GCSE Modern Foreign Languages

Course Objectives

Key Stage 3 and 4 Modern Foreign Languages aims to cultivate a life-long love of language. Spanish is taught using a variety of authentic materials including texts in the target language in order to develop the student's cultural awareness and cultural capital.

Language learning strategies that can be applied to the learning of any new language are developed. These include new skills such as:

  • Translating to and from English into Spanish
  • Reading for understanding information, opinions or emotions
  • Role-play scenarios
  • Speaking spontaneously from memory
  • Listening for gist and understanding of meaning
  • Listening to transcribe - Making links between the spoken and written language
  • Reading photos
  • Transactional dialogue
  • Writing at length for different purposes

These skills will lay solid foundations and prepare our students for the transition in Year 10 to the Edexcel GCSE course as well as develop an appreciation of the complexities of their own language.

During years 7-9 students' learning will be set within a variety of contexts that will provide opportunities to develop the skills to become a confident linguist.

At the beginning of KS3 students will master key concepts such as adjectival agreement, word order and verb conjugation through storytelling, description of the solar system and the animals of the rainforest. They will continue to consolidate this knowledge as they progress through KS3, developing vocabulary and grammatical competence in topics which will feed into the 3 key themes of the GCSE course.

In Key Stage 4, we deal with five distinct themes which cover identity and culture, local, national, international and global areas of interest and current and future study and employment. Students are expected to understand and provide information and opinions about these themes relating to their own experiences and those of other people, including people in countries/communities where Spanish is spoken.

We deliver the content of the GCSE course through a spiral curriculum so that students revisit key themes, each time, with increasing complexity so that the language is constantly reinforced, solidified and extended between KS3 and KS4. We interleave vocabulary content and grammatical theory and use spaced learning and retrieval practice to increase our students' storage strength of knowledge and understanding.

Our students are constantly involved in active practice, consolidation and reflection in order to cement deep learning whilst frequent low stakes testing enables the transfer of knowledge into long term memory.

There is a strong grammar focus in everything we do and students learn to use and manipulate a variety of key mat structures and patterns, as concepts are introduced and revisited within each module and then through the course whilst they learn to communicate more independently in Spanish.

Students learn quickly to identify and use tenses or other structures which convey the present, past, and future in Spanish. Students learn to write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences using and manipulating a variety of key grammar and anchor structures that they have learnt.

Our students understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources. In addition, during their learning journey, they speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.

Our learners at Castle View Enterprise Academy show increasing comprehension of authentic and adapted texts from a range of different sources, understanding the purpose, important ideas and details, and can provide an accurate English translation of them.

The course offers opportunities to read adapted extracts from Spanish literary texts such as stories, songs, poems and letters to stimulate ideas, develop creative expression and expand understanding of the language and culture and so learn new ways of thinking.

Unit Information

In Years 10 & 11, students who study the Spanish GCSE will be exposed to the skills and attributes required for the Edexcel GCSE examination set within the five themes listed in detail below.

The five themes are:

Assessment

Studying a language will add an international dimension to your child's education. This means that students will create greater opportunities to work abroad, or for companies in the UK with international links. Many employers look for people who speak a foreign language.

  • Unit 1 - Listening and Understanding Exam, worth 25%.
  • Unit 2 - Reading and Translation into English exam, worth 25%.
  • Unit 3 - Speaking exam, worth 25%, comprising of a role play, a photo card and general conversation based on 2 themes not covered in the photo card).
  • Unit 4 - Writing and translation into Spanish exam, worth 25%.

Why Study

Studying a language will add an international dimension to your child's education. This means that students will create greater opportunities to work abroad, or for companies in the UK with international links. Many employers look for people who speak a foreign language.

Your child will learn about the countries where the language is spoken and have an opportunity to visit it. Students will learn many skills which are useful in a wide range of future careers, such as the ability to communicate clearly, being confident about speaking in public and using problem-solving strategies.

Careers Options

Any International career, Travel Industry, Banking, Translator, Interpreter, Teaching, Diplomatic Service, Logistics and Distribution, Retail, Business Management, Event Organisation, Hospitality, Sales, Marketing and Engineering.

Key contact

Ms J Moreira