LANGUAGES, LITERACY AND COMMUNICATION INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES

Mission Statement:

AOLE Staff:

Keri Bosley: Director of Learning and Achievement LLC International Languages

Claire Harris: Deputy Director of Learning and Achievement LLC International Languages

Katie Jones: Deputy Director of Learning and Achievement LLC Cymraeg/ Welsh Bilingualism

Rebecca Holloway: International Languages

Kate Neill: International Languages

Valerie Carter: International Languages

Yufei Gao: Chinese Language and Culture

Year 7: Progression Step 3

Languages connect us:

I can understand that there are connections between language, culture, and identity and that these differ within Wales and around the world.

I can communicate in a growing range of languages.

I can recognise and discuss connections, commonalities, and differences between the languages I speak and those that I am learning.

I can understand how and why languages have evolved and are continually evolving.

I can recognise and respect different accents and dialects.

I can receive information in one language and adapt it for various purposes in another language.

Understanding languages is key to understanding the world around us

I can recognise high-frequency words and phrases and understand the general meaning in what I hear, read and see.

I can listen and read empathetically, recognising the differing opinions of others.

I can listen and read to build a bank of words and sentences and use these to improve my own communication.

I can listen and read to gain an understanding of how grammar and punctuation affect meaning.

Expressing ourselves through languages is key to communication

I can communicate using familiar phrases and sentences.

I am beginning to reflect on my language use in order to improve the quality of my communication.

I am beginning to interact with others, sharing information, feelings and opinions

I can construct my own sentences using the vocabulary and patterns I have learnt.

Literature fires imagination and inspires creativity

I can join in with familiar songs, rhymes, stories, and poems.

I can respond creatively in my language of choice to literature in the international language.

I can use familiar words and phrases and experiment with newly learned vocabulary to create work in the international language.

I can express my opinions in my language of choice supporting my views with examples from the literature I have heard, read, or viewed in the international language.

MAIN COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS IN YEAR 7

• DESCRIBING YOURSELF AND OTHER PEOPLE: talking about age, birthday, hair, and eyes

• INDICATING LOCATION: My cynefin and where I live/ where I am from/what connects us/ Francophonie

• DESCRIBING PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS: describing myself/ family members/ their ages/ and how I get along with others/counting

• EXPRESSING OPINIONS: why I like/ dislike others and things

• DESCRIBING PEOPLES’ ANIMALS AND ASKING QUESTIONS: talking about animals/ pets I have and pets I desire

• DESCRIBING PEOPLE, EXPRESSING OPINIONS, AND INDICATING LOCATION: saying what jobs people do, why they like/dislike them and where people work

• COMPARING AND CONTRASTING: comparing peoples’ appearance and personality

• SAYING WHAT YOU HAVE AND DESCRIBING OBJECTS: saying what’s in my school bag, my classroom, colours

• TALKING ABOUT FOOD: describing food and expressing opinions

Autumn Term 2022

Half-Term Monday 31st October 2022 to Friday 4th November 2022 18:Open My Eyes to the Francophone world project:what is la Francophone

Spring Term 2023

Summer Term 2022

Conti teaching methodology

The MARS/EARS method comes under the umbrella of communicative language teaching, which at its heart posits that language education should serve to fulfil real world communication tasks, rather than focus on teaching single words outside of any meaningful context (Conti, 2018). The acronym stands for the following stages, each designed to build up students’ abilities to carry out key communicative functions, as listed by Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983):

Modelling (using lexico-grammatical chunks in relevant contexts)

Awareness-raising (introducing students to patterns or rules in the chunks)

Receptive processing (intensive listening and reading practice using the chunks)

Structured production (scaffolded writing and speaking practice)

Expansion (recycling old chunks alongside new to provide a great depth of understanding and wider context)

Autonomy (intensive practice with the scaffolding slowly removed, intense retrieval practice)

Routinisation (recycling the chunks over the years through interleaving material)

Spontaneity (unplanned responses to unseen stimuli with little to no scaffolding)

Culture box lessons:

There are bespoke cultural lessons each half term delivered by the teacher. In Year 7 we study a French poem/ rhyme, a French song, a French festival, a French film and we also have an Arabic taster lesson to complement our work on French/Arabic speaking countries.

At the end of the year, we complete a taster course in German.

Open my eyes to the francophone world:

These are also bi-termly independent cultural projects, which can be completed by pupils at home each half term. The Year 7 themes are:

• What is French?
• What is La Francophonie?
• Foods of the francophone world
• The importance of the arts in France
• A brief history of France
• What do young francophones do?

LANGUAGES CLUBS

Our extra-curricular international language and culture clubs provide amazing opportunities for pupils to learn Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, German, Ancient Greek, and Latin. A timetable will be published at the start of the autumn term. All welcome!

Pupils are encouraged to participate in the National Spelling Bee competitions in French, German, and Welsh. We also participate in the MFL Mentoring Scheme.

We have a team of Pupil Language Ambassadors who support the work of the faculty.

Crickhowell holds the full British Council International Award and is a member of the Qatar Foundation International. We are an official Confucius Classroom and host British Council Chinese language assistants.

Year 8

Details to be added

Year 9

Details to be added

Pupils receive two hours of French per week

Year 10,11,12,13 ALL LANGUAGES:  EXISTING CONTENT ON SCHOOL WEBSITE IS VERY DETAILED, USER FRIENDLY AND PROFESSIONALLY SET OUT. WE NEED TO CHECK LINKS AND MAKE A FEW AMENDMENTS BUT THIS IS MAINLY UP TO DATE.