Staff
The MFLs department boasts a team of six experienced and enthusiastic teachers offering a range of languages which includes French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese.
Mrs L Magowan Head of Faculty
Mr A Craveiro Second in charge with responsibility for Spanish
Mrs K Bennett
Mr K Camy Vice Principal
Mr D White Assistant Principal
From Autumn 2009, we plan to have a Foreign Language Assistant working with students within the faculty.
MFLs Courses
Key Stage 3
Year 7 students choose one language from a choice of French, Spanish and German. They study the chosen language for two hours a week for the duration of Key Stage Three.
Resources: -
The coursebooks we use with Key Stage 3 classes are as follows:
French - Expo
Spanish - ¡Mira! and Listos
German - Echo and Logo!
The second and third stages of each coursebook (used by students in Years 8 &9) are differentiated, enabling us to cater for the needs of students of all abilities.
We are delighted to have been able to purchase the companion Teacher Presentation software which accompanies Expo and ¡Mira!. This enables us to make the most of our interactive whiteboards, allowing our students to participate actively in stimulating and enjoyable activities. We also have a website subscription which Academy students are permitted to access from home.
From September 2009, students in Year 9 will be entered for Asset Languages in order to gain nationally recognised qualifications in their chosen language. For more about Asset Languages, please see KS4.
EEL options
We offer language and culture studies in Japanese, Portuguese and Italian. We want to give our students the opportunity to explore new and exciting aspects of the culture studied, such as sports, cuisine and etiquette.
Read more about our EEL options here
Key Stage 4
The door to languages at KS4 is open to students of all abilities at Maltings Academy. We want students at Maltings Academy to be prepared for a world where the ability to communicate in a foreign language can give you the edge over rivals for a job or a college course. We offer two options at KS4: GCSE and Asset Languages.
GCSE French, German or Spanish
This is an excellent course for students who would like to extend and deepen their knowledge of the language studied at KS3 and who may be thinking of continuing with that language to A Level and even University. These students will need to have achieved level 5 or above in a language in Year 9.
How is the GCSE assessed?
Speaking and Writing
In Speaking and Writing, you and your teacher will choose when during the course you do your assessment, so you only do it when you are completely ready.
For the writing part, you will produce two pieces of writing, for example an article for a magazine, a web page, a blog, or a letter.
Listening and Reading
Listening and Reading are both assessed by exam papers in June. You can take either a Foundation Tier or Higher Tier paper in each skill.
NEW! Asset Languages
A new course which is ideal for those who would like qualifications in individual skills in a range of languages. Students learn to converse in four languages: French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Qualifications are awarded for individual skills (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking) and the bite-sized assessment tasks are completed as students progress through Years 10 and 11. The qualifications range from Entry Level through to Level 2 (equivalent to GCSE grade A*-C).
What are the benefits of Asset Languages?
Asset Languages allows you to concentrate on the language skills you want - Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are assessed separately.
Asset Languages builds your language learning confidence by providing step by step recognition of achievement.
Asset Languages qualifications are recognised and transferable - they are worth something and can be compared on the national qualification framework to other awards. As with the GCSE, you will create greater opportunities for yourself to work abroad, or for companies in the UK with international links. Many employers favour job applicants who speak a foreign language.
Key Stage 5
At Maltings Academy, our commitment to offering language qualifications to students of all abilities extends to KS5 as well. So, students who may have passed on the opportunity to take a GCSE in a language at KS4 (when this was all that was on offer) may now pick up language qualifications through Asset Languages (see above).
For students who have already achieved a grade B or above in GCSE French or Spanish, there is the opportunity to continue with this language to A level.
The coursebooks we use are Edexcel French/Spanish for A Level, which are accompanied by dynamic learning DVD Roms for private study.
Accommodation
We are very fortunate to have excellent resources and we work hard to ensure our students’ learning experience is enhanced by them at every opportunity. Our interactive whiteboards enable us to make the most of the website subscriptions and the Teacher Presentation Packages which have brought our coursebooks into the 21st Century. Our first floor suite of rooms are all carpeted and are arranged around the central MFLs office.
Trips
Mr Craveiro runs a trip to France for year 7 students in the Summer Term and Mrs Magowan runs a trip to France for Year 10 French students. Year 12 have the opportunity to do Work Experience in France or Spain during the Easter holidays.