Curriculum Intent:

In MFL, at the Rochester Grammar School, students learn “to interpret the world” around them. By studying a foreign language, students learn to understand the differences and similarities between different cultures enabling them to gain a better knowledge of another country’s language and customs.

French, German, Spanish and Japanese are offered as:

• Core subject Year 7, 8 & 9 (French, German, Spanish)
• GCSE Core Years 10 & 11 (French, German or Spanish)
• IB Years 12 & 13 (French, German, Spanish or Japanese)

Key Stage 3 Modern Foreign Languages

Curriculum Overview 

In Key Stage 3, students learn the basics of grammar and vocabulary through different topics. The focus is on oral communication, but students also develop their listening, reading and writing skills.

French

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4	Term 5	Term 6
Year 7	Greetings, name, age, birthday	Family descriptions and personalities, pets	Weather and seasons	Where I live	Routines, time	Food, meals restaurant dialogue
Year 8	School	Holidays	Town	Clothes and invitations	Hobbies	Chores and health
Year 9	Family	Free time and Technology	Home and Town	Holidays	School and Work	Health

Spanish

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4	Term 5	Term 6
Year 7	Dates and birthdays, saying your age and your name	Describing your personality/physical description give / talk about your family	Food and drinks Describe what we want for each course in a restaurant Ask for prices / bill- quantities	Rooms and parts of the house. Furniture Ask for directions, landmarks and prepositions	Describing where things are in the house Talking about my daily routine Telling the time Using numbers up to 59	The weather Free time activities
Year 8	School life	Chores	Home &Town Places in town Directions Activities in town	Clothes & Shopping Colours Sizes Patterns	Sports and free time activities + past tense and near future tense	Travelling and Holiday + past tense & near future tense
Year 9	Family, Friends & Relationships + past tense and near future tense	Shopping, free time & Sports and free time (including sports and Technology)	Travelling and Holiday	Education and future plans	Home & Town Rooms in the house Places in town My home & rooms/opinions Directions Activities in town	Healthy living & the environmental issues

German

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4	Term 5	Term 6
Year 7	Family	Physical descriptions	Food	House and home	Weather, free time	Daily routine; time
Year 8	School	Chores (including recycling)	Town	Holidays	Free time & media. Invitation	Jobs Future tense job plans Past tense work experience (revisit chores vocab)
		Health (illnesses and solutions)
Year 9	Free time Sports/Music/ TV/Restaurants	Holidays Environmental concerns	Health Lifestyle, smoking, drugs, improving health	Family Relationships, friendships and marriage	School School system and ideal school	Home and town Social and environmental problems

Year 8

In Year 8, the curriculum in MFL provides students with a wide range of contexts in which they are able to practise every day conversation. Therefore, language learning in Year 8 becomes really purposeful. Through pair work and group work, students complete vocabulary building activities based on every day conversations. They are also introduced to tenses, so that lessons are challenging and preparing them well for their future language studies.

In year 8, amongst the topics taught is the topic of school. Students learn to describe their school (the facilities, subjects, etc). Also, students learn to express their opinion on a range of topics such as sports and leisure activities, including shopping and going out.

Finally, using knowledge banks and retrieval practice for revision and consolidation, students are consistently exposed to three time-frames, a wide range of key vocabulary – these ensure that grammar and vocabulary acquisition is at the heart of students’ learning.

Year 9

In Year 9, students learn how to describe their best friend and why it is important to have friends as well as what qualities, in an individual, make an ideal friend.  In addition, they learn to describe a typical school day and discuss their future plans, their dream job, their career and debate use and impact of technology. Students consolidate their understanding of tenses and learn some new grammar concepts, so that lessons are challenging and prepare them well for their future language studies. Finally, using knowledge banks and retrieval practice for revision and consolidation, students are consistently exposed to three time-frames and a wide range of key vocabulary, to ensure that grammar and vocabulary acquisition is at the heart of their language learning.

Assessment

• Mid-term tests allow students to identify areas of strength and areas of improvement. The mid-term tests are based on the content of particular sections from the termly knowledge banks.
• Students receive thorough feedback in lessons following the completion of a mid-term test.
• Starter activities in the second part of the term are planned to ensure that any area of improvement is addressed, such as common errors.
• End of term tests allow for the testing of the four skills: productive (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (listening and reading).
• Peer and self-assessment is part of our Assessment for Learning process. Students will be asked to assess their own or other pupils’ work using the relevant assessment criteria.

Further reading and resources

– https://www.kerboodle.com/users/login?user_return_to=%2Fapp

– https://quizlet.com/en-gb

– https://www.linguascope.com/

 

Key stage 4 Modern Foreign Languages

Curriculum overview

In Key Stage 4, students broaden their vocabulary and learn to understand and use more complex language. Lessons are engaging and fun, particularly when the Interactive Whiteboard is used.

French, German, Spanish:

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4	Term 5	Term 6
Year 10	Family, Relationships Festivals	Festivals Positive and negative aspects of technology and Free tine	Education and future plans	Jobs Careers Future choices Ambitions	Local area Environmental issues Health Charities	Holiday Health
Year 11	Partnership Environment Technology	Global issues: volunteering and charities	Poverty, inequalities Environmental issues Holiday	Technology Customs & Festivals Home & Town Education	N/A	N/A

Year 10

In Year 10 students are expected to put into practice all those skills that they have built up throughout KS3 and Year 9. Students’ language skills are stretched to enable them to adapt their language use to different contexts. Therefore, knowledge of tenses and key vocabulary are very important.

As part of the curriculum in MFL, students study the topics of family, school, holidays, town and work experience. They also explore a range of traditional festivals relating to the country of study. Furthermore, students discuss problems relating to their town and local environment and make suggestions to improve the quality of life for young people.

Students have the chance to take part to MFL trips at KS4. These trips provide them with excellent opportunities to immerse themselves in the target language culture, practise their language skills and grow in confidence.

Finally, using knowledge banks and retrieval practice for revision and consolidation, students are consistently exposed to three time-frames and a wide range of key vocabulary, to ensure that grammar and vocabulary acquisition is at the heart of their learning. 

Year 11

In Year 11 students are engaged in group discussions which allow them to become critical thinkers and compare issues in their own culture to that of the target language country.

As part of the curriculum in MFL students study the topics of media (the use of mobiles and the internet), healthy living (including the issues of healthy eating and eating disorders, drugs, alcohol and smoking and peer pressure) and pollution, global warming and possible solutions to these problems. There is an emphasis on all four skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) skills during the course of Year 11, in preparation for the four examinations towards the end of Year 11.

Students are expected to go beyond language learning taking place in the classroom as MFL teachers upload additional listening resources such as video links on Edmodo to support them in developing their listening skills.

Finally, using knowledge banks and retrieval practice for revision and consolidation, students are consistently exposed to three time-frames and a wide range of key vocabulary, to ensure that grammar and vocabulary acquisition is at the heart of teaching and learning.

Assessment

• Mid-term tests allow students to identify areas of strength and areas of improvements. The mid-term tests are based on the content of particular sections from the termly knowledge banks.
• Students receive thorough feedback in lessons following the completion of a mid-term test.
• Starter activities in the second part of the term are planned to ensure that any area of improvement is addressed, such as common errors.
• Mock examinations allow for the practice of the four skills: productive (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (listening and reading). There is one Mock examination in Year 10 and two Mock examinations in Year 11. To ensure that our students have sufficient practice, two speaking mock examinations are conducted in Year 11, one at the end of Year 10.
• Peer and self-assessment is part of our Assessment for Learning process. Students will be asked to assess their own or other pupils’ work using the relevant assessment criteria.

Further reading and resources

– https://www.aqa.org.uk

– https://www.kerboodle.com/users/login?user_return_to=%2Fapp

– https://quizlet.com/en-gb

 

Key Stage 5 Modern Foreign Languages

Curriculum overview

Students follow either the Ab Initio (beginners), Standard or Higher level courses.

The approach to language learning at KS5 is very holistic. By the end of the course our students have grown into critical thinkers able to analyse the pros and cons of various issues in their own culture and that of the target language culture.

French, Spanish, German, Japanese:

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4	Term 5	Term 6
Year 12 Ab Initio & Standard/Higher Level Japanese (each term, the script is also being taught)	Identities Migration Leisure Experiences   Literature study (Higher)	Local area   Tourism and Travelling     Literature study (Higher)	Education   Health issues Addictions Ethics and inventions   Literature study (Higher)	Career options Sources of Energy   Literature study (Higher)	Advantages of new technologies Environmental issues   Literature study (Higher)	Limitations of various types of technology Health issues Preferences in different works of art Literature study (Higher)
Year 13 Ab initio & Standard/Higher Level	Bilingualism Values Advantages and disadvantages of going on holidays	Traditions Migration	Poverty Third world countries Self-medication	N/A	N/A	N/A

Year 12:

Ab Initio students study various topics – appearance, physical geography, relationships, home, daily routine, food, shopping, entertainment, transport, town, emergencies, health, weather, holidays, education and jobs.

Standard and higher students study a range of topics – social relationships (relationships, social and religious events and educational systems), communication and media (TV, ads, press and the internet) and global issues (global warming; climate change; natural disasters, energy reserves, sustainability; migration; racism and poverty).

Students have the opportunity to participate in MFL trips at KS5 which will build their confidence in the use of target language, practise their language skills and experience the target language culture.

Year 13:

In Year 13, students research about various issues comparing their own culture to that of the target language country. They become specialists and are able to express complex ideas and justify their point of view with specific facts. Their language learning is taken to its linguistic ceiling.

Ab Initio students study different topics – Media (TV, ads, press, celebrities and the internet), Technology (phones, music, shopping, banking, social networking and work), the Environment (types of pollution, global warming, climate change, recycling and natural resources) and Global issues (AIDS, poverty, war and charities).

Standard and higher students study a spectrum of topics – Health (exercise, nutrition, eating disorders, drugs, alcohol, smoking, mental health, cosmetic surgery, rights to the health services and epidemics) and Science and technology (ethics & science / technology, impact of IT on society, renewable energy and scientific research).

Assessment

• Mid-term tests allow students to identify areas of strength and areas of improvements. The mid-term tests are based on the content of particular sections from the termly knowledge banks.
• End of term tests allow for the testing of the four skills: productive (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (listening and reading).
• Students receive thorough feedback in lessons following the completion of a mid-term test.
• Starter activities in the second part of the term are planned to ensure that any area of improvement is addressed, such as common errors.
• Peer and self-assessment is part of our Assessment for Learning process. Students will be asked to assess their own or other pupils’ work using the relevant assessment criteria.

Further reading and resources

– https://www.ibo.org

– https://www.kerboodle.com/users/login?user_return_to=%2Fapp

– https://quizlet.com/en-gb

 

British Values:

British Values in Modern Foreign Languages

Democracy: by working together, promoting a safe learning environment, mutual respect. Discussions around the topic of human rights (IB diploma SL/HL)

Rule of law: we study International and European Law. Discussions around the topic of human rights (IB diploma SL/HL).

Individual Liberty: We encourage students to share their individual thoughts and consider their own desires/aspirations/ their place as global citizens.

Mutual respect: MFL students are encouraged to have mutual respect of each other’s work and views, through peer assessment and group analysis of work. This also links to the next statement, thinking about different beliefs and cultures, which is part of our IB & GCSE Diploma syllabus.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs: Awareness of other cultural beliefs and styles can be incorporated into the teaching and learning at GCSE and as part of the IB diploma. Students learn about other cultures as part of their GCSE and as part of the content of the IB diploma, where students need to consider social, ethical and cultural issues as well as make comparisons between their own culture and that of other countries where French/ Spanish/ German/Japanese is spoken.