Languages

Understanding the complex nature of language

The primary purpose of Language studies, is to understand and explore the way in which they have evolved and developed over time to become useable in a huge variety of formal and informal situations and by a huge variety of people.

Native English speakers may expect English language studies to be fairly natural for them, but the task of studying the language is not something to be taken lightly, and it will certainly be a test of your ability as a student. Our tutors challenge students with not only the literature provided by the syllabus, but text that require a considerable amount of research and analysis.

Annual Reading List

2 Novels, 2 Academic texts

Break down

30% Spoken, 70% Exam.

Reach

All years

Importance

Research stresses the importance of picking up and interacting with language at a deeper level. In English, Students will be pushed to reason with an author’s decisions, character profiles and text structure. An example of this would be the famous novel, Lord of the Flies. Students are encouraged to write their own pieces as well as critiquing and analysing the work produced by their peers.

For French, students often get tested on their understanding with spoken sessions as well as being paired up with a “speaking buddy”. We will be taking students on trips to French speaking communities and organisations.

Careers and skills

Digging deep into languages allows for a deeper level of analysis, critical thinking and creativity. The syllabus allows students to pick and choose from some of the brightest writers and speaker to date, we think these are fantastic skills to develop. Here are some careers:

Lawyer
Historian
Analyst
Economist
Forecaster
Lecturer
Language researcher