French
“To have a second language is to possess a second soul” - Charlemagne
Intent
The Modern Foreign Languages department aims to promote the development of life-long language learning experience. Our mission, as teachers of Modern Foreign Languages, is to arm our students with the confidence use their linguistic skills and knowledge outside of the classroom, both at home and abroad. We want students to enjoy learning a language and view it as gateway for the discovery of cultures. We want to give our students the tools to become independent in the true sense of the world, being able to tackle new challenges and be inspired to do so.
Introduction
The At Prince William School we are very privileged in currently being able to offer French and Spanish from Key Stage 3 through to Key Stage 5 and from September 2019, German in Key Stage 4, focusing on the four key skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking. Our students have positive experiences in their lessons and we strive to develop a love of foreign languages and culture through exposure to authentic materials and the teaching of the language through a variety of topics relevant to young people in the world today.
Prince William School is fortunate to have highly qualified and experienced staff who are passionate about the languages they teach and the countries in which the languages are spoken. The staff keep up-to-date with what is going on linguistically, culturally and politically and are therefore able to keep the languages real and relevant for their students in the classroom.
We aim, through our teaching, to develop both linguistic skills in the target language as well as highly sought after employability skills and to equip our students with the wherewithal to step confidently into the outside world in order to allow them to seize every opportunity which is offered to them.
Examples of cross-curricular links
| English: |
Non-fiction reading – strategies to analyse and extract information from texts and media on a variety of contexts. Vocabulary strategy – vocabulary lists to learn are set weekly; links to the origin of the words and their commonality with English are made explicit. Purpose and audience writing – writing is taught to serve a range of purposes, including acquiring information, providing opinions and points of view, and narrate. |
| Mathematics: | When appropriate links with mathematics are highlighted, including: numbers and basic arithmetic, telling the time, date, quantities, measure units and money. |
| Science: | In KS3 links are basic, e.g. weather, while in KS4 they are part of different topics, including education and environmental issues. |
| Humanities: | These include countries and cities, languages, and the study of the customs of French-speaking countries. |
Examples of Cultural Capital entitlement from NC
- Appreciation of usefulness of having a second language
- Ability to express oneself
- Appreciation of the history and culture of other countries