MFL

Modern Foreign Languages - Curriculum Statement of Intent

‘Les mots sont les passants misterieux de l’âme’, Victor Hugo

Cambiar el mundo, amigo Sancho, no es locura ni utopía, sino justicia’, Cervantes

At Caterham High School we know proficiency in another language is a 21st Century skill. Languages are part of the cultural richness of our society and the world we live and work. Learning languages contributes to mutual understanding, a sense of global citizenship and personal fulfilment. The ability to understand and communicate in another language is a lifelong skill for education, employment and leisure. It helps to develop communication skills, creativity and personal organisation.

The MFL department believe that a high-quality languages education fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. Our teaching aim is to enable pupils of all abilities to develop their comprehension and to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing, this includes not only the languages they learn ab initio, but also the language they have inherited from their parents’ country of origin, which needs to be fostered and preserved.

Our curriculum is designed to allow all students to take part and thrive. Through differentiation in the classroom and a wide variety of cultural enrichment opportunities, students of all needs are challenged to make progress and develop their love of learning.

There are four skills taught in MFL at all Key Stages:

*Listening

*Speaking

*Reading

*Writing

The MFL curriculum at Caterham High School aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • become successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
  • become confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
  • become responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society
  • understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of sources from the target countries.
  • speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating who they are as individuals, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
  • can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
  • discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied through the teaching of a wide variety of topics and grammar
  • make progress and are engrossed in their learning regardless of their prior attainment

Implementation

Students are able to do this by:

  • Learning vocabulary which allows them to understand the culture of the target countries
  • Learning the correct pronunciation through phonics in order to speak with fluency and accuracy
  • Learning grammar which, as the set of rules of the language learnt, allows students to express their thoughts and feelings and communicate clearly with others
  • Completing a weekly homework task which enables students to improve their independent study skills
  • Having two skills assessed with two summative assessments per unit taught and a range of assessment for learning opportunities in lessons.
  • Ensuring students are exposed to the culture and the mores of the target countries by presenting them with resources and materials extracted from authentic resources: songs, poems, abridged literary works, films and documentaries and target language websites.
  • Embedding technology as a tool in the planning and delivering of lessons and utilising educational websites as learning resources
  • Allowing students to experience the target country culture with selected trips abroad and to specific cultural activities such as museum trips or theatre visits.

The Impact of our MFL curriculum is:

  • To support learners of all abilities and backgrounds to receive an education which enables them to become tolerant and open-minded individuals
  • To enable students to be able to hold a conversation with a native speaker in the target language
  • To enthuse students in order for them to pursue the study of a language with regards to the next Key Stage and into university education

At Key Stage 3, students study the following:

Ks3 outline of topics february 2023final

At Key Stage 4, you can read about the courses on offer in our Options Booklet

2023 Year 9 Options Booklet

At Key Stage 5, you can read about the courses on offer in our Sixth Form Prospectus

2023 Sixth Form Options Blocks

For more detailed information about the MFL curriculum, please email the subject leader Ms R Sernandez at r.sernandez@ecaterham.net

 

 

Useful Links

KS3:  How can I improve?

KS4: How can I improve?

KS5 : How can I improve?

Spanish

KS3:  How can I improve?

KS4: How can I improve?

KS5 : How can I improve?