MFL

Curriculum Intent

The MFL curriculum is primarily designed to help students develop a love of language learning and a curiosity about languages around the world. We aim to encourage students to engage with authentic resources which celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity, ensuring that we are promoting the British values of mutual respect and tolerance. 

We hope to help our students work towards becoming fluent and spontaneous speakers of the target language. They should be able to use a wide range of knowledge and skills to become more and more confident and skilled in communication with people from a different linguistic background. 

To strengthen students’ literacy and oracy skills, students learn the four key language learning skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, in a balanced way. They are encouraged to compare vocabulary and structures between English and the target language. In addition, students will develop their confidence and autonomy to access new and unfamiliar language using decoding skills brought about by the explicit teaching of phonics and sound patterns. 

We aim to raise aspirations using challenging language skills, receptively and productively, for communication in the real world, for practical purposes, for their immediate needs, interests and to express and justify opinions. The European Day of Languages is celebrated every September with language based House Challenges, competitions and assemblies. 

Students are required to work in a variety of ways including individually, in pairs, small groups and as a whole class.  They also have opportunities to practise organisational and self-management skills through projects, competitions, computer work and homework tasks. These, combined with the opportunities we create for students to ‘Think Big’ and develop problem-solving strategies needed to undertake their studies, help our students to develop a confidence and a on ongoing love for language learning. 

Students are able to broaden their horizons by visiting France, Spain or Germany on one of our trips. These are run on a three-year cycle so that everyone choosing MFL as an option at the end of Year 8 will have the chance to go. For many of our students, this is the first time they have been abroad and it provides an exciting opportunity to see languages spoken in an authentic environment. 

We follow the AQA GCSE course in KS4 and build on the strategies we have developed in KS3. We aim to emphasise the range of career opportunities that exist for linguists and prepare students to become confident global citizens who will make positive contributions to the job markets of the future. 

View Pathway for MFL