At ISL, students communicate thought and experience through the acquisition of languages in a multilingual, multicultural community. Students learn languages in a safe and caring environment supported by a relevant and challenging learning programme. Acquiring other languages develops transferable skills that enable students to become life-long learners.

The Lower School French programme (Early Years  – Grade 5) provides opportunities for children to develop basic communication skills as they learn to appreciate other languages and cultures. We respect the developmental aspects of the child by concentrating on oral and aural competency in the early years and introducing reading and writing as first-language literacy becomes established. We believe that a developmentally sound approach to language learning will ensure that our students attain competence and confidence in their ability to communicate in French.

Students participate in a variety of activities that support different learning styles and rates. These might include role-playing, “Total Physical Response”, rhymes, songs, games, reading stories or factual texts, filming, recording, dictations, puzzles, projects, videos, computer-based learning or interactive white board lessons. Many of these same techniques are also used to assess student progress in the skill areas of speaking and listening, reading, writing, research skills and cultural development.

French instruction begins in Early Years 4 beginning in an exposure model with classes grouped by ability beginning in Grade 1.  Although ours is a foreign language programme, we do our best to accommodate native speakers.