In Year 7 French, students develop a range of vocabulary on the themes of identity and culture to discuss their personal life and interests. The main topics discussed within these two themes are family, personal and physical description, musical tastes, clothes and hobbies. Through the topic of music, students become more familiar with the French culture as they get to know some famous French artists. Music is central to the Year 7 curriculum as students learn the French phonetics in detail to perfect their pronunciation before entering a singing competition on a French Disney song.
In Year 8 French, students learn mainly transactional language and skills to be able to communicate in a real-life situation. As such, there is an emphasis on performing role-plays throughout the year. By the end of Year 8, students must be confident in ordering food at the restaurant and at the market, asking for advice at the doctor’s, booking a hotel room and a train ticket and arranging to go out with their friends. Students also learn more about the culture and traditions in France or in French speaking countries through the topic of celebrations, the study of a film based in Senegal and the discovery of Paris and the French revolution.
In Year 9 French, students focus on developing their application of a range of tenses as well as developing their debating skills on three main themes: education and aspirations, local area and fashion. They learn about French schools to compare advantages and disadvantages in both education systems and study French film based in a boarding school after WWII. Along with choosing their GCSE options, students discuss their future ambitions and future careers and reasons for learning languages. Students also research and express their views on the evolution of fashion. Finally, through the topic of local area, students discuss pros and cons of where they live and research about life in a French speaking country.
In Year 10 French, students build on prior knowledge, revisit themes seen at KS3 and develop a wider range of vocabulary on two themes: identity and culture and local area and tourism. Through the theme of identity and culture, students discuss their personal life, relationships with family members and friends and personal interests in sport, music, TV and cinema. They also learn more about the French culture by understanding and explaining how French people celebrate different holidays. Through the theme of local area and tourism students discuss the pros and cons of where they live and discover a variety of French tourist destinations.
In Year 11 French, students continue on the theme of local area and tourism. They first discuss their holiday plans using a range of tenses before studying three new themes: education, future ambitions and aspirations and the world around us. In Year 11, although the topics are familiar to them, they focus on using specific and complex vocabulary and structures and applying their skills to the GCSE examination requirements. Students will be confident in performing a transactional role-play, describing and discussing a picture and taking part in a general conversation about all themes. They will also be confident in writing on a range of topics and translating short passages into French or English.
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/french-2016.html
In Year 12 French, students first focus on discursive skills and having solid grammatical understanding. It is important for students to learn how to justify their views, hypothesizing and expressing intentions and to use grammar accurately before starting the course. They then apply these skills to three social topics and three cultural topics, all related to France and French speaking countries. Students first learn about the evolution of family, the cyber society, charity work, the French cultural heritage, music and cinema as the 7th art. While they study the topic of cinema, students also analyze and write essays on a French film as part of the written component of the examination.
In Year 13 French, students focus on examination skills through the study of three aspects of French society and three aspects of political life in the French speaking world. Students first consider the benefits of living in an ethnically diverse society. They also examine different groups who are socially marginalised and discuss measures to help them. At the same time, they study a novel based on the relationship between a teenage girl and a homeless young woman. Through the political theme, they discuss engagement levels of young people in politics, talk about strikes and protests and understand the political issues concerning immigration. Throughout the year, students are accountable for presenting a research project of their choice for their oral examination.
AQA | Languages | AS and A-level | French
Key Stage 3 Spanish
In Year 7, students develop a range of vocabulary on the themes of identity, education, local area and personal interests. The main topics discussed are; school subjects and opinions; describing where they live and describing their house and town in detail; and sport and various hobbies. They also learn about different cities in Spanish speaking countries. By the end of the year students must be confident in applying the present tense to a variety of verbs covered in Year 7.
In Year 8, students learn mainly transactional language and skills to be able to communicate in a real-life situation. As such, there is an emphasis on performing role-plays throughout the year. By the end of Year 8, students must be confident in ordering food at the restaurant and at the market, arranging to go out with their friends and buying clothes from a shop. Students also learn more about the culture and traditions in Spain and Spanish speaking countries through the topic of holidays and tourism and also through the study of a film based in Mexico.
In Year 9, students focus on developing their application of a range of tenses as well as developing their literacy skills on a variety of topics. Along with choosing their GCSE options, students discuss their future ambitions and future careers and reasons for learning languages. They develop their speaking skills on the topic of health and practise GCSE type role-plays at the doctor’s and at the chemist’s for instance. Finally they learn a lot about the Spanish culture in Spain and in Spanish speaking countries through the study of the films Zipi y Zape and Voces Inocentes and through the topic of music by studying different contemporary artists. Year 9 Spanish students have the opportunity to opt for Spanish GCSE in Year 10.
GCSE Spanish
Students build on prior knowledge, revisit themes seen at KS3 and develop a range of grammar structures and vocabulary from five themes:
In Year 10 Spanish, students study four different modules. Students discuss their holiday plans and preferences using different verb tenses. They also discuss their personal life; relationships with family members and friends; and personal interests in sport, music, TV and cinema. They also learn about school life.
In Year 11 Spanish, students discuss the pros and cons of where they live and discover a variety of Spanish speaking destinations. They also learn more about the Spanish culture by understanding and explaining how Spanish people celebrate different holidays. Through the topic of Future Aspirations, Study and Work, students discuss what their plans for the future are. Finally, they learn about International and Global Dimension.
Although most of the topics are familiar to them, they focus on using specific and complex vocabulary and structures and applying their skills to the GCSE examination requirements. Students will be confident in performing a transactional role-play, describing and discussing a picture and taking part in a general conversation about all themes. They will also be confident in writing on a range of topics and translating short passages into Spanish or English.
A Level Spanish
Students develop the skills gained at GCSE with a focus on the language, culture and society. In Year 12, students first learn about the evolution of family; gender equality and cyberspace. Then, they learn about the artistic culture in the Hispanic world where they cover the topics of the influence of celebrities; regional identity and cultural heritage. In Year 12, they also read, study and analyse a Spanish novel.
In Year 13, students focus on examination skills through the study of two aspects: Multiculturalism in Hispanic Society and Political Life in the Hispanic World. Through the Multiculturalism in Hispanic Society, students discuss immigration in the Spanish speaking countries and its benefits; racism and measures to combat it in the Hispanic world as well as the benefits of living in an ethnically diverse society. Through the theme of Political Life, students will learn about the importance of politics; the impact of the Spanish dictatorship and civil war in Spain; different dictatorships in Latin America and will finish with Spanish social movements. As part of the written component of the examination, students will study and analyse a Spanish film about the Spanish Civil War.