Bishop Gore School

Welcome

As the MFL department at Bishop Gore, we aim to enhance the opportunities for learning a foreign language and to equip pupils to converse in a language other than their own in an ever shrinking world.
The linguists in the department can all offer a range of languages.  Our core aim is to instil in pupils a love of languages and an understanding of their importance in the world today.
There are currently three full-time members of the department – Mrs Critchley, Mrs Bonet and Mrs Peake.  Two other colleagues teach within the MFL department – Mrs Senchal and Mrs Fabricius.  
We have recently introduced a carousel of languages into Year 7 – French, German and Spanish. Pupils study one term of each language and are thus able to make an informed choice of the language they wish to continue with for the rest of Key Stage 3.

Bienvenue!
Willkommen!
¡Bienvenidos!

Staff

Mrs B Peake
Mrs C Bonet
Miss L Denman
Deputy Headteacher Mrs T Senchal

Year 7

In Year 7 you will learn some French, German and Spanish.

During the French course you will learn:
•Say your name and greet someone.
•Ask what something is and say what you’ve got or haven’t
got.
•Say the alphabet and spell your name.
•Numbers
•Say how old you are and ask someone their age.
•Say when your birthday is.
•Say what colour something is.
•Say where you live and what nationality you are.
•Talk about your brothers and sisters.
•Talk about your pets.
•Talk about what you look like.
•Say how tall you are and what you are like.

During the German course you will learn how to:
•Say your name and greet someone.
•Name some countries and talk about where you live.
•Say the alphabet and spell your name.
•Ask what something is and say what you’ve got or haven’t
got. Numbers
•Name the days of the week and the months.
•Say how old you are and ask someone their age.
•Talk about your timetable and school subjects.
•Give opinions about your school subjects.
•Ask and give the time.
•Talk about what you eat and drink at school.
•Talk about what you wear to school.

During the Spanish course you will learn how to:
•Say your name and greet someone.
•Say how old you are and ask someone their age.
•Talk about dates and birthdays.
•Name the days of the week.
•Say the alphabet and spell your name.
•Name parts of a computer.
•Talk about countries and nationalities.
•Talk about where you live and what languages you speak.
•Talk about your family.
•Talk about pets.
•Describe yourself.

Year 8

During the French course you will learn how to:
•Talk about school subjects.
•Tell the time.
•Talk about your timetable.
•Talk about your day in school.
•Talk about what you wear.
•Talk about sport and what you like and dislike.
•Say what you do in your free time.
•Talk about other free time activities.
•Talk about what you do at the weekend.
•Talk about the weather.
•Talk about your house and surroundings.
•Describe your house and your bedroom.
•Talk about where you go on your holidays and what you like doing.
•Buy souvenirs.
•Buy snacks and read a menu.
•Talk about your town.
•Ask for and give directions around town.

During the German course you will learn how to:
•Talk about your family, brothers and sisters and how to describe them.
•Talk about any pets you have and give opinions on them.
•Talk about which sports and hobbies you like and why.
•Talk about your favourite things.
•Talk about where you live and what your house is like.
•Talk about what you do around the house to help.
•Describe your bedroom.
•Talk about your town and what you can do there.
•Practise how to order food and drinks at a café.

During the Spanish course you will learn how to:
•Talk about school subjects and give opinions about them.
•Tell the time.
•Talk about school mealtimes.
•Describe your school and how you get there.
•Talk about your home and say where it is.
•Describe your daily routine.
•Talk about your town.
•Ask for and give directions around town.
•Describe the weather.
•Discuss sports and free time activities.
•Say how you help around the home.

Year 9

In year 9 French you will learn how to:
•Introduce yourself and someone else.
•Talk about what you done and where you have been at the weekend.
•How to talk about your daily routine.
•You will look at how to make arrangements to go out with friends.
•Talk about your family in greater detail.
•You will look at family trees.
•Talk about parts of the body and illnesses.
•How to talk about what you have eaten at different times of the day.
•How to go shopping and buy foods and also how to order at a café or restaurant.
•You will learn about Paris and how to get around using the Métro.
•You will learn how to write a letter to a youth hostel and book accommodation.
•Talk about where you have been on holiday and what you did.
•How to talk about what your future plans are.

In year 9 German you will learn how to:
•Talk about yourself in greater detail.
•Tell the time.
•Talk in the past tense.
•Discuss a past holiday.
•Buy train tickets and talk about lost property.
•State parts of the body.
•Discuss ailments.
•Talk about keeping fit.
•Discuss daily routine.
•Discuss food and drink.
•Go shopping.
•Say how you spend your pocket money.

KS4

Year 10

GCSE: French/Spanish/German
Pupils studying GCSE MFL will be assessed in the four skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. Listening and Speaking are each 20% of the final grade and can be either Foundation or Higher tier. The Speaking and Writing are each 30% of the final grade and are assessed through coursework. There is no tiering for these Skills.

Pupils will develop their skills through the contexts of:
•Lifestyle
•Leisure
•Home and Environment
•Work and Education

Year 11

GCSE: French/Spanish/German
Pupils studying GCSE MFL will be assessed in the four skills of Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. Each skill has a weighting of 25%. Pupils can be entered at either Foundation or Higher tier in each of the four skills.

Pupils will develop their skills through the contexts of:
•Home Life
•Home Town and Region
•Education
•Environmental Issues
•Social Issues
•Life in Other Countries
•Youth Culture
•New Technologies
•The World of Work
•The Media

GCSE ORAL EXAM:
The oral exam consists of the following:
1 Two Role Plays.
2. General Conversation based on 2-3 of the following topics:
•Home Life
•Home Town and Region
•Education
•Free Time
•Holidays

KS5

A2 French Pupils will study:

•Environmental Issues, including technology pollution, global warming, transport, energy, nuclear energy, renewable energies, conservation, recycling, sustainability.

•Social and Political Issues, including the role of the media, racism, immigration social exclusion and integration, terrorism, world of work (employment, commerce, globalization, etc).

Part of the A2 course of study will involve choosing one or two of the following options:

Either: A The World of Cinema
Or:       B The World of Literature
Or:       C The Regions of France

Candidates must undertake 2 studies:

Either: both from the same option (e.g. 2 books; 2 films; 2 regions)
Or: one from each of 2 options (e.g. 1 book plus 1 film or 1 film plus 1 region or 1 book plus 1 region)

France

France officially the French Republic (French: République française,) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as L’Hexagone (The “Hexagon”) because of the geometric shape of its territory. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic. Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Metropolitan France is bordered by Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland. France's overseas departments and collectivities also share land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and the Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint-Martin). France is linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.

France has been one of the world's foremost powers for centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonized much of North America; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built one of the largest colonial empires of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Pacific islands. Today, France is a developed country, possessing the sixth (nominal GDP) or eighth (PPP) largest economy in the world. It is the most visited country in the world, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually.[12] France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, NATO, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and a nuclear power with active warheads and nuclear power plants.

LeMonde
Today's newspaper direct from France.

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 square kilometers and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With over 82 million inhabitants, it has the largest population of any member state of the European Union and is home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide

A region named Germania inhabited by several Germanic peoples has been known and documented before 100 AD. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire that lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the country was first unified amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. In 1949, after World War II, Germany was divided into two separate states—East Germany and West Germany—along the lines of Allied occupation. The two states were reunified in 1990. West Germany was a founding member of the European Community (EC) in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993. It is part of the borderless Schengen zone and adopted the European currency, the euro, in 1999.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states (Länder). The capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, G8 and OECD. It is a major economic power with the world's third largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest in purchasing power parity. It is the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the second biggest annual budget of development aid in the world, while its military expenditure ranked sixth. The country has developed a high standard of living and established a comprehensive system of social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of close partnerships on a global level. Germany is recognised as a scientific and technological leader in several fields.

Die Welt
Today's news from Germany

Spain

Spain (Spanish: España?) Spanish pronunciation:es?pa?a or the Kingdom of Spain Spanish: Reino de España, is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe after France.

Because of its location, Spain has been subject to many external influences, often simultaneously, since prehistoric times. At certain times, the country itself has been an important source of influence to other regions. Archaeological and genetic evidence strongly suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of three major refugia from which northern Europe was repopulated following the end of the last ice age. It was also the seat of of a global empire that has left a legacy of over 400 million Spanish speakers today. The combination of external influences with the interactions of the culturally and politically differentiated regions of the rugged peninsula has produced a dramatic history; typified by alternating periods of unity and disunity, under very different regimes.

Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the eighth largest economy in the world based on nominal GDP.It is a member of the European Union and NATO.

EL PIAS
Today's news from the Spanish newspaper.