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Languages

  Languages 
Year 7

•The Languages Faculty aims to produce confident, capable and articulate linguists who can work independently in their Speaking and Writing with a range of vocabulary, the present tense and high frequency structures. 

In Year 7 we use the LAM and RAM strategies, which means we create successful learners by using Listening and reading as Modelling so our learners will have been exposed to as much language as possible from their teacher in order to become more confident in their own productions later on in their learning journey. 

We aim to make parallels between English and target language grammar and linguistic patterns to support our students becoming confident and clear communicators. 

• Our students are able to express opinions and offer justifications. 

• Learning is themed around topics and issues which gradually introduces increasingly complex levels of language to stretch and challenge students. 

High focus on listening and speaking skills in Year 7 allows our pupils to develop confidence in those two skills and helps develop confident communicators. 

We also feel it is important to introduce and embed the teaching of cultural topics so our pupils understand similarities and differences to prepare them well to be global citizens. We also hope this develops a natural curiosity for other cultures and traditions outside of the UK. 

We want to ensure our students value the importance of languages and of being able to communicate with others from other cultures for a variety of purposes. 

By the end of Year 7, we want our students to be able to understand and respond successfully to basic questions in each of the language they will have learnt.  

Year 8

French, German and Spanish : we provide opportunities for our students to further develop their skills in Speaking, Listening , Reading and Writing. We continue with our strong focus on listening skills and use of phonics for the development of robust receptive  skills. 

We continue to use our strategies with listening and reading as modelling and encourage reading aloud after modelling so learners become experts in speaking and so they demonstrate confidence in their skills over time. 

We introduce more complex grammatical concepts and tenses to help students become more independent and more creative when talking and writing about others and other places and events. 

We celebrate events in France in French speaking countries, Spain and Spanish speaking countries, German and german speaking countries as they happen (Tour de France, European Football championships, festivals in Africa, fete de la musique etc, Spanish fiestas Berlin film festival etc. a we recognise the importance of the understanding of the cultures of each target language country. We aim to create global learners who will develop respect and understanding of people from all over the world. 

By the end of Year 8, we want our students to take part in longer exchanges in conversations and to be able to start producing longer paragraphs from memory by the end of each module. 

Year 9

French – We aim to develop confident learners who will be able to communicate clearly in a foreign language. We focus on fluency and we encourage our students to become more and more independent throughout Year 9 to prepare them well for GCSE from Year 10 but also for real life situations in the countries of the target language they study. We also focus strongly on cultural elements, similarities and differences between countries, traditions and customs as we want our learners to not only become curious about the target language country but we also want our learners to be prepared to be global citizens, hence our focus on understanding the countries they study the language of. We also want them to establish comparisons between life in the UK and life abroad, and to also be able to express mature views on all the topics and issues they study in Year 9. By the end of Year 9, we would like students to have developed an appetite for languages or life and to understand the importance and value of modern languages in the world of work and in society. We want our learners to be confident in expressing themselves in speaking and writing on the studied themes and to be able to develop their knowledge through reading of and listening to extended passages in the target language. 

German – We aim to develop confident learners who will be able to communicate clearly in a foreign language. We focus on fluency and we encourage our students to become more and more independent throughout Year 9 to prepare them well for GCSE from Year 10 but also for real life situations in the countries of the target language they study. We also focus strongly on cultural elements, similarities and differences between countries, traditions and customs as we want our learners to not only become curious about the target language country but we also want our learners to be prepared to be global citizens, hence our focus on understanding the countries they study the language of. We also want them to establish comparisons between life and in the UK and life abroad, and to also be able to express mature views on all the topics and issues they study in Year 9. 

Spanish - We aim to develop confident learners who will be able to communicate clearly in a foreign language. We focus on fluency and we encourage our students to become more and more independent throughout Year 9 to prepare them well for GCSE from Year 10 but also for real life situations in the countries of the target language they study. We also focus strongly on cultural elements, similarities and differences between countries, traditions and customs as we want our learners to not only become curious about the target language country but we also want our learners to be prepared to be global citizens, hence our focus on understanding the countries they study the language of. We also want them to establish comparisons between life and in the UK and life abroad, and to also be able to express mature views on all the topics and issues they study in Year 9.

Year 10

French – From Year 10, we aim at widening the interests of our students whilst also linking the topics to the GCSE current themes. We address local, regional, national and international issues and we talk about travelling, comparing holidays and life in the UK to similar abroad. We want our learners to link to other subjects ( such as Geography ) as we discover German Speaking countries in the world. We also want our learners to learn about climate, landscapes, shopping abroad and travelling. 

German – From Year 10, we aim at widening the interests of our students whilst also linking the topics to the GCSE current themes. We address local, regional, national and international issues and we talk about travelling, comparing holidays and life in the UK to similar abroad. We want our learners to link to other subjects ( such as Geography ) as we discover German speaking  countries in the world. We also want our learners to learn about climate, landscapes, shopping abroad and travelling. 

Spanish - From Year 10, we aim at widening the interests of our students whilst also linking the topics to the GCSE current themes. We address local, regional, national and international issues and we talk about travelling, comparing holidays and life in the UK to similar abroad. We want our learners to link to other subjects (such as Geography ) as we discover Spanish speaking countries in the world. We also want our learners to learn about climate, landscapes, shopping abroad and travelling. 

Year 11

French – In Year 11, we consider issues directly affecting our young learners. We hope to develop learners who will have a secure and robust understanding of their future and on the importance of making the correct career choices for their future. We also want our students to understand that taking gap years, having different choices to university life through voluntary work or apprenticeships can also be very valuable and enrich their lives. The course ends with some very important issues such as the environment, the planet and climate change issues, when we endeavour to look at these issues from other countries’ perspectives, which we believe is essential for global citizens. 

German – In Year 11, we consider issues directly affecting our young learners. We hope to develop learners who will have a secure and robust understanding of their future and on the importance of making the correct career choices for their future. We also want our students to understand that taking gap years, having different choices to university life through voluntary work or apprenticeships can also be very valuable and enrich their lives. The course ends with some very important issues such as the environment, the planet and climate change issues, when we endeavour to look at these issues from other countries’ perspectives, which we believe is essential for global citizens. 

Spanish - In Year 11, we consider issues directly affecting our young learners. We hope to develop learners who will have a secure and robust understanding of their future and on the importance of making the correct career choices for their future. We also want our students to understand that taking gap years, having different choices to university life through voluntary work or apprenticeships can also be very valuable and enrich their lives. The course ends with some very important issues such as the environment, the planet and climate change issues, when we endeavour to look at these issues from other countries’ perspectives, which we believe is essential for global citizens. 

Year 12

French – In line with the Holderness learner values, the Year 12 Curriculum is aiming to develop curious students who will be interested in discovering aspects of the French speaking world and has a strong focus on discovery/exploring which is embedded in the learning of each module. Students will get opportunities to discover many similarities and differences between their culture and the culture in the French speaking world. There is strong focus on cultural aspects from  food,  to heritage and cinema to the discovery of music and its diversity. 

The curriculum also aims at developing confident and fluent communicators and this is why the study of grammar is strongly embedded and part of the study for each topic. Students are mature enough to understand the value of accurate grammar in communication skills, whether this will be in speaking or writing. 

We aim to develop students who will be responsible, respectful  and global citizens, showing empathy and emotional intelligence through the understanding of the French speaking world globally, not only in France but also in developing countries such as Africa. 

We aim to develop students who will be independent through encouraging them to research individually and independently  on all topics studied. This will also prepare them for their independent research for year 13 and university work and the world of work. 

We aim to develop students who will be confident in essential skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking and we also encourage students to be excited about a prospective life in any country where the target language is spoken, hence the focus on not only the accuracy in language skills but also the understanding of the culture and the people from these countries. 

Spanish - In line with the Holderness learner values, the Year 12 Curriculum is aiming to develop curious students who will be interested in discovering aspects of the Spanish speaking world and has a strong focus on discovery/exploring which is embedded in the learning of each module. Students will get opportunities to discover many similarities and differences between their culture and the culture in the Hispanic world. There is a strong focus on cultural aspects from  food,  to heritage and cinema to the discovery of  music and its diversity .The curriculum also aims at developing confident and fluent communicators and this is why the study of grammar is strongly embedded and part of the study for each topic. We aim to develop students who will be responsible, respectful  and global citizens, showing empathy and emotional intelligence through the understanding of the Spanish speaking world globally, not only in Spain but also in developing countries such as those in South America. and we also encourage students to be excited about a prospective life in any country where the target language is spoken, hence the focus on not only the accuracy in language skills but also the understanding of the culture and the people from these countries. We aim to develop students who will be independent through encouraging them to research individually and form their own opinions on all topics studied. This will also prepare them for their independent research for year 13 and university work and the world of work.

Year 13