The Modern Languages Department staffing comprises eight teachers, two of whom have main responsibility for the teaching of German. 

The Modern Languages Department consists of six classrooms, two of which are equipped with language laboratories.  The Languages Open Area  provides a work area for the Foreign Language Assistants.  

French Course Outline/Overview

Key Stage 3

Topics studied in Year 7

• Meeting people.  Using the pronouns je and tu
• School objects and the alphabet.  The indefinite article
• Counting up to 20.  Using the verb avoir to give your age
• Saying when your birthday is and giving the date
• Talking about the classroom.  Using the definite article
• Saying what colour things are. Making adjectives agree with the noun
• Talking about brothers and sisters
• Talking about your family.  Using possessive adjectives
• Talking about pets.  Plurals
• Describing yourself and others
• Talking about where people live.  The verb habiter
• Describing your home and bedroom.  Simple prepositions
• Talking about what you do in the evening.  Using the pronoun on
• Telling the time.  Using the pronouns ils and elles
• Asking about places in town.  How to ask questions
• Asking for directions.  The difference between tu and vous
• Saying where you are and where you are going
• Expressing opinions
• Ordering drinks and snacks
• Talking about what you do in the morning.  Using reflexive verbs
• Talking about school subjects.  Using the pronoun nous
• Giving opinions and reasons
• Talking about your timetable
• Discussing what you do after school.  Using the verb faire
• Talking about sports and games.  Using the verb jouer
• Discussing musical instruments
• Saying what you like to do in your free time
• At the leisure centre.  Using on peut and the infinitive
• Going on holiday.  Using aller and the infinitive

Topics studied in Year 8

• Families and the jobs people do.  Using er verbs
• Discussing where people live.  Using depuis
• Describing the weather
• Describing a typical day.  Using ir and re verbs
• Discussing last weekend.  The past tense with avoir
• Talking about yesterday evening.  Past tense with irregular past participles
• TV programmes you have watched.  Giving opinions
• Saying where you went last weekend and discussing events in the past.
• The past tense with être
• Making and reacting to invitations.  Using the verb vouloir
• Making excuses.  Using pouvoir and devoir
• Discussing clothes.  Adjectival agreement
• Shops and shopping.  Comparative adjectives
• Talking about food
• French meals.  The partitive article
• Preparing for a party.  Using Il faut and the infinitive
• Shopping for food and eating at a restaurant
• Discussing countries and languages
• Talking about holidays
• Describing a holiday centre and a past holiday.  More practice with the past tense
• Talking about friends.  Using notre and nos
• Discussing pocket money.  Using avoir besoin de
• Talking about gadgets.  Comparatives and superlatives
• Hopes and wishes for the future.  Using verbs and the infinitive

Topics studied in Year 9

• Discussing TV programmes.  Using direct object pronouns
• Talking about films
• Describing daily routines.  Past tense of reflexive verbs
• Talking about what you read.  Using aller and the infinitive
• Planning what you will do.  The future tense with on
• Future careers.  Future tense with quand
• Why languages are important
• Talking about illness.  Expressions with avoir and être
• Describing injuries
• Healthy living.  Using negatives
• Understanding and giving advice
• Describing what you used to do.  The imperfect tense
• Talking about sports you used to do
• A whodunnit !....Crime at the castle
• Learning about a region of France (Normandy)
• Making travel arrangements.  Using tenses in different sequences
• Arranging hotel accommodation.  Using the conditional
• A visit to an attraction.  Understanding authentic texts
• A visit to a sporting event
• Schools in different countries.  Using possessive adjectives
• Young people and work.  Indirect object pronouns
• Discussing world issues ( tackling hunger)
• Religion in France.  Giving opinions on topical issues
• Human rights activists

Key Stage 4

GCSE Syllabus: AQA French

Topics studied in Year 10

• Talking about yourself and other people.  Revising present tense verb forms
• Saying what you like and don’t like doing.  Aimer and infinitive
• Talking about parents and what they do.  Using masculine and feminine nouns
• Saying what you have done
• Discussing your main hobby.  The near future tense
• Discussing TV and cinema.  Articles and object pronouns
• Making arrangements to go out.  Using pronouns after prepositions
• Explaining why you can’t do something.  Using modal verbs
• Describing special occasions.  Imperfect tenses of avoir and être
• Describing what you have seen or read
• Talking about where you live.  More about adjectives
• Discussing your own room.  Plus and moins
• Advantages and disadvantages of where you live
• Comparing where you used to live and where you live now.  Irregular adjectives
• The geography of France.  The superlative
• Talking about a town
• Finding the way.  Using prepositions
• Shopping for food and clothes.  The partitive article
• Describing the location of a place.  Using prepositions and the imperative
• Organising a beach party.  Using Il faut and en
• More on travel arrangements.  More about the perfect tense
• Buying clothes.  Ce lequel celui
• Describing what went wrong.  More on the imperfect tense
• The school timetable.  Past present and future
• What you wear for school 
• The school day.  Irregular forms of the third person plural
• Talking about what you have lost.  Participle agreement with avoir
• Comparing school in Britain and France

Topics studied in Year 11

• Discussing jobs and money
• Talking about part-time jobs
• Applying for jobs.  Using formal language
• Discussing work-related problems.  Using qui and que
• Work experience
• Holiday venues
• Talking about the weather
• Booking into a hotel.  The uses of si
• Booking into a youth hostel.  The imperative
• Eating out.  Using the conditional
• Talking about past holidays
• Describing famous sportspeople
• Sporting holidays
• Describing a sporting event.  Using the pluperfect tense
• Describing someone’s qualities.  Using abstract nouns
• Talking about food and drink
• Health issues: addiction and other problems.  Giving your opinion.  Impersonal verbs
• Family relationships
• Discussing world issues.  Condtional of modal verbs
• Describing breakdowns and accidents.  Coping with unknown language in texts
• Discussing the environment and environmental problems
• Talking about environmental projects.  Direct object pronouns in the perfect tense
• Understanding news stories.  The passive

Key Stage 5

A-Level French Syllabus: OCR

Topics studied in Year 12

Term 1

• Describing where you live
• French-speaking regions
• Key dates in French history
• Introduction to famous French people
• Introduction to topical issues ( homelessness / war )
• Relationships with others
• Marriage and divorce
• The role of a citizen: rights and responsibilities
• Leisure: sport, film and theatre

Key grammar points: infinitives, tense revision, direct and indirect pronouns, use of depuis, negative expressions, prepositions, use of venir de

Term 2

• Healthy lifestyles: food and drink, smoking and alcohol
• Education in France
• Choosing a career
• Equality of the sexes in the workplace
• The media: the press and TV
• Advertising
• Holidays, travel and transport

Key grammar points:  relative pronouns, si clauses in all tenses, agreement of past participles, demonstrative adjectives, use of dont , imperative, emphatic pronouns, pluperfect, reported speech, modal verbs, subjunctive

Term 3

• Discrimination (immigration, racism )
• Sexual discrimination
• The French-speaking world
• French colonial empire
• Algerian War
• Varieties of French spoken around the world
• French as an international language

Key grammar points:  recognition of the past historic, subjunctive, present participle, the future perfect

Topics studied in Year 13

• The environment: pollution, ecology and the French nuclear industry
• Social exclusion:  Aids, drug addiction, homelessness, old age
• Law and order: crime and violence, punishment, the judicial system, alternatives to prison
• Regions of France ( Brittany)
• Education: Religion in schools, mixed vrs single sex schools, higher education
• Ethical issues: Animal experimentation, cloning, abortion and euthanasia
• Politics in France: political parties, the political system, participation, the euro
• Historical events: The Occupation, the political crisis in 1968
• Technological and scientific advances:  the internet, communication in the modern age
• Religion in France: young people and the Church, sects
• War and conflict
• Poverty
• Human rights

German Course Outline/Overview

The German section works under the direction of the Head of German who is responsible to the Head of Modern Languages.

Key Stage 3

Students who are placed in the upper band (sets 1 – 3) for French after completing their first year of studying French in Year 7 are also offered German lessons throughout Year 8 (two lessons per week) and up to May half-term in Year 9 (three lessons per week).

The textbook they use is “Echo Express”, a course designed to prepare students for the study of German at GCSE in only two years.

Students’ annual examination grade is based on their ability to understand spoken German and written German as well as their ability to speak and write German themselves. All four skills are weighted equally. Students also take three end-of-unit tests in Year 8 and four in Year 9, and in addition, they sit regular vocabulary tests.

Topics studied in Year 8:

• Introduction, the Alphabet, Numbers
• School
• Family and Friends
• Hobbies
• My House
• In Town

Topics studied in Year 9:

• Holidays
• Shopping and Food
• Free Time
• Health
• Going Out
• Visiting German-speaking Countries

Key Stage 4

GCSE Syllabus: AQA German

Students start their GCSE courses after May half-term in Year 9. If they have been studying German in years 8 and 9, they can take German or French or both languages to GCSE. In Years 10 and 11 they are taught three lessons per language per week.

Students in Year 10 have the opportunity to participate in our annual exchange with our partner school in Freiburg in the Black Forest.

The Department uses Logo 4 textbook to prepare students for their GCSE examinations.

In Year 10, students’ annual examination grade is based on their first piece of coursework, a grammar assessment and a past GCSE Listening Comprehension and a Reading Comprehension examination.

Students take a trial GCSE examination before Christmas in Year 11, in which students show how well they can understand spoken German and written German as well as speak and write German themselves. All four skills are weighted equally. Year 11 concludes with the GCSE examination.

In addition to regular vocabulary tests, students in Year 10 take four end-of-unit tests throughout the year and a speaking examination at the end of the year. They also complete at least one out of three pieces of coursework which will count towards their GCSE grade.

In Year 11, students take regular GCSE-style reading and listening comprehension tests and sit a number of past GCSE Reading and Listening Comprehension papers.

Topics studied in Year 10:

• Introducing Myself; My House and Helping at Home
• School and Future Plans
• Hobbies, TV, Going Out
• Holidays
• My Town, Transport

Topics studied in Year 11:

• Shopping, Pocket Money
• Daily Routine, Health
• Jobs, Work Experience
• Teenage Problems, the Environment

Sixth Form

A-Level German Syllabus: OCR

Students who received a good GCSE grade can take German to A-Level. In Years 12 and 13 they are taught six lessons per week, which are shared between two members of staff. Between October and May they also have one lesson per week with the Language Assistant.

Students in Year 12 usually participate in our exchange with our partner school in Freiburg where they have the opportunity to research their chosen coursework and oral examination topics.

The Department use Zeitgeist 1 and 2 textbooks to prepare students for their A-Level examinations.