Modern Languages (Y7-11)

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. 

 We aim to:

• motivate and inspire students and kindle a lifelong love of learning languages
• foster curious, confident, independent and resilient learners
• promote an awareness and acceptance of different cultures locally, nationally and globally
• provide students with the skills to communicate effectively in at least one foreign language
• build students’ cultural capital by engaging in and learning from culturally enriching activities
• enable students to use the foreign language in real life contexts
• broaden students’ horizons through educational visits abroad, contact with foreign language speakers and extra-curricular clubs

Subject staff

Mrs M-C D'Arcy-Barron - Assistant Principal and Curriculum Lead

Miss E Brull-Llao - KS3 Lead

Miss A Day

Curriculum Overview

All students at Blessed William Howard have the opportunity to study either French or Spanish from Year 7 to Year 9. 

In Year 7 to 9 students are taught the building blocks of languages through key vocabulary, phonics and grammar.  In Year 9 we start to introduce topics in preparation for studying the language at GCSE. 

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

Extra-curricular

The MFL is open every lunch time to build key skills through Quizlet. 

The departments cultural trips to France (Paris) and Spain (Barcelona/Madrid). These allow the students to practice their language skills in a real world setting and embed a long lasting love of the language. 

Revision Materials

Useful Links

• GCSE Specification - French
• GCSE Specification - Spanish
•  Linguascope.com (password from teacher)
•  Quizlet.com
•  Languagesonline.org

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