Learning Opportunities

Improving my French – Currently, I have only studied French in school and used it for exams and so this opportunity will allow me to practice my French in everyday settings. As I am going to a French speaking school, I will be surrounded by French speakers every day, which will be challenging but hopefully I will improve each day. All of the children will be most comfortable speaking their language and so I will have to adapt and attempt to use French with them and with the other teachers in order to built up a level of communication.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language – I have some experience teaching French to Scottish pupils; however, I think it will be difficult to adapt my teaching of English to non-natives, as it will require some degree of simplification. As the children should already have a level of English, I will be able to learn from the teachers how they approach teaching English, which I can emulate for this placement and then adapt for future placements when teaching a foreign language or teaching children whose first language is not English. I think looking at the basics of the English language will also be an excellent opportunity for me to revise my knowledge on spelling and grammar, which will be helpful for future teaching.