LANGUAGE POLICY AND SUPPORT TO THE PARTICIPANTS

Language Policy

In the language Policy we explain the languages used by the institution and how they are ruled.

Languages used by the institution

Our High School Les Vinyes is situated in the district of Singuerlín, in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, which is a quite small village near Barcelona. In the classes, 4 languages are used: Catalan, Spanish, English and French (optional subject).

Catalan: Catalan is the language of the Catalan region, where our institution belongs. Catalonia is a bilingual region and people understands and speaks both Catalan and Spanish. The Catalan language comes from Latin and is a mixture between Spanish, French and Italian. Any incoming participant with a good level of any of these languages will understand Catalan in few months or even weeks, that's what the student might really need. To speak it and write will not be necessary. A little bit of Catalan, though, would be a great tool for relationships since Catalan speakers will gladly appreciate it. The school will provide facilities for the student so in a short time can understand the language.

Spanish: Spanish is the other official language of the region and the language that some other teachers may use. Our institution is located in an area which Spanish is more common than Catalan. Also most of our students use Spanish as their everyday language.

English: English is used also for some few teachers. That's the beginning of an ambitious project to bring English inside the classes and internationalise High Education. So some teachers may give some Curriculum units in English or some others may use English course materials.

French: French is an optional subject that students can choose from 1st ESO to 4th ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education). Pupils studying French in High School (Batxillerat Humanístic i Social) have the option to continue their studies in French and even take the official exams A2 and B1, according to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). [Go to "Fle Les Vinyes" blogspot]

Some of our teachers are training in PIA (Pla d'Impuls de l'Anglès) in order to improve their language competence in English and at the same time be able to teach their subjects or parts of them in the foreign language.