Modern Foreign Languages

Being able to communicate confidently in another language is an essential part of the education of our pupils. It is important that our pupils understand that learning a modern foreign language means you are a member of a multi-cultural community. Moreover, it will help them knowing more about their own culture while discovering and understanding other cultures.

At Ernest Bevin Academy, the Modern Foreign Language (MFL) department aspires to introduce pupils to a broad, knowledge-rich, and resourceful curriculum. We will help them develop skills to enable them to express themselves in habitual and unexpected situations. The MFL curriculum will ensure that we take the opportunity to:

Develop pupils’ receptive and productive language skills to allow them to communicate and cope in familiar, new, and unpredictable contexts.
Develop pupils’ abilities to reuse and adapt language and prior knowledge, use complex language structures to express their ideas in a creative manner.
Develop pupil’s resilience and confidence to allow them to be unafraid to take risks and make errors.
Support all groups of learners so they can take pleasure in communicating in another language.
Provide first-hand experience of the target language country and culture and develop an appreciation of a range of authentic resources.
Enable pupils to have a better understanding of their own culture and encourage them to become ‘global citizens’.
Develop independence to allow students to learn outside the classroom.

French is the only language we are now offering starters at KS3. Current Blue Ties and Red Ties will be the last cohorts with some of the year groups carrying on with Spanish.

Key Stage 3

Every student studies French from Year 7 to Year 9 with 2 lessons a week. Each half-term focuses on a topic-based unit, which introduces a range of new topic vocabulary and commonly used key words. Students are also trained in recognising French phonics.

Students will have end of unit assessments, a mid-year assessment (at the start of Spring 1) and end of year assessments (at the start of Summer 2). A range of skills will be tested throughout the year (listening, reading, speaking, writing and grammar). Information on the assessments and revision materials will be made available on Teams before each test.

Students will also be asked to complete extended writing tasks at least once a half-term to develop their literacy skills and their ability to work independently.

YEAR 7 - FRENCH

Autumn 1	The Basics (greetings, numbers, age, birthdays, nationalities and languages, likes and dislikes)
Autumn 2	My family (describing oneself and others, personality, pets, what others like)
Spring 1	My school (school subjects, timetable, teachers, extra-curricular activities)
Spring 2	Where I live (where I live, rooms and objects, places in towns)
Summer 1	Revision unit (exam and revision skills, recap of key vocab)
Summer 2	Enrichment unit: food in the French speaking world

Year 8 - French

Additionally to new vocabulary and skills, students will be exposed to a variety of tenses (present, past and future) in every unit.

Autumn 1	Holidays (destinations and transport, holiday activities, opinions on holidays, dream holidays)
Autumn 2	Going out and Staying in (free time activities, tv and films, music, organising a party, clothes)
Spring 1	Daily routine, health and fitness (daily routine, time, food and drink, sport, healthy and unhealthy habits)
Spring 2	School and Future Plans (subjects, school rules, post-16 plans, jobs and workplaces, dream jobs)
Summer 1	Revision unit (exam and revision skills, recap of key vocab)
Summer 2	Enrichment unit: Shopping in French speaking countries

YEAR 9 - FRENCH

Additionally to new vocabulary and skills, students will be exposed to a variety of tenses (present, past and future) and variety of linguistic structures in every unit.

Autumn 1	Relationships (description of family members, positive and negative relationships with family members, what oneself and others do in their free time, weekend plans)
Autumn 2	Festivals and Celebrations (talking about meal times, festivals in French speaking countries, describing a special occasion)
Spring 1	Describing a city and or a region in French speaking countries (advantages and disadvantages of my area, comparing regions)
Spring 2	The World around us (environmental problems, helping others, children’s rights)
Summer 1	Revision unit (exam and revision skills, recap of key vocab)
Summer 2	Enrichment unit: Exploring the French-Speaking World

Key Stage 4

Many students carry on with their KS3 language for GCSE. Year 10 and Year 11 have 3 lessons a week. Each half-term focuses on a topic-based unit, which introduces a range of new topic vocabulary (including grammatical structures) and commonly used key words. Students are also trained in recognising phonics to help them with oracy.

A range of skills will be tested throughout the year (listening, reading, speaking, writing and grammar). Information on the assessments and revision materials will be made available on Teams before each test.

Students will also be asked to complete extended writing tasks at least once a half-term to develop their literacy skills and their ability to work independently.

French and Spanish have a brand new GCSE and Red Ties will be the first cohort to sit these new exams. More information about the new GCSE can be found here:

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/french-2024.html

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/spanish-2024.html

Year 10 French and Spanish - New GCSE Specification – Exam Board: Pearson EdExcel

In Year 10, students use their Key Stage 3 knowledge as a foundation to increase their fluency in listening, reading, speaking and writing. We are still adopting a topic-based approach to guide us but the emphasis on repeating core language and core skills.

Students will have end of unit assessments, a mid-year assessment (at the start of Spring 1) and end of year assessments. A range of skills will be tested throughout the year (listening, reading, speaking, writing and grammar). Information on the assessments and revision materials will be made available on Teams before each test.

Students will also be asked to complete extended writing tasks at least once a half-term to develop their literacy skills and their ability to work independently.

Autumn 1	Lifestyle, Media and Technology
Autumn 2	Lifestyle, Media and Technology / My personal world
Spring 1	My personal world / Lifestyle and Wellbeing
Spring 2	Studying and my future Travel and tourism
Summer 1	Studying and my future
Summer 2	Speaking exams+ EOY Assessments and Revision

Revision materials will be made available on Teams as we get closer to this new exam. In the meantime, a lot of information is available on the exam board website:

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/french-2024.html

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/spanish-2024.html

Year 11 French and Spanish - New GCSE Specification – Exam Board: Pearson EdExcel

n Year 11 students focus on topics such as holidays , the environment and neighbourhood. These topics lend themselves to the study of a variety of vocabulary and grammar structures (tenses, modal and reflexive verbs).

An assessment calendar will be available in September.

Autumn 1	Travel and Tourism
Autumn 2	Revision / My Neighbourhood and Global Issues
Spring 1	My Neighbourhood and Global Issues
Spring 2	Exam Skills / Revision
Summer 1	Revision

Homework

KS3 students should receive 1 piece of homework a week. A notification of the homework with the due date will be posted on Teams.

A vast majority of the Homework will be done online using Seneca. https://app.senecalearning.com/login

Occasionally a learning homework might be set by a class teacher instead of a Seneca assignment, which will be checked in class with a vocabulary test.

KS4 students should receive up to 2 pieces of homework a week (one of the 2 being a learning homework and the other on Seneca or paper-based). A notification of the homework with the due date will be posted on Teams. Learning Homework will be checked via vocabulary test.

Memorisation techniques and self-quizzing practice will be taught and reviewed in lessons throughout the year to help every student to become independent learners.

Additional resources

Knowledge organisers and revision resources will be made available to students on Teams before each assessment.

United Learning curriculum - https://curriculum.unitedlearning.org.uk/Pupil

BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/secondary

Oak National Academy - https://www.thenational.academy/pupils

Duolingo - https://www.duolingo.com/

Seneca (students can do quizzes outside of homework) - https://app.senecalearning.com/login

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