CHERYL CAIRA

FOR Philippe Couineaux, a native-speaking French teacher at the pioneering Walker Road Primary School in Aberdeen, the lesson is simple. "The pupils have to learn to adapt in the classroom, which in turn increases their ability to adapt in their lives," he explains.

"The children want to communicate with each other in French and they're coming out with the language spontaneously. This is without any vocabulary or grammar lists. It's a project that has worked well and we're making improvements all the time as it develops, such as introducing writing a bit earlier."

Early Primary Partial Immersion (EPPI) is an experiment in bilingual education that has been going on at Walker Road for seven years. Pupils begin to have some of their lessons entirely in French from the age of five, and progress to half of their subjects being taught in French by primary seven.

Last week, researchers claimed it has produced excellent results. A report published by the University of Stirling showed that the children have not only attained a high level of French, but are also ahead in English.

Couineaux is one of three native-speaking French teachers working with the general school staff. Initially, 15% of the curriculum is made up of lessons taught in French, starting off with expressive arts subjects such as drama, art and PE and integrating subjects such as history, geography and science and some practical maths as the pupils get older.

Walker Road is the first primary in the UK to make delivering lessons in French part of the curriculum. This type of immersion education is something other schools have been slow to adopt.

Maureen Robertson, head teacher at Walker Road, believes the project offers more to pupils than simply having another language under their belt. "They are now confident and articulate and they've met a lot of different kinds of people through the scheme.

"There are the explicit benefits that come with learning another language, but it has also opened the children's minds to other cultures and increased their tolerance and understanding of each other. I don't think we've seen the last of the benefits - they're going to continue."

Walker Road is not a leafy suburb. It is an area of recognised socio-economic deprivation. However, the children's parents have reacted positively to the project. "They think it's super that the kids have had this opportunity to learn a new language," says Robertson.

"Learning a second language doesn't impinge on the learning of the subject in hand. I think it actually puts the children at an advantage," she adds. "They sometimes speak in English but the teacher will always answer in French, so the comprehension comes a lot quicker. They really have to pay attention."

EPPI sharpens students' language skills and many children at Walker Road have demonstrated improvements in terms of cognitive, linguistic, social and intercultural development. In particular, the pupils excel in listening comprehension, as lessons are taught by the native speakers at the same speed they would be taught in a classroom in France.

The pupils' reading, writing and speaking skills were even reported to be better than secondary-level pupils who had been taught French traditionally.

Nadia Boucard, who has been with the school for three years, teaches children in primaries two, five and six. "The most positive thing to come out of this project is the level of confidence the children now have," she says. "They're not fazed at all at the concept of learning a new language. They feel comfortable very quickly because they start so young."

For pupils to truly benefit from this bilingual experience, the University of Stirling's report argues that continuing the language immersion into secondary school is essential. However, this could prove difficult as finding the relevant staff, timetabling space and funding has so far been a challenge.