Modern Languages

Overview

At St Columbanus’ College we offer French and Spanish as part of the entitlement framework at Key Stage Three and Key Stage Four.

Staff

Mrs McCullough (HOD- French & Spanish)

Mrs Phoenix (French & Spanish)

Mrs Morrison

Key Stage Three

There are three periods of French and three periods of Spanish per week in years 8 and 9. At the end of year 9 pupils choose their preferred language to continue studying in Year 10. Year 10 students get three periods of language per week. Our classrooms are vibrant positive learning environments equipped with Interactive Whiteboards and the most up-to-date foreign language resources. We also subscribe to Linguascope, an interactive language learning website which our students can avail of both in school and at home.

Language Events

For our year 8 students we run a language club once a week. This is an excellent opportunity for year 8 students to make new friends and develop an interest in language learning.

Each year in the last week of September we run a European Quiz and Continental Breakfast for our Year 9 language students to celebrate the European Day of Languages.

Year 8

Our students are introduced to both French and Spanish. Throughout their first year in our college each child develops their oral, listening, reading and writing skills in each language.

Greetings and numbers
All about me
My Family
Animals
Countries and Nationalities

Year 9

Building upon the knowledge and skills acquired in year 8, our year 9 students further their language studies in the following contexts of learning:

Daily routine and time
School
Hobbies and leisure activities
Town and directions
Food and Drink

Year 10

In Year 10 students have four periods of their chosen modern language each week. This extra time allows subject teachers to further develop the language skills of each individual.

Throughout the school year students study the following contexts of learning:

House and home
Daily routine
Holidays
Clothes and Shopping
Health

At the end of Year 10, students have the option to choose to study either French or Spanish in depth at GCSE level.

GCSE

We offer both French and Spanish at GCSE level. Both courses build upon the content covered in Key Stage Three. Our students currently follow the CCEA Revised GCSE Specifications in French and Spanish. Students are assessed in four skills: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. All four exams are completed in May/June of Year 12.

Contexts for Learning

The two year course covers three Contexts for Learning:

Identity, Lifestyle and Culture
Local, National, International and Global Areas of Interest
School Life, Studies and the World of Work

Foreign Language Assistants

Our foreign language assistants are an extremely invaluable resource and work closely with our GCSE students to improve their fluency and intonation in preparation for GCSE speaking assessments.