Manshead Church of England Academy

French

French

"A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It’s all embodied in a language."

Noam Chomsky 

What is the intent behind your curriculum and how does this contribute to the values of the school?

Studying a foreign language inspires appreciation for others and expands our insight of society. It promotes superior awareness of the surrounding world and supplies us with an exclusive opportunity to cultivate appreciation, strengthen our insight and contemplate distinct viewpoints. 

 

All students at Manshead CE Academy study either French or Spanish in KS3 and are given the choice to continue the course studied and achieve a GCSE or A-level.  

 

The MFL department maintains the highest standards for language learning and aims at instilling a passion and commitment for language learning that empowers pupils to achieve their goals with a long-term benefit in years to come as they will access universal opportunities once they progress from school. 

How is your curriculum sequenced, taught and assessed to allow all learners, including those who are disadvantaged and have special educational needs, to flourish?

MFL teaching at Manshead CE Academy is interactive, challenging and facilitates students’ communicative competence, enabling them to become independent learners and have high aspirations throughout their learning journey. 

 

The aim of the KS3 and KS4 course is to implement a systematic approach to the three pillars of language learning: phonics, grammar and vocabulary. The MFL team support pupil’s development of critical and deep thinking through consistent exposure to skills that they can apply to learning other foreign languages in the future and are also transferrable to other subjects. This is achieved through our coherently sequenced curriculum which has had an impact in both French and Spanish. 

 

Our lessons are tailored to the individual needs of our students ensuring differentiation is provided in the form of scaffolding, sentence builders, learning mats, model answers. To enable stretch and challenge, when applicable, students are presented with tasks using wider-ranging vocabulary and grammatical structures in order to reinforce their linguistic abilities

 

The assessment schedule includes regular knowledge recall and interleaving of high-frequency grammatical framework and themes in both French and Spanish thus establishing constructions are managed spontaneously, resiliently and confidently. Through this approach to languages skills we are preparing students for the demands of the new GCSE course in addition to creating proficient communicators.  

 

Furthermore, students’ understanding, respect and acceptance of other beliefs is fostered through exposure to authentic learning materials that provide a clearer grasp of cultural similarities and differences amidst French or Spanish speaking countries and other countries around the world.  

 

Modern Foreign Language students are guided, supported and encouraged to flourish from the minute they walk in to their language lessons at Manshead CE Academy. MFL teachers use target language to immerse students into Foreign Languages worlds where they are expected to communicate with their teachers and peers in French or Spanish. 

How does your curriculum support students’ learning beyond the classroom?

To facilitate access to our curriculum and differentiate in accordance to our students’ individual needs, access to the department’s key vocabulary and grammar knowledge organisers is encouraged and accessible in their books and interactively via Arbor accounts, giving parents also the opportunity to support our children in their MFL journey and explore languages as a community.  

 

Our students feel empowered and take responsibility of independent practice over two indispensable digital platforms:

 

www.kerboodle.com  and https://uk.language-gym.com/ 

 

This is achieved by accessing digital textbooks and associated resources to assist practice, learning, consolidation and recall of knowledge acquisition. 

 

Furthermore, students have the opportunity to attend after-school drop-in sessions for French and Spanish where students can further practice their languages acquisition through a different range of activities. 

Curriculum Overview

 

AUTUMN 1 AUTUMN 2 SPRING 1 SPRING 2 SUMMER 1 SUMMER 2
Year 7

Personal information,

physical appearance,

favourite objects 

 

Tout sur moi 

Personality, family,

school subjects,

friends 

 

Mon monde perso 

 

Assessment

School, home, animals 

 

Autour de moi 

 

Food and drinks 

 

A table 

 

Assessment  

Local area 

Directions 

Meeting places 

 

Mon quartier 

 

Lifestyle 

 

Ca c’est mon truc 

 

 

Assessment

Year 8

Holidays 

 

Destination vacances 

Sport and leisure 

 

Bouger c’est

important 

 

Assessment  

Daily routine 

 

Aux quatre coins de monde 

France and other countries  

 

C’est quoi la France? 

 

Assessment

Entertainment and advertising 

 

Le monde de medias 

Technology 

 

Accro a la Tecnologies 

 

Assessment  

Year 9

 Chores and teenage issues 

 

Etre ado c’est quoi? 

A balanced diet  

 

En pleine forme 

 

Assessment  

Parties and festivals 

 

Rendez-vous 

Transport and holidays 

 

Autour du monde 

 

Assessment  

Home 

 

Chez moi ca veut dire quoi? 

Jobs and ambitions 

 

Un metier, un reve! 

 

Assessment  

Year 10 French culture Francophone culture Home region Social issues Global issues Travel and tourism
Year 11 Studies School Further education Jobs Exam preparation Exams

Year 7 - French

Year 8 - French

Year 9 French