Senior School Modern Foreign Languages

The learning of new languages and cultures should inspire pupils to be adventurous in spirit and open-minded, embracing all that is unique about the many cultures that make up our world. The learning of modern foreign languages allows pupils to break free from insularity and combat a culture of monolingualism. Through their language lessons, they should begin to understand the importance of effective and sensitive communication and always strive to achieve their best.

In Year 7, pupils study two languages from French, German and Spanish, and they continue with both until the end of Year 8.

At the end of Year 8 pupils can choose whether to continue with two languages or to continue with one language in Year 9. 

Topics typically covered in Years 7-9 include introducions and descriptions of: Self, Family and friends, Local areas, Free time and hobbies, Food and drink, School, Holidays, Digital media and technology.

The learning of core vocabulary is central to language acquisition at these early stages of learning and therefore an emphasis is placed upon effective and regular vocabulary learning.

Listening (25%): Tasks require pupils to identify key information from extended speech in the following formats: complete a table with the pros and cons of a particular topic, multiple choice, box ticking to identify who said what, short written answers in the target language.

Reading and writing (50%): The reading section will involve similar tasks to listening. The writing section is comprised of three tasks: one short response (60-75 words), one longer response (130-150 words), and one grammar-based gap-fill tasks.

Speaking (25%): Pupils talk about a picture that they will have chosen themselves, followed by a discussion on the wider topic area of the picture. Pupils then engage with two further conversations on other topic areas.

The speaking exam lasts 8-10 minutes in total.