French
This is a communicative syllabus organised around the needs, expectations and interests which pupils bring to the foreign language classroom.
The adolescent learner in the Irish context seldom needs to use the target language in an authentic exchange with a native speaker. His or her real needs centre around using and understanding the target language as a means of communication and instruction in the classroom. However, a pupil brings to the classroom a reasonable expectation that his or her language learning will equip him or her to cope in a country where the language is native. The learner can also reasonably expect that the language-learning process will draw upon themes and activities that are of interest to him or her.
The syllabus is to be seen as a teaching syllabus, a statement of the minimum content of themes and communicative tasks which should have been covered by pupils at Intermediate Certificate level.
The items listed under the heading ‘SOME EXPONENTS’ exemplify some of the language items which might be used in carrying out a given communicative task. This small selection of exponents is intended as a guide. The teacher may use them or offer the pupils other words and phrases. It is not necessary for a pupil to have mastered all the listed exponents: he or she should, however, be able to carry out all the communicative tasks, at least at a simple level.
The list of exponents is not a prescriptive list for setters of the Intermediate Certificate Examination. They will aim to test communicative competence in respect of the themes and communicative tasks: they are not restricted to the list of exponents that appears in the syllabus.
General Aims
1. General educational aims:
The general educational aims of the Junior Certificate programme in the target language are:-
(a) to contribute to pupils’ awareness of language as a system of communication;
(b) to give pupils an awareness of another culture, and thus a more objective perspective of their own culture;
(c) to contribute to the development in pupils of the capacity to engage in fruitful transactions and interactions with others;
(d) through (a), (b) and (c) to contribute to pupil’s overall personal and social development;
(e) to give pupils the possibility of access to sources of information, culture enrichment and entertainment through the target language;
(f) to encourage and equip pupils to consider participating in social and cultural activities which may involve some use of the target language;
(g) to make it possible for pupils to consider taking up job and further education/training opportunities which may involve some use of the target language;
(h) to give pupils the kind of language learning experience that will encourage and facilitate their learning further languages in later life;
(i) through (e), (f), (g) and (h) to enlarge pupils’ work, further education and leisure options.
2. General communicative aims:
The general communicative aims of the Junior Certificate programme in the target language are:
(a) to enable pupils to cope with the normal classroom use of the target language;
(b) to equip pupils with a competence in the target language which would enable them to provide themselves with basic necessities, to avoid misdemeanours and/or serious embarrassment, and to engage in some degree of social interaction in a country/situation where only the target language was in use;
(c) to furnish pupils with linguistic skills which will make it possible for them to pursue at least some aspects of their general interests through the medium of the target language;
(d) through (a), (b) and (c) and otherwise, to ensure that pupils’ competence in the target language is such as to be conducive to the fulfillment of the general educational aims specified above.
German
This is a communicative syllabus organised around the needs, expectations and interests which pupils bring to the foreign language classroom.
The adolescent learner in the Irish context seldom needs to use the target language in an authentic exchange with a native speaker. His or her real needs centre around using and understanding the target language as a means of communication and instruction in the classroom. However, a pupil brings to the classroom a reasonable expectation that his or her language learning will equip him or her to cope in a country where the language is native. The learner can also reasonably expect that the language-learning process will draw upon themes and activities that are of interest to him or her.
The syllabus is to be seen as a teaching syllabus, a statement of the minimum content of themes and communicative tasks which should have been covered by pupils at Intermediate Certificate level.
The items listed under the heading ‘SOME EXPONENTS’ exemplify some of the language items which might be used in carrying out a given communicative task. This small selection of exponents is intended as a guide. The teacher may use them or offer the pupils other words and phrases. It is not necessary for a pupil to have mastered all the listed exponents: he or she should, however, be able to carry out all the communicative tasks, at least at a simple level.
The list of exponents is not a prescriptive list for setters of the Intermediate Certificate Examination. They will aim to test communicative competence in respect of the themes and communicative tasks: they are not restricted to the list of exponents that appears in the syllabus.
General Aims
1. General educational aims:
The general educational aims of the Intermediate Certificate programme in the target language are:-
(a) to contribute to pupils’ awareness of language as a system of communication;
(b) to give pupils an awareness of another culture, and thus a more objective perspective of their own culture;
(c) to contribute to the development in pupils of the capacity to engage in fruitful transactions and interactions with others;
(d) through (a), (b) and (c) to contribute to pupil’s overall personal and social development;
(e) to give pupils the possibility of access to sources of information, culture enrichment and entertainment through the target language;
(f) to encourage and equip pupils to consider participating in social and cultural activities which may involve some use of the target language;
(g) to make it possible for pupils to consider taking up job and further education/training opportunities which may involve some use of the target language;
(h) to give pupils the kind of language learning experience that will encourage and facilitate their learning further languages in later life;
(i) through (e), (f), (g) and (h) to enlarge pupils’ work, further education and leisure options.
2. General communicative aims:
The general communicative aims of the Intermediate Certificate programme in the target language are:
(a) to enable pupils to cope with the normal classroom use of the target language;
(b) to equip pupils with a competence in the target language which would enable them to provide themselves with basic necessities, to avoid misdemeanors and/or serious embarrassment, and to engage in some degree of social interaction in a country/situation where only the target language was in use;
(c) to furnish pupils with linguistic skills which will make it possible for them to pursue at least some aspects of their general interests through the medium of the target language;
(d) through (a), (b) and (c) and otherwise, to ensure that pupils’ competence in the target language is such as to be conducive to the fulfillment of the general educational aims specified above.
Our German Blog is to be found here.
