Modern Languages
French
In the Thirds, it is the aim to familiarise pupils with a number of key sentences about their personal details and class and home activities. Elementary features of the language such as the definite and indefinite articles, possessive pronouns and many basic constructions are learned as well as how to ask and answer elementary questions. Work is also done on elementary dialogue.
In the Shells, pupils’ grammar is extended to include work on the past tense, imperatives and recognising and using three time frames. New contexts are explored, such as giving and justifying opinions, describing leisure activities, school visits and dialogue work is extended.
In the Fourth Form, work on giving and justifying opinions is extended and new contexts include illness and medicine, making plans for the holiday, shopping for clothes and sharing opinions. Pupils will also learn how to give and understand facts about a region and make enquiries at a tourist office. Language work progresses to irregular verb constructions and more complex work on tenses. Letter writing is also covered.
German
German is an option subject in Shells and Fourths. In alternate years we organise a trip to the German Christmas Markets and an exchange visit to our partner school in Hofheim, close to Frankfurt.
A modern textbook, Anstoβ, is used. It has a dedicated website, which offers a variety of activities to be completed either in school or at home. The book also covers the basics of German grammar very thoroughly. It is a cartoon based on the lives of a group of young people who play in a band and want to be rich and famous. The cartoons use German in realistic situations and demonstrate the sort of language young German speakers use all the time. In the first two years pupils will learn how to meet and greet people, how to give personal details, to describe people, family and pets, to talk about school and school subjects, to describe houses and their own room, to describe leisure activities, to talk about eating and drinking, ordering meals, to talk about their health and to describe visits they have made.
Spanish
Throughout KS3 Spanish pupils develop the key skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking. A particularly strong emphasis is placed on pupil participation and fostering an enthusiasm for language learning. This is achieved through a wide range of activities, including using interactive activities delivered via the Interactive Whiteboard, video and electronic resources, discovering grammatical concepts and communicating in Spanish both in pair and whole class oral exercises and in genuine, every day exchanges in the classroom.
During the Shell form, pupils learn how to greet and introduce themselves to other people and to talk about themselves, their family and pets and their school. They also learn about food and drinks and how to order in a Spanish café. In the Fourth form, the focus is on pupils’ leisure activities, describing their house and hometown and talking about holidays. By the end of KS3 pupils should be able to use the present and past tenses and express personal opinions in Spanish.