French-Speaking Day - Year 8 & 9 pupils

This is an opportunity for pupils to prepare early for the new final-exam GCSE Speaking. Students will practise their spontaneous speaking skills using a range of fun and innovative activities. There will be experienced language teachers to help with pronunciation and fluency, and the low adult to student ratio ensures students speak as much French as possible during the day.

Speaking successfully in another language requires improving confidence and lots of practice; these are the main focus for the day.

During the morning students receive help and language hints from the workshop leader. We choose a topic and create a presentation, often a video, which demands teamwork and a pooling of skills and knowledge. For example, we might choose 'Food'. Students discuss in the target language, plan, prepare, rehearse and produce a film clip of their work. This is an intellectual and linguistic challenge.

At the end of the day the students have learned much new vocabulary; they have gained confidence, and they have learnt to work in skill areas in which they were previously uncomfortable.

Criteria for identifying participants:
Pupils should enjoy their French lessons in school and wish to learn new words as well as wishing to improve their pronunciation

What you will achieve:
Extended knowledge of French and new confidence in speaking spontaneously in the language

Additional information:
No mobile phones or valuables please
Please bring your own lunch - other refreshments provided
School uniform is not required

Please email us at [email protected] and we can send you application forms for your pupils.

Please note: all staff are DBS checked; the event is subjected to a risk assessment by Bath Spa University and there will be a first aider present at all times.

Presenter Profiles

Philip Campagna is the course leader on Bath Spa University’s Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Modern Foreign Languages as well as working with Routes into Languages which promotes languages to school children. He is a qualified rugby referee and was a teacher of modern languages at a Bath Secondary school.

Claire Davis has taught EFL in Spain and Italy before completing her PGCE at Bath Spa University. Since then she has been involved in a variety of teaching projects in the South West, including pupil and Inset events for Network for Languages. She has a BA in European Studies and is a professional freelance translator with a diploma from the CIOL,

Christopher Asbury has taught Modern Languages at GCSE and A Level in the State and Private Sectors for 22 years. He runs many pupil events for Network for Languages covering KS3, KS4 and KS5 German and French.

Our trainers will be assisted by native speakers.

Feedback from pupils on this course

Thank you for helping us improve. This is somewhere I would recommend!

This was an enjoyable day which helped me to develop confidence in speaking.
The teachers/tutors were really helpful and the facilities were excellent
Brilliant! Learnt lots in a fun way!
It was fun and interactive! I enjoyed developing my skills and performing as a group.
It was good to share ideas and work with people we haven’t worked with before.

The teachers on the day made it interesting and fun and not so much like school. I learnt a lot in one day.

Cost: £32 per student