Listening and Talking in another language, we also learn about wider cultural aspects of French and Spanish-speaking countries.
Courses
S1-3 (Broad General Education)
In S1-S3 pupils study Modern Languages for 3 periods a week. In S1 they study French twice a week and Spanish once a week.
In S2, this becomes two periods of Spanish and one of French. Going into S3 pupils, have the chance to choose which of the two languages they wish to continue with and have the opportunity to study both should they wish.
Over the course of the Broad General Education pupils will study a range of topic areas including:
- Personal language (Describing themselves and others)
- School
- Hobbies and lifestyles
- Home area
- Holidays
Students will not only improve linguistic skills but will also develop confidence, presentation skills, the ability to work with others, analysis and problem-solving skills
Senior Phase
Please click the link below for an overview of our course choices for senior phase students.
In addition, to the languages taught in the department, we annually celebrate language diversity at Forrester through European Day of Languages in September. This is celebrated both in the department and at a whole school level, with events and opportunities to learn some of the other languages spoken at Forrester.
Opportunities are also available to experience languages outside of the classroom with the French and Spanish Film Festivals taking place in Edinburgh each year.