Students should develop a competency across the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, achieved through a foundation of grammar, vocabulary and phonics. This allows them to express their own opinions on a range of different topics that is relevant to their lives. Students should be curious about the world around them which is developed through cultural aspects of learning a language.
Our curriculum aims is to create curious linguists, who can confidently recognise and apply the fundamental skills in a range of topics that relate to themselves and their own world. This is underpinned by the cultural elements, ranging from German festivals and traditions to comparing daily life in the UK to the German-speaking world. We feel that it is important to assess students throughout the year on different skills to consolidate their productive and receptive skills. This means that at KS3 and KS4, students will complete a variety of tasks within lessons and will be periodically assessed in reading, writing and translation, reading and speaking.
In Year 7 students study German after starting French and they have 5 lessons per fortnight. They are taught in form groups and the basics of a language are covered. We start with introducing yourself, then move onto family members and pets and finishing with free time activities. Throughout these topics, students will be introduced to key grammatical structures, such as the regular present tense in the singular paradigm and practise the phonics of the key sounds in German. They will also learn how to express positive and negative opinions within these topics, which will be transferable to their further studies. Students learn these through the core skills of MFL: reading, writing and translation, listening and speaking. Each lesson will contain a range of these skills, with students learning specific techniques to help them within the skills.
Year 8 German
Students will study German for 3 lessons per fortnight, alongside a second language. Students will revisit the regular present tense and throughout the year, learn to apply this in many different contexts, as well as being introduced to further grammatical structures, such as subordinating conjunctions and word order, the past tense and modal verbs. This is done through the topics of school, local area, identity, travel and holidays. These are all building blocks for creating confident linguists, and these topics are linked to the five themes covered over the GCSE course, so this is an introduction into the starting vocabulary and grammatical skills. For example, within identity, film, TV and reading are covered in Year 8 for expressing opinions, equipping students to later express more complex opinions on the topics at GCSE. Phonics is also taught continually to ensure accurate pronunciation. Students learn these through the core skills of MFL: reading, writing and translation, listening and speaking. Each lesson will contain a range of these skills, with students learning specific techniques to consolidate applying language to these skills. At the end of Year 8, students are given the opportunity to continue studying both languages or to focus one just one in Year 9. We feel this allows us to challenge students as linguists who continue with both, but also gives support to those who need it and make MFL more accessible to students of all ability levels.
Year 9 German
Students who continue with two languages will have 3 lessons per fortnight of German, or 6 per fortnight if they study just German. Students continue to study topics linked with 4 of the key GCSE themes – school, local area, identity, travel and holidays. Students are introduced to the future tense, as well as consolidating their knowledge and application of the past tense, present tense and further use of modal verbs and more complex structures, for example um…zu. Students will continue towards further consolidation of the core skills of MFL: reading, writing and translation, listening and speaking. Phonics is consolidated through regularly revisiting the key sounds and spellings associated with this. Students start the first GCSE topic, school, which links to prior learning in Year 9 and Year 7, building upon their prior knowledge.
Students have 5 lessons per fortnight at GCSE and our exam board is Edexcel. In Year 10, students recap their first chapter studied in Year 9 (school) in order to check for any gaps in knowledge and address any misconceptions. They will then work through units 2-5 in Year 10, with assessments at the end of each unit. Assessments cover the exam skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking at appropriate points to build confidence in exam techniques. At the end of Year 10, students will do assessments of units 1-5 and cover all exam skills. This allows us to recap what we have learned so far, as well as find areas of strengths and areas for improvement for each student. The themes covered within these units are school, identity and holiday and local area. Within these themes, students continue to deepen their understanding of grammatical structures and the 3 tenses and apply them in different contexts, as well as learning more complex structures and different moods, such as the subjunctive mood. In Year 11, students continue with 5 lessons per fortnight, and continue with the final 3 units of the course, which cover the final two themes, the world of work and the global aspect. Students study unit 6 in the first half term, then move onto revision of units 1-5 ahead of trial exams which take place in December. This allows us to make use of feedback and target our intervention strategies in the lead up to past papers completed in lessons and their final exams. Most grammatical structures have now been taught, which allows students to practise and master the key elements of using language accurately. Students aiming for a grade 9 will ensure they are highly accurate and demonstrate their understanding and accurate application of the case system and a range of tenses, moods and voices. Speaking exams take place in April or May, then revision continues for their final exams in reading, writing and listening.
A Level German (Year 12 & 13)
Students have 8 lessons per fortnight with two class teachers. The exam board for A Level is AQA, which allows students to study a wide range of topics, which are related to the wider German-speaking world. Each class teacher teaches set topics, covering the first year of the course, which includes the changing of family units and festivals and traditions in the German-speaking world. Students also begin their literature and film studies – we have chosen ‘der Vorleser’ and ‘Lola Rennt’. ‘Der Vorleser’ includes exploring themes such as national and collective guilt, whereas ‘Lola Rennt’ explores the butterfly effect and the theme of time. Students are assessed at the end of every two units, with a mixture of exam style questions to build confidence and accuracy in their exam skills. At the end of Year 12, students are assessed on all of the Year 1 course through AS exam past papers across speaking, listening, reading and writing, and writing. This allows us to make use of intervention strategies early and ensure students know where their strengths and areas for improvement are. In Year 13, students study social issues in the German-speaking world, such as politics, Germany and the EU and racism. As in Year 12, students are assessed after every two units studied where two per half-term are covered, and complete AS Level papers in the trial exam period in December. Students are expected to undertake their independent research project, which allows them to choose a topic of interest pertaining to the German-speaking world and improve their independent study skills, preparing them for further education. After the December trials, students continue with the final units of the Year 2 course. Further past papers are completed in February or March (dependent on the whole school trial exam timetable) to track progress and update our intervention strategies. The speaking assessments take place in April/May, before their final listening, reading and writing and writing exams in May/June.