Modern Foreign Languages

“Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation.”

– Angela Carter

Curriculum intent

We aim to inspire students to become enthusiastic language learners with the confidence to communicate in a foreign language (French or German) for practical purposes. We aim to give all students an awareness of the culture of other countries and to encourage them to become tolerant, global citizens.

We can use languages to develop students’ transferable study skills to enable them to be successful students in all subjects and to enable them to market themselves effectively in a global economy. We show students how language learning can develop valuable skills for use in other subject areas and life beyond school.

Our curriculum focuses on international culture and teaches students about life in diverse cultures in the French and German-speaking countries. 

We develop students’ cultural capital wherever the opportunity arises so that students have a broader understanding of cultures beyond our own community.

What does progress through Key Stage 3 look like for a student in Modern Foreign Languages?

As students progress through KS3 they develop ever more complex linguistic skills producing ever increasingly sophisticated language. This is underpinned by an increasingly wide variety of verbs, tenses, opinions and justifications and descriptive language.

What do students learn in Year 7?

Students start by introducing themselves and learning to give and understand key pieces of information about themselves and others. We regularly use phonics to help students decode and understand unfamiliar language. We introduce a range of useful verbs and students begin to learn about the importance of high-frequency transactional language. This builds throughout the year so that students gather a wider vocabulary to enable them to describe things in more detail and to give key opinions on things. They learn to talk in different time frames (tenses) so that they can talk about things that will happen in the future as well as saying what they do in the present.

What do students learn in Year 8?

Students build upon their learning from Year 7 to communicate in more complex detail. They develop their knowledge of tenses to learn how to talk about events that have happened in the past so that they can talk in the present, future and past. They learn about modal verbs and how to describe things in increasingly interesting detail by comparing things and using sequencers to narrate a series of events. Students are learning to transact in increasingly more independent and detailed ways. 

What do students learn in Year 9?

Students develop increasingly complex language to build upon their prior learning  to describe events in the imperfect tense so can now use four time frames. Students study modern foreign languages in the context of jobs and careers and the opportunities that are available in the workplace to adults who speak multiple languages so that they understand the value of modern foreign languages in the context of their options.

What do students learn in Year 10?

In Year 10, students learn a range of more complex structures to talk about and understand information about: free time, relationships, house and home and visiting a city to prepare them to de-code more complex and unfamiliar language at GCSE and to produce extended language in the spoken and written form. Students become adept at tackling authentic texts and extracting key pieces of information from spoken and written sources.

What do students learn in Year 11?

In Year 11 students develop their linguistic skills to talk about: holidays and home, the world of work and the environment as well as being fully ready to speak “on the spot” about a range of the GCSE topics. Students continue to tackle increasingly challenging authentic texts and sound clips to enable them to transact in real situations.

Knowledge Organisers

Knowledge organisers for students in Key Stage 4 at Millthorpe School can be found here. All the key facts and essential knowledge you’ll need, right at your fingertips!