Academic Departments
Languages
Key aims of the Modern Languages Department are as follows;
- To develop language skills in a variety of contexts.
- To develop communication skills and improve confidence.
- To enable students to work together and as individuals.
- To extend knowledge and appreciation of different cultures.
Curriculum
Year 7
Pupils will do a short basic course in French, German and Spanish. They learn to describe themselves, their pets and their families. Pupils acquire skills in listening, reading, speaking and writing.
Year 8
Pupils choose to continue 2 of the languages. They continue to develop their language skills. They listen, speak, read and write about their school, their hobbies, food and drink and where they live.
Year 9
Pupils learn to talk about fashion, how to describe how they feel and what makes a healthy lifestyle, how to organise their spare time and talk about their holidays and what they do in their spare time. They build on the four language skills, learning to give longer descriptions and accounts in the Present, Past and Future Tenses.
GCSE
Pupils are advised to continue with at least one language to GCSE and follow the AQA syllabus. They learn to understand and provide information and opinions relating to their own lifestyle and that of other people, including people in countries where the foreign language is spoken. They learn to give full descriptions and accounts and how to cope with a degree of unpredictability. These skills are developed in the contexts of Lifestyle, Leisure, Home and Environment and Work and Education. Pupils benefit from being able to use computers at home to access interactive grammar tasks as well as Foundation and Extension Level activities to further develop their Listening and Reading skills.
A Level
A levels are offered in French, German and Spanish by experienced A Level teachers. At AS Level we provide a worthwhile course of study for students who do not progress to further study in the subject. At A2 Level students acquire knowledge, skills and understanding for practical use, further study and/or employment and are able to communicate with speakers of the language or languages of their choice. This is achieved through the study of a variety of topics and also the study of film, literature and plays.
Rooms and Resources
We use a variety of different courses in all three languages, all of which are up-to-date, which enable us to vary our approach according to the needs of the pupils. There are interactive whiteboards in all the teaching rooms and we have a number of different software programmes to provide variety in our teaching from E-Grammar at GCSE to Linguascope, which provides fun activities in five languages.
Extra Curricular/Educational Visits
- Lunch time extension sessions usually run in all three languages
- Help sessions for those who may have problems
- Trips to Manchester for GCSE Revision Days
- Trips abroad to France and Germany