Learning a foreign language helps to embed key literacy, communicative, auditory and aural skills as well as promoting tolerance and providing an opening to other cultures.  Languages education at King’s fosters students’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. High quality teaching enables students to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It also provides opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. In addition, it provides the foundation for learning further languages, equipping students to study and work in other countries. MFL serves a cultural and linguistic purpose in that it exposes students to foreign language and culture, therefore promoting global citizenship.

The curriculum at King’s builds on prior learning at KS2 by reinforcing vocabulary, basic grammar and transactional language. The KS3 curriculum allows students to explore diverse topics and more complex grammar, allowing them to express themselves in a foreign language.

The curriculum sequences knowledge and skills, builds on prior learning and enables students to widen their understanding of the world around them, along with variety of linguistic competencies. It also serves to enrich students’ use of their mother tongue through comparison of the language and culture of another country. Students will revisit the very important points (VIPs) from all topics continually throughout KS3 through weekly VIP tests and termly Key Piece assessments, resulting in a comprehensive, interleaved curriculum.

Through deliberate structured and sequenced reading, listening, writing and speaking activities, students develop their literacy and oracy skills spanning a range of topics, becoming effective and competent communicators. The curriculum promotes skills transferable to a wide range of careers.

Year 7

• Basic personal information, Life at school, Free time activities
• Food, Holidays, Francophone or Hispanic culture, Literature

Year 8

• Personal relationships, Food & Drink, Shopping & Fashion, Media and New Technologies
• Healthy bodies& Healthy minds, Life at home, Ambitions & Future plans, Town & local area
• Environment, Celebrations & Culture, Holidays, My best life, Literature

 Year 9

• Personal relationships, Identity, My home, My local area, Celebrations ,My education
• New technology, Healthy lifestyles, Fashion & shopping trends, Media, Holidays, Culture, Literature

Through studying a GCSE in a modern foreign language, students develop their ability and ambition to communicate with native speakers in speech and writing. The study of a modern foreign language at GCSE also broadens students’ horizons and encourages them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing the world.

Students taking GCSE French or Spanish will cover three themes throughout KS4: Identity and Culture; Local, National, International & Global Issues; Education and Future Employment. These themes build upon the topics covered at KS3.