Skip to content ↓

Central Foundation Girls’ School

25-33 Bow Road, London, E3 2AE0208 981 1131

Modern Foreign Languages

The aim of the MFL Faculty is to provide an enriching experience of language learning. We endeavour to develop interest and high levels of competency in French, Spanish or Bengali in all our students. Furthermore, we aim to develop in our students a wider cultural awareness and a deeper appreciation and understanding of the world around them.

We aim to equip them with life-long learning skills, with a particular focus on communication; written, verbal and aural, as well as working collaboratively. These skills are transferable both across the curriculum and in the working world, enabling students to enter employment more confidently.

We endeavour to create a varied and nurturing learning environment within which all students are able to progress and achieve to the best of their ability.

KEY STAGE 3 CURRICULUM

In Year 7, students are offered the choice of studying French, Spanish or Bengali. They can also attend Bengali club after school, to prepare them to choose it as an option at GCSE, should they so wish.

YEAR 7
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1 &  2: ‘Je me présente’ (French) / ‘me presento’ (Spanish) Students are introduced to the building blocks of French  or Spanish. They learn to introduce and give personal details about themselves, to count, and to say the alphabet. French students are introduced to French phonics, which will help support their pronunciation.     Assessment: Reading and Writing
Spring 1:  ‘Les descriptons’ (French) / ‘Las descripciones’  (Spanish) Students learn to describe themselves and others. They learn to use adjectival agreements correctly and to use the key verbs AVOIR / ÊTRE / TENER/SER. They are introduced to connectives to enable them to extend and link sentences.Assessment: Listening and Speaking
Spring 2 + Summer 1: ‘Chez moi’ (French)  /  ‘En casa’ (Spanish) Students learn to describe where they live, and to describe their home and bedroom in detail. They learn to express opinions and to justify their opinions with reasons. They are now listening to more extended aural extracts, and are able to tackle more complex reading texts.Assessment: Reading and Writing 
Summer 2: Film based project Students apply all their learning from the year in project learning. They watch a target language film for the first time, and profile the characters. They create dialogues to supplement the film, and produce storyboards of the plot. They give and justify their opinion of the film and use intensifiers to extend their opinions.

 

YEAR 8
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1 + Autumn 2: ‘Mon temps libre’ (French) / ‘Mi tiempo libre’ (Spanish) Students describe what they like to do in their free time. They are introduced to adverbs of time and frequency to enable them to explain when and how frequently they do their hobbies. They learn to conjugate verbs in the present tense. Students are now able to write at greater length, and develop their answers subordinate clauses.Assessment: Reading and Writing
Spring 1 + Spring 2: ‘Les vacances’ (French) /   ‘Las Vacaciones’ (Spanish) Students learn to describe and discuss holiday preferences and experiences. They are introduced to examples of the past tense using ER (Fr) /AR (Sp) verbs. They extend their opinions with increasingly complex justifications.Assessment: Listening and Speaking
Summer 1 + Summer 2: ‘Mon collège’ (French) / ‘Mi colegio’ (Spanish) Students learn to understand and give information about their school, the subjects they study, and their plans for future study. They watch a film in the target language and compare its portrayal of a school in France / Spain to their own experience.Assessment: Reading and Writing (May) Listening and Speaking (June)

 

YEAR 9
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1+2: ‘Ma ville (French) / 'Mi barrio' (Spanish) Students describe their neighbourhood in detail, and debate the advantages and disadvantages of their area. They are introduced to the conditional tense to express what facilities they would like to have in their area. They study the past tense of all verbs, and explain what they did recently in their area.Assessment: Reading and Listening (October) Speaking and Writing (December)
Spring 1+2, Summer 1:‘Mon avenir’ (French) /  'Mi futuro' (Spanish) Students discuss their plans for the future, including what they are going to study for GCSE, their plans for university, and their future career. They are able to use the future tense confidently to express their plans.Assessment: Reading and Writing (March) Speaking and Listening (May)
Summer 2: Magazine Project Students are exposed to different examples of French media, and give their opinions about them. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of new technology, and give their preferences about genres of film / television / music. They then create a class magazine, contributing articles individually or in groups.

Modern Foreign Languages KS3 Assessement guide HERE

KEY STAGE 4 CURRICULUM

In Year 10, students are able to choose French, Spanish or Bengali as one of their options.  The four skills (Listening / Reading / Speaking / Writing) are equally weighted and all are assessed in final examinations at the end of Year 11.  

The exam board is Edexcel.

YEAR 10 FRENCH
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1: ‘Qui suis-je?’ Students will discuss family and friends, and what is important for them in a friend. They will identify and explain their role models. They will revise the future tense to be able to make plans, and describe an evening with friends in the passé compose (perfect) tense.Assessment: Reading and Writing
Autumn 2: ‘Ma vie quotidienne’ Students will talk about what sports they do, and the importance of physical activity. They will discuss their music, film and TV preferences, and describe what technology they use and their activities online. They will write a review of a chosen book, film or TV programme.Assessment: Reading and Writing
Spring 1: ‘Jours ordinaires, jours de fête’ Students will describe their daily routine, and what they normally eat. They will then contrast this with family celebrations, where they will describe how typically the celebrate big festivals. They will use the perfect and imperfect tenses to narrate a recent event.Assessment: Reading and Writing
Spring 2: ‘De la ville à la campagne’ Students will describe their local area, and debate its advantages and disadvantages. They will use transactional language to ask for directions and information in a tourist office. They will describe a community project they hope to complete / have completed.Assessment: Speaking  and Listening
Summer 1: ‘La grand large’ Students will describe their dream holidays and recent experiences. They will use transactional language to books hotels, report problems, order food and drink in restaurants and buy souvenirs.Assessment: Speaking and Listening
Summer 2: Exam skills focus Students will revisit topics from the year and consolidate the grammar covered. There will be an exam skills focus, with particular emphasis on the speaking exam.

 

YEAR 10 SPANISH
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1: ‘¡Desconéctate!’ Students will describe their holiday preferences and recent experiences. They will use transactional language to books hotels and report problems. They will revise the preterit and be introduced to the imperfect for the first time.Assessment: Speaking and Listening
Autumn 2: ‘Mi vida en el insti’ Students will discuss their school subjects and their school. They will talk about rules and give their opinions of them. They will describe a school trip they have participated in, using the preterit tense.Assessment: Reading and Writing
Spring 1: ‘Mi gente’ Students will learn to discuss the social networks they use, and debate the advantages and dangers of online behaviours. They will learn to use the present continuous tense to describe what they are doing and to make plans.                                           Assessment: Reading and Writing
Spring 2: ‘Intereses y influencias’ Students will describe their free time activities and sports, and use ‘soler’ to say what they usually do. They will discuss different types of entertainment and say who inspires them and why.                                                                                                          Assessment: Speaking and Listening
Summer 1: ‘Cuidades’ Students will describe their local area, and debate its advantages and disadvantages. They will use transactional language to complete shopping conversations and explain problems. Assessment: Speaking and Listening
Summer 2: Exam skills focus Students will revisit topics from the year and consolidate the grammar covered. There will be an exam skills focus, with particular emphasis on the speaking exam.

 

YEAR 11 FRENCH
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1: ‘Au collège’
 		 Students learn to describe their school and talk about their studies and future plans. They debate the advantages and disadvantages of their school and they compare British schools with French schools. They will draw on their knowledge of French schools gained from watching ‘Entre Les Murs’ – a docu-film.                                               Assessment: Listening / Reading and Writing controlled assessment
Autumn 2: ‘Bon travail’   Students will discuss career choices and what is important for them in a job. Students will learn key language used for applying to jobs. They will look at some cases studies of careers in Languages.Assessment: Listening / Reading and Speaking controlled assessment
Spring 1: ‘Un œil sur le monde’ Students will discuss the current problems facing the world, with a particular focus on environmental problems. They will discuss what we can do to better protect the environment. They will look at ethical shopping. They will talk about volunteering and its benefits.Assessment: Listening, Reading and Writing
Spring 2 + Summer 1: ‘Révision’ Students will revisit topics from the year and consolidate the grammar covered. There will be an exam skills focus, with particular emphasis on the speaking exam.

 

YEAR 11 SPANISH
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1 – ‘De costumbre’ Students will discuss Spanish festivals and celebrations and the festivals that are important to them. They will describe what they do and eat on these days. They will look at a case study of a music festival in Spain.Assessment: Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing
Autumn 2 –  ‘A currar’ Students will discuss career choices and what is important for them in a job. Students will learn key language used for applying to jobs. They will look at some cases studies of careers in Languages.Assessment: Listening, Reading and Writing
Spring 1– ‘Hacía un mundo mejor’ Students will discuss the current problems facing the world, with a particular focus on environmental problems. They will discuss what we can do to better protect the environment. They will look at ethical shopping. They will talk about volunteering and its benefits.Assessment: Listening, Reading and Writing
Spring 2 /  Summer 1 –  Revision Students will revisit topics from the year and consolidate the grammar covered. There will be an exam skills focus, with particular emphasis on the speaking exam.

 

YEAR 10 BENGALI
TERM AND COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Autumn 1 – Identity and Culture Describing Myself, Relationships with family and friends. Future plans regarding: marriage/partnership,Assessment:  End of topic test  (Listening ,Reading, and Speaking and writing)
Autumn 2 – Identity and Culture Technology in everyday life, Advantages and disadvantages of new technology, Free time activities and various customs and festivals Assessment:  End of topic test  (Listening ,Reading, and Speaking and writing)
Spring 1 – Local, National and Global Areas of Interest Social issues  - Healthy and unhealthy lifestyles and their consequences
  • Charity and voluntary works
Assessment:  End of topic test  (Listening ,Reading, and Speaking and writing)
Spring 2 - Local, National and Global Areas of Interest Home, Town, Neighbourhood and region, Special occasions celebrated in the home, where it is and what it are like.Assessment:  End of topic test  (Listening ,Reading, and Speaking and writing)
Summer 1 – Current and Future Study and Employment My life at school and college and daily routineAssessment:  End of topic test  (Listening ,Reading, and Speaking and writing)
Summer 2 - Home and Environment Job , Career choices and ambitions and Future planAssessment:  End of topic test  (Listening ,Reading, and Speaking and writing)

 

YEAR 11 BENGALI
Autumn 1:  Environment Current problems facing the planet. Being environmentally friendly within the home and local area.                                                                                              Assessment:  End of topic test   (Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing)
Autumn 2:   Work and Education School/College and Future Plans; What school/college is like; Pressures and problems. Assessment:  End of topic test  (Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing)
Spring 1:   Current and Future Jobs Looking for and getting a job; Advantages and disadvantages of different jobs. Assessment:  End of topic test   (Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing)
Spring 2: Revision  External GCSE exams: Listening, Reading, Speaking and WritingThe exam board is AQA.

KEY STAGE 5 CURRICULUM

In Year 12, students are offered the choice of studying French, Spanish or Bengali.  Bengali is offered through after school club only and is not taught in curriculum time. Speaking is more heavily weighted at GCE level.  The exam board is AQA.

COURSE TITLE DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Aspects of French-speaking society: current trends
  • La famille en voie de changement
  • Grands-parents, parents et enfants – soucis et problèmes
  • Monoparentalité, homoparentalité, familles recomposées
  • La vie de couple – nouvelles tendances
  • La « cyber-société »
  • Qui sont les cybernautes ?
  • Comment la technologie facilite la vie quotidienne
  • Quels dangers la « cyber-société » pose-t-elle ?
  • Le rôle du bénévolat
  • Qui sont et que font les bénévoles ?
  • Le bénévolat – quelle valeur pour ceux qui sont aidés ?
  • Le bénévolat – quelle valeur pour ceux qui aident ?
Assessment: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing
Artistic culture in the French-speaking world
  • Une culture fière de son patrimoine culturel
  • Le patrimoine sur le plan national, régional et local
  • Comment le patrimoine reflète la culture
  • Le patrimoine et le tourisme
  • La musique francophone contemporaine
  • La diversité de la musique francophone contemporaine
  • Qui écoute et apprécie cette musique ?
  • Comment sauvegarder cette musique ?
  • Cinéma – le septième art
  • Pourquoi le septième art ?
  • Le cinéma – une passion nationale ?
  • Evolution du cinéma – les grandes lignes
Assessment: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing
Film Study: La Haine
  • Expliquez la phrase, ‘la haine attire la haine’.
  • C’est un film qui condamne ou encourage la violence ?
  • Comment Kassovitz brouille-t-il les limites entre la réalité et la fiction ?
  • C’est un film optimiste ou pessimiste ?
  • « La Haine » : jusqu’à quel point reflète-il la réalité de la vie de la banlieue ? Quel est l’importance du fait que les trois personnages principaux du film sont tous représentants de groupes minoritaires : un juif, un beur et un noir ?
Assessment: Writing

Please contact us at - MFL@central.towerhamlets.sch.uk

 

WHO IS IN THE TEAM?

All the teachers are dynamic teachers and languages specialists with native fluency.

Ms. L. Berson, Key Stage Coordinator for MFL/ Head of MFL

Ms. E. Macpherson, Head of MFL 

Ms. C. Luino Caroline , Teacher of MFL

Ms. R. Ramirez,   Teacher of Spanish

Ms. S. Shamsad, Teacher of Bengali

Mr. J-F Darmon-Shimamori, Teacher of French and Spanish

Ms. L. Coriolles, Teacher of  French and Spanish

Ms. J. Winslow, Teacher of French and Spanish

Cookie Policy