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Modern Foreign Languages
“As the country’s inspectorate, we at Ofsted expect schools to give all children the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects, including MFL, so that they gain the knowledge and skills that will broaden their horizons and set them up for later life.”
In the Modern Foreign Languages department, we aim to widen students’ horizons through enriching their knowledge of languages and culture, as well as their awareness of different communities around the world where those languages are spoken.
The Key Stage 3 curriculum is designed to quickly build students’ skill sets, so that they can engage with the language as soon as possible, across the 4 skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking
KS3 Modern Foreign Languages
During year 7, all pupils are given a taster; learning one language for 4 weeks from German, Spanish and French before choosing which one they would prefer to continue studying in the future. Students will cover the following topics:
- How to learn a language
- Personal description
- What I like to eat
- Where I live
- Olympic Sports
- Sport & Hobbies
How to learn a language
Students learn about phonics, dictionary skills and simple grammatical terms. Students also learn how to access online learning and homework platforms.
Personal description
Students learn how to introduce themselves in German and French and give personal information such as name, age, birthdays, nationality and characteristics. Building on this, students learn to describe their family members and give opinions about them.
What I like to eat
Students learn how to introduce themselves in Spanish before exploring food and family life, both at home and in Spanish speaking countries. The term ends with students learning about Christmas traditions and customs in all 3 target-language speaking countries before making their language choice.
Where I live
Students learn to say where they live and where it is situated on a map. They will then learn to talk about what is in their town before moving on to describe their dream town. Following on from this, they will learn to describe their house and bedroom in detail and finally describe their dream house.
Olympic Sports
Students learn the vocabulary for Olympic sports, how to give opinions on them and learn about cultural aspects in relation to the target-language speaking countries at the Olympics. Students then learn how to say which sports they like/dislike and justify their opinions on this.
Sport & Hobbies
Students then look at talking about which sports they do, how often, who with and where. Students then look at the weather and which hobbies they do in different weathers. Finally, students look at the conditional tense to say which sports they would like to do in the future.
During Year 8, students recap, consolidate and extend their previous learning through the following topics:
- My family and I
- Friendships and Pets
- Festivals and celebrations
- Free Time
- Food and healthy eating
- Well-being and illnesses
My family and I
Building on prior knowledge, this unit focuses on describing family members in more detail to include extended family, what students would like their family members to be like, whether they get on with their family members or not and why and what type of family they would like/will have in the future.
Friendship and Pets
Students learn to talk about their friends and pets. They learn how to describe their friends both physically and personally as well as to talk about the qualities of a good friend. They also learn how to say which pets they have and describe them. Students focus on giving complex opinions and justifying them, using modal verbs and the conditional tense.
Festivals & Celebrations
Students learn about different festivals celebrated in France, Germany or Spain depending on the language they are studying. They will recap food and look at what foods are eaten at specific festivals and talk about specific traditions that happen. They will also learn to talk about what target language festival they will or would like to visit in the future.
Free Time
Students learn how to talk about what they do in their free time and give opinions on different activities. Students then look at using the future and conditional tense to talk about what they will do next weekend and give opinions. Finally, students will be introduced to the past tense to say what they did last weekend and give opinions on this.
Food and healthy eating
Students say what foods they like and don’t like to eat in general before revisiting modal verbs to talk about what foods they should and shouldn’t eat and why to be healthy. Students then talk about food they would and wouldn’t like to try if they were to visit target-language speaking countries. Finally, they learn how to order food and make complaints in a restaurant to develop their transactional language skills and experiment with role play scenarios.
Well-being and illnesses
Students learn the body parts in the target-language, the verbs to talk about what hurts or aches, to say what other illnesses they have and what they could do to get better. Students then extend their knowledge of modal verbs to say what they should, could or have to do to be more healthy, revisiting sports and food. They will also learn how to say what other ways they could lead a healthier lifestyle in the future.
During year 9, pupils develop their language skills by focussing on 3 that are split into 6 sub-topics throughout the year. Student’s build on prior knowledge from years 7 and 8 as well as introducing more challenging grammar aspects needed for the GCSE.
- Entertainment, Film & Media
- School & My future
- Holidays Past, Present & Future
Entertainment and technology
Students learn how to say how often they use different types of technology and what for and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of technology, social media and the internet.
Students will also learn to talk about different types of film and TV genres and say how, when and why they watch them, giving higher level opinions. They will also watch a film in the target-language and write a review.
Other media and music
Students learn to talk about music genres, say why they listen to them and which ones they like the most. Students will also be able to say what their favourite song or singer is and why. Students will listen to different songs both in the target-language and say which ones they would take to a desert island and why.
Finally, students will learn to talk about different book genres and explore extracts in the target-language from popular books.
School life
Students learn to talk about what subjects they learn at school and give their opinion on these, as well as describing their school building and uniform. Students will then look at school life in the target language country and compare this to that of the UK. Students will then look at post-16 options for them and finally, talk about what they will study in the future and say why.
My future
Students learn the vocabulary for different jobs and say which jobs they would like to do in the future and why. Students learn about the skills, school subjects and the tasks they may be required to do for certain jobs, exploring careers and post 16 choices. Students also learn how to talk about any part-time jobs they may have or want in the future. Finally, students look at ideal and dream jobs and say why they would like to do them.
Travelling & Dream Holidays
Students recap countries from Y7 and will be able to say where they go on holiday, who with and when. Students learn different types of transport and accommodation and give opinions on them. Finally, students talk about holiday activities and food, recapping vocabulary from both Y7 and Y8, before describing their dream holiday.
Holidays in the Past & Future
Students learn how to talk about a holiday in the past, both positive and negative and how to make complaints. Students then learn to talk about where they will go on holiday in the future including how they will get there, where they will stay and what they will do. Finally, students will be able to produce a piece of writing about holidays in 4 tenses.
The following websites are excellent independent learning tools which students can access at home, in order to complete homework or to give their language skills a boost!
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Language Gym – (Students use their school email to create an account)
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Blooket
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Quizlet – (no login required)
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Kahoot – (no login required)
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KS4 Modern Foreign Languages
AQA GCSE French / German / Spanish
The GCSE courses cover three distinct themes. These themes apply to all four papers. Students will be expected to understand and provide opinions about these themes relating to their own experiences and those of other people, including people in target language countries.
Theme 1: Identity and Culture
- Me, my family and friends (includes relationships with family and friends, discussion of marriage, partnership, teenage issues)
- Technology in everyday life (social media, mobile technology, pros/cons)
- Free-time activities (music, cinema and television, food and eating out, sport)
- Customs and festivals in target language countries and communities.
Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest
- Home, town, neighbourhood and region (in the past, present and future)
- Social issues (charity / voluntary work, healthy/unhealthy living)
- Global issues (the environment, poverty / homelessness)
- Travel and tourism
Theme 3: Current and future study and employment
- My studies
- Life at school / college
- Education post-16
- Jobs, career choices and ambitions
Students will be examined in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing with each skill equally weighted 25% each. All exams take place at the end of Year 11 and all four skills must be examined in the same tier (Foundation or Higher). For further details of how students are assessed, see the attached booklet.
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Course Specification – French
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Course Specification – German
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Course Specification – Spanish
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Useful Links
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BBC Bitesize
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GCSEPOD
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Pearson GCSE French / German / Spanish
The GCSE courses for French, German and Spanish focus on six broad thematic contexts which apply to all four papers (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing). Students will be expected to understand and provide opinions about these themes relating to their own experiences, those of other people, including people in target language countries. The thematic contexts are:
- My personal world
- Lifestyle and wellbeing
- My neighbourhood
- Media and technology
- Studying and my future
- Travel and tourism
Within these thematic contexts, students use the specified vocabulary and grammar to listen to, read, speak and write about the following topics:
Students will be examined in all four skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing with each skill equally weighted 25% each. All exams take place at the end of Year 11 and all four skills must be examined in the same tier (Foundation or Higher). For further details of how students are assessed, click on the links for the specifications.
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Course Specification – French
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Course Specification – German
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Course Specification – Spanish
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Useful Links
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Quizlet – no account required
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Language Gym
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Seneca
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Languages Google Drive
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Modern Foreign Languages Teachers
Miss H Williams
Subject Leader of Modern Foreign Languages
Miss L Taylor
Assistant Subject Leader of Modern Foreign Languages
Mrs C Eastwood
Teacher of Modern Foreign Languages & Assistant Headteacher
Mrs A Broderick
Teacher of Modern Foreign Languages
Mrs D Eyre
Teacher of Modern Foreign Languages