Modern Foreign Languages

We are passionate linguists who strongly believe that learning other languages is a vital life skill for our students in today’s global society.  English is not enough!  Only 19% of the global population are English speakers and learning Spanish or French at Carshalton Boys enables pupils to discover other rich cultural heritages while simultaneously learning to communicate with over 900 million people worldwide.

As a department, our aim is to provide each student with a valuable, enjoyable, challenging and inspiring language experience.  We want our students to develop a passion for learning foreign languages and a sympathetic approach to other cultures in order to become empowered and successful global citizens of the 21st century.

We strongly believe that learning languages is a vital part of the curriculum and helps develop many transferable and life-long learning skills, such as problem solving and decision making. It also opens many doors to a vast array of career opportunities, including internationally, and combines well with all other subjects.  In addition, learning languages helps to foster essential values such as open-mindedness, acceptance and tolerance.

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum is exciting, accessible, relevant and fun!

In years 7, 8 and 9, our students study either Spanish or French and we aim to develop skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students learn to use linguistic knowledge and skills to understand and communicate effectively in the language they learn. Using sentence builders, they practise chunks of language and are shown how language works, how to use familiar language for new purposes and in new contexts, to recognize that languages differ but may share common grammatical, syntactical, lexical or even semantic features. They are encouraged to use their imagination to express opinions, experiences and feelings. But most importantly our students are guided, through language acquisition, to appreciate the richness and diversity of other cultures.

GCSE Spanish and French are popular options at CBSC, and we follow the AQA specifications.  In years 10 and 11 we aim to give our students the opportunities to develop their ability to communicate effectively through both the spoken and written word, to enhance their application of grammar in the target language and provide a suitable foundation for further study and/or practical use of the modern foreign language.  Assessment is one hundred percent examination at the end of year 11 and the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing each have equal weighting.

We also encourage our students to take GCSE examinations in other languages within the curriculum which are not formally taught at Carshalton Boys, but which the pupils have previously acquired, e.g. Portuguese, Polish, Urdu, etc.

AS/A level Spanish and French offers students the opportunity to build on the knowledge they have acquired at GCSE and develop this knowledge in order to communicate confidently, clearly and effectively through both the spoken and written word. They also gain a critical insight into the culture and background of the Hispanic/Francophone world by studying an exciting range of contemporary and historic topics, such as sexual equality and cinema.  Students also have the opportunity for full immersion in Spain where they stay with local families in Malaga and carry out work experience in the language school.

Enrichment and extra-curricular activities

We actively encourage our students to take their learning outside the classroom and as such offer an exciting range of extra-curricular opportunities. Our football language workshops are popular, as students practise football skills alongside learning relevant language.  Cooking and creativity are combined in our annual MFL Bake-off, and some pupils become teachers as they plan and deliver language lessons to local primary schools.  Specialist film days at the British Film Institute are also on offer across all key stages.  In addition, our residential trips to Spain and France are highly anticipated, where students are immersed into the culture through activities such as flamenco workshops, and develop their confidence and language skills through interaction with teenagers from the local school.

Support within Modern Foreign Languages

We provide extensive support for students in each Key Stage and run several lunch time and after school catch up and support sessions for students who may need a little extra help or time, and for those who want to boost and extend their skills further.  In addition, our A-level students offer in class support to younger students as well as one to one intensive support for year 11 students preparing for exams.

Subject Leader

Liza Thomas

lthomas@carshaltonboys.org