Through our teaching and learning we promote:
By learning a foreign language students become liberated from insularity and are encouraged to have empathy for other cultures. In our language classrooms and through our online Kerboodle digital support, students have the opportunity to listen and respond to French/Spanish speakers, both in speech and writing. There are opportunities for students to communicate for practical purposes and what they learn provides a foundation for further language learning and indeed the skills and knowledge to provide them with greater life and career opportunities.
By learning a language our students have the opportunity to increase their confidence by practising and applying a variety of skills independently, in pairs, in groups and in whole class situations. They are therefore, more equipped to follow a path that would allow them to live, work and/or study in another country. Moreover, students learn new ways of thinking and life-long qualities such as resilience, diligence and risk-taking. The acquisition of learning a language will hopefully also provide them with a Unique Selling Point as an individual when embarking on their journey into the world of work.
Rationale & Sequencing
MFL at KS3 aims to develop a range of communication and coping strategies to allow the students to listen and respond to what they hear, to comprehend and respond to what they read, to communicate verbally using accurate tenses and relevant vocabulary, to communicate in a written format using accurate tenses and relevant vocabulary and to translate from and into French and / or Spanish. These skills are developed through a range of activities based around role play, redrafting and refining work, problem solving and using repair strategies.
In Year 7 students learn the French language and learn about French Culture
In Year 8 students are introduced to the Spanish Language & Culture as well as continuing with the French language & Culture
In Year 9 students continue to learn both the French and Spanish languages and about French & Spanish Cultures
| Year | Half Term 1 | Half Term 2 | Half Term 3 | Half Term 4 | Half Term 5 | Half Term 6 |
| Year 7 | French | French | French | French | French | French |
| Year 8 | Spanish | Spanish | French | French | Spanish | Spanish |
| Year 9 | French | Spanish | French | Spanish | French | Spanish |
Students are encouraged to recognise patterns in language, to use their knowledge of pronunciation to help with the correct pronunciation of unfamiliar words, to practise a variety of memorization strategies and see which ones work for them, to use accurate verbs in their phrases, to hold a short conversation in the target language and to use a bilingual dictionary.
Students are encouraged to build more complex sentences, to develop and extend their range of vocabulary assisting their comprehension in listening and reading activities, to recall and apply more grammatical rules, to draft and refine their written work and to give and explain their opinions and justify them verbally.
Students are encouraged to use three tenses with greater accuracy in their spoken and written work, to hold a longer conversation about a familiar topic and ask questions, to translate more complex sections to and from the target language, to study international events that are currently taking place, to develop their listening and reading comprehension skills to decipher detail from inference.
At key stage 5 students hone their translation and communication skills.
They draw on their knowledge of grammatical structures to present and justify their ideas in their independent research oral project, to debate and argue points, to describe and discuss trends, to express doubt and uncertainty, to avoid repetition, to summarise, to write essays about a film and a novel, to analyse what they read and hear, to be spontaneous in their spoken responses and to have a much greater cultural appreciation and knowledge of the countries linked to the target language they are studying. Linking to topics such as: The benefits of living in an ethnically diverse society in the French course and The diversity of Hispanic music and dance in the Spanish course allows students to build their cultural awareness which they may need to draw upon in their later career.
The topics that we study in all 3 key stages have direct links to Our Catholic Social Teaching principles. These links are discussed in lessons with students and each student has a quotation in English and a quotation in the language that they are learning attached to their class book.
Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a student can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a student will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world around them.
Throughout all key stages the study of Modern Foreign Languages richly embodies cultural capital by giving students an insight into the wider world. In key stage 3 we look at the diversity of certain regions in France or major cities in Spain, the differences and similarities between the school system, meal times and habits, cognates, near cognates and borrowed words and we study international events in Year 9.
In key stage 4 students study topics such as Latin-American customs, traditions and festivals on the Spanish course and the different francophone charitable organisations on the French course. At key stage 5 cultural capital deepens as students study heritage sights, the evolution of French cinema, the evolution of the French political system, areas of Spanish and Latin American history, ethnic diversity, immigration and the prevalence of the idea of “machismo” in the Hispanic world.
The digital textbook www.kerboodle.com is available to all students throughout their study of a modern foreign language and this online resource has a wealth of activities in all 4 skill areas to support and extend students knowledge of French and / or Spanish speaking countries.
Each topic also has native French or Spanish speaking young people talking about their opinions and interests so that the students see people of their own age using the language for a purpose.
For most students the language classroom is the only environment where there is the opportunity to listen to the target language and to be corrected in the use of it, in both written and spoken format. Our curriculum is intended to meet the needs of all learners.
Quality First Teaching is at the core of our Modern Languages planning and delivery of lessons and each student has a paid subscription to the online digital textbook called Kerboodle by being a student at The Catholic High Chester.
We work closely with our SEND Team and the Pastoral Team to ensure that these resources are accessible to all. We encourage our students to speak in French/Spanish as much as possible as soon as possible, harnessing their enthusiasm and desire to pronounce the new language accurately.
We link pronunciation to as many patterns or aide-memoires as possible using a variety of resources and media clips. Our activities within the classroom are chunked to help students to progress in the 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. This provides a solid base for students to build on as they progress through their language learning year on year.
We support students in making the links of the spoken word to the accurate written word and use the skills of diligence and refining to repeatedly work on these no matter which topic or tense. The digital text book (Kerboodle) is a great reference for key words and grammar explanations outside of lessons as both pre teaching and post teaching support.
When we introduce students to the digital textbook www.kerboodle.com we show them how they can use it to their advantage at home independently, to reinforce what is taught and practised in lessons and to extend their learning, competence and confidence outside of the lesson. Kerboodle has the whole range of 11-18 learning built in which provides independent learners with great scope for challenge and further development.
In the first years at High School students generally have a limited repertoire of vocabulary; therefore a lot of the lessons use a variety of short activities which reinforce the content in all 4 skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students often complete pair work or group work in order to rehearse the spoken element of the language and are supported by our Teaching Assistants and a range of intended outcomes using differentiated materials and prompts.
There are common misconceptions when students are learning a new language and lessons often contain Assessment for Learning activities to focus and eliminate these areas.
Assessment For Learning sessions take place regularly in class prior to assessments and students are encouraged and guided to additional revision activities on www.kerboodle.com to assist with the consolidation of their knowledge.
We practise a range of revision activities such as copy, cover, write/say, check: flash cards: verb songs: knowledge maps: pair work: listening to and saying examples online on the digital textbook: completing the star and plus activities online: using the signpost vocabulary sheets, grammar recall and spelling reminders.
Details of any homework tasks are added to Firefly along with assessment information. This can be accessed in conjunction with a student’s classbook.
The MFL team routinely communicates with parents, carers and students by using the Attitude to Learning features on class registers, the Achievement points system and also the Behaviour for Learning system when necessary. Cultural achievement post cards are posted home throughout the year to celebrate commitment and effort.
The skills that are fostered and developed by learning a foreign language promote success in other subjects as they develop the ethos of rigor and attention to detail as well as resilience and repair strategies and to ability to cope with impromptu communication. Through our teaching and learning we promote:
Literacy development goes hand in hand with learning a new language and there are lots of opportunities to develop literacy in lessons and by using the digital textbook, Kerboodle.
Here are some examples of how we promote the development of literacy in MFL:
When students arrive in Year 7 we use the target language in large chunks of the lesson to show them that they can understand the main parts and to respond when necessary, without having to understand every word that we say. This is a skill that they will continue to use whenever speaking in a language that isn’t their first language and is a great confidence builder and assists in dispersing any preconceptions if they haven’t studied a foreign language before. We also use displays sharing previous Year 7 student responses on tips of how to think positively about language learning.
