Modern Foreign Languages
Aims of the Department
Our pupils learn languages in a positive and encouraging environment where they master the rules of grammar and develop the confidence to communicate well in their chosen languages. As they progress we expect more intellectual rigour in the target language including discussions about social and global issues, culminating in the Sixth Form in which culture, contemporary social issues, history and literature are discussed.
Languages are the ideal opportunity to widen their knowledge of the world and other cultures.
Employers know that linguists have:
- An international dimension
- An awareness of cultural differences
- Team-working, oral communication, problem solving
- A skill for life
Linguists are well regarded by universities and employers since Modern Languages GCSEs and A-Levels give students an advantage in the job market at every level, thanks to the many transferable skills which they will have mastered during their ‘Linguistic’ journey.
In Year 7 French is taught to all during 3 weekly lessons, with the progression to both French and Spanish for all students from Year 8, at a rate of 2 weekly lessons per language. Pupils will have made their choice of either French or Spanish for their GCSE by the Spring term of Year 9. Pupils are offered opportunities to practise their language skills in context and learn more about other countries through a programme of courses and visits abroad.
Italian is offered as a co-curricular class at KS3 and can lead to a GCSE qualification. Latin is offered as a co-curricular class at KS3 and as a curriculum option from Year 10, to lead to a GCSE qualification and potentially an A-Level.
Our approach to lessons
At The Fulham Boys School, we fully embrace the St Martin’s approach to languages. It is mainly about using the Target Language as much as possible and creating a classroom environment which simulates language acquisition.
This implies that we often do make or adapt our own resources since we do not teach from a book at KS3 but use the book to support our teaching. Everything in the classroom is for a reason and we provide substantial scaffolding in all our classrooms to stimulate attempts at high-level language and a natural desire to stretch oneself.
Department staff
- Jaya Chetti-Mootoosamy, Head of Modern Foreign Languages –j.chetti@fulhamboysschool.org.uk
- Khady Konaté, Teacher of French
- Kevin Scalia, Teacher of Spanish
- Alexandra Gaudé, Teacher of French
- Martin Hartigan, Teacher of Latin
Year 7 curriculum
- Greetings/ Introductions/ Routines/ Alphabet/ Numbers
- Family
- Pets
- Food
- Sports
- School life/ items of school bag
- Countries/ Transport
- Geographical features
How the boys will be assessed in Year 7
- At the end of each topic, we assess 2 out of the 4 skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. These are class-based.
- Students will also be assessed through formal exams twice in the academic year. For each of these cycles of data capture, all 4 skills are assessed within a fortnight. This will normally occur at the beginning of spring term 1 and at the beginning of summer term 2. The speaking exams are the only components which remain class-based. All the other skills are exam-based.
Year 8 curriculum
- Accommodation
- Home Life
- Daily Routine + past tense
- Jobs
- Part-time jobs & pocket money
- Future plans & Employment
- Your area & what there is
- Problems in the area
- Cultural awareness of TL countries
How the boys will be assessed in Year 8
-
At the end of each topic, we assess 2 out of the 4 skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. These are class-based.
- Students will also be assessed through formal exams twice in the academic year. For each of these cycles of data capture, all 4 skills are assessed within a fortnight. This will normally occur at the beginning of spring term 1 and at the beginning of summer term 2. The speaking exams are the only components which remain class-based. All the other skills are exam-based.
Year 9 curriculum
- Film Study
- TV, Cinema
- Music, Social Media
- Technology
- Fashion & Trends
- Attitude towards food
- Healthy Lifestyle
- Aches & Pains
How the boys will be assessed in Year 9
- At the end of each topic, we assess 2 out of the 4 skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. These are class-based.
- Students will also be assessed through formal exams twice in the academic year. For each of these cycles of data capture, all 4 skills are assessed within a fortnight. This will normally occur at the end of autumn term 2 and at the beginning of summer term 2. The speaking exams are the only components which remain class-based. All the other skills are exam-based.
Year 10 curriculum
- Autumn 1: Topic 1: Me, my family and friends
- Autumn 2: Topic 5: Home, town, neighbourhood and region
- Spring 1: Topic 9: My studies & Topic 10: Life at school/college
- Spring 2: Topic 11: Education post-16 & Topic 12: Jobs, career choices and ambitions
- Summer 1: Topic 4: Customs and festivals in French-speaking countries/communities Topic 3: Free-time activities.
- Summer 2: Topic 2: Technology in everyday life
How the boys will be assessed in Year 10
- At the end of each topic, we assess 2 out of the 4 skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. These are class-based.
- Students will also be assessed through formal exams twice in the academic year. For each of these exam cycles, all 4 skills are assessed within a fortnight. This will normally occur at the end of autumn term 2 and at the beginning of summer term 1. The speaking exams are the only components which remain class-based for the autumn term 2 session but for the end of year of year exam, this is also exam-based.
Year 11 curriculum
- Autumn 1: Topic 8: Travel and tourism & Topic 6: Social Issues.
- Autumn 2: & Topic 7: Global issues.
- Spring Terms & Summer Term 1: Revision and Practice of exam-style questions.+ GCSE Speaking exam.
How the boys will be assessed in Year 11
At the beginning of year 11, students sit an academic fitness test to gauge their level after the summer break. This is a writing unit.
- At the end of each topic, we assess 2 out of the 4 skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. These are class-based
- Students will also be assessed through formal mocks exams by the middle of January. The
- Speaking exam take place at the beginning of December to model the format of the actual
- GCSE. All 4 skills are assessed during that time.
- Actual GCSE Speaking exams are conducted during the week commencing the last week of
- April/ first week of May.
MFL Co-Curricular
The department is heavily involved in the school’s co-curricular programme, including lunchtime activities.
We currently offer French board games, French Cinema, French booster sessions, Foreign Language Spelling Bee, Spanish for beginners, Cultural discovery including cooking and early GCSE preparation for bi-lingual students.
GCSE French/ Spanish
Examination Board AQA. This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams at the end of the course. The new AQA French/Spanish GCSE is designed to stimulate and motivate students. There are familiar topics as well as new ones that will inspire students to further their interests in the culture of the target-language countries. We will be therefore looking more specifically at France/Spain and the French-speaking/ Spanish-speaking communities and countries.
The French/Spanish GCSE offers a Foundation Tier (grades 1–5) or a Higher Tier (grades 4–9) and, each exam is spread across four question papers. Students must take all four question papers at the same tier and all question papers must be taken in the same series.
What do the students say about learning in MFL?
MFL in Spring – by Joshua Tindale-Paul
In French for World Book Day this year we are looking at Les Miserables, the author who wrote it and attempting to understand French literature. In our French World Book Day lesson we watched ‘Do You Hear The People Sing’, then we read the first few pages of Les Miserables and explored the language. In normal lessons though we have to use French to ask to sit down and take our blazers. Also to enhance our speaking and listening skills we can be the teacher for the first 5 – 10 minutes and ask for an assistant (someone to control the computer), a point keeper for the points board and a point keeper for individual points, all in French.
We give students opportunities to be enterprising through taking risks, becoming daring, developing resilience, being team players, and building tenacity.
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