Modern Foreign Languages
| Staff | Mrs. Dragica Marsh | - Head of Department |
| Mr. Tim Melia | - Head of Spanish |
|
| Mrs. Veronique Thomas | - (French Native Language) | |
| Mrs. Frederique Priou-Taylor | - (French Native Language) |
|
| Mrs. Jane Hughes | ||
| Miss. Francesca Ubaldi | ||
| Dr. Maggie Smith | - Assistant of French | |
| Miss. Astrid Ruiz Moreno | - Assistant of Spanish (Spanish Native Language) |
Modern Foreign Languages Statement:
We aim to maintain and stimulate lasting pupil curiosity and interest in all foreign language learning and more specifically in the languages taught in the department; French and Spanish. We hope that our students will develop language learning skills which will allow them to become lifelong successful learners of any language they may require. We would ultimately like our learners to become ‘global citizens’ with a positive attitude to Foreign Languages and to develop and encourage in others a sympathetic approach to different cultures and civilisations.
Spanish Course Description
Key Stage 3:
Year 8
During the course of Year 8, some students will take their first steps in Spanish. You will be taught to say hello and goodbye, introduce yourself and give some information about yourself, including your age, family, classroom items and commands and your pets. It is important that you read through your notes after each lesson and learn work thoroughly as you go along, as there will be a week or more between some lessons.
Year 9
Students will continue to build on and extend the foundations of the language acquired in Year 8. You will cover topics such as talking about your personality, appearance, school subjects, telling the time, daily routine, food and drink. You will learn by doing lots of enjoyable activities such as language games, songs, role plays, etc and by completing learning and written homeworks on a regular basis. You will be able to use the various language sites we subscribe to both in class and at home.
Key Stage 4: Years 10 and 11 GCSE Course
Students follow the AQA GCSE course. This involves the study of 4 areas: Lifestyle, Leisure, Home and Environment, Work and Education. Students build on the Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing skills acquired at KS3, through a variety of activities. Grammar and vocabulary testing is done on a regular basis. In the GCSE examination Speaking and Writing assessments make up 60% of the total marks, while the Reading and Listening exams together attract 40% of the marks.
Key Stage 5: Years 12 and 13 AS and A2 Course
AS TOPICS Media (television, advertising, communication technology)
Popular culture (cinema, music, fashion, leisure)
Healthy living (sport, alcohol, drugs, smoking, diet, holidays)
Relationships (family, friendship, marriage/partnership)
A2 TOPICS Environment
The multi-cultural society
Contemporary social issues
Two of five cultural topics about an aspect of the Spanish or French speaking world.
The examination is made up of four modules:
AS Unit 1: Listening, reading and writing.
Unit 2: Speaking: Prepared and unprepared conversation on AS topics.
A2 Unit 3: Listening, reading and writing
Unit 4: Discussion around a controversial issue
All language students are allocated a 50 minute lesson each week with our Language Assistants.