Modern Languages

At BWH, pupils study French and Spanish and our intention is to share knowledge and experiences of the Francophile and Hispanic worlds in order to encourage travel and a passion for the culture, language and people of their countries.

Exam Board AQA (GCSE)

Subject Aims

to motivate and inspire students and kindle a lifelong love of learning languages

to foster curious, confident, independent and resilient learners

to promote an awareness and acceptance of different cultures locally, nationally and globally

to provide students with the skills to communicate effectively in at least one foreign language

to build students’ cultural capital by engaging in and learning from culturally enriching activities

to enable students to use the foreign language in real life contexts

to broaden students’ horizons through educational visits abroad, contact with foreign language speakers and extra-curricular clubs

Teaching

At BWH we believe that we have a unique approach to foreign language learning which fosters skill and knowledge development through continuous purposeful practice as opposed to an emphasis on learning vocabulary, structures and rules by rote. In every lesson and in homework, the language is introduced and met in several different contexts which cements knowledge and facilitates deeper understanding and mastery.

Curriculum Overview

All students at Blessed William Howard have the opportunity to study either French or Spanish in Year 7 and in Year 8. In year 9 students chose which language they want to study to GCSE.

In Spanish students follow the “Viva” programme of study making use of the online “pearson active learn” resource both in class and at home.

In French students follow the Dynamo programme of study at key stage 3 and Studio at key stage 4. Both also provide classroom and home access to resources via the online resources of “pearson active learn”

Modern Languages Staff

Mr. C Sassi: Curriculum Leader MFL

Ms. E Brull-Llau: Teacher of French and Spanish

Miss L Morgan Teacher of French and Spanish

KEY STAGE 3 information (Year 7 and Year 8)

Language lessons at Blessed William Howard are highly interactive and students will be given the opportunity to develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing building an awareness of grammar and encouraging students to manipulate language and express themselves with increasing confidence. We always aim to inspire a love of languages and appreciation for different cultures broadening students’ horizons, educating them to be globally aware and encouraging them to become culturally sensitive.

COURSE CONTENT

In Year 7, students will learn phonics and sounds, countries, nationalities and languages, numbers, days and dates. Students will learn appearance and personality, through the topic of ‘Family and Pets’. Students will learn how to express opinions through ‘School Life’. Students will learn how to describe sports &hobbies as well as where they live ‘My Town’. We will cover the present and near future tenses.

In Year 8, students will learn the present, near future and perfect tenses through the topics of ‘Food, Drink and Healthy Living’, ‘Freetime’ and ‘Holidays’.

SPANISH

Year 7 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 7/8 include:

Term 1: My life/ My Free time activities

Term 2: My School/ My family and friends

Term 3: My city

Year 8 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 8 include:

Term 1: My holidays/All about my life

Term 2: Food/ My daily routine and activities

Term 3: The summer

FRENCH

Year 7 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 7/8 include:

Term 1: My life/ In class

Term 2: Free time/ My family

Term 3: My city

Year 8 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 8 include:

Term 1: My holidays/ Celebrations

Term 2: Leisure time / You world

Term 3: Sport

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

The MFL department endeavours to run a Languages Club every Thursday lunchtime at 12.30pm. It is open to all students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Students have the opportunity to learn about different languages and cultures from all over the world and the activities are led by the students themselves. Dishes from around the world are also tasted during Languages Club.

HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED?

Encourage them to:

Follow the homework timetable to enhance and consolidate the language covered in class
Encourage them to use the Internet to access songs, films, news items in a foreign language as well as to use the following websites to practise work covered in lessons.

Linguascope.com (password from teacher)

Quizlet.com

Languagesonline.org

Key Stage 4 Information

The AQA GCSE specification is followed.

SPANISH:

Year 9 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 9 include:

Term 1: Travel and tourism

Term 2: School Life

Term 3: People around us

Year 10 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 10 include:

Term 1: Interests and Influence

Term 2: Home, cities, towns and neighborhood

Term 3: Habits and Customs

Year 11 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 11 include:

Term 1: The world of work and further education

Term 2: Environment and the world around us

Term 3: Exam preparation

FRENCH:

Year 9 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 9 include:

Term 1: Who am I?

Term 2: Free time

Term 3: Daily life

Year 10 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 10 include:

Term 1: Living in the town and country

Term 2: Holidays and travel

Term 3: At School

Year 11 Course Outline

Topics studied in Year 11 include:

Term 1: The world of work and further education

Term 2: Environment and the world around us

Term 3: Exam preparation

GRADE	ASSESSMENT DETAIL
9	Students can understand extended texts, passages or dialogues spoken clearly at near-normal speed containing unpredictable elements; understand some unfamiliar language, inferring meaning from context, tone of voice and/or surrounding language; initiate conversations and ask a range of questions confidently and spontaneously using the correct mode of address and using different time frames; give and understand more developed and unplanned responses to different topics; use the language for almost all communication in the languages classroom; use consistently very good pronunciation and intonation; write a coherent and extended piece of several paragraphs from memory drawing on a range of topic areas; use a range of vocabulary, tenses and apply complex grammatical structures to express ideas and opinions confidently and in a varied and interesting way.
8	Students can understand longer texts, passages and dialogues spoken at near-normal native speaker speed; interact confidently within the familiar context of 3-4 topics and ask a range of questions independently; be understandable in spontaneous interactions; interact routinely with teacher and peers in predictable classroom situations; express ideas, opinions, reasons and factual information in more than one time frame from memory; write a text of several paragraphs from memory, using a variety of structures to express facts, ideas, opinions, reasons and justifications, and ask questions; manipulate language structures accurately, and combine those with new elements to produce new meanings.
7	Students can understand longer texts, passages or dialogues, delivered clearly and spoken at slower than normal native speaker speed; take part in conversations on familiar and past topics, and construct questions independently using the correct mode of address; construct ready responses to familiar topics independently, using a variety of vocabulary and structures but will need to pause in more spontaneous situations; where language and topic are familiar, responses are ready, but pausing is more frequent when new formulations are attempted; write from memory at greater length on one topic; use more than one time frame, and produce extended sentences in a logical sequence; successfully recycle learnt language, and combine with a limited number of new elements with to express their own ideas and opinions; translate a short paragraph into the language, drawing on known language from recent topics.
6	Students can understand and extract the main points and details from texts, passages or dialogues spoken clearly and more slowly than normal native speaker speed, containing predictable information; ask and answer questions and extend answers, using formal and informal modes of address; use familiar high-frequency verb forms with different question words to produce new questions spontaneously, with pauses; adapt pre-learnt classroom language for some routine classroom communication; write short paragraphs accurately and from memory on two-three topics; adapt known structures to add own elements to express a range of simple, yet personal, ideas and opinions.
5	Students can understand the details in a short text, passage or dialogue spoken slowly and clearly; ask and answer pre-learned, memorised questions, which may involve formal and informal modes of address; adapt familiar question forms to vary questions, with some hesitation; write a paragraph from memory made up of short sentences using familiar language taken from 2-3 topics. Spelling from memory may have some inaccuracy; Grammatical understanding is emerging; translate short phrases, containing all familiar language from the most recent topic.
4	Students can understand the main points and some of the detail in short texts, passages or dialogues made up of familiar language, with some need for repetition; ask and answer simple questions on a few familiar topics, including expressing opinions and responding to those of others; use a range of classroom language with teacher and peers; use simple phrases and sentences independently to describe people, places, things and actions, with good pronunciation; apply knowledge of phonics when reading new words aloud; write either a short, simple text from memory, using simple sentences from one familiar topic and with reasonable spelling or sentences on different topics using a model.
3	Students can understand the main points of a short text or spoken passage made up of familiar words and phrases, delivered slowly and clearly; ask and answer simple questions on a familiar topic write words, phrases and short simple sentences from memory with understandable spelling; change a range of single elements in sentences to create new ones.
2	Students can understand and respond to a range of familiar spoken or written words and short phrases; use simple pre-learned words and phrases for routine situations; produce short pre-prepared phrases on a familiar topic, with secure pronunciation; write simple words and a few short phrases from memory with understandable spelling.
1	Students can understand and respond to a few familiar spoken or written words and short phrases, spoken slowly and clearly; ask and answer simple pre-learned questions from memory on a familiar topic; write or copy single words correctly; substitute one element in a simple phrase or sentence to vary the meaning.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:

Annual trip to France/Spain

USEFUL WEBSITES:

www.languageguide.org (vocabulary builder and grammar)

www.languagesonline.org.uk

www.wordreference.com (recommended online dictionary)

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/spanish/

Recommended Websites for Learning Languages

http://www.busuu.com/enc/ – French/Spanish

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/ – 40 different languages!

Advice on Learning Languages

http://www.omniglot.com/language/index.htm – Advice, suggestions, tips and techniques for learning languages

Communicating with Students of other Nationalities

http://www.penpalworld.com/ – Get a pen pal from another country

http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/penpals.asp – Get a pen pal

HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED?

Encourage them to:

Follow the homework timetable to enhance and consolidate the language covered in class

Use the Internet to access songs, films, news items in a foreign language as well as to use the following websites to practise work covered in lessons.