French and Spanish
As a department we fully support the school ethos of educating the whole child ‘head, heart and hands’. We offer our students the opportunity to develop a range of skills to become both culturally and linguistically aware of the world around them, equipping them with the knowledge needed in a global community.
As a department we aim to enable students to:
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Understand and communicate in a new language – either French or Spanish
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Develop learning strategies to allow independence in learning a new language
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Make cultural and linguistic comparisons between languages and the UK and overseas
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Increase awareness about cultural difference
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Foster and develop positive attitudes towards other languages
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Establish cross curricular links including numeracy and literacy
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Improve prospects for future jobs and education
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We will also be building core skills and developing strategies to enable a solid foundation for progression to GCSE
The topics below are a brief overview of what your daughter will be studying during her MFL studies. They have been chosen to allow full development of language skills in reading, speaking, writing and listening. There is also an emphasis on cultural & global issues. All Year 7 and 8 students study either French or Spanish, alternating each year, currently in the year 2023-2024 Year 7 are studying French, Year 8 Spanish, Year 9 Spanish (Ab-initio) and French, Year 10 Spanish, Year 11 French and KS5 French.
Key Stage 3
Year 7:
Talking about my age
Saying when my birthday is
Describing hair and eyes
Saying where I live and am from
Describing how well you get along with people and counting to 100
Describing myself and another family member
Talking about pets and asking key questions (I have/would have)
Saying what jobs people do and why they like/dislike them.
Comparisons
Saying what’s in my school bag /classroom and describing school subjects.
Year 8:
Talking about food and regional dishes
Describing mealtimes and ordering food
Talking about clothes
Saying what I and others do in our free time
Talking about the weather and free time
Describing daily routine
Describing my house
Saying what I do at home, how often and when
My holiday plans
Key Stage 4
Year 9:
Past tense holidays:
Using the past tense accurately and understanding how it is formed
Free Time and Hobbies:
Grammar: Past tense and Future tense.
House and Home and local area
Expressing quantities, plurals and prepositions
School Life
Using comparatives and superlatives, examining school rules
Environment
Using future expressions and ‘if’ structures,
Film and Media Studies
Writing film reviews
Year 10:
Technology and Social Media
Question Skills: Question words
Festivals in the French/Spanish speaking world
Grammar: Preterite/Perfect/Imperfect tense
Healthy Living
Using negatives and recognising different tenses
Social Issues
Using the conditional tense and approaching language in reading texts
Travel and Tourism
Booking accommodation, Revising the preterite and imperfect tense
Year 11:
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World of work and education post 16
Using the present subjunctive after conjunctions of time.
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Environment review
Understanding and discussing environmental problems.
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Grammar review across all topics
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Review of all units
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Exam preparations
Students will be given sentence builder booklets to help support their learning in class and be expected to use these to support home learning. Every student will be given access to the language gym which will include 30 minutes a week of self study as homework.
Key Stage Five
During the A level course we follow the AQA examination board. Students will be working towards exams in listening, reading and writing as well as preparing a research based essay and oral examination. The course allows students to develop a variety of skills including expressing their own opinion, debating with others and researching current issues. They will be prepared to think about language in a modern context, sharing ideas about the world around them and perfecting key linguistic skills.
Assessment
Every student will be provided with a progress record, which will allow them to monitor their own progress and comment on how confident they feel about the unit. .After each assessment students have the opportunity for ‘Dedicated Improvement Time’ (DIT) which allows them to go back and rethink an answer or develop a skill.
Key Stage Three:
Following each micro unit, students will be expected to complete a short learning progress check to monitor and track their progress. After every 4 micro units there will be a longer assessment to allow for accurate data to be communicated home.
Key Stage Four:
Students will complete 5 module tests per academic year based on the topics studied each half term. These tests will focus on at least two of the four skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing). Mock exams will be conducted at various points across the academic year, including a mock oral exam at the end of Year 10 and in November of Year 11.
Key Stage Five:
Students will be working in preparation for their A Level courses. This will include a research based essay, listening and reading exams and an oral exam.
Books are marked every regularly and students are given feedback both in class and upon marking class / homework using ‘What Went Well’ and ‘Even Better If’. Self-assessment and peer assessment is used often in lessons as is the visual marking strategy so that your daughter can see whether she is on track. Teachers will always give accessible strategies for students to improve their progress.
Teachers use a variety of techniques in the classroom so that students are able to think about their listening, concentration and interaction and where this needs to improve. The department use a variety of literacy activities to support complete language progression.
Within lessons and for the completion of homework it would be beneficial for your daughter to have a bi-lingual dictionary and access to the internet both for research and revision
Further information about our KS4 course with a variety of online resources can be found at www.aqa.org.uk