Modern Foreign Languages - Alec Hunter Academy

Teaching Staff

Mrs Steward - Head of Curriculum Area
Mr Pennington - Lead Teacher
Mr Lawn
Miss Murray
Mrs Peralta Jimenez

Aims

KS3

We want to foster a love of learning languages among students at Alec Hunter Academy. We firmly believe that all students should have the opportunity to learn a language and develop an appreciation of how important communication with other nationalities is. We provide opportunities for students to visit France and in Year 9 several of our students attend a Masterclass at Cambridge designed to encourage them to consider studying a language at university.

The curriculum aims to allow students to:

express their ideas and thoughts in another language and understand and respond to its speakers, both in speaking and in writing
develop a core of grammatical knowledge
Cope in unfamiliar and unprepared situations to reflect the reality of being abroad and speaking with sympathetic native speakers
develop transferable language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing
communicate for practical purposes and learn new ways of thinking
understand that success is achievable by all students regardless of ability
understand that learning a foreign language provides students with cultural capital and opens doors to other experiences
develop their curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world

KS4

We want all French, German and Spanish GCSE students to be well equipped to cope with the demands of the GCSE exams. We ensure that all students, regardless of ability are equipped with the skills to be able to cope with each element of the exam. We embed mnemonics into lessons so that they are familiar with PALMS for their speaking exam and LOVE IT in preparation for their writing paper. We monitor progress frequently throughout the GCSE course so that we can intervene early and prevent students from becoming disengaged or feeling disillusioned. Whilst lessons remain exam focussed, we want students to develop a love of learning a language and recognise how it can broaden horizons.