Modern Foreign Languages

Introduction

Welcome to the MFL department!

There are four members of staff in the department:

Mr Atkin, Curriculum Manager for MFL and Associate Assistant Headteacher

Miss Ashall, teacher of MFL

Mr Nowell, teacher of MFL and Assistant Headteacher

Mrs Street, teaching assistant.

All three teachers in the department teach both French and Spanish. Mrs Street specialises in Spanish, having lived in the south of Spain for over 25 years. However she also helps out in our French classes too.

Rationale

At Holy Family College we believe in providing all students with the opportunity to study a foreign language. We work hard to encourage as many students as possible to continue with language study at GCSE and beyond and in doing so we try to make learning languages fun and interactive. We also encourage our students to develop their independent learning skills by understanding how languages work rather than just ‘learning words’. We believe this is the key to long-term success in MFL.

Provision

At Holy Family College pupils learn French and/or Spanish.

When pupils arrive in Year 7 the upper band of pupils (two groups) studies French and Spanish for one term each, they then choose which language they continue with.

The lower band (three groups) studies Spanish.

Towards the end of Year 9 pupils take their options and can choose to study either French or Spanish to GCSE. There is also the option to study both languages at GCSE.

ICT in MFL

We use new technology as much as possible - all three teaching rooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards and our new MFL ICT area has twenty machines in total. This area is open to students at break, lunchtime and after school for students to continue with their learning. Many students come up to the area to use language learning websites or language software on the school network.

Extra-curricular activities

We aim to run one foreign trip each year alternating between France and Spain. In the past few years we have taken students to Normandy and Barcelona.

We run day trips for Year 8 & 9 students to Manchester Metropolitan University’s MFL department to give students an insight into studying languages at university.

Regular lunchtime and after-school speaking practice for Year 10 & 11 GCSE students.

Year 7 French/Spanish spelling BEE – a national competition which begins as an in-school event. Four winners from the school attend the regional final at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Video-conferencing with Oulder Hill Language College in Rochdale.

Electronic pen-pals with our partner school – Collège Jules Verne in Paris.