Modern Foreign Languages Faculty
The faculty is delighted to be entering its second year as a Language Specialist School. At present, we teach three European languages, French, German and Spanish to A level standard. We pride ourselves in inspiring our students to discover other languages and cultures with a broad and open mind: it is fun, it gives them confidence in dealing with other people, it helps them make friends abroad, it looks good on their curriculum vitae, just to name a few reasons for studying languages! We organise regular Conferences, Exchanges and Work Experiences for our three European languages; we run Language Clubs at lunch times and organise yearly Curriculum Enrichment Days.
Most of our language staff are native speakers and we also employ 3 MFL assistants every year to help increase our KS4 and KS5 students’ listening and speaking skills. We are also excited to have been able to fit, during the summer months, a state of the art Digital Multimedia Language Laboratory, which is going to enhance all our students’ learning during their years at our school.
In Key Stage 3 for all Modern Foreign Languages, the progress of the students is regularly assessed in the four skill areas: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. Teaching methods include regular use of cassettes/CDs, worksheets, group and pair work, and the Interactive Whiteboards. The group work and pair work help students to practise, develop and revise what they have learnt. The emphasis on written work is increased in Year 9. All students will prepare for the Preliminary Asset Language Certification and will receive an OCR certificate (Levels 4 to 6) at the end of the academic year.
At Key Stage 4 we recommend that all students choose at least one Modern Foreign Language, e.g. French, Spanish or German. Students may pick either of the Modern Foreign Languages which they are currently studying or choose whichever they feel more confident about.
In Key Stage 5 students wishing to study two foreign languages at A Level require As or A*s at GCSE and a recommendation from their individual teachers. They also need to have a reasonable grasp of grammar and enjoy speaking in the foreign language.
We follow the WJEC examination syllabus. This A Level specification will provide a sufficient basis for the further study of languages at degree level or equivalent as well as open the doors to most top universities. Most careers will be enhanced if a Modern Foreign Language has been studied to A Level standard.