Modern Foreign Languages

Home Senior School Senior School Curriculum Modern Foreign Languages

French, German and Spanish

Faculty Aims:

In our teaching of Modern Foreign Languages at BMS we aim to:

  • Enable students to understand the spoken and written forms of the language in a variety of registers
  • Enable students to communicate confidently and clearly in the language through both the spoken and written word, using increasingly accurate, complex and varied language
  • Offer insights into the culture and civilisation of the countries where the foreign language is spoken and encourage first-hand contact with such countries or communities
  • Develop an awareness of the nature of language and encourage positive attitudes to language learning
  • Provide enjoyment and intellectual stimulation
  • Use relevant and up to date software and websites to make teaching and learning relevant and exciting for today’s adolescents.

 Facilities

In addition to large teaching rooms, we have smaller rooms available for use by the Foreign Language Assistants. The IT resources available to Years 7-9 are:

The IT resources available to Years 10-13 are:

  • Kerboodle (all three languages, students have a personal login and passwords)
  • ThisisSchool (all three languages, students have a personal login and password)

We have four Foreign Language Assistants (FLAs) in French, German and Spanish who help prepare the students for their speaking exams at GCSE and A Level and who use a variety of authentic websites to promote the languages.

Years 7-9 Curriculum

French and Spanish students use the courses Dynamo 1 and ¡Claro! 1 in Years 7-8, and Studio 2 and 3, Echo 2 and 3 and Mira 2 and 3 in Years 8-9. German students use the course Zoom 1 in Years 7-8, and Zoom 2 in Year 9. The aim of the KS3 French, German and Spanish courses is to foster a love of language learning by practising the key skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing of familiar, relevant topics and to give the students a basic grounding in grammar including the present, past and future tenses.

GCSE Curriculum 

The AQA course in French / German and Spanish is studied by all students who choose to take an MFL as their core language.

French curriculum

German curriculum

Spanish curriculum

Co-curricular, Enrichment, Extension and Support

There is a bi-annual trip to Paris and Disneyland Paris for Years 7-8 in France and an the opportunity to attend a French conference for Key Stage 4 students; an annual exchange to Bamberg in Germany for Year 9-13 students and a bi-annual trip to Spain for students in Years 7-11.

There are also opportunities to challenge our most able students. There is a debating competition at The Perse School in Cambridge for French students and the Spanish FLA from South America run a gifted and talented extension club for Years 9-11 on a South American country.

For Years 10-11 in French/German/Spanish there are GCSE lunchtime support sessions.

Throughout the academic year, the MFL department offers activities such as competitions, games and opportunities to try foreign dishes to mark key cultural events in the French, German and Spanish calendars.

Results in all GCSE and A Level languages are consistently very good (50%+ of student achieve grades 7-9 in all MFLs at GCSE and 100% grades A-C at A Level) and the students’ experiences in a recent survey were very positive.