Modern Foreign Languages: Key stage 3

Students follow a three year scheme of work that the MFL Department is working collaboratively to develop. Phonics are taught throughout KS3, developing students’ confidence with pronunciation. Vocabulary is taught and is recall of vocabulary is built in to develop longer term learning.  Grammar teaching is explicit, allowing students to speak and write more accurately, and understand listening and reading activities better.  SMSC and careers with languages are also inbuilt. Lessons can include independent, paired and small group tasks for students of all abilities.

Students have the opportunity to learn how to:

• identify and use tenses or other structures which convey the present, past, and future as appropriate to the language being studied
• use and manipulate a variety of key grammatical structures and patterns, including voices and moods, as appropriate
• develop and use a wide-ranging and deepening vocabulary that goes beyond their immediate needs and interests, allowing them to give and justify opinions and take part in discussion about wider issues
• use accurate grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• listen to a variety of forms of spoken language to obtain information and respond appropriately
• transcribe words and short sentences that they hear with increasing accuracy
• initiate and develop conversations, coping with unfamiliar language and unexpected responses, making use of important social conventions such as formal modes of address
• express and develop ideas clearly and with increasing accuracy, both orally and in writing
• speak coherently and confidently, with increasingly accurate pronunciation and intonation
• read and show comprehension of original and adapted materials from a range of different sources, understanding the purpose, important ideas and details, and provide an accurate English translation of short, suitable material
• read literary texts in the language [such as stories, songs, poems and letters], to stimulate ideas, develop creative expression and expand understanding of the language and culture
• write prose using an increasingly wide range of grammar and vocabulary, write creatively to express their own ideas and opinions, and translate short written text accurately into the foreign language. (KS3 National Curriculum)