Modern Foreign Languages

At Penair School, we value the ability to speak another language in our increasingly global society. Developing the skills of language learning opens doors and creates opportunities far beyond the classroom. 

Not only can you travel to new places around the world, but learning a language helps to boost your memory power and increases your brain capacity. It teaches you about other cultures and can make you look more closely at your own. It can even help to improve your English skills and it will certainly make you stand out from the crowd when it comes to applying for jobs and universities. 

At Penair School, all students study German at Key Stage 3 as well as either Spanish or French. This continues throughout year 7, 8 and 9.

Students can choose to study German, French or Spanish at GCSE. We have a team of dedicated, specialist teachers who are passionate about enabling young people to broaden their horizons and to communicate in another language. 

Intent 

The MFL curriculum aims to enable all students:  

• to actively communicate with confidence in speech and writing 
• to understand and respond to a variety of authentic texts and dialogues, including literary extracts 
• to explore a range of Francophone, Germanic and Hispanic cultures through a variety of media, in and out of lessons 
• to enhance their cultural capital 

• to make progress in their language learning in a more independent way at home 
• most importantly, to foster a love of languages 

Implementation 

The MFL curriculum is implemented collaboratively via:  

• the delivery of high-quality lessons, placing learning outcomes at the forefront of planning 
• ambitious and aspirational schemes of learning, building our students’ linguistic and cultural knowledge 
• clear learning objectives providing opportunities for knowledge recall and frequently revisiting core grammatical concepts and vocabulary 
• the development of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills 
• regular identification and clarification of common misconceptions 
• the regular review and evaluation of the MFL curriculum to ensure maximum impact for all learners 

Impact 

What our students achieve can be seen (and heard) through:  

• high levels of engagement in lessons 
• exercise books, including writing challenges and self and peer assessment 

• opportunities for students to reflect and provide feedback on their learning 
• oral work in lessons 
• end of topic assessments and low stakes quizzes 
• our GCSE results

Homework 

We use www.languagenut.com to set a range of homework activities. All students have been provided with their own login details.