-
Intensive French is a second language model in which French is taught intensively in grade five for at least 70% of the day over a five-month period for about 270 hours. The Intensive French semester is preceded or followed by about 45 hours of French instruction, preferably offered in blocks of time through the week. The two semesters result in approximately 315 hours of second language instruction during the grade 5 Intensive French year.
-
During the five-month Intensive French semester some subjects are not taught to allow for 270 hours of Intensive French. Mathematics is taught in English throughout grade 5 and generally so are music and physical education. During the semester before or after the Intensive French term, all subjects are taught according to the recommended time allocations. Some content curriculum outcomes will need to be adjusted as a result of the time dedicated to Intensive French.
-
To continue to develop students’ French skills between grades 6 to 12, students participate in Post-Intensive French, a program that follows the same kind of learning activities and teaching strategies as those used in Intensive French. Post-Intensive French is generally offered in two or three blocks of time for approximately 200 minutes per week.
-
During Intensive and Post-Intensive French, students engage in interesting activities and projects that foster conversations among students while developing reading and writing skills.
-
Both Intensive and Post-Intensive French promote learning French through language-based activities versus learning subjects, such as science and social studies in French.
-
Intensive French incorporates some of the instructional strategies used to teach English in the primary grades. Listening, speaking, reading, viewing, writing and representing are modeled and developed in an integrated fashion through learning experiences which revolve around a theme or a project that require authentic communication.
-
Intensive French focuses first on speaking (fluently and accurately) supported by reading and writing. In the course of a day, students read and write about topics that they can speak about easily and correctly.
-
Studies show Intensive French enables students to reach a level of spontaneous oral communication in the five-month period (Level 14 - Basic Low).
