Case studies

Making a connection through art in French

Grays Convent High School, Grays, Essex and Collège Claude Bernard, Paris
Grays Convent High School and Language College joined the Inter-Action programme in 2006-7, and has established a successful partnership with Collège Claude Bernard in Paris. Colleagues in the two schools struck up a good relationship almost immediately, based on a mutual appreciation for art. They decided to use this as the theme for partnership activity.
Sophie Da Silva at Grays coordinates the Inter-Action partnership, along with other international contacts. She is enthusiastic about CLIL (curriculum and language integrated learning) and believes it has the potential to improve students' commitment and performance. She was very keen to see how the partnership with Collège Claude Bernard would help the teaching other curriculum subjects in French.
A museum visit with a difference
The two schools decided to organise a joint visit to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, with year 10 students from Grays travelling to France and meeting their Parisian counterparts at the museum.
Those students due to take part in the visit began meeting after school to learn about art in French. As a result, when students got to the Musée d'Orsay, they were confident enough to express their understanding of different works of art in French, and they followed this up by making PowerPoint presentations in French about the paintings they had seen.
Other CLIL developments
This is not the only example of CLIL to be found at Grays Convent High School; courses in art and geography have recently been developed in French for year 8 students. Sophie believes these will improve student performance across the subjects and, in time, help strengthen the relationship with Collège Claude Bernard.