Curriculum

MFL: French, German & Mandarin

What we are trying to achieve with students

Above all we want students to enjoy learning a language and to achieve success. We want to give them confidence when they speak and enable them to understand and speak basic French and German accurately enough to cope in a variety of situations when they are in Europe.

The courses we run

Students can take both French and German to GCSE and A level. In the Sixth Form we aim to broaden their knowledge and experience and we encourage them to engage in debate and discussion on a wide variety of issues, both moral and social.

Items of particular interest

We have a high rate of AS and A level success and all students are encouraged to do a period of work experience in France and/or Germany. Younger students can participate in study visits to France and Germany and short visits to the Europacentre.

Trips

We currently run a French residential trip to Calvados. This is open to Year 9 and 10 students and usually takes place in June. Included in the visit is a trip to the zoo, a farm and Honfleur. This is an excellent opportunity for students to improve their confidence in spoken French.

There is also the opportunity to take part in the week-long German exchange. We visit Germany in July and the exchange partners visit us in September. This is really a chance for students to immerse themselves in another culture and enjoy themselves.

Chinese

Mr Auckland runs an after-school class for those wishing to learn a completely different language! Not only do students learn how to speak Mandarin, but they also spend time learning about Chinese culture and practising Chinese characters too. The Chinese class will spend a lot of time with our Chinese exchange school when they visit school in the near future.

European Day of Languages

This takes place in September and is a chance to make everyone in the school try something a little bit different. In the past we have asked form tutors to greet their forms in foreign languages, have translated film titles onto French and German and have heard teachers from all departments show off their linguistic prowess! What will we think of next year?

Resources

This year the school provided the department with an interactive whiteboard, which we installed in Mr Wilson's classroom. We currently use it to help teach lessons, to surf the Internet and play language games as well as to watch foreign language TV.

Satellite TV provides us with seventy European radio and television channels. We have extensive library facilities, including French and German books for each KS level and we subscribe to a weekly French magazine.

Our two foreign language assistants, Marion from France and Bettina from Austria, are extremely helpful in making lessons more exciting for the students. It gives the students the chance to interact with native speakers of French and German - what could be more useful?