Curriculum intent
The study of a modern foreign languages at Tuxford Academy aims to promote a passion for language learning. It inspires an interest in culture and diversity, aiding students to become curious and confident language learners who are willing to make mistakes. They can listen, read, speak, translate and write in the target language and are confident in encountering new vocabulary. It aids young people to grasp the ever-changing world and understand those that they have yet to meet in their lifetime. It illustrates how to communicate, how to be culturally empathetic, how to manipulate a target language and, in turn, how to better understand their own. It builds on students’ linguistic capacity, as well as their capability to understand and communicate with people outside of their immediate context – a vital skill set to enable them to flourish in the world of work and beyond. Students will experience to cultural and personal development broaden horizons and minds.
“One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.”
– Frank Smith
Our curriculum in modern foreign languages at Tuxford Academy provides motivational opportunities that promote the love of learning a new language and scaffold students’ progress, both in their ability to read, write, listen, speak and translate in the target language, but also their understanding of shared key concepts. Our end goal is to ensure that students are developing linguistic skills and have secure knowledge that they can build on, to enable them to achieve or exceed their personal targets. For this reason, we strive for our key stage 3, 4 and 5 curriculums to be carefully interleaved and woven together to mirror the core skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking and translation), and knowledge needed for their academic and future career. Students gain confidence in the key language skills through deconstruction activities and by practising applying their skills in different contexts. They will gain the tools needed to promote independent production in active and passive skills (fluency, confidence, engagement and motivation).
Students build their knowledge base through regular memory retention exercises. Across language lessons, all students develop their verbal confidence as they practise their speaking skills in different forums, and this verbal confidence will help students to succeed beyond language lessons. Providing immersive learning opportunity is vital, and to maximise engagement and progress, we make cultural exploration a central feature of lessons and use age appropriate resources of contemporary relevance. We intend to give all students the opportunity to explore other cultures, via experiences in the classroom, such as through authentic literature and music from the target cultures and via trips to other countries, for example France. All students are given the opportunity to make use of the plethora of technology-based language learning available in class and for homework, for example those which promote vocabulary building, those that encourage development in the core skills and those which promote cultural exploration. Our modern foreign languages curriculum is ambitious yet supportive as we help students progress towards achieving their very best in their qualifications and beyond.
