French
Languages Department Staff
- Miss C Fernandez Head of languages
- Ms R Oliva, Assistant Principal and Teacher of languages
- Ms N Tucker, Teacher of Languages
Curriculum Intent
Languages are powerful skills that can give you the key to many cultures, countries, and opportunities. An essential skill to have in our ever-changing world. Languages and knowledge of different cultures help to provide our students a wider perspective of the world around them as well as getting a better understanding and respect for other communities.
It is our intention that all our students enjoy learning languages at Weavers as much as we like teaching them. We carefully joint plan our lessons as a department. These lessons help our students to be successful at learning the knowledge and skills that would equip them to became successful citizens of a global community.
Our intent is also that students strive for success by linking what they are doing in the classroom with employability characteristics and transferable skills, so that they can recognise that personal development and growth is not just linked to qualifications and assessments. In order for this to happen we focus on:
Quality first teaching
The subject content of our curriculum has been carefully chosen in order for students to begin to learn high frequency words and grammar.
We aim to strive for success by creating confident communicators in Spanish/ French. The languages department co- working with the languages CET community has designed a key stage 3 curriculum to help establish the foundation of our student’s interest and enthusiasm for Languages. Students will achieve that success by focusing on learning to:
- communicate confidently and competently in the Target language
- develop an understanding of how memory works and what techniques work best
- develop an understanding of TL grammar and vocabulary & therefore English grammar/vocabulary and able to retain it long term and apply it to different contexts
- appreciate other countries’ customs and traditions & therefore reflect on their own
- develop ambition and debunk myth that languages are too hard/irrelevant by giving pupils opportunity to shine
- broaden outlooks and horizons through awareness of TL culture
- appreciate other countries’ customs and traditions & therefore reflect on their own
Key Stage 3:
Year 7: By the end of the year students will be able to demonstrate accurate use of French phonics with familiar and new words and phrases. They will be able to greet other, introduce and describe themselves and their families, tell the time, give clear opinions supported by reasons and have a simple shopping conversation with a stranger. They will be able to use a bi-lingual dictionary to look for new word meanings and check present tense verb conjugations.
Year 8: By the end of the year students will be able to talk about themselves and their lives and express opinions with reasons Students will be able to use some transactional language and some more formal register. They will be able to use three tenses (present, near future and preterite) and more complex structures (e.g. conditional, comparative, superlative). They will also develop their knowledge of Francophone culture.
Year 9: By the end of the year students will be able to talk about themselves and their lives but also about wider ranging issues (human rights, the environment, etc.). They will be able to use the language they would need for arriving in France and meeting French people. Students will be able to use three tenses (present, near future and preterite), plus the imperfect and simple future and they will develop their knowledge of Francophone culture
KS3 Curriculum Map
Key Stage 4:
Year 10: By the end of the year pupils will be able to confidently describe aspects of their home life including their family, relationships, school and where they live, and be able to speak about both past and future holidays. They should be able to use a range of grammatical structures to comprehend and describe both familiar and unfamiliar contexts, asking for information when they need it.
Year 11: By the end of the year pupils should be able to confidently operate in a range of contexts across all 4 skills. They should be able to understand and describe local as well as global issues such as the environment, and be able to comprehend and describe their future plans and careers.
Students who started GCSE French in September 2023 study all of the following themes on which the assessments are based.
Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest
Theme 3: Current and future study and employment
GCSE French has a Foundation Tier (grades 1–5) and a Higher Tier (grades 4–9). Students will take 4 papers (listening, reading, writing and speaking). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier. All question papers must be taken in the same series.
| What’s assessed | How it’s assessed | Weighting | |
| Paper 1: Listening | Understanding and responding to different types of spoken language | Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation Tier), 45 minutes (Higher Tier) 40 marks (Foundation Tier), 50 marks (Higher Tier) | 25% of GCSE |
| Paper 2: Speaking | Communicating and interacting effectively in speech for a variety of purposes | Non-exam assessment 7–9 minutes (Foundation Tier) + preparation time 10–12 minutes (Higher Tier) + preparation time 60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier) Role-play – 15 marks (2 minutes at Foundation Tier; 2 minutes at Higher Tier) Photo card – 15 marks (2 minutes at Foundation Tier; 3 minutes at Higher Tier) General conversation – 30 marks (3–5 minutes at Foundation Tier; 5–7 minutes at Higher Tier) | 25% of GCSE |
| Paper 3: Reading | Understanding and responding to different types of written language | Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation Tier), 1 hour (Higher Tier) 60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier) | 25% of GCSE |
| Paper 4: Writing | Communicating effectively in writing for a variety of purposes | Written exam: 1 hour (Foundation Tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher Tier) 50 marks at Foundation Tier and 60 marks at Higher Tier | 25% of GCSE |
KS4 Curriculum Map:
Students who started GCSE French in September 2024 study all of the following themes on which the assessments are based.
Theme 1: People and lifestyle
Theme 2: Popular culture
Theme 3: Communication and the world around us
Assessments
GCSE French has a Foundation tier (grades 1–5) and a Higher tier (grades 4–9). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier. All question papers must be taken in the same series.
| Paper 1: Listening |
| What’s assessedUnderstanding and responding to spoken extracts comprising the defined vocabulary and grammar for each tierDictation of short, spoken extracts |
| How it’s assessedWritten exam: 35 minutes (Foundation tier), 45 minutes (Higher tier)40 marks (Foundation tier), 50 marks (Higher tier)25% of GCSERecording controlled by the invigilator with built-in repetitions and pauses.Each exam includes 5 minutes’ reading time at the start of the question paper before the listening material is played and 2 minutes at the end of the recording for students to check their work. |
| Paper 2: Speaking |
| What’s assessedSpeaking using clear and comprehensible language to undertake a role-playCarry out a reading aloud taskTalk about visual stimuli |
| How it’s assessedNon-exam assessment (NEA)7–9 minutes (Foundation tier) + 15 minutes’ supervised preparation time10–12 minutes (Higher tier) + 15 minutes’ supervised preparation time50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)25% of GCSE |
| Paper 3: Reading |
| What’s assessedUnderstanding and responding to written texts which focus predominantly on the vocabulary and grammar at each tierInferring plausible meanings of single words when they’re embedded in written sentencesTranslating from French into English |
| How it’s assessedWritten exam: 45 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour (Higher tier)50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)25% of GCSE |
| Paper 4: Writing |
| What’s assessedWriting text in the language in a lexically and grammatically accurate way in response to simple and familiar stimuliTranslating from English into French. |
| How it’s assessedWritten exam: 1 hour 10 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher tier)50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)25% of GCSE |
KS4 Curriculum Map:
In school events
We want to motivate, enthuse and engage our students both in and out of the classroom. We also want them to understand the relevance of the subject outside the learning environment and how learning French and Spanish will benefit in their future careers and lives. In order to do this, we expose them to different experiences, contexts and scenarios where they can use the language in an engaging “real life” way.
Every year we organise different competitions and events to immerse students in the target language.
In the past we have done Day of the dead competitions, cooking homework, flamenco workshops, African drumming, ordering food at a café, football and languages, why is important to learn a language workshop, Warwick university talks, visit to Theatre Cervantes in London, film days, Europe goes to Japan event to name some.
Cultural and language trips
Every year, for a week we take a group of around 30 students to Salamanca Spain and North of France During that week in the day students have Spanish tutoring to improve their speaking, grammar and general language skills, followed by the opportunity to take part in cultural activities, such as Tapas cooking, snails tatsing, crepe making, visit to the boulangerie, salsa classes and city tours, in the evening.
Students have the opportunity to live the life as a French person during their time there and immerse themselves in the language and the culture.
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