Curriculum

Intensive Secondary English Course

 

Our PHILOSOPHY
This course welcomes students into an Australian school setting and provides pastoral support in a safe and encouraging environment where all levels of English skills are respected. It is also intended to acculturate students to classroom practices, introduce studies of Australia that are assumed knowledge, and support English listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Values of friendship, creativity, inclusivity and respect are encouraged. It is also hoped students will gain confidence and prepare for the assessment work they will be expected to do in mainstream classes.
 
Our OBJECTIVES
The ISEC (Intensive Secondary English Course) is intended to support further acquisition of English skills for culturally diverse students, who wish to pursue Australian educational qualifications at secondary level, with a view to furthering their English skills or to facilitate tertiary study in Australia. In recognition that most students are not living with their families in Australia, it also prioritizes pastoral care to ensure a safe and reassuring environment with close attention to student well-being. Early stages in the learning framework complement the focus on well-being; subsequent stages are directed towards engagement of knowledge and skills central to core subjects, to ensure transition into mainstream programs in the school. By developing their knowledge of and skills in the English language, these students will gain the confidence needed to achieve in Australian school curriculums, and in a range of vocational and further study options, accessible to them. This will also encourage them to participate in the wider community where Standard Australian English is used, acquiring a sense of achievement and developing self confidence in approaching a new range of schooling experiences.
 
To develop student well-being through:
  • A core teacher who provides most ISEC lessons and is also the Home Group teacher
  • Integrated units  relating to health, money management and psychological well-being
To improve English skills in:
  • deconstruction and understanding for meaning and context construction of complex sentences and ideas for communication in a range of contexts
  • listening – for comprehension, recounting and responding
  • speaking – simple brainstorming, oral presentations, class discussions, asking questions and clarifying
  • a variety of writing genres – journal writing, letters, short answer work, paragraphing, reports, and narrative
  • reading – a range of texts both fictional and non-fiction.
To develop study skills of:
  • note taking
  • researching information
  • referencing – in-text, footnotes, bibliography.
To develop and use operational skills in:
  • numeracy to understand, analyse, critically respond to and use mathematics in different contexts; learners develop understanding of time, number and space within Australian practices.
  • Integration of ICT skills in word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software
  • Group work through co-operation, interaction, organisation.
  • To encourage thinking skills along a cognitive hierarchy that includes Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation; and to encourage critical reflection when making choices in language, and to be mindful of accuracy of Standard Australian English and appropriateness to context.
To develop knowledge and understanding of Australian society,culture, social history and geography:

  • ISEC CAMP