As an educational establishment with a deep-rooted history, we are well aware of the importance of the English language in today's scientific, economic and social world. As our students are aiming more and more to study at universities in English-speaking countries, such as the US, Canada and the UK, or at universities in Turkey with programmes run in English, it is our mission to prepare them for their studies at such universites and also for the world at large.
In order to make sure that our students are well prepared for both university and the professional world we have an intensive programme which starts at Prep level. A technology-based interactive coursebook is accompanied by a programme called Achieve3000, which is computer based as well and starts by testing the individual student’s reading skills. It sets a Lexile Score which adjusts all articles that the student is going to read from that moment on. The students in the class read an article about the same topic but each individual student’s article’s degree of difficulty and choice of vocabulary is different. Our aim is to apply student oriented teaching in order to build our students’ confidence and fluency in English as well as adequately deal with the difference in the students’ English level. Every student comes with different English language aptitudes and our curriculum is designed to handle those language disparities among students.
A number of different digital tools are used by the English Department, such as Moodle, a platform to which every student has access both during lessons and after school. Other renowned educational applications and software are used to further develop reading, speaking, listening and writing skills equally.
Students are also encouraged to give oral presentations in class to improve their speaking skills and to build their confidence in the use of the language. It is also a good preparation for the following years, where students have a chance to join the school’s MUN Club and participate in international conferences in Turkey and abroad. This club is a member of a series of other clubs such as the TOEFL club, Young Reporters for the Environment, English Scrabble and others.
From Prep year onwards our students have a chance to participate in Cambridge Exams on the school premises, as we have been an official Cambridge exam centre since 2006. Our students can take exams such as FCE, CAE and CPE (B2, C1 and C2). Our English curriculum is based on the principles of the CEFR (Common European Framework) so that our students are automatically prepared for these exams. In this way, they will be prepared for further exams which can be taken closer to graduation, such as IELTS and TOEFL. Our students follow a TOEFL curriculum in the final year of school.
The English programme is also supported by a series of school trips, such as the possibility to spend two weeks at St.John’s University in New York at the end of Prep year (during the summer holidays).
Here, students attend English lessons until noon and then do field trips in the afternoon. They also have the possibility to participate in the annual trip to London at 9th grade (which similar in layout to the New York trip) and there is also a trip to Niagara at 10th grade (on the USA/Canada border), in the form of an exchange programme held with a high school in the United States, with homestays, participation in regular classes and field trips, plus a visit to New York City.
We wish all our future students a very pleasant and fruitful academic year and wish them the very best of luck in their adventure in Saint Benoit’s English speaking world!
Read this article in Turkish : click HERE