Welcome to Modern Foreign Languages

Understanding the foundations of the language, fostering engagement 

Students start a language in Y7 (Spanish or French). They will learn the foundations of the language as well as key grammatical structures to form simple sentences in the present and future tense.  

The year 7 curriculum is designed to foster engagement and curiosity in students not only for the language they learn, but also for the culture of country in which that language is spoken. The topics seen in y7 set the foundations of what will be required at GCSE. 

In the autumn term, students learn how to greet in Spanish, describe their character and physical appearance and they also learn about their family members. There is a special focus on the verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ as well as learning how to conjugate regular verbs in Present tense. They also learn hobbies and ‘activities to do in their free time’, different weather conditions with ‘it is....’ and sports. 

The Big Skills students are assessed on in the first term is Big reading, Big listening and grammar. There is always an element of Cultural Capital in MFL assessments and the first term covers ‘Why are we learning languages’ and ‘How Christmas is celebrated in Spain and France’. 

In the Spring term, students learn school subjects with opinions, school facilities and the Preterite tense. There is a special focus on building the foundations of grammar. They also learn to describe their school and what subjects they studied in the past. 

The Big Skills students are assessed on in the first term is Big writing, Big dictation and grammar. There is always an element of Cultural Capital in MFL assessments and this term covers ‘Carnival and Holly week’ in Spain and France. 

In the summer term, students bring together what they have learnt in the first term, and we expand on the topic of family, describing the house and working on the adjectival agreement. 

With regards to grammar, we review Present and Preterite tenses making emphasis on irregular verbs. We finish the term by learning the Near Future and within the topic of activities they are going to do in the future. 

The end of year exam is a recollection of key grammar (present, past and future) as well as a Speaking exam with questions based on the topics they have learnt. The exam is structure and based on part three of the GCSE speaking exams, where candidates have to answer questions and justify their answers. 

Building up grammar, promoting cultural awareness 

Students continue to learn more complex grammatical structures and tenses. They learn the basic vocabulary along with   topics which will be further developed in year 9 when they start the GCSE foundation course. 

There is an emphasis on helping our students become great communicators in a variety of contexts. Students will continue to learn customs and festivities of Hispanic and Francophone countries. 

In the autumn term, students learn to talk about their holidays and what they did there. There is a special focus on how to conjugate regular verbs in Present tense and Preterite. They also learn to talk about technology, TV series and films and say their preferences. 

The Big Skills students are assessed on in the first term is Big reading, Big listening and grammar. There is always an element of Cultural Capital in MFL assessments and the first term covers ‘where can languages take me’ and ‘How Christmas is celebrated in Spain and France’. 

In the Spring term, students learn about food to be able to say what they have for breakfast, lunch and dinner and express their preferences.  There is a special focus on developing the foundations of grammar learnt in y7 and y8 (Present and Preterite). They also learn to say what they are going to buy using the near future. 

The Big Skills students are assessed on in the first term is Big writing, Big dictation and grammar. There is always an element of Cultural Capital in MFL assessments and this term covers ‘typical foods’ in Spain and France. 

In the summer term, students bring together what they have learnt in the first and second term, and we expand on the topic of cinema and giving excuses as well as learning clothes and how to buy clothes in a shop. With regards to grammar, we review Present, Preterite and Near Future tenses making emphasis on irregular verbs. We finish the term by learning the Simple Future and within the topic of what you will go for holidays in the future. 

The end of year exam is a recollection of key grammar (present, past and future) as well as a Speaking exam with questions based on the topics they have learnt. The exam is structure and based on part three of the GCSE speaking exams, where candidates have to answer questions and justify their answers. 

Students will be introduced to their first year of the GCSE foundation course. We strengthen the grammar and vocabulary they have learnt since year 7 as we teach them parts of the first three GCSE modules. 

In the autumn term, students expand on the topic of holidays and their holidays preferences including talking about ‘something that happened during their holidays. This topic brings up Present and Past tenses, learning the Imperfect to be able to describe their holidays in the past.  They also expand on the topic of school, using the Imperfect to compare their primary school to their secondary school. They also learn the imperative mode to talk about school rules. 

The Big Skills students are assessed on in the first term is Big reading, Big listening and grammar. There is always an element of Cultural Capital in MFL assessments and the first term covers ‘where can languages take me’ and ‘How Christmas is celebrated in Spain and France’. 

In the Spring term, students learn about apps and they expand on the topic of technology previously learnt in y8. They also learn a new tense ‘Present Continuous’ to express what they are doing now. 

The Big Skills students are assessed on in the  term is Big writing, Big dictation and grammar. There is always an element of Cultural Capital in MFL assessments and this term covers ‘famous authors’ in in Spain and France. 

In the summer term, students bring together what they have learnt in the first and second term, and we expand on the topic of free time activities and TV programmes. With regards to grammar, we review Present, Present continuous Preterite, Imperfect, Near and Simple future.   

The end of year exam is a recollection of key grammar (present, past and future tenses) as well as a Speaking exam with questions based on the topics they have learnt. The exam is structure and based on part three of the GCSE speaking exams, where candidates have to answer questions and justify their answers. 

At the end of year 9, students will have gained a great understanding of the basic grammar and vocabulary to hold conversations about holidays, family, technology, and free time. Students will have also developed the necessary confidence and perseverance to succeeded in their GCSE Spanish or French should they wish to continue learning a language at A-level. 

Strengthening the foundations, developing fluency, becoming linguists 

Students learn the first six modules required at GCSE covering a variety of topics including holidays, school, family, technology, and sports which they have been learning since y7. Students unpick the grammar of key structures developing more in-depth understanding of linguistic skills. 

In the autumn term, students expand on the topic of free time with the verb’ I normally’ This topic brings up Present and Past tenses, learning verbs followed by an infinitive as well as the Perfect tense.  

In y10, students do a part of the GCSE exam every term. The first term is Reading, where they will apply some strategies, they have learnt this term. Alongside reading, there is also a focus on grammar, testing students on the different tense they have learnt in KS3 and in year 10 (present, past and future tenses). 

In the spring term, students learn to describe the city and compare it to other cities they have visited in Spain and France. They also learn to talk about regional aspects of their area, and they revise the Simple future to talk about what they will do in a city they will visit in the future. In this term, students are assessed on Writing with emphasis of using all the tenses they have learnt so far. We also make emphasis on the structure of a letter and an essay. We also spend some time in this term by talking about major events/festivities that take part annually in Spain and France and that are likely to appear on the GCSE exam. 

Summer is a term where we revise the essential grammar learnt so far in y9 and y10. We make emphasis on the past tenses along with irregular and stem-changing verbs. Y10 spend part of this term preparing the 1-minute speech for their GCSE speaking. At the end of the year, they do a listening paper and two parts of their GCSE speaking (role play and the description of a picture). 

Consolidating, refining, and removing linguistic barriers   

In the autumn term, we cover the module of jobs as well as having a part-time job. We also cover the vocabulary of what you do to earn money and doing an apprenticeship. We also cover the reasons for learning languages and the advantages of being linguists! 

With regards to grammar, y11 continues to re visit the different tenses they have learnt to express ideas in Present, past and future and they learn the Past Perfect tense. 

Y11 does a complete mock exam in November. 

In the spring term, we cover the last GCSE topic which is the environment, and we review their 1-minute speech to make it more robust and include tenses they didn’t cover in Y10. 

Y11 conducts another full GCSE mock exam ahead of their GCSE in June. 

A-level Spanish/French will allow students to develop fluency and understanding the culture of the countries in which these languages are spoken. 

The first year of Spanish/French A-level focuses on mastering more sophisticated grammar and learn technical vocabulary. 

Resources are from real sources such as newspapers, magazines, films, and novels. 

In addition to the above, in the autumn term, students learn Family relationships in the Hispanic and Francophone world as well as the world of foods, music and festivals. 

With regards to grammar, students learn more in-depth tenses, verbs followed by infinitives and gerunds. 

Y12 does a part of their A-level exam every half term. Autumn term covers paper 1 (split in to two across HT1 and HT2) 

In the Spring term, students learn about Franco Dictatorship to introduce the novel in preparation for paper 2. 

Students will be introduced to an in-depth analysis of a film and a novel demonstrating their knowledge and linguistic skills in paper 2. Students also learn festivities in the Hispanic and Francophone world.

Students continue to learn the historical and political intricacies of Francophone and Hispanic countries. Culture plays a significant role in the Y13 curriculum and students prepare debates/speeches about current issues. 

There is a special focus on revising the film and the novel as well as the IRP. 

We assess students on grammar and one skill fortnightly.

Edexcel 

Practice papers 1,2 and 3 and practice of past papers.