Introduction
The English Department at Xabia International College aims to provide a stimulating and successful grounding in English Language and Literature for pupils throughout the College, as well as inspiring a lifelong love of reading and language.
Additionally, as befits an International School with such wonderfully diverse pupil representation, we aim to ensure that every student can use the English language in as fluent manner as possible.
Teaching
At entry, all students are screened using teacher expertise and established diagnostic tools to determine their level of English.
We then organise their English lessons in a bespoke manner to best suit their learning needs.
We offer both ‘mainstream’ English lessons for those who are already proficient in English, regardless of nationality or background, alongside parallel lessons for English as an Additional Language (EAL).
We are fortunate within the English department to have experienced, talented practitioners who are proficient in both the teaching of ‘mainstream’ English, and/or English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)
Our aim is for all students to move smoothly from EAL to ‘Mainstream’ over time whenever possible.
Our intention is simple: to make learning enjoyable. Extensive use is made of ICT via the individual student tablets, as well as enhancing the world of literature through film & TV.
All students are issued with Language & Literature coursebooks from which to study; whilst we also engage them with both the ‘classics’, such as the plays of Shakespeare, alongside modern titles such as ‘Wonder’ and ‘The Hunger Games’.
So, regardless of starting points, our department will always strive to ensure that all students not only meet but exceed their true potential.
The department makes extensive use of Google Classroom to support and enhance school work, enabling children to consolidate their learning and to give parents an insight into what the courses consist of.
Why study English at XIC?
Fundamentally we aim to foster in our students a lifelong love of English in all its various forms. Above all else, studying it with us will be enjoyable because it will be approached in a dynamic, fast-paced, never-boring, light-hearted manner.
The English Department also currently supports children in developing vital media skills in Podcasting via innovative engagement in the College’s very own Radio Station: ISR.
Weekly podcasts are generated, scripted and recorded by children from each year group on a range of subjects under the auspices of the English department, and there can be no greater thrill than students being able to hear their broadcasts aired live on the radio as an example of ‘real English’ in action.
This exciting opportunity is unique to students at Xabia International College.
Students at XIC are so well-prepared for their future lives, especially in the area of Modern Languages – being proficient for example in both English and Spanish gives our students the most tremendous international platform to start their journey through their own lives and work. English, for example, is everywhere, and everywhere, the English language still dominates. Almost 400m people speak it as their first language; a billion more know it as a secondary tongue. It is an official language in at least 59 countries, the unofficial lingua franca of dozens more. No language in history has been used by so many people or spanned a greater portion of the globe. It is aspirational: the golden ticket to the worlds of education and international commerce, the language of global business, the internet, science, diplomacy, stellar navigation, avian pathology.
Fundamentally, though, we want to foster in our students a lifelong love of English in all its various forms. Above all else, studying it with us will be enjoyable because it will be approached in a dynamic, fast-paced, never-boring, light-hearted manner.