Languages & Communication Faculty

English, French, Latin, Greek & ICT

A curriculum for the teaching of Languages and Communication should encourage inclusiveness – enabling all children to access the world of interaction and expression without fear of stumbling or failing to crack some elusive code. Accuracy and conciseness are essential tools for effective meaning-making, but children make themselves understood from the moment they are capable of conscious thought without any formal instruction – because their hunger demands it. In this way language, whether verbal, non-verbal, visual or other, is a medium for expressing needs and responses and in these early years of linguistic development the rate of learning is at its fastest – because it has to be.

Underpinning our formal teaching then must be the recognition that effective language learning cannot exist in a vacuum, but must be placed at all times in a real, living context. Effective guidance in grammar, spelling, punctuation and visual language is essential, but we shall also provide opportunities for our pupils to put these skills and concepts to the test in real, meaningful situations and scenarios, reflecting the socio-linguistic nature of language development and, with luck, making the experience stimulating and fun.

We should be ready and willing to use modern tools of communication / technology, but able to be confident in the traditions of writing, speaking and conversing. We should aim to be aware of different ‘voices’ and levels of discourse – language used for different purposes.

Creativity is central to our existence, not only in our language but in our very being – we make meaning of the world through our consciousness, and we create stories to explain events; from the earliest times we have creation mythologies, but even in the past century we have cargo cult traditions and, on a more mundane level, many of us attribute chance events to ‘luck’ – we create narratives where none exists. Being creative defines our humanity, so we need to consider what role education has in shaping this, and in encouraging continued creativity in ‘work’ and study.

The study of any language encourages empathy and an appreciation of cultural difference. Worthwhile study goes further and allows cultural understanding, and an awareness of the values and stories of other cultures.

Finally, we are ideally placed to celebrate a sense of fun, joy, play and freedom in language – it should never be merely ticking the boxes and making sure we are ‘correct’ / perfect in our utterances – great writers and communicators are not necessarily great spellers, and we need to remember our ‘joie de vivre’ in communication.