FOREIGN LANGUAGES EDUCATION
The philosophy of the Foreign Languages Department is firstly to provide our learners with a multi-directional perspective, and to teach a different culture. English as a Foreign Language is taught in 12 lessons per week in Kindergarten and 10 lessons per week each year following. Other foreign languages; French and German, are taught for three lessons per week from pre-school until 12th Grade. Our aims are:
• To develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills and to nurture active use of foreign languages.
• To provide learners with the necessary skills (both written and spoken) to express themselves in different situations with fluency and accuracy.
• To provide enough proficiency to be able search for knowledge, keep up to date and read international books etc.
In the Foreign Languages Department languages are learned through experience. With this in mind we do not directly teach the structures but rather encourage autonomous learning because we believe languages are better learned in their natural environment. It begins with the Story Telling Programme in Kindergarten, 1st , 2nd and 3rd graders. We do the story telling lessons in special Story Lands where the students are introduced to special, well-designed story books and they are given the necessary education to be able to acquire and understand the language. By doing so we have students using the language in a natural atmosphere. The teachers of 1st , 2nd and 3rd graders are professionals with excellent reputations.
Starting from preschool all the lessons are done by a native teacher of English and a Turkish teacher.
The Foreign Languages Department gives the same importance to learning evaluation as well as reaching goals. In order to have experienced learners we utilize a variety of evaluation techniques exclusive of written tests. We have closely monitored the effects of the reading, writing, speaking and listening evaluations. Our students also realize which area they should give more importance to. Outside school, we motivate our students to take the Cambridge exams. Due to the results taken from these tests, Çakabey Private Schools` students have the opportunity to see where they are among the learners of their age all throughout the world. They get very successful results. TOEFL, SAT, Young Learners, KET, PET, FCE are other exams we aim our students to take as well. Students can also use their certificates to form their language portfolios.
The European Language Portfolio based on the evaluation system of The European Framework has three parts; a Language Passport, a Language Biography, and a Dossier.
The European Language Portfolio and the level of language education developed by the European Council of Modern Foreign Languages used at Çakabey Private Schools is as follows:
4th Grades: A1
5th Grades:A1
6th Grades: B1 Beginner
7th Grades:B1
8th Grades:B1( Beginner for B2)
9th Grades( lower group): A1-A2(Beginner)
9th Grades( upper group):B1
10th Grades( lower group): A2-B1(Beginner)
10th Grades( upper group): B1-B2(Beginner)
11th Grades( lower group): B1
11th Grades( upper group): B2
12th Grades( lower group): B1
12th Grades( upper group):B2
As for the second languages, French and German, we encourage our students to be able to express their feelings and ideas both orally and in written form. This is achieved through a programme that caters to their most basic needs. The lessons are done mainly through projects making use of active teaching methods. Our students have made us proud attaining first place prizes within our region proving how successful their education really is.