Modern Foreign Languages

Department Overview

Students follow a Key Stage 3 course in either French or Spanish for two hours per week and the curriculum is designed to develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, in line with the National Curriculum Programmes of Study.

We cover topics that will enable students to cope with most common situations when visiting the country in which their language is spoken. The emphasis is on communicating and understanding basic information.

In lessons students are encouraged to practice the target language as much as possible in a supportive way. Although we do give students the solid grammatical foundations to allow them to grow their linguistic confidence, we also believe in using games, role-plays, group and pair work to bring the language alive in the classroom. Finally, we explore strategies to help students maximise their use of language such as using a bilingual dictionary effectively, coping with unfamiliar situations and expressions, reading and listening for understanding.

Key topics include – giving personal information, talking about school, talking about leisure activities and holidays, food and drink, shopping, town, using new technologies giving opinions and reasons, expressing past, present and future activities in different contexts and we also include some cultural elements such as poetry and songs.