Curriculum Intent
Our MFL intent is to make students aware of other cultures and countries and we aim for our students to become open-minded, curious and adaptable citizens of the world. Through their studies of MFL, students learn the value of clear communication with others, including the ability to listen to help develop mutual understanding. We aim for students to complete their MFL studies at Vandyke with the confidence and skills to learn any language in the future, whether for work or pleasure.
The Year 9 French and German courses help students to develop an understanding of the skills they need to practise and improve to learn a language effectively and to give students confidence in their ability to comprehend and express themselves in the written and spoken language.
In French, we also revisit and build on some of the vocab and structures students will have covered in Middle School. This enables students to understand that the Y9 Vandyke course builds on all their knowledge of French that they have already mastered – every word and structure they have ever come across before in French is important knowledge for their comprehension skills and accuracy in spoken and written French. We also continue the work started during Middle School to discover the best strategies for decoding spoken and written texts and how best to approach the learning of new vocabulary.
We build on the language skills gained so far to deliver an accelerated beginners’ course for German. Both the Y9 French and German courses cover the topics of description of people, hobbies, description of local area, use of key verbs (e.g. to have, to be, to do, to go), use of present tense verbs, use of qualifiers, adverbs of frequency, use of adjectives, word order, use of connectives, expressing opinions with reasons why. In addition, the year 9 French course covers the past perfect tense.
The GCSE French and German courses build on the vocab and grammatical structures knowledge from Y9 and the skills developed to cover all the topics and grammar expected at GCSE. We continue with our work on decoding texts, problem solving when applying grammar rules, translation from and into French/German, communication skills, comprehension and active use of the language in spoken and written French/German, independence in use of resources, dictionaries, vocab lists, resilience when faced with challenge, encouraging more independence and confidence with completing tasks.
Students learn vocab and structures to enable them to understand texts and spoken accounts as well as to communicate effectively in the spoken and written language on a wide range of topics. These include environmental issues, ethical shopping, the benefits and disadvantages of national / international cultural and sporting events, the potential benefits of use of MFL in the workplace, traditions, customs and celebrations of countries of the target languages.
The A level course for French again builds on the vocab, grammatical structures, knowledge and skills from GCSE and we explore films and literature as well as current affairs, politics and society issues of countries where the target language is spoken. Our students leave with the skills and expertise to study any language at university should they wish.
