Courses

French

Year 7 French

In year 7 all pupils study French for 3 hours a week, through the learning of French they learn how to learn a language at the same time as developing a good knowledge of French vocabulary and grammar.

Students start year 7 by learning to use the core verbs of ‘avoir’ and ‘être’ to talk about themselves, they build on this by learning to use the present tense of regular verbs as well as other key irregular verbs like ‘faire’, ‘aller’ and ‘vouloir’. They also learn to use possessive adjectives and to make adjectives agree. Towards the end of the year students are introduced to the near future tense.

During July students can take part in the Opal Coast trip where they are given opportunities to use the French that they have learnt and experience French culture. There are places available for all students who wish to attend, the trip does not have a limit on numbers.

Year 8 French

In year 8 all pupils study French for 3 hours a fortnight during which they continue to build on the foundations of year 7. In French students learn to use the perfect tense to talk about their holidays and festivals as well as revisiting the formation of the future and present tenses to consolidate their understanding and move towards mastery. They are also introduced to the modal verbs ‘pouvoir’ and ‘vouloir’. In topic 5 students will learn to use ‘Il faut’ to say what you must do and ‘depuis’ to say how long they have been doing something.

Year 9 French

In year 9 all pupils continue to learn French for 3 hours a fortnight. In lessons students will revisit core grammar to ensure that they can use it automatically. They will also continue to broaden their vocabulary through exposure to a wide range of topics and weekly vocabulary tests. They will revisit the use of the 3 core tenses – the perfect tense, the present tense and the near future tense. They also learn to use the comparative as well as to say what they would like to do.

In year 9 students are offered the opportunity to take part in a KS3 French study day at the British Film Institute in London.

Year 10 French

All students study French or Spanish for GCSE, with the option to continue both languages to GCSE. In French many of the topics and grammatical concepts which were covered in KS3 are revisited and built upon both in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

Students continue to practise the present, perfect and near future tenses in order to develop mastery and automaticity. They will also be introduced to the imperfect, future and conditional tenses to broaden what they can say. In addition, students will learn to use grammatical terms such as ‘y’, ‘en’, ‘depuis’, ‘venir de’ and pronouns.

Year 11 French

Inevitably, there is an increased focus on exam preparation in year 11 French lessons, however we continue to interleave culture into our lessons and encourage students to improve their language skills so that they become better communicators in French not just pass an exam.

Students continue to practise the key tenses that they have previously learnt along with the other important grammatical concepts. During year 11 they are introduced to the subjunctive, the conditional perfect and pronouns.

Year 12 French

In year 12 students learn about culture as well as developing their grammatical knowledge. In year 12 students will learn all the grammar needed to communicate competently in French. They will also develop an understanding of education, media, familu life, music, work and festivals within the Francophonie. In addition they will carry out an in depth study of Intouchables.

All students will have weekly 1-1 speaking lessons with a native French speaker and will be offered the opportunity to take part in a residential visit to Lille in the January of either Y12 or Y13 to enhance their studies. The trip is open to all with no limit on numbers.

Year 13 French

In year 13 students will continue to develop automaticity in the use of the core grammar and will broaden their understanding of life in the Francophonie. They will study the toipics of immigration as well as the history and politics of France.

Spanish

Year 8 Spanish

In year 8, along with continuing to study French, students study Spanish for 3 hours a fortnight. They use the language learning skills learnt in year 7 French to make quick progress in learning Spanish.

In year 8 Spanish lessons students learn to use the present tense of regular and irregular verbs to talk about their free time, school, family and town. They also learn to talk about their likes and dislikes and begin to use the near future tense to say what they are going to do in town.

Year 9 Spanish

In year 9 all pupils continue to learn Spanish for 3 hours a week. They will continue to develop their grammatical knowledge and will revisit tenses from year 8 to develop automaticity in the use of grammar. They will continue to broaden their vocabulary through exposure to a wide range of topics and weekly vocabulary tests.
Students learn to use the preterite tense to talk about past holidays and free time, they also revisit the use of the near future tense to ensure mastery. In topic 5 they learn to give advice using ‘se debe’.

In year 9 students are offered the opportunity to take part in Cine español para Jóvenes: a KS3 study day at the British Film Institute in London.

Year 10 Spanish

All students study French or Spanish for GCSE, with the option to continue both languages to GCSE. In Spanish many of the topics and grammatical concepts which were covered in KS3 are revisited and built upon both in terms of vocabulary and grammar.

In Spanish students develop their use of the present, preterite, will future and near future tenses as well as learning to use idiomatical grammatical features such as ‘soler’, ‘acabar de’, ‘para’ and ‘se puede’. They also learn to use the present continuous, imperfect tense and conditional tenses as well as to recognise the perfect tense.
In October of year 10 or year 11 students are offered the opportunity to visit Spain as part of a study visit which includes language lessons, a visit to a Spanish school and a range of cultural visits. The trip is open to all who wish to attend, there is no limit on numbers.

Year 11 Spanish

Students continue to practise the key tenses that they have previously learnt along with the other important grammatical concepts. During year 11 they are introduced to the passive, the subjunctive, the pluperfect, the imperfect continuous and pronouns.

In October of year 10 or year 11 students are offered the opportunity to visit Spain as part of a study visit which includes language lessons and a range of cultural visits. The trip is open to all who wish to attend, there is no limit on numbers.

Year 12 Spanish

In year 12 culture and grammatical development are intertwined. Students deepen their grammatical understanding by learning how to form compound tenses the passive and the subjunctive which allows them to speak more fluently in Spanish about a range of topics. Culturally students develop an understanding of present and past life in Spain through the study of a range of topics relating to modern life. Students start to read and understand authentic Spanish material and learn to discuss a classic Spanish film.

All students also have a weekly speaking lesson with a native speaker so that they develop an improved level of fluency and automaticity in the use of language.

Year 13 Spanish

In year 13 students find themselves able to discuss more controversial topics and express opinions on a range of subjects. They continue to practice grammar in order to develop mastery of Spanish grammar. They also learn how to read and write about a classic Spanish novel in Spanish, through frequent discussions in lessons and in depth analysis.

In term 2 of year 13 students are offered the opportunity to attend an A level Spanish study day at the British film institute in London. In term 4 students are taken to see a performance of La casa de Bernarda Alba in the Cervantes theatre in London, the performance is in Spanish.

All students have a 1 to 1 speaking session with a native Spanish speaking so that they continue to develop a greater level of fluency and automaticity in speaking Spanish.