Why choose Languages?
In recent years, the importance of being able to speak a foreign language has become much more obvious to us all. We are part of the European Community, and can travel much more easily to other countries for business as well as pleasure. French is a language spoken by many people in lots of different countries in the world, and so it is very useful for communicating with people of many nationalities.
In Our Lady’s High School we can equip you with the skills to talk to people even further afield. Spanish is spoken not only in Spain, but also in most of the countries in Central and South America. The market there is becoming more and more important to us in Europe, and you might one day find your knowledge of Spanish an asset in whichever job you choose.
However, you shouldn’t think of language learning as only a means to finding work. It can give you lots of pleasure too - it’s much more enjoyable to be able to talk to people in France and Spain when you go there on holiday. And it means that you can get away from the tourist resorts and find out what the country is really like. More and more adults are going to evening classes to learn a language. Because you will have studied two at school, you will find it much easier to “brush up” on them later on if you need to. It is a great feeling to have a conversation, no matter how short, with a native of the country you are visiting.
There are so many opportunities to study, work and live in other countries – you might want to study computing at university in France or take a year to go travelling. Maybe you will work as an engineer in Europe or even a footballer in Spain!
What can I choose?
You have had 2 years of French and 1 year of a “taster” course in Spanish. In S3, you may wish to continue with French or Spanish only. Alternatively you may wish to opt for both French and Spanish. Please consult your teacher before making your choices.
Exam
In your Standard Grade exam at the end of S4, the skills tested will be Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. Speaking and Reading are given twice as much weighting as Listening and Writing. Throughout S4, you will have on-going Speaking Assessments, and your final Speaking Grade will be based on these. You will also do Writing activities and at the end of S4 the final version of your best three pieces of work will be sent to the SQA to be marked
Everyone in the Modern Languages Department wishes you well in S3 and S4. If you need help in choosing your options, be sure to ask any one of us.
Remember. You have a big advantage - you already speak English; build on this by learning as many more languages as possible, no matter what you want to do in the future!
There is a saying in business:
“If you want to buy, speak your own language,
If you want to sell, speak the customer’s.”