Languages - English
English is the medium of instruction across the school.
At BISG we teach English as it would be taught in a British school and so although we support our students who come to us with little or no English, our English lessons are not taught as additional language lessons.
The teaching and learning of English are differentiated in order to cater for the different ability levels of our learners.
We support students who are new to English with small group work and EAL (English Additional Language) support but there is an expectation from class 4 onwards that students are becoming more independent in their learning of English.
English is experienced in a variety of genres including stories, diaries, letters, instructions, poetry, reports, news articles and more.
We have a well-resourced library at the school and students have opportunity to change books as required.
Students are expected to read regularly at home. Every week, children take home English books to read, as the more a student is able to read, the more competent he/she can become as a writer and user of English and of course, reading at home with / to a parent is an important and precious time.
From a young age, our students are learning to appreciate the richness of English and produce written work that they can be proud of.
The teaching of English broadens from class 4 and so the opportunity for creativity within the subject is greater with students producing written and presented (spoken) outcomes in many different genres such as: science-fiction, myths and legends, fables, adventure stories, historical fiction, drama, Shakespeare, poetry, reports, explanations, news items, discussions, life-writing, formal letters and more.
Spelling and grammar is taught explicitly through our SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) programme and students are expected to read regularly at home.
