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Our Vision for MFL at HEA
At Huish, we want every student to develop confidence in becoming a successful language learner, no matter their starting point. Our curriculum is designed to help them grow in resilience, master a broad range of ambitious languages, and develop respect for different cultures. We want our students to find joy in their lessons and, ultimately, to gain a lifelong love for languages.
Our curriculum and lessons are well-sequenced to support students to know and remember an impressive range of language. Students rapidly progress to use language independently and spontaneously. They produce rich vocabulary and grammatical structures, and develop key skills in listening, reading, writing, translation, and speaking. We have a relentless focus on phonics, which enables students to read aloud and speak with excellent pronunciation.
Learning a language is essential for understanding different perspectives. Through exposure to authentic materials and learning about the customs and traditions of French, German, and Spanish-speaking cultures, our students develop a deeper understanding of the world around them. Alongside this, we have co-curricular opportunities to enrich students' learning, such as the KS3 Spelling Bee, educational visits, and our Language Leaders programme.
We are proud to help our students become resilient, ambitious, and enthusiastic linguists, and respectful global citizens, ready for the world beyond the classroom.
Curriculum Overview | KS3
Year 7
| Year 7 | |
| Autumn 1 | Students will learn strong pronunciation by focusing on phonics of Spanish, German or French. They will learn to introduce themselves and say who is in their family including pets, and will be able to identify classroom objects and instructions. They will be able to identify gender of nouns (masculine, feminine and for German – neuter). |
| Autumn 2 | Students will learn how to use adjectives to describe themselves and others (including personality and physical appearance) with correct adjective agreement. They will learn nationalities and how to say where people are from. They will learn forms of the verbs ‘to have’ and ‘to be’ in the first and third person, as well as regular verbs in the present tense to say what hobbies they do in their free time. |
| Spring 1 | Students will learn to talk about school and to express their opinions on subjects and their school uniform, allowing for a further focus on gender and adjective agreement. They will learn to create longer sentences with more than one clause by giving reasons for their opinions using a range of adjectives. |
| Spring 2 | Students will learn to say where they live and to describe their home and rooms in a house. They will learn prepositions of location to say where things are (in German, this will include set examples of cases). |
| Summer 1 | Students will build on the descriptions of place from last term and will expand this to describe their local area. They will review and deepen their understanding of present tense verbs to say what they do in their local area in different weather conditions using “when...” constructions. They will learn about different places in the Spanish/German/French-speaking world. |
| Summer 2 | Students will study a film in the target language, reviewing key structures from the year to discuss the film. The film enables students to deepen their cultural knowledge as well as linguistic competencies. |
Year 8
| Year 8 | |
| Autumn 1 | Students will learn to discuss holiday experiences with set verbs in the past, present, and future time frames. They will learn about different locations in the Spanish-, French-, and German-speaking worlds. |
| Autumn 2 | Students will learn to discuss free-time hobbies in three time frames, but with a particular focus on present tense verbs, including irregular forms. They will learn to give opinions on types of film, TV shows and music. They will develop transactional spoken language, ask others to meet up and learn how to accept or reject a social invitation. |
| Spring 1 | Students will learn to use verbs, including irregular forms. They will learn to give opinions on types of film, TV shows and music. They will develop transactional spoken language, ask others to meet up and learn how to accept or reject social invitations. |
| Spring 2 | Students will learn about meal times in Spanish, French and German-speaking countries. They will learn some typical foods and drinks and will learn to give opinions on these in the target language. This leads into the wider topic of health and fitness, with a focus on using reflexive verbs to describe their daily routine. |
| Summer 1 | Students build on the foundations in the Spring term for discussing a healthy lifestyle and learn vocabulary for healthy living advice. They will use modal verbs to say what you should, must, can, and must not do for a healthy lifestyle, focusing on modals + infinitive. Students will develop spoken transactional language by learning how to discuss illness and have a conversation at the doctor’s in Spanish, French or German. |
| Summer 2 | Students will study a film in the target language, reviewing key structures from the year to discuss the film. The film enables students to deepen their cultural knowledge as well as linguistic competencies. |
Year 9
| Year 9 | |
| Autumn 1 | Students will build on earlier foundations from Years 7 and 8 to describe family members, expanding their vocabulary to an impressively wide range of adjectives. They will use reflexive verbs to express who they do and don’t get on with, and will justify this with a range of sophisticated reasons. We continue to review key phonics, so that pronunciation remains strong. |
| Autumn 2 | Students will learn about some fascinating key festivals, traditions and customs in Spanish-, French-, and German-speaking countries. Students learn not only about the content of these ideas to broaden their cultural knowledge, but also learn to describe events in the target language in the present and past time frames. Students build on their knowledge of the future time frame to say which traditions they would like to take part in the future. |
| Spring 1 | Students build on prior knowledge of describing places to describe a place in the past and present time frames, comparing what it used to be like compared to now. They will learn detail about specific places in the Spanish-, French-, or German-speaking worlds. |
| Spring 2 | Students will continue to learn to describe places, modes of transport, and will develop transactional language by understanding and giving directions to places in town. |
| Summer 1 | Students will significantly expand their vocabulary by learning to talk about global and social issues in Spanish, French or German, including the environment and human rights. They will learn phrases to express issues that concern them and to justify why particular issues and important or worrying to them and their futures. |
| Summer 2 | Students will study a film in the target language, reviewing key structures from the year to discuss the film. The film enables students to deepen their cultural knowledge as well as linguistic competencies. |
Curriculum Overview | French | KS4 - KS5
Year 10
| Year 10 | |
| Autumn 1 |
Les Passe-Temps: Free Time/Hobbies We start with a recap of phonics, to ensure pronunciation is strong. Students learn to discuss free-time activities, building on foundations in KS3. They further develop their ability to justify opinions on a range of hobbies, and learn to give opinions on different types of media (films, tv, music) and technology with a focus on present, perfect and future tenses. |
| Autumn 2 |
Mon Monde à Moi: Family and Friends Students learn to describe people in their family and their relationships with others, and family celebrations with a sophisticated range of vocabulary. We will learn to talk about issues of discrimination and respect, and how to talk about people who are role models in society and in your life. |
| Spring 1 |
En Pleine Forme Students build on foundations set in Year 9 on the topic of healthy lifestyle and expand their vocabulary to discuss what you can, should, must, and must not do for a healthy lifestyle, including diet and mental health. We learn transactional language for talking about illnesses and injuries at the doctors, enabling us to gain practice of the role play element of the speaking paper. |
| Spring 2 |
Mon Futur – My Future Drawing on strong knowledge of the future and conditional tenses, we learn vocabulary for gap years, university study, training, and different jobs and careers, so that students are able to express their future career plans. |
| Summer 1 |
Exam Skills Development Students focus on exam skills in preparation for their mock examinations. It is a program that focuses on understanding the expectations of the examinations, as well as revising key vocabulary, grammar and tenses required for each theme. |
| Summer 2 |
Based on mock exam results, we identify key grammar points and tenses that need to be revisited in order to enable students to master and apply them with confidence in the future. We also review all areas of vocabulary to strengthen recall and develop confidence and fluency in general conversation. |
Year 11
| Year 11 | |
| Autumn 1 |
Les Vacances! - Holidays! Students review strong foundations set in Year 9 and the work on the pastime frame throughout Year 10 to describe holiday experiences. We learn and practice dialogue for various situations in hotel receptions, from making reservations to making a complaint. |
| Autumn 2 |
Mon Voisinage – My Neighbourhood |
| Spring 1 |
Notre Monde – Our World Building on knowledge from Year 9, students significantly expand their vocabulary to discuss issues facing the planet and society, including climate change, voluntary work and social responsibility. Students discuss what they do and learn to propose solutions and advice to others for improving the world using modal verbs and the conditional tense. |
| Spring 2 |
Consolidation We follow a programme of focused revision, with a focus on exam skills, speaking fluency, pronunciation and dictation skills, and accuracy in verb tenses so that students are ready to excel in their GCSE examinations. |
| Summer 1 | |
| Summer 2 | |
Year 12
More content to follow soon.
Year 13
More content to follow soon.
Curriculum Overview | German | KS4 - KS5
Year 10
| Year 10 | |
| Autumn 1 |
Die Schule We start with a recap of phonics, to ensure pronunciation is strong. Students learn to talk in detail about life at school and their studies. They review and expand their knowledge of justifying opinions, adjectival agreement, modal verbs, and accuracy when talking across three time frames (past, present, and future). They will focus in particular on describing school events using the perfect past tense. |
| Autumn 2 |
Freizeit! Students learn to discuss free time activities, building on foundations in KS3. They further develop their ability to justify opinions on a range of hobbies, and learn to give opinions on different types of media (films, tv, music), with a focus on word order (inversion) when using verbs after time expressions. |
| Spring 1 |
Meine Welt - My World Students learn to describe people in their family and friendship group, their relationships with others, and family celebrations with a sophisticated range of vocabulary. We will learn to talk about issues of discrimination and respect, and how to talk about people who are role models in society and in your life. |
| Spring 2 |
Gesund Leben - Healthy Living Students build on foundations set in Year 9 on the topic of healthy lifestyle and expand their vocabulary to discuss what you can, should, must, and must not to for a healthy lifestyle, including diet and mental health. We learn transactional language for talking about illnesses and injuries at the doctors, enabling us to gain practice of the the role play element of the speaking paper. We use a range of structures (including ‘wenn’ clauses with the conditional) to refer to what we would like to change in the future to be healthier. |
| Summer 1 |
Meine Gegend Students learn to describe places, their local area and where they live. We learn the imperfect past tense to describe what a place used to be like when we were younger. We discuss modes of transport, learn to order tickets for transport, and also discuss shopping opportunities and recent shopping trips in different locations. We review all areas of vocabulary to strengthen recall and develop confidence and fluency in general conversation. |
| Summer 2 | |
Year 11
| Year 11 | |
| Autumn 1 |
Urlaub - Holidays! Students review strong foundations set in Year 9 and the work on the past time frame throughout year 10 to describe holiday experiences. We learn and practise dialogues for various situations in hotel receptions, from making reservations to making a complaint. |
| Autumn 2 |
Unsere Welt – Our World Building on knowledge from Year 9, students significantly expand their vocabulary to discuss issues facing the planet and society, including climate change, voluntary work and social responsibility. Students discuss what they do, and learn to propose solutions and advice to others for improving the world using modal verbs and the conditional tense. |
| Spring 1 |
Meine Zukunft – My Future Drawing on strong knowledge of the future and conditional tenses, we learn vocabulary for gap years, university study, training, and different jobs and careers, so that students are able to express their future career plans. Students use the imperfect subjunctive to say what they would do in hypothetical future situations. |
| Spring 2 |
Consolidation We follow a programme of focused revision, with a focus on exam skills, speaking fluency, pronunciation and dictation skills, and accuracy in verb tenses so that students are ready to excel in their GCSE examinations. |
| Summer 1 | |
| Summer 2 | |
Year 12
More content to follow soon.
Year 13
More content to follow soon.
Curriculum Overview | Spanish | KS4 - KS5
Year 10
More content to follow soon.
Year 11
More content to follow soon.
Year 12
More content to follow soon.
Year 13
More content to follow soon.
Assessment
| Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term | |
| Year 7 | Diction and Translation | Listening and Reading (Mid-Year Exams) | Listening, Reading and Writing |
| Year 8 | Writing | Listening and Reading (Mid-Year Exams) | Listening, Reading and Writing |
| Year 9 | Writing | Listening and Reading (Mid-Year Exams) | Listening, Reading and Writing |
| Year 10 | Listening, Reading and Writing | All four skills via adapted papers reflecting content covered so far (Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking with read aloud and photo stimulus task only). | All four skills via full papers - Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking (read aloud, role play, photo stimulus with a limited wider conversation). |
| Year 11 | Mock Exams - full papers (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking - full exam) | Mock Exams - full papers (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking - full exam) | GCSE Examinations |
| Year 12 | More content to follow soon. | More content to follow soon. | More content to follow soon. |
| Year 13 | More content to follow soon. | More content to follow soon. | More content to follow soon. |
Exam Board Link(s)
Extracurricular Opportunities
There are opportunities to get involved in languages beyond lessons.
In Key Stage 3, we run Huish Language Leaders – a leadership programme for students who visit our local feeder primary schools and deliver sessions on Spanish, French, and German, promoting languages.
Every yea,r also we run the very popular Spelling Bee, where students have the chance to use their phonics knowledge to spell out key words in an exciting House Competition.
We run trips abroad to give students authentic opportunities to immerse themselves in language, with students visiting Normandie last year and a German trip to Munich in the calendar for later this year to look forward to.
Careers
Where can MFL qualifications take you?
help.open.ac.uk/languages-careers/career-opportunities
Knowing a foreign language is an asset and opens up a wide range of career opportunities and provides many professional advantages. It allows you to communicate effectively with people from other countries, which is essential in today’s global job market. Employers value language skills because they show cultural awareness, adaptability, and strong communication skills. Speaking another language can lead to exciting roles in international business, tourism, diplomacy, translation, education, and media, and it often gives candidates a competitive edge when applying for jobs. Moreover, it can make work more interesting by allowing you to travel, build global networks, and work with people from different backgrounds. Being proficient in another language also pays off... literally! Recent studies have found that bilingual people earn up to 15% more than those who speak only one language!
- Translator or Interpreter – working with written or spoken content in different languages.
- International Marketing & Communications Manager – using language and cultural understanding to reach overseas markets.
- Diplomat or Foreign Service Officer – representing a country abroad, requiring language skills and intercultural awareness.
- Export Sales or Business Development Manager – working with clients/customers in other countries, negotiating deals in another language.
- Language Teacher (or English as a Foreign Language instructor) – teaching languages in schools or teaching English abroad using multilingual skills.
Learning Beyond the Curriculum
All Languages
- Lingua.com - Reading comprehension exercises and vocabulary practice in multiple languages.
- LyricsTraining - Fun music-based listening exercises to practise German, Spanish, or French comprehension.
- Memrise - Language learning app using videos of native speakers to build vocabulary and real-life fluency.
- Duolingo - A gamified app offering structured practice in German, French, and Spanish for all levels.
French
- Lawless French - Interactive grammar lessons, quizzes, and cultural articles for advanced learners of French.
- France 24 – Le Journal en Français Facile - Daily French news podcast in simplified language with transcript – ideal for advanced learners.
- The French Experiment - Short stories, listening practice, and grammar explanations for French learners.
- News in Slow French - Weekly news podcasts and transcripts for French learners at intermediate and advanced levels.
- Languages - Free courses | OpenLearn - Open University - Free courses in French, from beginners to university level.
German
- DW – Deutsche Welle - News videos, podcasts and exercises for learners of German at all levels – a brilliant resource.
- Planet Schule - Videos and discussion points – a great resource.
- Goethe-Institut – Practise German for Free - Exercises, videos and activities for German learners from all levels.
- The Open University – Advanced German: Language, Culture and History - Free university-level course exploring German culture, language and history – stretch yourself and enjoy the cultural content!
- Deutsch-Lernen.com - Free German grammar, vocabulary, and reading lessons with exercises.
Spanish
- Learn Spanish with Rosa - Online lessons and practice resources designed for UK students including lots of practical conversation skills.
- News in Slow Spanish - Weekly news podcasts and transcripts for Spanish learners at intermediate and advanced levels.
- BBC Mundo - Spanish-language news website offering authentic articles on global current affairs.
