Why do we learn modern foreign languages?
Learning another language facilitates increased international awareness and an appreciation of other cultures and practices. It raises aspirations by opening doors to travel and enables pupils to compete in a highly competitive university and job market where having an additional language is a clear benefit.
At Ark Elvin Academy, our MFL curriculum intentionally teaches pupils to manipulate vocabulary and grammar independently, with the goal of ultimately expressing their true ideas in another language. To this end, we avoid emphasis on memorising set phrases to impress in an exam. We instead aim for a strong foundational knowledge of tenses, grammar, vocabulary and sentence construction that allows pupils to communicate confidently and articulately with others, both at home and abroad.
All pupils should experience success in every MFL lesson. Lessons include regular practice of all core skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar and translation) to develop well-rounded linguists who can understand and respond to others in different contexts. We aim to reduce the fear and anxiety around language exams by explicitly teaching pupils practical techniques to deal with unfamiliar words. Processes such as deciphering meaning without complete comprehension and conjugating verbs develop pupils’ other skills, such as logic, task-sequencing and mathematical processing.
Head of Department
Ms Katie Tiller
Our approach
Learning another language facilitates increased international awareness and an appreciation of other cultures and practices. It raises aspirations by opening doors to travel and enables pupils to compete in a highly competitive university and job market where having an additional language is a clear benefit.
At Ark Elvin Academy, our MFL curriculum intentionally teaches pupils to manipulate vocabulary and grammar independently, with the goal of ultimately expressing their true ideas in another language. To this end, we avoid emphasis on memorising set phrases to impress in an exam. We instead aim for a strong foundational knowledge of tenses, grammar, vocabulary and sentence construction that allows pupils to communicate confidently and articulately with others, both at home and abroad.
All pupils should experience success in every MFL lesson. Lessons include regular practice of all core skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar and translation) to develop well-rounded linguists who can understand and respond to others in different contexts. We aim to reduce the fear and anxiety around language exams by explicitly teaching pupils practical techniques to deal with unfamiliar words. Processes such as deciphering meaning without complete comprehension and conjugating verbs develop pupils’ other skills, such as logic, task-sequencing and mathematical processing.
Our Approach
We are aligned to the Ark network shared curriculum, which allows us to share assessments and moderate data to make our judgement of pupil progress more accurate. Our curriculum covers language introductions in Year 7, which gives pupils the basic conversational skills to communicate about themselves and their surroundings. In Year 8, we introduce three verb tenses to make pupils’ communication more precise, expanding their linguistic abilities so they can express themselves more fully. From Years 9-11, we have carefully sequenced the GCSE course to teach topics that are relevant and interesting to young people. We revisit and revise verb essentials every year to ensure mastery and long-term retention. This will enable pupils to communicate competently in the target language by the end of their learning at Elvin, so they have the skills and knowledge to continue to further study if they choose.
We are committed to providing enrichment opportunities that help pupils enjoy their modern languages skills outside of the classroom. The MFL team lead activities in school, such European Day of Languages with a French café and cinema film screening, and trips and events, such as our exchange partnership with a school in La Réunion, and our cross-curricular trip to Normandy with the History department for Years 9 and 10.
Year 7
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
| Introductions (greetings, personal introductions, birthday, days, months, numbers) | Introductions (family, physical descriptions: hair, eyes, height) |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
| My school (subjects, likes and dislikes (opinions), telling the time, school day) | My school (describing places in the school, comparatives, infinitive verbs, opinions + infinitives) |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
| My town (places in town, directions, activities in town) | My town (au / à la / aux, on peut + infinitive verbs, near future tense) |
All Year 7 subjects Next Year 7 Subject - Physical Education
Year 8
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
| Hobbies (TV, films, books, internet, forming the present tense) | Hobbies (meals, reading a menu, ordering in a restaurant, partitive article) |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
| Holidays (sites in Paris, forming the past tense, on peut + infinitive, the near future tense, travel and transport vocab) | Holidays (holiday accommodation, packing a suitcase, adventure holidays) |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
| Home (rooms in the house, furniture, prepositions, household chores, daily routine and reflexive verbs) | Jobs (jobs and careers) |
All Year 8 subjects Next Year 8 Subject - Physical Education
Year 9
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
| Myself, family and friends (descriptions of people (physical and personality), family relationships, good friends, role models, | Myself, family and friends (arranging plans with friends, forming present, past and future tenses, reflexive verbs greetings, personal introductions, birthday, days, months, numbers) |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
| Hobbies (sports, TV, film, books, music, imperfect tense (When I was younger…), the superlative) | Hobbies (sports, TV, film, books, music, imperfect tense (When I was younger…), the superlative) |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
| Daily life and festivals (Weekday and weekend routine, eating in a restaurant, clothes shopping, weekday and weekend routine, eating in a restaurant, clothes shopping, | Daily life and festivals (celebrating festivals (Christmas, Eid, Diwali) and occasions (birthdays, new year), describing a photo |
All Year 9 subjects Next Year 9 Subject - Physical Education
Year 10
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
|
My town (describing town and activities, tenses revision, improvements and changes in town) |
My town (tourism and community action) |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
| Holidays (countries, transport, describing holidays, holiday disasters) |
Holidays (booking accommodation, ideal holiday, conditional tense, pluperfect tense) |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
| School (describing school, school rules, uniform, subjects and teachers, opinions) | School (describing a school trip, how you would like to change your school |
All Year 10 subjects Next Year 10 Subject - Physical Education
Year 11
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
| Work (Jobs and careers, future plans and ambitions (travel and study) | Environment ( climate change, fair trade, big events and their impact on the environment e.g. Olympics) |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
|
Revision (modules 1-4) |
Mocks and Revision (modules 5-8) |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
| Speaking exam preparation and exams | Speaking exam preparation and exams |
All Year 11 subjects Next Year 11 Subject - Physical Education