MFL: Modern Foreign Languages

Curriculum Breakdown

In both French and Spanish, we aim to instil our learners with both enthusiasm and proficiency in key areas of language learning. Our pedagogy is research-led and practice-informed and learning is carefully planned to support progression for all learners within a low exposure foreign language setting. Progression is determined by the functions of grammar, and the frequency and usefulness of vocabulary and phonics, and aims to avoid introducing too much language too fast.

 

We aim to encourage pupils to appreciate and be curious about other cultures and promote the importance of a deeper understanding of the world in which pupils take a step towards intercultural competence. We want to encourage a love of learning a foreign language and ensure that pupils leave confident and enthused to continue learning a language, ready for a future in the global workplace.

Implementation

Key Stage 3 learning is based on developing a strong underpinning of phonics, vocabulary and grammar and content is evenly spaced and opportunities to revisit are planned to ensure students have enough time to deepen their understanding.  At GCSE, students choose to follow the AQA GCSE in French or Spanish.

 

KS4 is more challenging and dynamic, building on the key aspects acquired during study at KS3. Following the AQA GCSE course, students are encouraged and supported in developing their prior learning and actively enhance their capacity for communication throughout the lessons. Following a communicative approach to teaching and learning allows our students to enjoy their language learning journey and promotes high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge.

 

Year 7

Students develop an understanding of the sound symbol correspondences in each language, their proficiency in highly frequent vocabulary and the most frequent forms of grammar; articles, adjectives, present tense verb forms in parts of the verb, question words and forming questions

 

Year 8

Students continue to embed their understanding of the phonetical patterns of the language, further tenses are introduced, and students work on developing an understanding of the future and past time frames.

 
 

Year 9

Students focus on revisiting and recycling phonetical patterns and continue to deepen vocabulary and grammar knowledge through more challenging texts. Further grammatical structures are introduced alongside revision of previously acquired structures in year 7 and 8. Students develop knowledge of words from a range of word classes and consolidate previously learnt vocabulary by using them for further practice of sound-symbol correspondences.

Key Concepts

Linguistic Competence
Knowledge About Language
Creativity
Purpose and Context
Manipulate Language
Intercultural Understanding
Diversity
Other Cultures
Different Ways of Seeing the World

KS3 MFL

Curriculum Breakdown

Year 7

  • Identify key points of a conversation or text using cognates
  • Use a number of high frequency words in order to convey basic information and opinions whilst using the correct register
  • How to predict the pronunciation of unfamiliar words and know the pronunciation of key sounds
  • Have a solid understanding of gender of nouns and have a working knowledge how to conjugate verbs in two different time frames

Year 8

  • Read for gist and detail by using context and cognates to decode words
  • How to communicate opinions using a range of verbs and qualifiers
  • Use known words and phrases in different contexts
  • Adapt model answers to structure own work along with using a range of conjunctions in order to add complexity
  • How to conjugate verbs (regular and irregular) without support in three different time frames

Year 9

  • How to follow and respond to increasingly complex conversations and texts whilst making use of social and cultural context
  • Use questions to structure the text and find ideas in other texts
  • How to make sentences more interesting with the use of variety of grammatical structures
  • How to conjugate familiar and unfamiliar verbs in three different time frames and respond spontaneously in conversations

KS3 French Curriculum

Curriculum Breakdown

Grammar
Phonics
SSC – Sound Symbol Correspondence
Vocabulary

Year 7

  • être, avoir, faire, aller, prendre, apprendre, dire, sortir, venir, dormir, partir – singular persons
  • Present tense, ‘er’ verbs
  • Modal verbs – vouloir, pouvoir, devoir
  • Adjective agreements
  • Indefinite, singular articles & gender
  • Definite articles
  • Regular plural nouns
  • Preposition – à
  • Yes/No questions with raised intonation
  • Ne…pas negation
  • Aller + infinitive (future intention)
  • Silent Final Consonant (SFC)
  • SSC ‘a’
  • SSC ‘i’ and ‘eu’
  • SSC ‘e’ and ‘au’
  • SSC ‘u’ and ‘ou’
  • Silent Final E – ‘e’ and ‘é’ (-er, -ez)
  • SSC ‘en’ / ‘an’, ‘on’
  • SSC ‘-ain’ / ‘in’, ‘è’ / ‘ê’
  • Liaison (t- and s-)
  • SSC ‘ai’ and ‘oi’
  • SSC ‘ch’ and ‘ç’ (and soft ‘c’)
  • SSC ‘qu’, ‘j’ (and soft ‘g’)
  • SSC ‘-ion’ and ‘-ien’
  • Learning what it means to know a word from recognition, to pronouncing, spelling and using the word in a sentence
  • High frequency vocabulary relevant to given context
  • Consolidation and extension of vocabulary relevant to the given contexts
  • Developing the verb lexicon (-er regular verbs)
  • Plural nouns and adjectives
  • Question words
Grammar
Phonics
SSC – Sound Symbol Correspondence
Vocabulary

Year 8

  • Essential verbs (1st, 2nd, 3rd persons plural)
  • Feminine adjective agreement
  • Feminine noun formation rule
  • Question formation
  • Possessive adjectives
  • Present vs. perfect
  • Past participle formation: faire, dire, -er verbs (avoir only)
  • li>Ce, cet, cette, ces

  • Partitive articles
  • Quel, quelle, quells, quelles
  • Positioning of multiple adjectives
  • Irregular past participles
  • Stress syllabification
  • Liason (-t, -s, -x, -on)
  • h
  • em/em
  • aim/ain
  • on
  • um/un
  • -gn-
  • R
  • Oen eu/oeu
  • Closed o/ô
  • Open o
  • -s-
  • th
  • Explicit focus on some common word patterns between French and English
  • Develop the verb lexicon – present and perfect
  • Revisit Y7 vocabulary for consolidation
  • Text exploitation to extend vocabulary, aid recognition of cognates and extend knowledge of word families
  • Question words and question formation
  • Number construction 13-31
Grammar
Phonics
SSC – Sound Symbol Correspondence
Vocabulary

Year 9

  • Questions with two-verb structures
  • modal verbs (present) (nous, vous, ils/elles)
  • il faut/il ne faut pas + infinitive
  • feminine adjective agreement
  • être (present), ne…pas (single-verb and two-verb structures), adjective agreement, -ER verbs (present), pour and sans + infinitive, questions with single-verb and two-verb structures, with and without question words (intonation, est-ce que), on with impersonal meaning (‘people, you, one’), adverb positioning, aller + infinitive (future intention) (all persons), modal verbs (present) (je, tu, il/elle), use of à and en, verbs like entendre (present) (all persons) infinitive used as a noun
  • Feminine noun formation
  • Plural noun formation
  • Article use with être + religion
  • Possessive adjectives (votre, vos, leur, leurs)
  • Uses of avoir and être (present) to talk about feelings
  • Construction rule for numbers 32-69
  • Use of infinitive after aller, aimer, modal verbs, and prepositions pour and sans, inversion (VS) questions in single- and two-verb structures, with and without question words, croire (je, tu, il/elle), feminine and plural noun formation, article use with être + nationality, verbs like venir (all persons), possessive adjectives, register: tu vs. vous, partitive articles for distinguishing between parts and wholes and with uncountable nouns, use of de after expressions of quantity, boire (present) (je, tu, il/elle), adjective positions (pre- and post-nominal; multiple adjectives), comparative structures (adjectives and adverbs)
  • SFC and SFe with m/f adjective forms
  • SSCs [é/-er/-ez] and SFE with -ER verb endings)
  • SSCs [en/an] and [on/om] with word pattern: adverbial suffix -ment
  • s-liaison
  • SSCs [ou] and [u] with plural modal verbs)
  • SSC [i] with English -ive ➜ French -if)
  • SSCs [ai] and [é]with forms of connaître)
  • SSC [e] with ne and re-
  • SSC [qu] with English -c, -ck, -k, or -cal  French –que
  • SSCs [ien] and [è/ê] with m/f noun forms
  • SSCs open [eu/œu] before r with possessive adjective leur
  • s-liaison
  • SSCs [en/an] and [in/ain] with -ante suffix
  • Building the verb lexicon
  • Regular revisiting of Y7 and Y8 vocabulary for consolidation
  • Mixed word sets
  • Regular revisiting of Y7 and Y8 vocabulary for consolidation
  • Cognates: English word + -e
  • Suffixes: English ‘-ly’ ➜ French ‘-ment’
  • Suffixes: English ‘-ive’ ➜ French ‘-if’
  • Prefixes: re- + verb
  • Cognates: English -c, -ck, -k or -ical ➜ French -que)
  • Noun and adjective pairs: adjective + article ➜ noun (+/- capital letter)
  • English ‘-or/-our’ ➜ French ‘-eur’

KS3 Spanish Curriculum

Curriculum Breakdown

Grammar
Phonics
SSC – Sound Symbol Correspondence
Vocabulary

Year 7

  • Estar, Ser, Tener (1st, 2nd, 3rd persons singular)
  • Indefinite articles, singular and plural nouns
  • Adjectives – gender, agreement & position
  • Yes/No questions with raised intonation
  • -AR verbs in the present
  • Negative formation
  • Modal verbs
  • -ER and –IR verbs (all persons)
  • Possessive adjectives
  • Verb ‘ir’ to express future plans
  • vowels in Spanish a, e, i, o , u
  • SSC ‘l ‘and ‘ll’
  • hard ‘ca/co/cu’
  • ‘cu’ + vowel ‘cue/cua/cui’
  • soft ‘ce/ci’
  • Pronunciation of ‘z’
  • SSC ‘que’
  • SSC ‘qui’
  • Hard ‘ga/go/gu’
  • Soft ‘ge/gi’
  • SSC ‘j’
  • SSC ‘n’ and ‘ñ’
  • Learning what it means to know a word from recognition, to pronunciation, spelling and using the word in a sentence
  • High-frequency vocabulary relevant to given context.
    Consolidation and extension of vocabulary relevant to the given contexts
  • Revisiting of verbs, nouns and adjectives in relation to locations and family members
  • Deepening vocabulary and grammar knowledge through work with a challenging text