Modern Foreign Languages

About the department

The department has its own suite of rooms, with four language classrooms, two conversation rooms and a language office/resources’ area. Interactive whiteboards are available in two of the rooms and data projectors are set up in the other two. Each room is equipped with a viewing screen, DVD and video players, OHP and satellite TV.

There are three full time members of staff, one part time member
of staff and two language assistants:
Richard Taylor, Head of Languages, teacher of French and German to A2 level
Paul Irvine, Head of Spanish, teacher of Spanish and French to
A2 level
Carol Campbell, Teacher of French and Spanish to A2 level
Christina Oliver, Teacher of German to A2 level and French to
key stage 3
Catherine Morin is our resident French language assistant.
Anja Luther is our German language assistant from Osnabrück.
As Spanish comes on stream, there will also be a Spanish Language assistant.

What is taught

The Modern Languages department teaches three foreign languages: French from Year 7, German and Spanish from Year 9. All pupils study French and German or Spanish until the end of year 9, at which point they can choose between the two subjects or take both.

Everybody studies one foreign language to the age of sixteen, unless a pupil has specific learning difficulties, in which case the obligation to study is removed. In the sixth form, French, German and Spanish are studied to “AS” and “A2” Level. (Spanish from 2009)

All language pupils in the Sixth form and in Year 11 have a weekly oral lesson with the language assistants. The conversation classes for Year 11 take place in the activity hour between 4.30 and 5.30, whereas sixth formers have their lesson during the school day.

 Study tours
We have a long-standing exchange with a school in Carcassonne. This is offered to pupils in Years 9 and 10. Our pupils visit Carcassonne in October and the French pupils come to our school in May. There is an annual study tour for Year 8 pupils to Le Touquet and a Spanish study tour to northern Spain in year 9. Sixth form pupils are able to participate in the study tours to Berlin and Paris. In the sixth form, we encourage pupils to go on individual exchanges or take up work experience abroad.

The department has consistently achieved good results at GCSE, “AS” and “A2” level. We are fortunate to have a dedicated and hardworking team of linguists who enjoy working at the school.

Aims of Modern Language teaching at Bootham
To encourage positive attitudes to foreign language learning
To encourage positive attitudes to speakers of foreign languages and a sympathetic approach to other cultures and civilisations.
To provide a high level of success and a sense of achievement through reasonable and structured challenge.
To awaken an interest in educational and other visits abroad and a desire to communicate with people of other tongues.
To promote the learning of skills of more general application - analysis, memorising, drawing of inferences.
To train in oral and written communication with relevance, purpose and authenticity.
To form a sound basis from which pupils may aspire to use their language skills in the world of work, for pleasure and further academic study.
To give pupils a sound grammatical understanding of the language.
To nurture of a love of languages and foreign cultures beyond the purely functional and transactional
To promote listening and reading skills appropriate to the level of study.

Why Study Languages?
Apart from providing an intellectual challenge, a gateway to the understanding of another culture and the opportunity to communicate with people of other nationalities, languages are useful in the world of work. The importance of understanding and speaking a language cannot be denied or neglected in a flexible European and world market, where workers must be adaptable and maintain a wide range of skills.

The Curriculum:
In each year of study, the four skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing are developed. What is listed below gives an outline of the topics covered. Grammar is integral to the course.
Topics and textbook:
Year 7 French
Encore Tricolore 1

Meeting, greeting and saying goodbye, exchanging of names in French, talking about how people are, asking and giving ages.

Saying where you live, asking others where they live, introduction to La Rochelle.

Talking about families and homes, saying who things belong to, talking about the days of the week.

Talking about animals/pets, describing animals and objects, expressing likes, dislikes and preferences.

Asking for and giving the date, discussing important events of the year, understanding and giving greetings, talking about birthdays and presents.

Talking about the weather, temperature, and seasons, understanding simple weather information, talking about sport and other leisure activities.

Talking about places in a town, asking for, understanding and giving directions, obtaining information and maps from the tourist office, discussing how far away places are.

Understanding and giving the time, asking what the time is or when something is happening, talking about a typical day, saying which subjects you or dislike and giving opinions about them.

Talking about food and drink, talking about meals, accepting or declining food and drink.

Talking about leisure activities, using and understanding the 24 hour clock, saying what you do to help at home, giving reasons and opinions.

Year 8 French
Encore Tricolore 2
Shops and what they, quantities, money, number and price, shopping for food.

Countries, capital cities, nationalities, means of transport, expressions of future time, describing towns, villages, location, facilities, reading and writing postcards, revision of leisure activities and weather.

School life in France, school day, school subjects, daily routine, travel to school, opinion of subjects and using internet at school.

Revision of clothing and family vocabulary, introducing people, staying with a family, talking about souvenirs and presents, saying goodbye and thanking people for their hospitality.

Buying drinks, snacks, ice-creams, describing food and recent meals, expressing likes and dislikes, discussing the menu, ordering meals in a restaurant.

Revision of time, 24-hour clock, numbers 0-1000, travel by train, air, coach and boat, station signs, buying a train ticket, understanding travel information, describing a recent day out.

Discussing clothes, colours and what to wear, describing appearance, talking about parts of the body, saying how you feel and describing what hurts, health, at the doctor’s.

Revision of dates, festivals, time, finding out what’s on, giving, accepting, refusing invitations, arranging to meet, discussing leisure activities, buying tickets, making comparisons.

Un Cabaret Continental 2008

Year 9 FrenchEncore

Tricolore 3

1. Finding out about places to visit in Paris, understanding information in tourist brochures, holiday postcards, weather, travelling by metro, describing recent events.
2. Talking about everyday life, discussing common problems, relationships and needs, part-time jobs and pocket money, expressions of time, everyday events in the past, introductory letter to a French teenager.
3. Talking about the past, expressions of time, making excuses, French impressionists, comparing past, present and future, reading and writing poems.
4. Youth hostelling, clothing and equipment for an activity holiday, booking into a youth hostel, reporting an accident, making telephone calls, safety instructions.
5. Future events, taking telephone messages, the environment, future career options, weather forecasts, finding out about Futuroscope.
6. Finding out about Quebec, describing people, events and activities, leisure activities, comparisons and superlatives, colloquial, slang expressions.
7. Talking about cycling and bikes, travelling by road, visiting a French town, talking about a town and region, understanding information about hotels, booking accommodation, staying in a hotel, asking for information and reporting problems.
8. Talking about holiday plans, discussing what you can and cannot do, discussing campsites and camping equipment, eating in a restaurant, staying in a gîte, coping with holiday problems.

GCSE Course: French Specification A: Code: 3651
Examination Board: AQA
Year 10 French

Encore Tricolore 4 Chapters 1-51.

1. Asking for and giving personal information, getting to know someone you meet, spelling, counting and understanding simple statistics, understanding information about family life in France, talking about yourself and your family, discussing relationships, writing to a French penfriend, buying stamps in a French post office, phoning from France, talking about everyday life, describing things and people, including their character, appearance and clothes, making social contacts and greeting people, discussing other countries, especially in Europe, arranging to see someone again and making plans to keep in contact by phone or letter
2. Describing towns, places of interest and their location, asking for, understanding and giving directions in town, describing a recent visit to a theme park, talking about the countryside, discussing living in town or the country, asking for and giving details about rooms and houses, talking about furniture, fittings and household equipment, discussing environmental themes
3. Talking about different ways of crossing the Channel, discussing and comparing different means of transport, describing public transport in your area, describing a journey, buying petrol, reporting a breakdown and understanding information about driving in France, describing an event or a situation in the past, finding out about travel by bus and metro and discussing city transport, finding out about travel by train, finding out about travel by air and confirming times, discussing fears and anxieties
4. Talking about the future and discussing future plans, planning an exchange visit, talking about what to take to France, asking and answering questions when staying with a family and knowing what to say in everyday situations, recognising formal and informal language, coping with language problems, talking about household tasks, thanking people, discussing household tasks, looking after a French guest in your home, reporting and describing lost property
5. Talking about daily routine, giving and exchanging opinions about school life, saying what must and mustn’t be done (including school rules, etc), describing what you did at the weekend, planning a shopping trip and changing money, shopping for clothes, souvenirs, etc, describing faulty good and obtaining a refund, exchanging opinions about fashion trends
   
   Year 11 French
   Encore Tricolore 4 Chapters 6 - 10
6. Talking about meals and eating habits, discussing healthy eating, shopping for food, exchanging opinions about jobs in the food industry, ordering and paying for drinks and snacks in a café, exchanging opinions on fast food, choosing a restaurant and ordering a meal, dealing with problems when buying drinks or meals, expressing opinions about picnics.
7. Discussing leisure interests, talking about an event you have attended, discussing sport and describing your interests and preferences, finding out and discussing the French press, finding out about events and leisure facilities, discussing what to do, talking about the cinema, describing and discussing films, enquiring about tickets and times, booking or buying tickets, making excuses and apologising, giving simple explanations, discussing books and reading, describing a book you have read.
8. Discussing different types of holidays and expressing preferences, talking about holiday plans for the future, understanding holiday information, obtaining information from a tourist office, booking accommodation at a hotel, sorting out arrangements and dealing with problems at a hotel, discussing the weather and understanding weather forecasts, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of camping, organising and describing a camping holiday, staying in a youth hostel and finding out about facilities, talking about a recent holiday.
9. Understanding and discussing minor health problems, consulting a chemist and buying common medicines, describing parts of the body and indicating pain or injury, giving details about an accident (location, details of injuries etc.), understanding information about first aid, arranging to see a doctor or a dentist and describing symptoms, understanding information about AIDS, talking about how you and others feel, discussing well-being, depression and stress, discussing smoking, comparing past with present lifestyles, understanding information about the dangers of drugs, discussing healthy life-styles and general fitness.
10. Discussing the future and making predictions, talking about exams including tips for revising, discussing future study and training, discussing work experience, jobs and choice of careers, understanding advertisements for jobs, understanding and using the language of the world of work and IT, discussing changes in the world of work, discussing unemployment and ideas for getting a job in the future, expressing your own opinions, discussing the national lottery, discussing pocket money and part-time jobs, discussing holiday work in France, planning a CV and writing a letter of application for a job.

German
Year 9 German
Lernpunkt Deutsch 1

Greetings phrases, colours, European countries, saying where you live, opinion about where you live, German alphabet.

Counting from 0-1000, age and birthday, classroom vocabulary, plurals.

Family members, describing people, pets.

Types of houses, description of rooms and furniture, more colours.

Telling the time, days of the week, school subjects, school timetable, saying which subjects you like and why.

Identifying places around town, say where places are, understanding and giving directions, describing your town.

Talking about leisure activities and hobbies, saying how often you do your hobbies.

Weather and the seasons, climates in German speaking countries, festivals in German speaking countries.

Breakfast food and drink, lunch and evening meals, using German money, ordering snacks and drinks, saying what you like to eat, healthy foods.

Money in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, buying goods, saying what you like and don’t like, giving opinions about clothing.

Time and daily routine, television and types of programmes, talking about radio and music, giving your opinion, saying what you like best and what you like least.

Saying what you have learnt in school, saying what you have done in your spare time, saying where you have been and when, past tense verbs.

GCSE course Specification A: Code: 3661
Examination Board: AQA.

Year 10 German
Lernpunkt Deutsch 2

Describing and asking about journeys, saying what you would like to do, saying what you are allowed to do, talking about routines.

Talking about your home area, making comparisons about other countries, talking about yourself and other people, talking about your hobbies.

Talking about free time activities, talking about transport, asking for information at the tourist office, asking for public transport information and buying tickets, describing a trip.

Talking about pocket money, talking about part-time jobs and getting money, talking about spending and saving habits, changing money and asking about exchange rates.

Talking about the future, expressing uncertainty, talking about career paths, talking about specific jobs and reasons for being interested in them, talking about hopes and ambitions.

Naming parts of the body, getting and giving medical advice, discussing attitudes to health and fitness, talking about injuries and how they occurred.

Giving and accepting invites, making excuses, saying what you would rather be doing, saying what you would like to do the most, making arrangements, discussing superstitions, talking about activities that have happened in the pas.

tReporting lost property, describing lost property, trying on, discussing and buying clothing, discussing clothes worn for a variety of occasions.

Discussing a guest list, making party plans, allocating tasks, giving and going to a party, talking about good and bad parties you have been to.

Understanding formal accounts of past events, talking about life in a foreign country and being a foreigner, talking about stereotypes and visiting Germany.

Un Cabaret Continental 2008

Year 11 German
Lernpunkt Deutsch 3

The language of the classroom, commenting on school subjects, commenting on the school day and school routine, describing and commenting on school uniform, giving opinions about school.

Discussing hobbies and free time activities, comparing then and now, talking about music, radio and television, discussing the future of television, making suggestions for free time activities, accepting and declining, describing how to make journeys, talking about past activities, describing an evening in or out.

Talking about members of your family and how you all get along, talking about pocket money and part-time jobs, commenting on how you spend your money and what you save for, talking about home life and chores, discussing what other people do/don’t do.

Buying clothes, commenting on clothes and saying what wear on different occasions, talking about illness and medical treatment, expressing attitudes to health and fitness, talking about accidents and injuries.

Talking about food preferences and how they develop, food hygiene, talking about different shops and buying food items, eating meals at home and out, ordering a meal in a restaurant, discussing the dangers associated with drugs, smoking and alcohol, talking about healthy eating and living.

Asking for information at the tourist office and asking about accommodation, changing money and buying stamps, buying petrol and dealing with mechanical problems, talking about lost property items, talking about holidays, including what went wrong.

Talking about work experience choices, talking about how your work experience went, talking about jobs and possible career choices, talking about decisions for the future.

Asking for, giving and understanding directions, describing the position of places, describing journeys and means of transport, describing holiday destinations, activities and giving opinions, talking about your home area and giving your opinion about it.

Looking at job adverts, applying for jobs, the language of the workplace, talking about ambition.

Expressing views on global issues, expressing views on the environment, expressing hopes, dreams and wishes for the future, understanding news items and formal prose.

Year 9 Spanish
Listos 1

Meeting, greeting and saying goodbye, exchanging of names in Spanish, talking about how people are, saying what you have in your rucksack, asking and giving ages, naming things in the classroom, the alphabet.

Saying your nationality and where you are from, saying where you live and what languages you speak, talking about your family, talking about pets, describing your eyes and hair, describing your size and colouring.

Talking about school subjects, giving opinions, asking and saying the time, talking about meal times, describing your school, saying how you get to school.

Talking about your home and saying where it is, describing your house, describing the rooms in your house, describing your bedroom, talking about your daily routine.

Saying where you are going, giving and understanding directions, giving more detailed directions, talking about distance, describing your town, talking about the weather.

Talking about sports, talking about what you like doing in your free time, talking about what you do during the week and at weekends, arranging to go out, saying what you are going to do at the weekend, saying how you help at home.

GCSE course Specification A: Code: 3691
Examination Board: AQA
Year 10 Spanish

Listos 2

1. Describing yourself, using adverbs to describe routine and free-time activities, introducing family members, asking for and saying what you need, talking about buying gifts for people; describing personalities, writing thank you letters, understanding personal information: introductory letters from penfriends.
2. Saying what you eat and when; expressing opinions, saying what type of food you like and why, talking about the weights and prices (€) of fruit and vegetables, buying food and drink in a shop, say that you are hungry / thirsty and order tapas and drinks, talking about healthy eating, understand a longer text about Christmas in Spain.
3. Saying what people are wearing and comparing items of clothing, saying what clothes you like and what suits you; using demonstrative adjectives, trying on clothes and giving opinions, describe clothing and say what you are going to wear, describing and expressing opinions about school uniform, saying in which shops you can buy common items, reading a personal style quiz from a magazine.
4. Asking what is of interest in a place and what you can do there, say where you go on holiday and what you do there, saying where you went, what for and who with, saying where other people went (and why, when and how they went), saying what you did on holiday, saying what other people did on holiday, reading a diary entry about a trip to Cuba.
5. Making arrangements to go out, giving opinions about types of films, buying cinema tickets, describing an event in the present tense, describing an event in the past, describing what things were like, reading a longer text about famous footballers.
6. Saying what hurts and asking others, asking / complaining about ailments using tener and estar, buying things at the chemist’s and giving medical advice, saying how long you have been doing something; general advice, talking about healthy living, reading a longer interview with a sporting champion.

Year 11
Listos 3

1. Introducing yourself and giving family information, describing people, marital status, children, etc. nationality, introducing people, describing where you live, describing your house/flat and its contents, describing the town / area where you live, expressing opinions about places, making comparisons between places, describing weather and climate.
2. Revising school subjects and the timetable, expressing likes and dislikes, classroom instructions, classroom vocabulary, school uniform and expressing opinions,
   describing school buildings and facilities, expressing opinions about school and giving reasons, opinions (afortunadamente and desafortunadamente), describing daily routine, talking about extra-curricular activities, describing the activities you do at school, talking about holiday plans, describing a school of the future.
3. Ordering a meal in a restaurant, revising places in town, revising describing the weather, asking for tourist information, understanding weather forecasts, understanding descriptions of Spanish festivals, booking a table and ordering a meal, problems and complaints in a restaurant, reading about holidays, describing what you did on holiday.
4. Finding your way around a railway station, buying train and underground tickets, asking for information about underground travel, expressing opinions about travel and transport, describing transport in the local area, describing a difficult journey, reporting car breakdowns and road accidents, describing what happened in an accident, reporting what you and others were doing, describing traffic problems.
5. Booking hotel accommodation, arriving at a campsite, checking into a hotel or campsite, describing lost property, making complaints in a hotel.
6. Describing part-time jobs, saying how you spend your money, describing work experience, discussing the pros and cons of work experience, describing lifestyle, giving and receiving health advice.
7. Expressing opinions and preferences about shopping, buying food, buying clothes, making a complaint about a purchase, reporting a shopping trip.
8. Inviting somebody out, taking phone messages, accepting and declining invitations, reading and discussing newspapers, magazines and comics, giving information about famous people, expressing opinions about a film or event describing the plot of a soap opera.
9. Describing problems at home and school, discussing the dangers of drug dependency, describing environmental problems and solutions, saying what you do for the environment
10. Revising school subjects and jobs, discussing the options for further study, discussing school rules,talking about career choices, making a job application, talking about plans for the future, discussing marriage and children.

AS/A2 New Specification starting September 2008

What you need to know:

Units of Assessment for AS

At the end of the first year you will be assessed in two units:

Units of Assessments for A2

At the end of the second year you will be assessed in two further units:

Course Content

For more precise detail of the areas topics covered, please go to the following webpage:

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/french_new.php

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/german_new.php

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/spanish_new.php

AS Unit 1

a) Media

Television

Advertising

Communication technology

b) Popular culture

Cinema

Music

Fashions/trends

c) Healthy living/Lifestyle

Sport/Exercise

Health and well-being

Holidays

 d) Family/relationships

Relations within the family

Friendships

Marriage/partnerships

From teenage years to adulthood

AS Unit 2 Speaking test

The same topics are covered in Unit 2 as those covered in Unit 1.

1.  Stimulus material (20 minutes preparation)

The card will contain mainly visual material.  There will be a choice of two cards. There will be some questions on the card.  The candidate will be expected to respond to the material and comment on related issues. (5 minutes)

2. Conversation

Topics covered will be three of the four covered in Unit 1 (10 minutes)

A2 Unit 3

Environment

• Pollution
• Energy
• Protecting the planet

The multicultural society

• Immigration
• Integration
• Racism

Contemporary social issues

• Wealth and poverty
• Law and order
• Impact of scientific and technological progress

Cultural topic

• A target language-speaking region/community
• A period of 20th century history from a target language-speaking country/community
• The work of an author from a target language-speaking country/community
• The work of a dramatist or poet from a target language-speaking country/community
• The work of a director, architect, musician or painter from a target language-speaking country/community

Unit 4   Speaking test

The oral will cover the topics you have studied in Unit 3

20 minutes preparation

Discussion of a stimulus card  -   Choice of two cards -  5 minutes

Conversation - The conversation will cover both Cultural Topics studied by the candidate - 10 minutes

Un Cabaret Continental 2008