Languages

Languages

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela 

We aim to make language learning a rewarding, confidence-building and enjoyable experience for students. Our ambitious curriculum is centred around the three pillars of language learning: vocabulary, phonics and grammar. Students will learn how words are connected and how they can be put together successfully to create meaningful phrases, sentences and text, to communicate effectively. We aim for students to think deeply about the language, develop mastery and fluency with a strong focus on knowledge of phonemes and accurate pronunciation. Students’ knowledge of the target language will encourage them to be reflective about their own language, thus improving their literacy skills and vocabulary in their own language. Students will develop a wide range of transferable and lifelong learning skills including collaboration, independence, resilience, tolerance, creativity, development of memory and oracy. Furthermore, learning a foreign language will enable students to develop a strong understanding of the world beyond their own viewpoint and everyday experience; they will learn that the world is diverse and rich in different cultures, history, customs and perspectives which may be different from their own. Finally, our curriculum will give students the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful at GCSE level and beyond. Schemes of learning have been carefully sequenced so that students are able to build up a secure knowledge of grammatical structures. Our teaching of grammar should always lead to an improvement in students’ abilities to use the language independently and creatively.

In each unit of work, students will:

• Understand and respond to spoken language

• Understand and respond to written language

• Produce language in speech and writing

• Demonstrate accurate understanding and accurate application of grammar and vocabulary

Year 7 (5 lessons per cycle - Spanish)

In year 7 students will learn that active participation is essential in the learning of a language, and that they should listen and follow their teacher’s lead. We will endeavour to make them feel “comfortable” out of their comfort zone as they settle into their language lessons; for example, when listening to the teacher speak in the target language or pronouncing difficult words. They will learn all key phonemes so that they are able to speak confidently, contributing to lessons at every opportunity and they will be introduced gradually to the high frequency “KEYS”. We will challenge students to use their memory in lessons, with a focus on recall and retrieval of language. Students will learn the first building blocks of accurate sentence structure, including the full present tense of regular verbs, and key irregular verbs in the singular form.

Year 8 (5 lessons per cycle - Spanish)

In year 8, students will continue to build upon their declarative and procedural knowledge gained in year 7. Learning a language is a cumulative process; grammatical knowledge and vocabulary will be re-visited, expanded and applied in different contexts to ensure long-term learning takes place. In year 8, students will continue to use the present tense, both in regular and irregular forms. However, in term 2, students will be introduced to the preterite tense so that they are able to talk about past events. Students will be
continually encouraged to apply their knowledge of phonemes to their own speech and when listening to speech to decode meaning; we aim for students to become confident listeners. Finally, students will be encouraged to further improve their use of the KEYS to add variety and complexity to their work.

Year 9 (5 lessons per cycle - Spanish)

In year 9, we aim for students to understand and use 3 tenses. Students will revisit both the present and preterite tenses learnt in years 7-8 and will also learn the near future tense, as well as other structures to express the future. The focus is practice, consolidation, and embedment into the long-term memory of this verb knowledge. It is vital that students can retrieve it and apply it across various contexts, with a greater focus on memory, and accuracy. Furthermore, during year 9, greater emphasis will be placed on students learning to write with increasing sophistication in terms of variety, complexity (using KEYS) and detail.

Years 10-11 (GCSE)

Students are encouraged to study a language at KS4, and we follow the AQA course. Students learn to communicate clearly across a range of themes and topic areas relevant to young people, applying their knowledge of vocabulary, phonemes and grammar successfully. We aim for our KS4 curriculum to provide students with the necessary knowledge to continue their language studies to A level and beyond. As well as language skills, students will learn a wide variety of transferable skills, highly valued by employers and universities. These include communication skills, problem solving skills, teamwork and the ability to be flexible and cope in difficult situations. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to learn about other cultures and the people of the country/countries where the language is spoken.

Languages Curriculum

 

Independent Learning

All students at both KS3 and KS4 are given weekly  vocabulary learning in order to develop their knowledge. Students will need to spend at least 30 minutes each week on revision and will be tested by their teacher. Students are also set written independent learning where necessary.

 

Languages Team