The Bilingual Section
Unique in this area of the Yvelines, the Bilingual Program at the Collège Notre Dame du Bel Air was created in 2003.
It is a continuation of the program at the Saint Louis Primary School and is designed for students who are bilingual (French-English) from the 6ème through the 3ème.
Students come from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities and speak English fluently, either thanks to English-speaking parents or from having lived abroad.
There is also a possibility for some particularly strong students from the regular English class to test into the bilingual section during their middle school years.
The program offers:
Arts/Literacy skills
History/Geography courses
Current Events workshop
4 to 6 hours of coursework /week
Students testimonials:
Students in the Bilingual Program benefit from:
- The learning atmosphere of an Anglophone country with special attention to Anglophone culture and history
- The advantages of small class size, guaranteeing individual attention and greater opportunity for student participation (average class size: 15 students per class)
- The opportunity to progress in English with coursework and materials similar to that of students their age in an English-speaking country
- A program integrated into the French school system with the complete curriculum of the Education nationale
- 100% English classroom and a native English-speaking teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience
- Activities and events throughout the year organized by the Bilingual Section
Program:
There is extensive work on written expression, reading comprehension, formal and informal speaking skills, vocabulary building and the mechanics of the language (spelling and grammar).
Students read novels, short stories, plays, and non-fiction texts on scientific, historical or social topics. Group discussions, journal writing, class projects and activities are built around these readings.
There is continued work on different genres of writing using the academic writing process where students learn the steps to improve their written work. They practice brainstorming techniques and use the first draft-revising-editing-final draft process.
The History/Geography course (6ème and 5ème) is in addition to that of the French National curriculum and various themes are explored depending on the grade level: UK, North America, South Africa, and Australia are some of them.
The 4ème and 3ème students practice oral skills more intensively with regular presentations and skits and keep up on world events in the Current Events workshop.
Some examples of fun activities and events organized in the past years by our section include:
Back-to-School Family Picnics
Alumni Night
Gingerbread House creation for the Christmas Market
Theatre outings in Paris
UK Day
All-school Trivial Pursuit game
Graduation ceremony for all the 3èmes
Science fair
Variety show
English book sales
International breakfasts
Mystery Skype games with classrooms around the world
