For further information about Spanish at St John's please contact P Robertson (probertson@stjohnsrc.org.uk)
Curriculum information
Year 7 Spanish and French
TERM 1- Your son/daughter will embark on the transition from Primary both in body and linguistically. They will learn how to describe themselves and family members in Spanish/French, explore the wonderful, exciting world that being a Spanish/French speaker affords you by looking at life and customers in Spain or France.
TERM 2- Now that confidence is high both orally and in written form your son/daughter will expand their Spanish/French knowledge and culture by working to describe life in either France or Spain. Students will describe hobbies, sports, and the life of a celebrity. Your son/daughter will also describe their own home and local area.
TERM 3- With Spanish/French summer sun arriving to Bishop Auckland in time for the summer term, students will look at expanding their grammatical knowledge and display a fair and fluidity in written and spoken Spanish/French based around everything they do for fun in their free time and school.
Year 8 Spanish and French
TERM 1 – Now that confidence has been built in the language it is time to turn your hand to grammar, students spend the first term getting to grips with a various range of tenses to allow them to use the building blocks of either language to lay the foundations for future success, students will study holidays in French and all the delights of Spanish cuisine will be studied and tested in Spanish lessons.
TERM 2 – With the new GCSE in mind and a move to terminal exams, students will spend this term building in skills that will help them to progress in these vital examinations. All four key skills will be covered and extra skills such as translation and dictation will be added to help our linguists flourish.
TERM 3 – Another stepping stone , French students will enjoy the delights of learning about famous French cuisine in a term filled with everything they could need to make the most of their French holiday, likewise in Spanish students are firmly focused on all things holiday and what the summer will bring.
Spanish Exchange – Zaragoza - All students studying either Spanish or French are eligible to undertake the opportunity of a lifetime, to receive a Spanish student into your home for a week and to live for a week in the beautiful city of Zaragoza and attend school as a real Spanish student.
SPANISH YEAR 9
Learning Spanish is the perfect opportunity to get an insight into the wonderful Hispanic culture whilst working towards gaining a GSCE qualification which they will begin in Year 10. The art of communicating in a foreign language is of tremendous importance in the current job market and Spanish is today the second most spoken language in the world.
In Year 9 MFL lessons students have the opportunity to develop communication skills for everyday-life situations in different topics. Whether focusing on family and friends, technology and free time activities or festivals all students are preparing and developing their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills to complete exams in each skill area at the end of Year 11 (25% per skill). These skills are developed throughout Year 9 to best equip students for transition to GCSE.
The core contents are accompanied by group activities, games and audiovisual materials that also cover correlated cultural and historical issues of the Spanish speaking world. These include scheduled films and projects dealing with the Spanish and Salvadorian civil war, geographical settings of the Spanish community and different customs and traditions.
In addition to this, the modern foreign languages department is constantly working to enhance the extracurricular activities for those who want to practice their skills outside of the classroom. Spanish students can join the after school clubs, visits and exchanges through our work with our Spanish sister schools and International hub of MFL education.
Spanish KS4
Course Specification, (Exam Board, link to specification):
GCSE Spanish: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/spanish-8698/introduction
This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams at the end of the course. Students study all of the following themes on which the assessments are based.
Theme 1: Identity and culture
Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest
Theme 3: Current and future study and employment
Students are assessed in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing.