Languages

Our Vision

Learning a foreign language is a skill for life which can enhance both communication skills and employment prospects. It also provides an opening to other cultures, fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. Learning enables pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It also provides opportunities for students to communicate for practical purposes; learn new ways of thinking and read literature in the original language. Language acquisition provides the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries and enable them to communicate with people from other countries, whilst working in this country. The study of a modern foreign language at GCSE also broadens the students’ horizons and encourages them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing the world. Students are taught to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources. They are encouraged to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation. As far as writing is concerned, by the end of Key Stage 4, students can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt. Through their studies, students can also discover and develop an appreciation of the culture in countries where Punjabi and Spanish is the official language.

The examination comprises four components, namely Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. All skills are equally-weighted and each contribute 25% towards a student’s final GCSE grade (9-1). The themes covered are: Identity and culture; Local area, Holiday and travel; School; Future aspirations, Study and work; International and global dimension. Studying Punjabi and Spanish for GCSE enables students to continue developing the language skills they have acquired at KS3 and to learn to use the language more independently as well as gaining a greater insight into different cultures.

The MFL curriculum at our School aims to enable all students to be confident in communicating in another language, to broaden their horizons and experience new cultures, thus opening doors to a world of opportunities. Our curriculum aims to build resilient language learners and responsible global citizens in an ever-changing world. We strive to foster a love of languages while developing the knowledge, understanding and skills required to ensure the best possible outcomes for all.

For further information about our Languages curriculum, please contact Mr Regnier by emailing info@psa-bucks.com