Modern Foreign Languages

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

Aims

The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
  • Speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
  • Can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
  • Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

Curriculum Learning Journeys

Key Stage 4 Modern Foreign Languages

Course content

Candidates will follow the AQA Full Course GCSE Syllabus. The syllabus is designed to help pupils develop their French / Spanish language skills in a variety of contexts. The four-component structure of the course allows pupils to maximise their achievement.

According to their ability, candidates can be entered for either:

  • Foundation Tier (Grades 5-1)
  • Higher Tier (Grades 9-4)

The French and Spanish GCSE courses will provide pupils with the opportunities to develop language and skills learned in Key Stage 3 and expand their cultural knowledge of French and Spanish speaking countries.

Hours taught per week – 3

French Curriculum Learning Journey

Spanish Curriculum Learning Journey

Exam Board – AQA

Specification

Assessment

Exam (Foundation 35 minutes, Higher 45 minutes) Listening 25% of qualification
Exam (Foundation 7-9 minutes, Higher 10-12 minutes) Speaking 25% of qualification
Exam (Foundation 45 minutes, Higher 1 hour) Reading 25% of qualification
Exam (Foundation 1 hour, Higher 1.25 hours) Writing 25% of qualification

Key Stage 4 Community Languages

Course content

Community Languages are for students who can already speak, read and write in one of the below languages or are learning outside of school. We do not offer lessons in these subjects, but if you choose to take a Community Language GCSE, we will support you by guiding you through the exam requirements, explaining the exam structure and providing past papers for practice.

Languages available are:

  • Arabic – Pearson
  • Bengali – AQA
  • Chinese – AQA
  • Greek – Pearson
  • Gujarati – Pearson
  • Italian – AQA
  • Punjabi – AQA
  • Persian – Pearson
  • Polish – AQA
  • Portuguese– Pearson
  • Russian – Pearson
  • Turkish – Pearson
  • Urdu – AQA

Assessment

Exam (45 minutes) Listening 25% of qualification
Exam (20minutes) Speaking 25% of qualification
Exam (1 hour) Reading 25% of qualification
Exam (1.3 hours) Writing 25% of qualification

Key Stage 5 French or Spanish A Level

Course content

Social Issues & Current trends: The changing state of the family, the digital world, youth culture: fashion & trends, music, television. Immigration, Integration & Racism.

Artistic culture: Festivals & traditions, art & architecture, cultural life in Paris, Berlin or Madrid—past & present. France, Germany or Spain & the European Union, and Politics & Youth.

Grammar: Pupils are expected to show understanding of a variety of grammar.

Individual Research Project: Pupils choose a question on a topic of interest to them and which relates to a country or countries where French, German or Spanish is spoken.

Exam board – AQA

Specification 

Assessment

Exam (2.5 hours) Listening, reading and writing 50% of qualification
Exam (2 hours) Writing on chosen film and text 20% of qualification
Exam Speaking – discussion and presentation 30% of qualification