The MFL department is committed to offering all students a wide variety of opportunities to explore and understand a wide range of cultural and social issues through the study of French and Spanish. The department endeavours to make learning languages fun and meaningful, providing pupils with many opportunities for collaboration and independent work in the classroom. Throughout Key Stage 3 our focus is on developing students’ skills in the four key areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing along with providing a solid grounding in the structures and patterns of the language through a range of contexts. We encourage pupils to use the target language as much as possible and they are exposed to authentic language each time they are in the MFL classroom. In addition, this learning is extended outside the school as we provide online resources accessible from home. Their progress is monitored through regular formative and summative assessments.  In Year 7 students start with either French or Spanish and continue with this language in Year 8 and 9.  European Day of Languages is annually celebrated widely across the whole school, but especially at KS3, where all students experience the many different languages spoken by our diverse cohort of students and staff.  We aim to provide a positive and supportive learning environment that allows pupils to grow in confidence and to achieve their best.

A selection of the topics students study at Key Stage 3 is listed below. This wide selection is enriched with material containing elements of cultural and literary reference to not only the target language country, but the wider Francophone and Hispanic world. 

SPANISH

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9
Myself My School My family My home and local area Going out	Free time and daily routine Out and about Fashion and shopping Planning a holiday Food and eating out	Relationships with family & friends Home, town, neighbourhood and region My studies and life at school Free time and activities

FRENCH

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9
Myself My School My hobbies My home and local area Planning a Summer holiday	New technologies Out and about in Paris My personal identity Activities to do in my city Personal skills and talents	Relationships with family & friends Home, town, neighbourhood and region My studies and life at school Free time and activities

Year 7 Outcomes

• Express opinions and develop ideas clearly and with increasing accuracy, both orally and in writing.
• Give reasons for their opinions.
• Understand and use the present tense
• Extend their work using connectives and time expressions
• Transcribe words and short sentences that they hear with increasing accuracy and understanding key information and respond accurately.
• Speak coherently and confidently, with increasingly accurate pronunciation and intonation.

 

Year 8 Outcomes

• Understand and use the present, past and near future tenses.
• Start to develop a conversation or piece of writing using higher level language.
• Extend their work by using clauses, complex structures and justify opinions.
• Interact in transactional real life situation.
• Listen to a variety of forms of spoken language to obtain information and respond appropriately.
• Read and show comprehension of adapted materials from a range of different sources, understanding the purpose, important ideas and details, and provide an accurate English translation of short, suitable material
• Use and manipulate a variety of key grammatical structures and patterns as appropriate.
• Develop and use a wide-ranging and deepening vocabulary that goes beyond their immediate needs and interests, allowing them to give and justify opinions and take part in discussion about wider issues speak coherently and confidently, with increasingly accurate pronunciation and intonation.

 

Year 9 Outcomes

• Understand and use the present, past, near future and simple future tense.
• Be able to recognize more complex tenses such as imperfect and past perfect tenses.
• Start to develop a conversation or piece of writing using higher level language and being creative. Students will be able to adapt their language to more abstract situations.
• Extend their work by using clauses, complex structures and discursive markers in order to develop a well-structured piece.
• Read abridged (adapted) literary texts in the language [such as stories, songs, poems and letters] to stimulate ideas, develop creative expression and expand understanding of the language and culture.
• Interact in transactional real life situation coping with unfamiliar language and unexpected responses, making use of important social conventions such as formal modes of address.
• Read and show comprehension of original materials from a range of different sources, understanding the purpose, important ideas and details, and provide an accurate English translation of longer suitable material.

Please click here for the AQA French webpage.

Please click here for the AQA Spanish webpage.

Please see below for

• KS4 GCSE AQA French Specification 8658
• KS4 GCSE AQA Spanish Specification 8698

FRENCH AND/OR SPANISH

This GCSE is linear meaning all the exams are sat at the end of the course in Year 11. There are two tiers, Foundation (grades 1–5) and a Higher (grades 4–9). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier.

Core content:

Students study all of the following themes on which the assessments are based.

THEME 1: IDENTITY AND CULTURE

Topic 1: Me, my family and friends • Relationships with family and friends • Marriage/partnership

Topic 2: Technology in everyday life • Social media • Mobile technology

Topic 3: Free-time activities • Music • Cinema and TV • Food and eating out • Sport

Topic 4: Customs and festivals in French/Spanish - speaking countries/communities

            

THEME 2: LOCAL, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL AREAS OF INTEREST  

TOPIC 1: Home, town, neighbourhood and region

Topic 2: Social issues • Charity/voluntary work • Healthy/unhealthy living

Topic 3: Global issues • The environment • Poverty/homelessness

Topic 4: Travel and tourism

THEME 3: CURRENT AND FUTURE STUDY AND EMPLOYMENT

Topic 1: My studies

Topic 2: Life at school/college

Topic 3: Education post-16

Topic 4: Jobs, career choices and ambitions

 

ASSESSMENT

Paper 1: Listening
What's assessed Understanding and responding to different types of spoken language
How it's assessed ·       Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation Tier), 45 minutes (Higher Tier) ·       40 marks (Foundation Tier), 50 marks (Higher Tier) ·       25% of GCSE (Each exam includes 5 minutes’ reading time of the question paper before the listening stimulus is played.)

 

Paper 2: Speaking
What's assessed Communicating and interacting effectively in speech for a variety of purposes
How it's assessed ·       One speaking exam (recorded and sent to AQA to be marked) ·       7–9 minutes (Foundation Tier) + preparation time ·       10–12 minutes (Higher Tier) + preparation time ·       60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier) ·       25% of GCSE

 

Paper 3: Reading
What's assessed Understanding and responding to different types of written language
How it's assessed ·       Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation Tier), 1 hour (Higher Tier) ·       60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier) ·       25% of GCSE

 

Paper 4: Writing
What's assessed Communicating effectively in writing for a variety of purposes
How it's assessed ·       Written exam: 1 hour (Foundation Tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher Tier) ·       50 marks at Foundation Tier and 60 marks at Higher Tier ·       25% of GCSE

 

Please click here for the AQA French website.

Please see below for the AQA French Specification 7652.

Student Course Criteria

The course will appeal to students who have enjoyed French and achieved a high standard at GCSE level, and who wish to develop their linguistic skills alongside their understanding of the culture and society of countries where French is spoken.

​​​​​​Assessment:
Paper 1: Listening, reading and writing (40% of the A-level)
Paper 2: Writing (30% of the A-level)
Paper 3: Speaking test (30% of the A-level)

Further Opportunities Following this Course

As well as leading to the obvious degree courses in languages and jobs using languages, an A Level qualification can be extremely useful in any career as knowledge of languages is a sought-after skill in all walks of life.

Securing a Place at Post-16

We require a GCSE French grade 7 or above.