Aiming High
Modern Foreign Languages
Curriculum Intent
We believe that learning a language is vital in order to develop citizens who can compete in an increasingly globalised workplace. In the MFL faculty here at the Wren school we aim to:
• Nurture global citizens, who appreciate the value of a culturally diverse society and who can leave school equipped with the skills to work in a variety of cultural contexts.
• Challenge students to communicate in another language and think in new ways.
• Inspire a love of language learning and an intellectual curiosity about how language can both influence and be influenced by a diversity of culture.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” ‒Nelson Mandela
Curriculum Information
Year 7
All students study one language (Spanish) in year 7.
This is me
Students learn the basics of how to introduce themselves and give basic information about name, age, personality, their passions and their family members and pets.
This is us
Students start with a project about animals and being able to describe them in detail. They then move on to learn to describe their school and their enjoyment of it. They also develop their understanding of basic present tense verbs.
Genius of the Past
Students complete a research project about Geniuses of the Past in the Spanish speaking world as part of their extended learning. They learn to express opinions about their free time activities and reinforce their understanding of present tense verbs.
Inventions of the future
Students learn to talk about their families in more detail including physical descriptions, hair and eye colour. They also learn to describe where they live. The grammar focus is on adjectival agreement throughout. At the end of term they work towards creating their ideal town/city. This project also leads into the start of the following term.
Power of humans
Students learn to describe their town in more detail and talk about the importance of being a responsible citizen. They finish designing their ideal towns. They learn to tell the time in Spanish and how to order food in a restaurant. They finish the term learning about how to construct the future tense.
The power of the earth
Students learn to talk about their holidays and how to be a responsible tourist. Students create posters detailing these responsibilities. Students describe a holiday in the past and start to identify the differences in how to construct three tenses in their work.
Year 8
Spanish – All students
My values
Students will learn to talk about the things that are important to them and what they do on a day to day basis. They will talk about going to the cinema, reading and how they celebrate birthdays. They will also recap the grammar of the preterite, near future and present tenses.
Family values
Students will learn to talk about the world of work and the importance of this in family life. Students will talk about what they want to do in the future and describing a typical day. They will continue to practice using three tenses.
Clashes of culture
Students will learn about the colonisation of South America and how this has influenced how we see the country today. They will also learn to discuss a healthy diet, and how to have one and they will learn to describe their daily routine – including reflective verbs.
A Celebration of culture
Students will discuss how multiculuralism has brought many positives to life in our country. Students will start to learn about how to talk about their rights and fair trade. They will discuss how to recycle and learn to use the imperfect tense.
The power of technology
Students will discuss how to use the power of their voice in class discussions, based on the work from the previous term.
Students will learn to describe an adventure in Spain and learn to use the comparative and the superlative. They will learn 2nd future tense (simple future) and some of the “tener” odd phrases.
The power of my voice
Students will use the power of their voices to plan and teach a lesson based on their weakest topic or skill from this academic year.
Extra Curricular Activities
The MFL department runs a French club where students have been allowed to choose the topics they want to learn about.
These will not run during COVID-19 restrictions.