Subject:  MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES (French/ Spanish)

 Number of Lessons per fortnight: 6

All students in Year 9 will study either French or Spanish.

French is taught by Mr C. Konan and Ms Z. Von Pfefer and Spanish by Ms L. Garcia and Ms A. Entcheva.

 Autumn term activities:

 During the autumn term pupils reinforce and consolidate their knowledge of getting to know their way around France or Spain. They also read and talk about their town and a place abroad, building on work done in Year 8. They develop their ability to seek and justify opinions and use more complex grammar and sentence structures. They also learn to talk about what jobs they do around the home.

Spring term activities:

During the second term pupils learn to identify words, which refer to future events. They learn to talk and write about what is going to happen in the future and what they are going to do on a visit to France or Spain.  Pupils also learn to use a range of tenses to talk and write about trips and holidays. Pupils learn how to describe their health and to talk and write about what they should do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Summer term activities:

 During the summer term, pupils learn to use a wider range of descriptive language to describe clothes and give their opinions about clothes. They also learn to talk about their pocket money and they learn to talk and write about the media, expressing their opinions.  This final term of the KS3 provides an opportunity for pupils to produce creative and imaginative work and gives them freedom to apply their knowledge and to become independent learners.

 Assessment:

 Every pupil at KS3 is assessed against National Curriculum criteria in each of the four skills. All pupils are assessed in a variety of ways:

• End of unit tests in listening, speaking, reading and writing skills to check students’ progress take place on at least three occasions during the year and the results are recorded centrally.
• Assessment for reading and writing are based on evidence in students’ exercise books, which are marked by the class teacher.

 Homework:

 All pupils receive homework once a week for the language they learn.  Students are given a variety of tasks to complete for homework:

• Learn new words
• Answer questions on a written text
• Do a piece of writing
• Learn a dialogue

 Equipment requirements / recommended texts:

 Pupils will be provided with an exercise book and a textbook to use in lessons.  A language dictionary will be essential for them to have. Also, the standard equipment required of students is at least a blue/black ink pen, pencil, sharpener, eraser and a ruler.

Replacement exercise books are available from the MFL department for £0.50 if a book is lost.

 Textbooks:

French:  Expo 3 by Heinemann (ISBN 978 0 435385 34 7)

Spanish: Mira 3 by Heinemann (ISBN 978 0 435391 64 5)

Option for next year:

In this context of European Union, learning a language is very important as it expand pupils’ education and career opportunities. In fact, MFL GCSE is a qualification that is welcomed by a very large range of employers and further and higher education establishments. This is why we strongly advice Year 9 students to continue with the language they have been learning since Year 7. Give yourself more opportunities by learning French or Spanish in Year 10 and 11.

Contact:   Mr C Konan