This resource provides a quick and easy map of your child’s curriculum journey.

“One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way”

Frank Smith

The opportunity to learn a foreign language is not limited to the grammar and vocabulary of French or Spanish, it is an experience of a different world, culture and traditions. It allows our young people to learn something very different from their everyday lives at Walkden. Learning another language teaches you more about your own, makes you a better communicator, builds confidence in speaking and allows a curious mind and infinite possibilities. At Co-op Academy Walkden we are aiming to give our pupils knowledge and understanding of another language, as well as the culture of the French and Spanish speaking world. 

KS3

The topics which are chosen to enable this language acquisition and to deliver the content and structures are linked to our MFL 5 Power Concepts: Identity and culture, local area and holidays, school, future aspirations, study and work and international and global dimensions.

Grammar is a key feature of language learning, and initially students are introduced to high-frequency language and structures in the first person, which mimics natural language acquisition. This enables students to communicate their opinions and answer questions which seek information about themselves. 

Students quickly progress from answering questions in the first person to asking questions of others and reporting back in the third person. 

Piece by piece, the full conjugation of verbs – both regular and irregular- is taught and the range of tenses is increased to speak in the different time frames (past, present and future) by the end of Year 8.

Students are taught to recognise patterns in order for them to be able to apply the rules independently as they progress in their studies so that by the end of Year 9 pupils are able to write at increased length and detail in the target language.  

Lessons contain a balance of the four key skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing.

At the end of Year 7 in French and Spanish, pupils will be able to discuss and talk about their personal identities, families, school, daily life. Pupils’ cultural awareness will be increased as they are immersed in the target language. Pupils will be able to identify different forms of the present tense with a variety of verbs and pronouns, as well as the gender of nouns, articles and adjectives. 

They will be able to write short paragraphs using three tenses in first person singular form. They will be able to enrich their writing with opinions and reasons, connectives and key vocabulary relating to the topics studied.

At the end of Year 8 in French, pupils will be able to discuss everyday life, holidays and who they are a fan of Pupils’ understanding of grammar will be strengthened as they use infinitive verbs to form more complex verb structures in both present and future tenses. 

Pupils will be able to write longer paragraphs with 3 tenses in the first person form. Through schema, they will be able to enrich their writing with opinions and reasons, intensifiers, a variety of connectives and vocabulary learnt from a variety of retrieval techniques

At the end of Year 8/ 9  in Spanish, pupils will be able to discuss and talk about they enjoy doing, celebrations and holidays.  Pupils’ cultural awareness will be increased as they are immersed in the target language. Pupils will be able to identify different forms of the present tense with a variety of verbs and pronouns, as well as the gender of nouns, articles and adjectives. They will be able to write longer paragraphs using three tenses in first person singular form. Through schema, they will be able to enrich their writing with opinions and reasons, connectives and key vocabulary relating to the topics studied.

At the end of Year 9 in French, students will be able to talk about their ambitions, the planet and teen problems. They will discuss environmental and social issues and how to improve the world they live in. Pupils’ understanding of the wider French speaking world will be enriched as they are immersed in target language and develop their knowledge of French culture. Pupils will communicate with more confidence, fluency and spontaneity on a greater range of topics. Through schema, pupils will be able to manipulate a variety of key grammatical structures and patterns with increasing ease, including tenses (present, perfect, preterite, imperfect, near future and simple future), gender agreement (nouns, articles, adjectives, possessive adjectives), subordinate clauses with relative pronouns and conjunctions, comparative and superlative structures.

KS4

As development of language learning progresses we expect and encourage students to manipulate more complex language and grammatical structures for their own purpose to provide more individual responses in more challenging contexts. Key Stage 4 fosters the spontaneous use of language and encourages students to play around with language more creatively. 

The topics studied are now more linked to societal issues such as relationships, customs, environmental issues and homelessness which require a greater level of vocabulary, as well as thought and depth to questions, as the answers become far more open-ended and without a ʻright answer’ and students are able to communicate in a more fluent and natural way. 

FRENCH

The Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) in French consists of four externally examined papers based on the following skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Students must complete their speaking assessment in April/May and all other assessments in May/June in any single year. Each paper is available at Foundation tier or Higher tier. Students must be entered for a single tier across all papers. The use of dictionaries is not permitted. For Paper 2 this includes during the preparation time. 

SPANISH

The Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) in Spanish consists of four externally examined papers based on the following skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Students must complete their speaking assessment in April/May and all other assessments in May/June in any single year. Each paper is available at Foundation tier or Higher tier. Students must be entered for a single tier across all papers. The use of dictionaries is not permitted. For Paper 2 this includes during the preparation time. 

All year groups

• Lessons contain a balance of the four key skill areas-Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.
• Lessons should include grammar elements as relevant to the topic area.

Year 7

Lessons in Year 7 should enable pupils by the end of the year to;

• Be able to write a paragraph about themselves or other topic area from the year using present tense opinions and reasons with support.
• Be familiar with using three tenses
• Be able to take part in a short conversation/speech/role play or picture based discussion related to the topic area.
• Be able to listen to short extracts related to the topic area.
• Be able to read and understand short texts, including literary texts, relevant to the topic area. 

Year 8

Lessons in Year 8 should build upon Year 7 and enable pupils to;

• Start to write more independently and access writing tasks in the target language
• Be able to understand the present, past and future tenses and start to use them in their work.
• Be able to take part in a short conversation/speech/role play or picture based discussion related to the topic area
• Be able to listen to short extracts related to the topic area
• Be able to read and understand texts, including literary texts, relevant to the topic area.

Year 9

Lessons in Year 9 build further on the skills and knowledge acquired in Year 7 and 8 and enable students to;

• Be able to understand and use the present, past and future tenses with increasing confidence, using different persons of the verb. 
• Become accustomed to writing tasks written in the target language and be able to write independently and at increased length. 
• Be able to take part in a conversation/speech/role play or picture based discussion of increased length. 
• Be able to listen to longer extracts related to the topic area and across topic content. 
• Be able to read longer texts, including literary texts with an increased level of understanding relevant to the topic area and also across topic content. 

Years 10 and 11

Lessons in Key Stage 4 continue to build on Key Stage 3 foundations and should;

• Follow the GCSE curriculum with all tasks in the format and style of the GCSE exam, instructions should always be in the target language as should tasks. 
• Follow the SOL to ensure all topic area/ themes are covered.
• Include preparation time for the speaking element of the GCSE exam within the context of the topic/lesson.
• Include the opportunity to explore further tenses and higher level vocabulary.
• Follow the appropriate level/tier depending on the class. Sets 1 and 2 Higher and Set 3 and below Foundation tier. 

From studying a language at GCSE, you can go on to study that language at A-Level. You will also have the basic skills of language learning so might be able to start learning a whole new language too.

This can lead to studying all sorts of subjects at University or onto exciting language based careers. For example:

• Interpreter;
• Translator;
• Teacher.

Take a look at some more information about foreign language based degrees here.

A Modern Foreign Languages A-level can lead you to studying a wide variety of subjects at University. Modern Foreign Languages can be studied on it’s own or it can be combined with other subjects such as:

• Law;
• International Business or international politics;
• Another language such as: Welsh, Russian or Mandarin;
• Archaeology;
• Journalism.

Have a look at the UCAS website to see how many different combinations you can do.

The Curriculum Overview provides information as to how the curriculum is sequenced to enable students to build their knowledge and skills towards ambitious endpoints in each subject area. Click the picture to enlarge it and read more. Each terms’ learning is complemented by a knowledge organiser. 

Check them out