Modern Foreign Languages
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At Braunton Academy, we believe that learning a language has never been more important. We see languages as a key part of the cultural richness of our society and the world in which we live and work. We want our pupils to leave us with a broadened understanding of the world and the opportunities afforded them through language learning.
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Learning languages contributes to a mutual understanding, a sense of global citizenship and personal fulfilment. Pupils learn to appreciate different countries, cultures, communities and people. The ability to understand and communicate in another language is a lifelong skill for education, employment and leisure in this country and throughout the world.
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The department’s vision is to continually improve standards through an engaging and challenging curriculum which values the strengths of all and celebrates success. Competency in a foreign language unlocks the technological, enterprise and vocational abilities which enhance the employability skills of our pupils. We aim to promote cultural awareness and develop our young people into open-minded and confident global citizens of the 21st century.
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Year 7
All of year 7 will learn French for 2 lessons per week and follow the ‘Studio 1’ resources and topics, delivered through the engaging ‘Activeteach’ programme. The topics covered in year 7 include: meeting and greeting, family, school, hobbies, where I live and holidays are all underpinned by a strong grammar oriented approach that will provide the springboard for all later language learning. Pupils will be assessed formally 3 times a year in either: listening, speaking, reading or writing. Each assessment will include 2 separate skill areas.
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Year 8
In year 8, pupils will continue to learn French for 2 lessons per week and begin German for just 1 lesson per week, following the ‘Stimmt’ framework and also delivered through ‘Activeteach’. The German topics include: meeting and greeting, family, hobbies and school and are, as in French focussed on a solid understanding of the key grammar points in beginner’s German.
In year 8 French lessons, following ‘Studio 2’pupils get their first taste of the past tense and enjoy topics such as: communication technology, ‘a week in Paris’, my identity, eating out and talent shows – which are again underpinned by a strong grammar focus, allowing pupils to develop their basic translation skills and spontaneous speech techniques such as S.O.R.E (statement, opinion, reason, extend).
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Year 9
In year 9, pupils learn both French and German with a 50/50 split – 3 lessons per fortnight per subject. The French lessons will follow the ‘Studio 3’ framework and will start to see pupils extending their linguistic skills to use 3 tenses in their answers. The topics covered include: social media, health and fitness, future plans, holidays and global issues. In year 9 German, following ‘Stimmt 2’ pupils build on their basic grounding from year 8 and develop more confidence with extended answers and a deeper understanding of German grammar and the nuances of word order. The topics covered include: Holidays, the media, health and fitness, daily routine and planning a trip out. The emphasis in both languages at the end of KS3 is becoming ready for GCSEs – we expect the majority of pupils to take at least one language as a GCSE option.
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GCSE Courses
At GCSE level we follow the Pearson’s Edexcel 1-9 courses for both French and German. Pupils build on their knowledge and linguistic skills from KS3 by going into greater depth in year 10 so that their use and understanding of the key grammar points is thorough and consistent. Topics covered in year 10 and 11 include: Education and Employment, Free time and leisure, Family and relationships, Identity and culture, Holiday and travel and Global dimensions. The course is assessed by 100% examination at the end of year 11 with each of the 4 skills – Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing accounting for 25% of the overall grade.
Homework / Independent Learning
Homework is set weekly via Class Charts and is used to embed work done in the classroom. This will be either a written task based on the previous lesson’s learning, a worksheet to consolidate recent work, research in a specific topic, vocabulary learning for a spelling test or revision for an end of module assessment. The skill area being assessed will always be advised in advance.
Extra-curricular and Enrichment Opportunities
In order to extend the language learning opportunities of our pupils beyond the classroom, we offer a number of extra-curricular events. These include: Lunchtime language clubs including Latin and Spanish, French and German GCSE revision sessions, language speaking competitions, French and German exchange trips to Plouescat and Hamburg as well as Gifted and Talented projects in which we visit local primary schools. We are also privileged to host a number of second language speaking pupils at Braunton Academy and each year enter pupils for a range of additional languages at GCSE. In the past few years these have included: Spanish, Polish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin and Arabic.
Useful Links
We subscribe to www.linguascope.com to support language and vocabulary learning at beginners, intermediate and KS4 level. (see your teacher for the username and password)
All pupils taking French/German at GCSE will also receive a 9-1 Edexcel revision guide: www.pearsonactivelearn.com/register.asp
Other useful websites and links include:
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