VLE
Through the study of Arabic, students are equipped with a knowledge and understanding of the Arab world in which they live. Our Second Language Arabic courses prepare non-Arab students for effective participation in Arab society, and enable them to communicate in an additional language which will be of use to them in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
The Arabic taught during lessons is Modern Standard Arabic, the official form of the language used in most written documents, as well as in more formal spoken contexts such as lectures and news broadcasts.
For non-Arabs, Arabic is a compulsory subject in Years 6-9, and an optional subject from Year 10 onwards. In Years 6-9 students are placed in sets according to their level of proficiency in the language. From Year 10 onwards, students who have chosen to study Arabic are taught in mixed ability groups.
Second Language Arabic is taught by specialist teachers in all year groups. The four skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing are given equal emphasis.
In Years 6-11, two lessons of 65 minutes each are allocated to Second Language Arabic per week. In the Sixth Form, teaching is by special arrangement.
Lessons are conducted mainly in Arabic and class time is divided between listening, speaking, reading and writing tasks. Activities include textbook work, written exercises, games, paired work and role-play. Students use their laptops to conduct research, to listen to spoken Arabic and to learn and practise grammatical structures and vocabulary.
Topics: family and friends, house and home, the town, free time. Grammar elements include pronouns, possessive adjectives, prepositions, negatives, regular and irregular verbs in the present tense, and a brief introduction to the past tense.
Topics: food and meals, going out, shopping, a healthy lifestyle. Grammar elements include more complex aspects of the present tense, the near future tense, the past tense, comparison of adjectives and object pronouns.
Topics: travel, holidays, coping with problems whilst on holiday. Grammar elements include regular and irregular verbs in the past, present and future tenses and infinitive constructions.
Topics: health and hygiene, working with others, public services. Grammar elements introduced in the Middle Department are consolidated, and students learn to use a wider range of sentence structures and verb tenses.
Topics: Staying in a hotel, travel, visiting tourist attractions, using medical services. Grammar elements include a range of verb tenses and sentence structures, and expressing more complex opinions.
Topics: the world of work, a healthy lifestyle, the environment. Grammar elements from Year 10 are consolidated and students work to improve their Arabic style. Examination preparation is conducted using GCSE past papers.
Pearson Edexcel AS Arabic includes reading comprehension, translation from Arabic into English, and essay writing. The course includes work on youth culture and concerns, including relationships, peer pressure, television, the internet, the mobile phone and music; lifestyle, including sporting activities, leisure, food and diet; education and the future, including the education system, student daily life and concerns, higher education and the world of work; and the world around us, including travel, the environment, natural disasters, relief organisations and the Arabic-speaking world.
Pearson Edexcel A2 Arabic includes reading comprehension, translation from English into Arabic and essay writing. The course includes work on customs and traditions, literature and the arts and a range of world issues, including poverty, disease, conflict, immigration and modern technology.