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Modern Foreign Languages

‘Sapere Aude’ 

The intent of Modern Foreign Languages as a subject is multifaceted; not only does it intend to provide an open road to the world and a vehicle for overcoming educational disadvantage, but it also promotes pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of different countries’ people, culture, history, literature and arts. It is through the study of Modern Foreign Languages that pupils will forge the linguistic keys of communicating with precision through reading, writing, listening and speaking in another language. Furthermore:  

  • We aim to equip pupils with the confidence that allows them to express their ideas and opinions, to seek information and to respond to speakers of the language across the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.  

  • We challenge pupils to consider their own identity and place in the world and to appreciate and empathise with different ways of seeing the world. 

  • We seek to ensure that all our students acquire the educational and cultural capital to which all children are entitled.  

By developing pupils’ linguistic, communicative, and intercultural skills, and by encouraging students to use the target language from the very start, we strive to lay strong foundations at KS3 level and foster rounded individuals ready for entry into a global world. Our pupils are being moulded into accomplished, independent, and passionate linguists (not just speakers of the language) with a solid understanding of how languages work; turning them into global citizens. 

The MFL department strives to ensure that our curriculum is challenging and inspiring for all students, to push them academically, and we aim also to ensure that Teaching and Learning is rooted in the Science of Learning. The MFL team promotes a love of language learning and strive for pupils to make outstanding progress at all levels. Finally, we recognise the importance of languages and therefore aim to provide our pupils with maximum opportunities in lessons, on trips or extracurricular activities to encourage them to develop courage, resilience, and self-discipline in the use of the target language and to turn pupils into real linguists. 

Implementation: The curriculum is sequenced to allow students to progress sequentially towards success at GCSE success whilst also providing an enjoyable learning journey. 

 

 

Rosenshine’s Principles

  1. Each lesson begins with a “Do Now “task. In MFL these revolve around translation, verb, or tense practice, recall of meaning and spelling. As students’ progress from Y7 to Y11, Do Now tasks increasingly challenge students to translate sentences or conjugate verbs in 3 tenses. Teachers use cold call and at bats to challenge students on vocabulary/grammar they learned that lesson or in previous lessons. 
  2. Teachers plan and deliver lessons that break down skills in reading/writing/listening/speaking into small steps. These might include introducing vocabulary at word level, modelling sentences, filling gaps, or suggesting alternatives before students write their own. Lessons involve short periods of teacher introduction, followed by questioning and then independent production by the students. All small steps are revised together in the weeks prior to examination. 
  3. Teachers plan sequences of questions and stretch it questions that are cold called to gauge understanding by the students. Teachers skilfully use cold call to prove students have grasped vocabulary, verb accuracy or tense formation before moving on. Teacher use ‘ no hands up’ and “no opt out” to ensure all students are learning during questioning. Students know that if they don’t know an answer they can expect to be asked again. 
  4. Teachers provide models including sentence starters and higher-level phrases during writing production to ensure writing is of a high level. Written models are included on all lessons. Success criteria on the board often tell students what to include to gain the highest marks. 
  5. New vocabulary and grammar are summarised and reviewed at the end of each term during preparation for assessment weeks. These help students compile all new learning together and allow for discovery of misconceptions prior to the exam. 
  6. Teachers mark students’ books regularly, giving feedback which challenges students to redo, rewrite, amend or expand on areas of weakness. 
  7. Teachers plan and deliver lessons that break down skills in reading/writing/listening/speaking into small steps. Lessons involve short periods of teacher introduction, followed by questioning and then independent production by the students. All small steps are revised together in the weeks prior to examination. 
  8. Teachers use models, sentence starters as well as a variety of differentiation with differing classes to ensure all students can access the learning. Teachers provide additional steps or help on the board to aid weaker learners, sentence starters, gap fills, jumbled up spellings, jumbled answers, the first letter of each word all help students in MFL to grasp lesson content. 
  9. Each term, before assessments, students review and produce writing/speaking independently or complete reading/listening practice independently, overlearning the skills taught in the term, and helping recall of exam skills 
  10. Teachers use cold call and at bats to challenge students on vocabulary/grammar they learned that lesson or in previous lessons. Each term, before assessments, students review and produce writing/speaking independently or complete reading/listening practice independently.