Alongside the ‘Project-Based Learning’ (PBL) part of the curriculum (see this article for more information), the English team at Aletheea will this year fully integrate the Cambridge English course and exams into all grades across the school.
Firstly we believe that as well as the open, contextualized approach of PBL, it is important to give the students a functional and precise introduction to language structures, grammar, vocabulary and skills. We have chosen the Cambridge system to provide this for a number of reasons:
- The Cambridge materials and exams provide a step-by-step approach structured according to age and ability that we can apply throughout the school
- The Cambridge system is backed up by one of the largest EFL teams in the world who are internationally recognized as a thought-leader in the field
- The exams are a globally recognized measure of English ability from schools, universities, institutions and all kinds of companies and employers
- The approach of the curriculum is based on real-life language use in a variety of contexts across speaking, listening, reading and writing
Later on in the year students will take the exams within the school according to the following structure:
Class 3 – YLE Starters/ YLE Movers
Class 4 – YLE Movers/ YLE Flyers
Class 5 – YLE Flyers/ Key English Test (KET)
Class 6 – KET/ Preliminary English Test (PET)
Class 7 – PET / First Certificate in English (FCE)
Class 8 – FCE
For more information about the Cambridge exams and system see here: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/why-cambridge-english/
Article written by John Riley, English teacher.
