Modern Foreign Languages

Subject Intent

Our vision for our students is that they develop the skills and confidence to consider themselves “global citizens”. We want our students to understand other countries and cultures so that they are open to new experiences. With our KS3 curriculum, we will take our students through a journey to discover who they are; we want them to understand what their local community means to them and finally how they can become part of a world characterised by international links and intercultural connections; linguistic skills are crucial for employment and careers, as proficiency in a foreign language enhances career opportunities.

Key Stage 3 Overview

Year 7

Autumn Term
Spring Term
Summer Term
Half Term 1 Half Term 2 Half Term 3 Half Term 4 Half Term 5 Half Term 6

Basics

Key Words & Concepts

  • Greetings
  • Phonetics and Alphabet
  • Numbers and Age
  • Birthdays

Assessment Criteria

Students will understand short spoken/written passages of very familiar language and pick out the main points; take part in simple, short conversations; write simple, short phrases from memory and with simple opinions; they can write 3 sentences with help.

Career/Transferable Skills

Communication Skills:

  • Active Listening
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication 

Critical Skills:

  • Analytical Skills
  • Reasoning 

Teamwork:

  • Collaboration
  • Reliability

Family & Friends

Key Words & Concepts

  • Family Members
  • Character Description
  • Physical Description 
  • Pets and Colours

Assessment Criteria

Students will understand the main points and simple opinion from short spoken/written passages; answer simple questions and give basic information, can adapt phrases to say something different; write 3- 4 sentences, can alter phrases I already know.

Career/Transferable Skills

Communication Skills:

  • Active Listening
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication

Critical Skills:

  • Reasoning

Teamwork:

  • Collaboration
  • Conflict management 

Self-Management:

  • Time Management
  • Resilience

Free time

Key Words & Concepts

  • Free Time activities
  • Weather
  • Food
  • Shopping

Assessment Criteria

Students will understand longer spoken/written passages and pick out main points and some detail; take part in conversations (with support) giving information and simple opinions, can apply most regular phonetic rules; write 3 or 4 sentences on a familiar topic, they can use simple opinions and connectives and also reference the future.

Career/Transferable Skills

Communication Skills:

  • Active Listening
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication

Critical Skills:

  • Analytical Skills
  • Reasoning 

Teamwork:

  • Collaboration

 

Year 8

Autumn Term
Spring Term
Summer Term
Half Term 1 Half Term 2 Half Term 3 Half Term 4 Half Term 5 Half Term 6

School and Careers

Key Words & Concepts

  • School Subjects and Opinions
  • Timetable and School Life
  • Uniform and School Rules
  • The World of Work

Assessment Criteria

Students will understand longer spoken/written passages and pick out main points and some detail; take part in conversations (with support) giving information and simple opinions, can apply most regular phonetic rules; write 3 or 4 sentences on a familiar topic, they can use simple opinions and connectives and also reference the future.

Career/Transferable Skills

Communication Skills:

  • Active Listening
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication

Critical Skills:

  • Analytical Skills
  • Reasoning

Teamwork:

  • Collaboration

Town

Key Words & Concepts

  • Landscape Features
  • Places in Town
  • Neighbourhood and Shops
  • House

Assessment Criteria

Students understand longer spoken/written passages and pick out main points and some detail; take part in conversations (with support) giving information and simple opinions, can apply most regular phonetic rules; write 3 or 4 sentences on a familiar topic, they can use simple opinions and connectives and reference future.

Career/Transferable Skills

Communication Skills:

  • Active Listening
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication

Critical Skills:

  • Reasoning
  • Problem Solving

Self-Management:

  • Resilience

Healthy Living

Key Words & Concepts

  • Body Parts
  • At the Doctors
  • Healthy Diet/Living
  • Unhealthy Choices

Assessment Criteria

Students will recognise if people are talking about future OR present events and recognise opinions; take part in short conversation (3 exchanges) from memory, they can give opinions and use some connectives, can speak about future OR past as well as present; edit and redraft my work, can write longer passages giving information and opinions and write about present OR future.

Career/Transferable Skills

Communication Skills:

  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Active Listening
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication

Critical Skills:

  • Reasoning
  • Analytical Skills

Teamwork:

  • Collaboration

Digital:

  • Search-Engine Research

 

Year 9

Autumn Term
Spring Term
Summer Term
Half Term 1 Half Term 2 Half Term 3 Half Term 4 Half Term 5 Half Term 6

Technology and Media 

Key Words & Concepts  

  • Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Use  
  • Influencers and Role Models  
  • Communication through the Years    

Assessment Criteria  

Students will recognise if people are talking about future OR present events and recognise opinions; take part in short conversation (3 exchanges) from memory, they can give opinions and use some connectives, can speak about future OR past as well as present; edit and redraft my work, can write longer passages giving information and opinions and write about present OR future.  

Career/Transferable Skills  

Communication Skills:  

  • Interpersonal Skills  
  • Active Listening  
  • Oral Communication  
  • Written Communication  

Critical Skills:  

  • Reasoning  
  • Analytical Skills  

Teamwork:  

  • Collaboration  

Digital:  

  • Search-Engine Research  

Travel and Tourism 

Key Words & Concepts  

  • Holiday Destinations  
  • Past Holidays
  • Hotels/Accommodation  
  • Dream Holidays

Assessment Criteria  

Students will recognise if people are talking about future OR present events and recognise opinions; take part in short conversation (3 exchanges) from memory, they can give opinions and use some connectives, can speak about future OR past as well as present; edit and redraft my work, can write longer passages giving information and opinions and write about present OR future. 

Career/Transferable Skills  

Communication Skills:  

  • Interpersonal Skills  
  • Active Listening  
  • Oral Communication  
  • Written Communication  

Critical Skills:  

  • Reasoning  
  • Analytical Skills  

Teamwork:  

  • Collaboration 

Digital:  

  • Search-Engine Research

Customs and Festivals 

Key Words & Concepts 

  • The Hispanic World 
  • Festivals in Spain
  • Day of the Dead
  • Traditional Foods 

Assessment Criteria 

Students will recognise if people are talking about future OR present events and recognise opinions; take part in short conversation (3 exchanges) from memory, they can give opinions and use some connectives, can speak about future OR past as well as present; edit and redraft my work, can write longer passages giving information and opinions and write about present OR future.

Career/Transferable Skills 

Communication Skills: 

  • Active Listening 
  • Oral Communication 
  • Written Communication 

Critical Skills: 

  • Analytical Skills 

Teamwork: 

  • Collaboration 

 

Key Stage 4 Overview

Year 10

Specifications we follow:

Year 10 - AQA GCSE Spanish (8692))

The specification covers three distinct themes. These themes apply to all four question papers. Students are expected to understand and provide information and opinions about these themes relating to their own experiences and those of other people, including people in countries/ communities where Spanish is spoken.

Theme 1: People & Lifestyle

Topic 1: Heathy Living

Topic 2: Education & Work

Topic 3: Identity & Relationships

Theme 2: Popular Culture

Topic 1: Free Time Activities

Topic 2: Customs & Festivals & Celebrations

Topic 3: Celebrity Culture

Theme 3: Communication & the World around us

Topic 1; Media & Technology

Topic 2: Environment & where I live

Topic 3: Travel & Tourism

Autumn Term
Spring Term
Summer Term
Half Term 1 Half Term 2 Half Term 3 Half Term 4 Half Term 5 Half Term 6

Healthy Living and Lifestyle

Environment and Where I Live

Media and Technology

Free Time Activities

Customs, Festivals and Celebrations

Education and Work

 

Year 11

Specifications we follow:

Year 11 - AQA GCSE Spanish (8698)

The specification covers three distinct themes. These themes apply to all four question papers. Students are expected to understand and provide information and opinions about these themes relating to their own experiences and those of other people, including people in countries/ communities where Spanish is spoken.

Theme 1: Identity and Culture

Topic 1: Me, my family and friends

  • Relationships with family and friends
  • Marriage/partnership

Topic 2: Technology in everyday life

  • Social media
  • Mobile technology

Topic 3: Free-time activities

  • Music
  • Cinema and TV
  • Food and eating out
  • Sport

Topic 4: Customs and festivals in Spanish-speaking countries/communities

Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest

Topic 1: Home, town, neighbourhood and region

Topic 2: Social issues

  • Charity/voluntary work
  • Healthy/unhealthy living

Topic 3: Global issues

  • The environment
  • Poverty/homelessness

Topic 4: Travel and tourism

Theme 3: Current and future study and employment

Topic 1: My studies

Topic 2: Life at school/college

Topic 3: Education post-16

Topic 4: Jobs, career choices and ambitions

Year 11

Autumn Term
Spring Term
Summer Term
Half Term 1 Half Term 2 Half Term 3 Half Term 4 Half Term 5 Half Term 6

Local, national, international & global areas of interests

Current & Future study and employment

Revision

 

Additional Curriculum Information

Intent

Our vision for our students is that they develop the skills and confidence to consider themselves as “global citizens”. We want our students to understand other countries and cultures so that they are open to new experiences. With our KS3 curriculum, we will take our students through a journey to discover who they are; we want them to understand what their local community means to them and finally how they can become part of a world characterised by international links and intercultural connections; linguistic skills are crucial for employment and careers, as proficiency in a foreign language enhances career opportunities.

Assessment Impact

We feel that our students should be given the opportunity to always try their best to demonstrate their skills in MFL. In order to cater for all our students, we design assessments to check their listening, reading, speaking and writing abilities.

We recognise that, while all students should be challenged, some might need more support. For this reason, we produce vocabulary tests, mid-module assessments and end of module assessments that are differentiated by tasks in order to cater for each individual.

SEND and Most Able Students 

We have high aspirations for all of our students. Regardless of ability, we always aim to challenge our students while scaffolding and producing relevant resources to meet their needs.

Following the school policy, most able students are added to the Most Able and Talented list for our curriculum area. In lessons, students will be specifically encouraged to extend their writing and speaking activities and develop a more sophisticated vocabulary.

We have put the following strategies in place to ensure that we cater for all of our students:

  • specific seating plans
  • differentiated resources and outcomes
  • reading and recording information about individual students to inform planning
  • frequent differentiated vocabulary tests and retrieval practices
  • scaffolding for writing tasks
  • access to intervention

Homework

At the end of each sub-topic, students are given a reading or writing homework to complete. If students are struggling with a concept, as part of intervention, they might be given extra work to take home. Students are regularly given vocabulary to learn or revise to prepare for the following lesson.

Beyond the curriculum

Students have access to online learning platforms, which are free and can be accessed at school and from home:

www.language-gym.co.uk

These allow our students to improve their linguistics skills but also give them the opportunity to investigate other languages.

As Spanish has become the main language offered at Key Stage 3, we offer a French club after school for KS3 students who studied French in primary school and would like to continue at Jarrow School. This could lead some of our students to choose to study two languages at KS4 and become dual linguists.

Literacy & Subject Specific Vocabulary

Key words and structures are introduced, drilled and revised every lesson. The importance of correct spelling, punctuation and grammar is emphasised in all MFL lessons and students are given the opportunity to improve their literacy skills by making SPaG corrections after each piece of assessed written work.

Students are given the opportunity to read out loud in lessons to improve comprehension and pronunciation.

Unit 2: 20th Century Depth Studies

Section A The Roaring 20s: USA 1919-1929

Section B Depression and the New Deal: The USA, 1929-1941

Section C War in Vietnam, 1964-1975

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Jarrow School
Field Terrace
Jarrow
Tyne & Wear
NE32 5PR

Email: info@jarrowschool.com
Tel: 0191 4283200
Fax: 0191 4283202

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