Languages (French, Spanish and German)

Key Stage 4

Languages (French, Spanish and German)

Why is the study of Languages important? 

 

Our intent is to develop language learners that consider themselves ‘World Citizens’ who belong in a multicultural, mutually respectful world regardless of their background.

  • To support students to understand other countries and cultures so that they can be more open and adaptable to new experience.
  • To develop lifelong language skills and to encourage students to become curious and interested in the world.
  • To make language learning fun and meaningful, providing students with opportunities for collaboration and independent work in each lesson.
  • To encourage self-study and improvement by regular homework setting.
  • To develop resilient language learners by a consistent emphasis on the fact that it is ok to make mistakes as learning from deciding how to move on from any errors.
  • To develop the skills required to succeed and continue to improve as an adult member of the global society.

French Learning Journey – VIEW
German Learning Journey – VIEW
Spanish Learning Journey – VIEW

  • What will the study of a language teach you?

    In languages we go beyond the National Curriculum

    • Each topic contains an element of cultural reference to not only the target language countries but also the Francophone, Hispanic and Germanic spheres.
    • Medium term plans have been designed to ensure all four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) are covered in every unit and that opportunities to revisit key skills, in different ways, are built in throughout the KS3 and KS4 courses.
    • Grammar is the foundation for language learning skills and enables students to speak and write with greater accuracy and with more confidence and fluency. As such, grammar is taught within sentence builders and with pop up grammar explanations where appropriate, through every unit of work and is regularly revisited to allow for spaced learning and for misconceptions to be corrected.
    • Homework is set on a regular basis to allow for self-study and self-reflection on the learning which happens in the classroom.
    • Opportunities to travel to France, Germany and Spain to apply knowledge and skills developed within the classroom to the real world.
  • How is the Languages curriculum implemented? 

    At Sirius Academy our implementation of the Languages curriculum is through research-based delivery which is focused on long term recall, understanding of cognitive load, self-efficacy in students and teaching content which is accessible to all students. We use the Conti method to deliver our curriculum, which incorporates many applied Rosenshein principles, to ensure students learning is retained in their long-term memory.

    Primarily at KS3 we use sentence builders. These are a tool which are accessible to all students; are easy for them to use and contain the right amount of words and structures that they can cope with. These allow us to develop listening and reading as modelling, a more natural way to acquire new language. Our sentence builders contain English to establish meaning and make them comprehensible for students. Grammar and sentence structure is taught via example and are focused on high frequency content which is also useful in real life communication. We also provide opportunities to recycle and interleave old and new grammar structures and vocabulary.

    In addition to including prior knowledge in new topics, we routinely check prior knowledge at the start of lessons, checking for misconceptions and gaps in knowledge or understanding. Sentence builders allow teachers to model, scaffold and support students develop their language skills. As students develop their skills the level of support from the sentence builders can be reduced or increased depending on students’ individual needs.

  • How can Languages support your future?

    The teachers in the Language Department are very passionate about Languages and how they can enrich our lives and those around us. We aim to share this enthusiasm with our students, as we know the value of knowing a language has no matter which career path they choose and opens up more opportunities both in terms of work and life choices.

     

    Studying a language is a useful skill for many careers but are especially important for the ones below:

    • Interpreter
    • Political risk analyst
    • Translator
    • Journalist
    • Diplomatic service office
    • English as a Foreign Language teacher
    • International aid/development worker
    • Tour manager

     

Student Testimonial

“I enjoy Spanish because it is fun and I can learn and understand about the languages and the country. I like reading in Spanish because it helps me to comprehend it more. I have good listening skills and that is a good attribute to have. This could help in the future with jobs that need someone who can speak another language.”

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