Modern Languages at Penicuik High School

All pupils returned safely, and all staff just about sane from a fantastic trip to Northern France.  The group stayed in the beautiful Château de Chantereine in Criel-sur-Mer and enjoyed a range of activities including visting the cities of Rouen and Dieppe, a tour of some of the battlefields of the Somme from World War I, visits to a cheese farm and chocolate maker as well as some fun on the beach and at the Aqualud water park.

France Trip Video

Parents and students may find this website useful in terms of thinking about why a language is a not only a good choice for those pupils considering their course choice options in S2, S4 and S5, but increasingly an essential one.

Daily Mail – Try Life In Another Language

Language Options Available:

S2 pupils:

continue with French or German

take Spanish instead of French/German

take Spanish in addition to French/German

S4/5 pupils:

French at Advanced Higher, Higher and Intermediate 2 level (pupils who last did French in S2 may pick it up again)

German at Advanced Higher, Higher and Intermediate 2 level (pupils who last did German in S2 may pick it up again)

Spanish at Advanced Higher, Higher and Intermediate 1/2 levels (course also available to complete beginners)

All Modern Languages Higher candidates across Midlothian are being directed towards this site as it has all the links you’re going to need to help you with the revision process.

For newcomers to this site, you are very welcome.  Come and join in the good work going on at Penicuik High School.  To find the links you need,  go to the relevant language – French, German or Spanish – and use the links down the right hand side.  There are direct links to the SQA website for exam practice and the Scholar website which Higher and AH candidates will have their own password for.  All of the links should work, but some websites such as Linguascope or À Tantôt will require a username and log-in.  You will need to ask your teacher if your school subscribes to these websites as each school has to pay for its own subscription.

Prelims are done and dusted so it’s time to really focus on your revision for the final exams in May/June.  Good luck!

During this extended break from classes due to the bad weather, there are still plenty that pupils can usefully do to work on their French, German or Spanish while the school is closed.

S1/2 – use your Expo/Klasse workbooks to practice vocabulary and do activities that may not have been done in class or for homework.  Use Linguascope to do vocabulary games and activities.

S3 Fr/Ger – use the Intermediate section of Linguascope to work on topic areas recently covered and go over vocabulary and grammar notes.  Also, use some of the revision links from the departmental French and German websites.

S3 Span – use your Amigos workbook to go over what we’ve done so far – this is an ideal chance to spend more time on topics that you were perhaps unsure of and to go over grammar notes.  The beginners section of Linguascope would be useful.

S4 Fr/Ger – I know prelims have just finished but reading and listening practice are available on Linguascope and on the many links on the departmental website (especially to SQA past papers and marking schemes).  If you have a writing or speaking assessment to prepare for, use this time profitably to do that.

S5/6 Fr/Sp – Higher and Advanced Higher pupils should be making good use of the Scholar website to work through the various topics.  Also, make use of the links on the departmental website to revision sources such as SQA past papers.  Intermediate 2 pupils should also make use of past papers (Standard Grade, Int 1 and Int 2 are all useful practice) and Linguascope material.

Learn a language, and don’t just see other countries – experience them!

Welcome to the blog for the Modern Languages Department.  News, events and information, as well as useful links for language learning will be posted on this page.  You will find links to relevant languages on the tabs at the top of this page.