In a world which is rapidly shrinking in terms of communication, having a language is seen as being of more and more benefit. Many companies now actively seek employees with good language skills and even if you don’t plan to use your language skills at work, you will certainly need a foreign language at some point on holiday!
At Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School, languages are taught in a fun, dynamic and engaging way. We believe that everyone has the ability to learn a language to some degree. Lessons will include speaking, listening, reading and written work, with an emphasis on practical skills and those needed to pass public exams with a good grade.
At DHFS, we offer 3 languages in Y7 (French, Spanish and German) and all our students study one of them. In Y8, our keenest linguists will be offered the opportunity to study an additional language to broaden their cultural and linguistic experience.
Our Curriculum Vision
‘We want our learners to become competent and independent linguists and culturally aware global citizens’.
Our curriculum follows 3 ‘Big Ideas’, covering a broad range of topics and offering our students opportunities to develop their competence, and become skilled linguists. Culture is an integral part of the curriculum, as we want our students to become culturally aware global citizens.
This is a spiral curriculum where topics are revisited regularly, with added challenge, content and skills over time. Assessments are a mixture of formal assessments (around Christmas time and at the end of the academic year) and low-stakes assessments, called “checkpoints”, which are conducted in class every 2 to 3 weeks.
Over 5 years, students will cover the following topics:
Facilities
MFL has 6 dedicated teaching rooms, and a small teaching room for sixth form lessons. The faculty is equipped with a class set of netbooks to allow ICT to be used in lessons. All classrooms have projectors, and interactive whiteboards are used in some rooms.
Key Stage 3
We offer 3 languages in Y7 (French, Spanish, and German) and all students study one of those languages. In Y8, our keenest linguists will be offered the opportunity to study an additional language to broaden their cultural and linguisitic experience.
Year 7
Year 7 is an introductory year in which students develop language skills such as phonics as well as learning new vocabulary and grammar. The content includes personal information; school; local area. Students will be introduced to the concept of different tenses and by the end of the year will have covered at least two.
In Year 7, students will follow this learning map:
Year 8
Year 8 builds upon the work covered in Year 7. Content covered includes illness and health; visiting a different country; food and drink; role-play and transactional language. Students study at least one further tense and produce longer written texts.
In Year 8, students will follow this learning map:
Year 9
In Year 9 students will review key vocabulary and grammar taught in Year 7 and 8, consolidating their knowledge whilst introducing more elaborate concepts, preparing them for their GCSE. Students will follow our 3 big ideas: Identity and Culture, Local and Global World, The World of Work and Education.
In Year 9, students will follow this learning map:
Key Stage 4
Year 10
In year 10, students continue to work on our three Big Ideas and the themes of the AQA specification, developing vocabulary, grammar and fluency and understanding.
At the end of Y10, students sit a trial exam in all four skills, listening, reading, speaking and writing, which reflects the format of the final exams in Year 11, where each skill equates to 25% of the final grade and is assessed through a final exam.
Year 11
In year 11, students continue to work on our three Big Ideas and themes of the AQA specification, developing their vocabulary and grammar further, as well as their fluency and understanding. They sit a trial exam in November in all 4 skills, which will help to finalise decisions in terms of tier entry (Foundation or Higher).
The real speaking exams take place during a 5 week window between April and May.
Key Stage 5
Students who choose MFL at Advanced Level will follow the WJEC specification.
Year 12
Year 12 French
Students follow the Eduqas specification and start preparing for A level as a two-year course. They work on the following themes.
They also study a French speaking film from the following prescribed list.
Y12 Spanish
Students follow the Eduqas specification and start preparing for A level as a two-year course. They work on the following themes.
They also study a Spanish speaking film from the following prescribed list.
Year 13
Year 13 French
Students follow the Eduqas specification. They work on the following themes.
They also study a French language literary work from the following prescribed list.
Finally, students work on an Independent Research Project (IRP), on a topic of their choice related to the country or countries where French is spoken.
Year 13 Spanish
Students follow the Eduqas specification. They work on the following themes.
They also study a Spanish language literary work from the following prescribed list.
Finally, students work on an Independent Research Project (IRP), on a topic of their choice related to the country or countries where Spanish is spoken.
Extra curricular activities
We currently offer visits to France and Germany. Our Y7, 8, 9 students are visiting France (Saint Omer) in October and a German exchange programme is currently organised for our Y8 and 9 classes. We aim to visit Spain again in the future and broaden our trip offers back to pre-covid levels.
Teaching staff
- Miss N Boyden
- Miss C Capiez
- Miss C Fernandez
- Ms C Grange
- Mrs V Greasley
- Miss J Lauwers
- Ms A McLeish
- Mrs E O’Brien (Head of Faculty)
- Mr B Swales
Websites to help students learn about MFL
SAM Learning (all students have logon details)
French: ZUT!
French: BBC Bitesize – French
Spanish: BBC Bitesize – Spanish
Spanish: OYE!
Spanish: Study Spanish
German: BBC Bitesize – German
German: GUT!
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