Ms Murphy – THS Languages

January 10, 2024

Happy New Year!

We hope you have had a wonderful festive period! In the Taylor Languages Faculty we have been very busy beginning new units of work.

In English:

Our S1’s have now started our Burns unit and will have a look into Scots language, Robert Burns and his poetry and traditional Scottish culture.

Our S2 classes are starting our media unit on Jurassic Park where they will be studying media techniques for the first time.

In S3, we are finishing report writing or a persuasive piece and due to start our independent research unit.

Our S4 are currently studying their Scottish Text unit – studying Sailmaker or Jackie Kay poetry.

Our S5 and S6’s have just completed their prelim exam – well done!

– THS Languages

October 11, 2023

Modern Languages News – October

Hola!

Here in Modern Languages we are studying some very exciting topics to help our pupils settle in.

S1s are excited to continue their language-learning journey here at Taylor. In Spanish, we have learned some basic greetings and how to introduce ourselves. We are currently learning the days of the week, the months of the year, and how to say when our birthdays are. In French, we have also started to learn some basic greetings and introductions.

In S2 Spanish, we are currently going through the topic of school. We have been learning to give opinions on school subjects and teachers, talk about what we eat and drink during break, and describe the school day using the time. In French, S2 are currently talking about free-time activities and learning about specific games in France such as ‘la pétanque.’

In Languages for Life and Work Spanish, S3 have been revising various topics such as introducing yourself, talking about your family, where you live, and talking about school subjects. It’s amazing to see how much they remember from S1 and S2!

In National 5 Spanish, we are currently going through the topic of ‘learning’. The pupils have displayed great debating skills by having interesting discussions related to school uniform, school rules, and stress caused by school. Also, they have been preparing for the directed writing and have produced great pieces of written work!

Have a fantastic October break when it comes!

October 11, 2023October 11, 2023

English News – October

Happy October!

In English, our pupils are most of the way through term one and are settling well into the academic year. We are all busy working our way through some very exciting units.

This month our fantastic S1 classes are finishing off The New Boy and beginning our Individual Presentations. This will teach our S1 pupils how to plan for, research, and write a presentation. They will also learn how to deliver a presentation and will present these to their classmates.

In S2, we are finishing off our wonderful poems based on a poetry study. We will then be moving onto our Newspaper Project where we will study newspapers and their features before getting the chance to create our own.

Our S3 classes have been studying various novels across the department from To Kill a Mockingbird to Private Peaceful. Our S3 classes will write a critical essay based on the novel which will prepare them for their National courses in S4.

Our S4 National 4 classes have been making good progress studying persuasive techniques before starting persuasive essays for their Creation and Production unit of the course.

In National 5, we have completed our RUAE study and completed our Individual Presentations. We are now moving onto Critical Essay studies with classes studying an array of texts from Shakespeare’s MacBeth to poetry from Carol Ann Duffy and Wilfred Owen.

Our Higher classes have also completed the RUAE and Individual Presentation components of the course. We have started to study Scottish Texts such as Ena Lamont Stewart’s Men Should Weep and Norman MacCaig’s poetry.

We hope you all have a lovely October break!