Modern Foreign Languages

GCSE Examination board:

Edexcel

The purpose of the AGFS MFL curriculum is:

• To promote ambition by liberating from insularity and strengthening their economic prospects via developing novice to proficient and expert linguists (choosing A-level).
• To develop growth by equipping scholars with the firm foundations of knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to succeed in life via spaced, sufficient and retrieval practice.
• To encourage fellowship by fullying exploring the cultural elements so as to appreciate and celebrate differences with an opening to other cultures.
• To cultivate scholarship from proceduralising and automatising the phonics, vocabulary, and grammar for accurate and effortless comprehension in listening and reading via carefully sequenced spiralised curriculum.

The MFL curriculum is organised by the power standards. These standards reflect the essence of the subject as an academic discipline and reflect the strands of each discipline that must be developed to achieve mastery. These threads are cross-referenced against the KS3 national curriculum, GCSE, A Level specification and degree courses at Russell Group universities to ensure that scholars’ experience of the subject is as broad and as academically rigorous as possible.

The MFL power standards are:

1. In order to be able to structure language at length with coherency, we use POINT for a paragraph.

2. In order to be able to produce language with sophisticated ideas across a range of contexts, we use EQUATACO throughout a response.

3. In order to be able to discuss what we see in a live or static situation, we PALMWO to describe a photo (link to A-level film).

4. In order to understand spoken discourse, we ease cognitive overload by using 4 step listening strategies consistently.

5. In order to understand written text, we decode by using 4 step reading strategies consistently.

6. In order to develop cultural awareness and appreciation, we expose ourselves to target language speaking countries’ customs, traditions and literature.

Year 7:

• Module 1: Spontaneous speech
• Module 2: Phonics
• Module 3: Describing artwork

Year 8: Themes 1, 2, 3: basics

• Module 1: Family friends, media, technology
• Module 2: My town and my holidays
• Module 3: School, subjects and teachers

Year 9: Themes 1 and 2: pro and literature

• Module 1: pastime, media, technology
• Module 2: my town and my holidays
• Module 3: literature

Year 10:

• Module 1: GCSE Theme 3 - school
• Module 2: GCSE Theme 4 - post 16
• Module 3: GCSE Theme 5 - global issues

Year 11:

• Module 1: GCSE Theme 5 - continued with a focus on speaking drills
• Module 2: Bespoke teaching and revision
• Module 3: Revision and public examinations

Recommended websites/ online platforms:

• https://uk.language-gym.com/
• https://my.thisislanguage.com/login
• https://www.memrise.com/

Recommended activities to complete with your child:

1. Self-quizzing on core knowledge
2. Regular practice on GCSE specification vocabulary list
3. Listen and repeat in target language via school recordings and mass media

Scholars receive verbal, self and peer feedback every lesson through:

• Whole class feedback on common misconceptions in the read now, recall now activities and during daily review.
• Responses to whole class checking for understanding activities, such as hand signal responses, ‘heads down’ and mini whiteboard tasks.
• Teacher intentional monitoring during deliberate practice activities.

Scholars are expected to respond in the moment to this feedback to show they can correct errors and improve their knowledge and understanding.

Scholars receive written teacher feedback after each checkpoint. Scholars complete checkpoint tasks independently so teachers can review what they know and can do. Checkpoints in MFL consist of:

• Section A: Translation tasks based on the core knowledge
• Section B: Skill tasks rotating from reading, listening, writing and speaking

Written feedback from checkpoints will consist of:

• A score for section A and section B.
• Celebration of what has gone well.
• Identification of a high leverage target.

Scholars will complete a refinement task to show their understanding of the target and to demonstrate their capacity to improve their work. This could be achieved through redrafting a section of their work or attempting a similar task.

Success in MFL can lead to careers in:

• Journalism
• Interpreting and translation 
• Teaching and higher education 
• Trading
• Art, sport, entertainment and charity work 
• Business and finance
• Diplomacy and politics
• Intelligence and national security

Through the study of Modern Foreign Languages, scholars will be exposed to a range of culturally enriching knowledge and experiences.

Cultural capital within the curriculum:

Language is understood as a form of capital that is mediated through social power relations. In foreign languages, we develop understanding of the target language speaking world regarding its culture, customs and traditions.

MFL's contribution to the enrichment programme:

• Mandarin Excellence Programme
• MFL spelling bee competition
• MFL singing contests
• MFL literature and film module

MFL's contribution to Drop Down Days and the trips and visits programme:

• Remote trips
• Trips to France, Spain and China
• University visits
• Grammar school buddy up