Languages

Curriculum Subjects

Languages

See our Languages available below at Bentley Wood for KS3, KS4 and KS5

KS3 | Modern Foreign Languages

Course Aims:

The aim of the MFL curriculum is to develop understanding of the target language in a variety of contexts, including literature of the target language and knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar and phonics of the language. As part of the language learning skills, it includes translation (English into target language and target language into English), the ability to communicate effectively in the target language and an awareness and understanding of countries and communities where the target language is spoken. The MFL curriculum contributes to the rich, ambitious and inclusive school curriculum. All students learn a foreign language from Year 8 to GCSE and two languages at Year 7.

KS3

Course Content

Year 7

French scheme of learning

  • Unit 1 – Je me présente (introduction)
  • Unit 2 – Ma famille (family)
  • Unit 3 – Mon collège (school)
  • Unit 4 – Ma zone (where i live)

Spanish Scheme of learning

  • Unit 1 – Mi vida (introduction)
  • Unit 2 – En el instituto (school)
  • Unit 3 – La familia (family)
  • Unit 4 – Tiempo libre (leisure time)

Year 8

French scheme of learning

  • Unit 1 – Vive les vacances (holidays)
  • Unit 2 – La nourriture et les boissons (food and drink)
  • Unit 3 – Le temps libre (free time)
  • Unit 4 – La Francophonie

Scheme of learning

  • Unit 1 – En la ciudad (local area)
  • Unit 2 – Las vacaciones (holidays)
  • Unit 3 – Que hacemos (daily life)
  • Unit 4 – La comida (food)

Trips and visits:

There are opportunities to take part in residential and cultural trips to France or Spain and Germany and Italy (linked to other subject cross-curricular projects) during Years 8 to 10 while studying a language for GCSE.

Enrichment:

Students can take part in Inter-form competitions linked to Languages Week and the European Day of Languages. Attend the MFL Clubs to complete homework, extend their learning or receive extra support. Students can attend a target language theatre play in the Hall at different times during the year or during MFL Film Club. They can also meet and make contact with our link schools when they visit Bentley Wood.

Key Stage 4 & 5: 

GCSE and Sixth Form language students have many opportunities to enrich their language learning with extra-curricular and work experience like activities, including summer school courses via our partnerships with Routes into Languages and Cambridge University.

Career Progression: Occupations with contacts in target language-speaking countries (business, law firms, estate agents, publishers, news and media agencies), bilingual secretarial work, translator, interpreter, teacher, private tuition, tourism and travel (travel agency, courier, tour-operator, airport/airline staff) fashion, catering and the restaurant trade, film industry.

Recommended Reading: To support their learning of Languages all students have vocabulary workbooks to follow the course they study (Studio for French and Viva for Spanish). Languages websites and mobile apps such as ActiveLearn, Linguascope, Quizzlet, Wordreference, Languagesonline, BBC languages, Memrise, Kahoot, GCSEPod and Duolingo are also used to practise vocabulary and grammar.

 

KS4 | Modern Foreign Languages

GCSE French/Spanish

Examining Board: AQA

 Aim of Course

The aim of the MFL curriculum is to develop understanding of the target language in a variety of contexts, including literature of the target language and knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar and phonics of the language. As part of the language learning skills, it includes translation (English into target language and Target Language into English), the ability to communicate effectively in the target language and an awareness and understanding of countries and communities where the target language is spoken. The MFL curriculum contributes to the rich, ambitious and inclusive school curriculum. All students learn a foreign language.

Assessment

Students are assessed in four equally weighted skills following the exam board specifications and the national curriculum. Regardless of academic ability, students take a listening, reading, speaking and writing GCSE exam at the end of the linear course (Year 11). Speaking exams are conducted by the teacher but all exams are externally assessed. Exams in all four skills are tiered, students must sit exams in all four skills at the same tier. Some students, supported by the school, also take a GCSE or A Level exam in a community language which they study outside the school curriculum.

Course Content

Theme 1: Identity and culture

  • Topic 1: Me, my family and friends
  • Relationships with family and friends
  • Marriage/partnership
  • Topic 2: Technology in everyday life
  • Social media
  • Mobile technology
  • Topic 3: Free-time activities
  • Music Cinema and TV
  • Food and eating out
  • Sport
  • Topic 4: Customs and festivals in Spanish-speaking countries/communities


Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest

  • Topic 1: Home, town, neighbourhood and region
  • Topic 2: Social issues
  • Charity/voluntary work
  • Healthy/unhealthy living
  • Topic 3: Global issues
  • The environment
  • Poverty/homelessness
  • Topic 4: Travel and tourism


Theme 3: Current and future study and employment

  • Topic 1: My studies
  • Topic 2: Life at school/college
  • Topic 3: Education post-16
  • Topic 4: Jobs, career choices and ambitions


Enrichment activities: 

  • There are opportunities to take part in residential and cultural trips to Europe while studying the language for GCSE.
  • Onatti MFL Plays and Film Club in French and Spanish.
  • Cultural and Educational Visits in London (French Institute, Teatro Cervantes, BFI Film Studies, Flamenco Festival at Sadlers Wells Theatre)
  • Inter-form competitions on Languages Week and the European Day of Languages.
  • Attend the MFL Clubs and use the resources provided in the MFL Teams and Enrichment Team to complete homework, extend their learning or receive extra support.
  • Contact with our link schools when they visit Bentley Wood or online.

Career Progression: Occupations with contacts in target language-speaking countries (business, law firms, estate agents, publishers, news and media agencies), bilingual secretarial work, translator, interpreter, teacher, private tuition, tourism and travel (travel agency, courier, tour-operator, airport/airline staff) fashion, catering and the restaurant trade, film industry. At Bentley Wood we are passionate about the benefits that learning a language can bring. We strongly believe in languages as a skill for life.

Key Stage 4 & 5: GCSE and Sixth Form language students have many opportunities to enrich their language learning with extra-curricular and work experience like activities, including summer school courses via our partnerships with Routes into Languages and Cambridge University.

Recommended Reading: To support their learning of Languages all students have vocabulary workbooks to follow the course they study (Studio for French and Viva for Spanish). Languages websites and mobile apps such as ActiveLearn, Linguascope, Quizzlet, Wordreference, Languagesonline, BBC languages, Memrise, Kahoot, GCSEPod and Duolingo are also used to practise vocabulary, grammar and phonics.

Revision Guides:

CGP GCSE French AQA Complete Revision & Practice (with CD & Online Edition) – Grade 9-1 Course

CGP GCSE Spanish AQA Complete Revision & Practice (with CD & Online Edition) – Grade 9-1 Course

 

KS5 | Spanish

Is Spanish the subject for you?

¡Sí, claro!…….if you enjoy learning languages, traveling and meeting people from different places, and learning about a different way of life. You will be learning advanced vocabulary and grammar to give you freedom to express yourself when speaking and writing in Spanish. There will be plenty of opportunities to have debates about different issues in the news; we will be reading Spanish newspapers, watching the Spanish news etc. By the end of the two year course you will be able to communicate fluently in Spanish.

Course content

This course has been designed to give you a profound understanding of Spanish. Not only will you know more about the mechanics of the language – like grammar and vocabulary – but also about how the people live and use language on a day to day basis.

Methods of study

We will combine the use of a text book, AQA Spanish for A Level, with many other resources such as newspaper articles, website articles, videos, Spanish songs, films, books, etc. To develop your linguistic skills lessons will be conducted in Spanish and you are expected to contribute and participate by speaking in Spanish to your peers and teachers. Students are expected to do independent study every week which should be recorded and signed by your teacher. This could be through activities such as revision and exam practice, listening to Spanish audio extracts, reading a Spanish book or magazine, watching a film, researching on a website, etc. You will also have opportunities to enrich your studies further by participating in or leading extra-curricular MFL activities in the whole school, and taking part in trips and outings relevant to Spanish language, culture and society.

How will it be examined?

AS qualification will not count towards the final grade of an A Level and be a separate qualification in its own right (Linear).

Career opportunities

Apart from being beneficial at a personal level, your A level in Spanish can help with quite a few career paths. For those who want to specialise in language, there’s teaching, translation and interpreting. Or maybe you want to work in the travel and tourism industry. But even as, say, an engineer or designer, being proficient in a language will give you broader career options. Students find that languages are a natural fit for many subjects, enabling them to use their skills and qualifications to apply to university and access career opportunities at home and abroad. Travel – so the saying goes – broadens your mind; and never more so than when you can speak the language. That way you’ll be able to find out what the local people are thinking, how they live… and how their culture really works.

AQA SPANISH AS Year 1 Subject content

Theme Topic Sub-topic
Aspects of Hispanic society – Social issues and trends

 

Modern and traditional values (Los valores tradicionales y modernos) Los cambios en la familia

 

Actitudes hacia el matrimonio/el divorcio
La influencia de la Iglesia Católica
Cyberspace (El ciberespacio) La influencia de internet
Las redes sociales: beneficios y peligros
Los móviles inteligentes en nuestra sociedad
Equal rights (La igualdad de los sexos) La mujer en el mercado laboral
El machismo y el feminismo
Los derechos de los gays y las personas transgénero

 

Theme Topic Sub-topic
Artistic culture in the Hispanic world

 

Modern day idols (La influencia de los ídolos) Cantantes y músicos
Estrellas de televisión y cine
Modelos
Spanish regional identity (La identidad regional en España) Tradiciones y costumbres
La gastronomía
Las lenguas
Cultural heritage (El patrimonio cultural) Sitios turísticos y civilizaciones prehispánicas: Machu Picchu, la Alhambra, etc
Arte y arquitectura
El patrimonio musical y su diversidad

AQA SPANISH AS Year 2 Subject content

Theme Topic Sub-topic
Multiculturalism in Hispanic society

 

Immigration (La inmigración) Los beneficios y los aspectos negativos
La inmigración en el mundo hispánico
Los indocumentados – problemas
Racism (El racismo) Las actitudes racistas y xenófobas
Las medidas contra el racismo
La legislación anti-racista
Integration (La convivencia) La convivencia de culturas
La educación
Las religiones

 

Theme Topic Sub-topic
Aspects of political life in the Hispanic world

 

Today’s youth, tomorrow’s citizens (Jóvenes de hoy, ciudadanos del mañana) Los jóvenes y su actitud hacia la política : activismo o apatía
El paro entre los jóvenes
Su sociedad ideal
Monarchies and dictatorships (Monarquías y dictaduras) La dictadura de Franco
La evolución de la monarquía en España
Dictadores latinoamericanos
Popular movements (Movimientos populares) La efectividad de las manifestaciones y las huelgas
El poder de los sindicatos
Ejemplos de protestas sociales (eg El 15-M, las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, …)

 

AQA SPANISH 2016+ AS EXAM YEAR 1 

PAPER 1: LISTENING, READING AND WRITING                                                                45% 

PAPER 2: WRITING                                                                                                                 25%         

PAPER 3: SPEAKING                                                                                                               30% 

AQA SPANISH 2016+ A LEVEL EXAM YEAR 2

Paper 1: Listening, reading and writing  50 % of A-level 

Paper 2: Writing  20 % of A-level

Paper 3: Speaking  30 % of A-level