French Philosophy

At the centre of our philosophy at Copthorne is the belief that language learning is a creative and collaborative activity – requiring the full participation of our students. As Bruner (1990) recognises, language learning is not acquired in the role of spectator but through use. ‘Being exposed to a flow of language is not nearly so important as using it in the midst of doing.’ Our role as French teachers, is to immerse the children in a wide range of linguistic activities so they may learn the skills necessary in order to communicate overseas.

Learning a language is a difficult thing.  There can be no argument that immersion in the language is the most effective way to learn and the best place to immerse oneself in the language and culture of a place is to travel to that country. 

Language lessons cannot replace complete immersion in a country but we can go some way to represent the linguistic element with effective use of the target language in the classroom.

A basic understanding of grammar is fundamental to enable a non-native to get to grips with the complexities of a new language and while we endeavour to use the target language as much as possible it is deemed necessary to use the mother tongue in order to avoid confusion with certain linguistic and grammatical topics.

Target language is used throughout the prep school and this is backed up with English explanations as appropriate to class level and age