Modern Foreign Languages Curriculum Intent

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world,” said Ludwig Wittgenstein. At Hungerhill, our aspirational MFL curriculum ensures that our students are anything but limited in what they can achieve. Through our ‘Big Picture Projects’, they are also able to see the real-life relevance of the language and understand links between their prior, current and future learning. Students here develop a strong understanding of both the language and culture of French or Spanish-speaking countries.  In doing so, they develop excellent communication and interpersonal skills and an appreciation of the values of tolerance and respect for others. We provide regular opportunities to recycle knowledge through reading, listening, writing and speaking to ensure it is embedded, and to bridge gaps in knowledge identified by assessment. Therefore, our students are prepared, both academically and personally, for a wide range of opportunities in their further education, career and social lives.

Our curriculum will:

Develop the character of all students

• Our aspirational, yet accessible curriculum, develops students who are resilient and passionate language learners.
• Students are taught the values of tolerance and respect for other cultures, to broaden their perspectives and prepare them for the opportunities and challenges of life
• In respect of reading, they are exposed to current, authentic texts, both within and outside of lessons to further stimulate their knowledge and understanding of different cultures and of a wider variety of language.
• Students are expected to use the target language for routine conversations, and over time, become confident speakers of French or Spanish. Thus, they develop excellent communication and interpersonal skills required for success in life.

Ensure all students are literate and numerate

• The MFL curriculum is driven by grammar. The essential grammatical knowledge for each learning sequence is clearly identified and increases in challenge over time. This ensures students have a sound knowledge of grammar as the foundation on which to build their subsequent linguistic knowledge. This includes the ability to apply known grammar in new contexts.
• Students are encouraged to become inquisitive linguists, who are able to find links between languages, allowing understanding to be transferred between subjects.
• Students are explicitly taught phonics to support their understanding of sound-spelling links for writing and improve their pronunciation.
• Students develop a love of reading and are a taught a range of strategies to cope with increasingly challenging texts from a range of literary and non-fiction sources. This includes a variety of authentic materials.
• Students have opportunities to develop their numeracy skills, often in real-life scenarios, such as restaurant bills and understanding time.

Build knowledge and aspirations of all students

• Our engaging KS3 ‘Big Pictures’ ensure that students clearly see how their knowledge is developing throughout each learning sequence. These also set their language learning in real life situations, making it more relevant and thus raising their aspiration to succeed.
• Schemes of learning are coherently planned, following a consistent lesson structure with frequent opportunities to recycle knowledge, review learning and assess understanding. They also incorporate time to address gaps in knowledge identified through assessment, in a way which is tailored to the individual needs of students.
• SEND students are fully supported in accessing the full curriculum offer.
• Students are provided with regular opportunities to showcase their achievements, for which they are praised and rewarded, thus increasing their aspiration to succeed.

Ensure all students have the secure foundations to progress into further education and employment

• The MFL curriculum begins with an awareness of students’ KS2 MFL experience. Subsequently, it develops students’ linguistic knowledge as well as their confidence and communication skills to prepare them for Key Stage 5 and beyond.
• Students are constantly provided with opportunities to build on their grammatical knowledge whilst recycling their knowledge of vocabulary and grammatical points in new contexts, to ensure that their knowledge is secure.

Develop cultural capital of all students

• Students develop a strong awareness of the culture of French or Spanish-speaking countries through experience lessons, working with our Foreign Language Assistant, educational visits and the regular use of both paper-based and digital authentic materials.
• Students are provided with a range of extra-curricular activities which allow them to further develop their linguistic competence and awareness of French and Spanish culture.
• Students are encouraged to participate in a variety of trips and visits to the country of the target language they are studying.