MFL: Key Stage 5
Our aim is to broaden students’ horizons and to encourage them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries. We intend to inspire students to deepen their understanding of the world by challenging insular mentalities and behaviours and by making them aware of the importance of learning a language.
Department Overview, Years 12-13
"He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." – Nelson Mandela
Learning a foreign language is a skill for life which will enhance both communication skills and employment prospects. It also provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster students’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.
The MFL department at Spalding Grammar School believes that learning another language raises awareness of the multilingual and multicultural world and introduces an international dimension to students’ learning enabling them to better understand their own culture and those of others.
The MFL curriculum has therefore been designed to meet the varying needs and interests of the students in years 12 and 13 whilst providing for them many opportunities for challenge and enrichment. Our overarching aim is to produce confident communicators who can successfully participate in an ever-expanding global economy.
At A level, we offer French, German and Spanish and the department follows the AQA specification for A levels in French, German and Spanish. These are linear qualifications.
The teaching is split collaboratively with Spalding High School. Two teachers share the year 12 and 13 teaching in each language, specialising in specific assessment objectives and units, and working as a team to support students. Students have access to high quality resources: AQA approved textbooks and online resources. Students are expected to carry out a significant amount of independent study to support their learning.
Study at A level builds upon the skills, understanding and knowledge that the students have acquired in Key Stage 4 and GCSE topics such technology and family life are revisited and expanded upon to allow students to discuss trends and analyse data and statistics from the TL country in these areas. It constitutes an integrated study with a focus on language, culture, and society. It fosters a range of transferable skills including communication, critical thinking, research skills and creativity, which are valuable to the individual and society.
They also study either one book and one film or two books. They must appreciate, analyse and be able to respond critically in writing in the Target Language to the work they have studied.
In addition, students develop research skills in the target language, demonstrating the ability to initiate and conduct individual research on a subject of personal interest, relating to the country or countries where the Target Language is spoken.
A strong emphasis is placed on improving the students’ confidence in speaking in the Target Language and students are taught to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources. They are encouraged to speak with increasing confidence, fluency, and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation. To this end, the students have 2 hours of speaking practice with a native speaker.
The MFL department also enriches our students’ language experience by offering extra-curricular activities such as trips abroad, trips to the theatre or cinema to watch plays/films in the TL, the Language Ambassadors programme and promotion of languages in the workplace.
A Level students often volunteer to support other students in the lower school with speaking workshops.