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Languages - Spanish\French

Introduction

At QKA we understand the value of languages, and how meaningful they are in our social interactions and welfare.
The Languages department is a successful department in the academy, and our classrooms are often full of students involved in some kind of extra activity related to language learning. We count currently with three members of staff, Virginia Alfaro, Head of department and Spanish Native speaker; Irene Hernández, Spanish teacher and native speaker; and Will Marks, our French specialist and also an skillful Spanish teacher. But we also count with the unevaluable support of other linguists across the school that cooperate and support us in several occasions.
All students arriving at QKA in Year 7 will study Spanish, although we also offer KS4 and KS5 French.
Our aim is for students to develop the necessary skills to become independent language learners and efficient communicators: to be intuitive, to take risks, making mistakes and learning from them, to respect and listen carefully what others have to say; to learn from each other’s and enjoy sharing and communicating.
We are a creative team, trained and thoughtful of the new GCSE and Alevel specification, continuously developing new exciting resources to adapt our lessons to the updated outcomes, and create an enjoyable and respectful environment to promote success.
But definitely the stars of our department are our extra clubs and competitions. From the Language Eurovision contest at the beginning of Y7, to the Foreign Language translation bee in years 8 and 9, and our Erasmus + Projects for KS4, we offer a wide range of extra activities to motivate students learning, and we have so much fun with them! 
Our vision is clear: Promote language learning and provide students with the skills to become independent language learners; guide their learning acquisition process as far as students aim to get; and promote the value of languages as the communication tool that joins us together.
 
Key Stage Three
We use resources based on the textbooks ¡Viva! 1, 2 and 3. The resources are consistently referred to the requirements of GCSE, to ensure success in following years.

Year 7:
Topic - Autumn Term I
  • Greetings
  • Phonics
  • Describing what kind of person are you
  • Numbers
  • Ages & birthdays
  • Family information
  • Colors and pets
  • Present tense with important verbs
  • Project: EUROVISION and Lingaumaths level 1c + launching Spelling Bee
Topic - Autumn Term II
  • What do you like to do
  • Hobbys
  • Sports
  • Free time activities
  • Culture: Christmas in Spanish Speaking Countries
  • Project: Spelling Bee
Topic - Spring Term I
  • School
  • Subjects
  • Opinions about school
  • What is there in your school
  • What do you do during break
  • Skills: Focus on extended writing
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Describing family
  • Possessive adjectives
  • Physical description: ser y tener
  • Verbs in third person
  • Describing where do you live
  • Culture: carnival
  • Skills: Planning and giving presentation
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Project: Mother Tongue Other Tongue Poetry Project
Topic - Summer Term II
  • City
  • Telling the time
  • Using to go
  • Ordering in a café
  • Consolidation: What do you do on your holiday/ what did you do on your holiday

Year 8
Topic - Autumn Term I
  • Holiday
  • Preterite past tense
  • Describing your last holiday
  • Project: Translation Bee
Topic - Autumn Term II
  • Technology
  • Routines
  • Music
  • Giving opinions
  • Talking about TV
  • Talking about activities in the past
  • Project: Translation Bee + Linguamaths 2C

Topic - Spring Term I
  • Saying what food do you like
  • Describing mealtimes
  • Getting ready to go out
  • Going shopping
  • Giving an account of a party
  • Culture: Learning about Mexican food
  • Project: Have your say + Linguamaths 2B + 2A
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Would you like to go to…
  • Arranging to go out
  • Making excuses
  • Talking about clothes
  • Talking about sporting events
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Project: Language Beatz (creating songs project)
Topic - Summer Term II
  • Describing a holiday home
  • Describing holiday activities
  • Asking for directions
  • Using the imperative
  • Talking about summer camps
  • Discussing holiday destinations
Year 9
Topic - Autumn Term I
  • Talking about the things that you like
  • Talking about your week
  • Talking about films
  • Present tense
  • Talking about birthday celebrations
  • Future tense
  • Project: Launching Translation Bee + Language Leaders + Vocabexpress Challenge
Topic - Autumn Term II
  • Saying what you have to do at work
  • Saying what job would you like to do
  • Saying what you did at work yesterday
  • Describing your job
  • Using present and preterite together
  • Using correct adjective agreement
  • Culture: Christmas in Spanish Speaking Countries
  • Project: Translation Bee + Linguamaths 3C
Topic - Spring Term I
  • Talking about diet
  • Using negatives
  • Talking about an active lifestyle
  • Talking about your daily routine
  • Using reflexive verbs
  • Talking about aliments
  • Using verbs to describe illness
  • Culture zone: Spanish idioms
  • Skills: Focus on extended writing
  • Projects: Linguamaths 3B
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Talking about chindren’s lives
  • Talking about rights using “poder”
  • Talking about journeys to school
  • Using the comparative
  • Talking about environmental issues
  • Culture: carnival
  • Skills: Planning and giving presentation
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Project: Strictly Speaking + poetry creating project + Linguamaths 3A
Topic - Summer Term II *Settings change:
  • Students for GCSE:
    • ViVa GCSE module 1:
      • Talking about holiday and weather
      • Revising present and preterite tenses
      • Saying what you do in summer
      • Identify the person of the verb
      • Talking about holiday preferences
      • Understanding percentages
      • Describing where you stayed
      • Booking accommodation and dealing with problems
 
  • Students that won’t take Spanish for GCSE
    • Language Futures project: Learning and teaching the language you like and cultural awareness.
Key Stage Four
We work with AQA and base our resources on ¡VIVA! GCSE for Spanish, and Studio GCSE for French
 
Year 10
Topic - Autumn Term I
  • Revision: Talking about holiday
  • Talking about school
  • Giving opinion about school subjects
  • Describing school facilities and uniform and the school day
  • Talking about subjects and teachers
  • Using comparatives and superlatives
  • Comparing then and now
  • Talking about school rules and problems
  • Talking about plans for a school exchange
  • Talking about activities and achivements
  • Skills focus: Listening and reading
Topic - Autumn Term II
  • Talking about socialising and family
  • Describing people
  • Talking about social networks
  • Making arrangements
  • Using present continuous
  • Improvising dialogue
  • Talking about reading preferences
  • Using ser and estar
  • Using relationships verbs
  • Culture: Christmas in Target Language Speaking Countries
  • Focus skill: Speaking
Topic - Spring Term I
  • Free time activities
  • TV programmes and films
  • Talking about what we usually do
  • Talking about sports
  • Using the imperfect tense: what you used to do
  • Talking about trending
  • Using perfect tense
  • Discussing different types of entertainment
  • Talking about who inspires you.
  • Skill focus: writing
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Talking about places in town
  • Giving and understanding directions
  • Talking about shops
  • Describing the features of a region
  • Making plans
  • Shopping: role play practise
  • Talking about problems in town
  • Conditional
  • Describing a visit in the past
  • Skills: using vocabulary effectively in the four skills
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Mock season and Skill focus
Topic - Summer Term II
  • Skill focus
  • Meaningful revision of all units
Year 11
Topic - Autumn Term I
  • Talking about daily routine
  • Describing mealtimes and comparing with Spain
  • Talking about illnesses and injuries
  • Talking about typical foods
  • Using the passive
  • Comparing festivals
  • Describing a especial day
  • Ordering in a restaurant: practise role play
  • Talking about a music festival
  • Skill focus: Speaking
Topic - Autumn Term II
  • Talking about future and employments
  • Talking about how you earn money
  • Work experience
  • The importance of learning languages
  • Applying for a summer job
  • Discussing gap years
  • Using the subjunctive
  • Making plans for the future
  • Focus: using effective grammar
Topic - Spring Term I
  • Talking about types of houses
  • Talking about the environment
  • Talking about healthy eating
  • Discussing diet related problems
  • Considering global issues
  • Talking about local actions
  • Using the subjunctive: a written argument
  • Discussing healthy lifestyles
  • Talking about international sports events
  • Using the pluperfect tense
  • Skills: extended writing and comprehensive reading
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Skill based work: mock season + preparing for the exams
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Speaking focus
Topic - Summer Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Reading, listening and writing
Key Stage Five
We work with AQA and base our resources on the AQA OXFORD textbooks.
 

AS Spanish:

Topic - Autumn Term I

    1. Los valores tradicionales y modernos
        1.1 Los cambios en la familia
        1.2 Actitudes hacia el matrimonio/el divorcio
        1.3 La influencia de la Iglesia Católica

    2. El ciberespacio
        2.1 Influencia internet
        2.2 Redes sociales
        2.3 Los móviles inteligentes

               *Working with a film: El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan´s Labyrinth)

Topic - Autumn Term II

    3. La igualdad de derechos
        3.1. La mujer en el mercado laboral
        3.2. El machismo y el feminismo
        3.3. Los derechos de los gays y las personas transgénero

    4. La influencia de los ídolos
        4.1.  Cantantes y músicos
        4.2. Estrellas de televisión y cine
        4.3. Modelos

Topic - Spring Term I

   5. La identidad regional de España
        5.1. Tradiciones y costumbres
        5.2. La gastronomía
        5.3. Las lenguas

   6. El patrimonio cultural
        6.1. Sitios turísticos y culturas prehispánicas
        6.2. Arte y arquitectura
        6.3. Patrimonio musical y diversidad

Topic - Spring Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Focus on grammar and writing skills
  • Skill based work: mock season + preparing for the exams
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Speaking focus
Topic - Summer Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Reading, listening and writing
 
AS French:
Topic - Autumn Term I
 
    1. La famille en voie de changement (Family changes)
        1.1. La vie de couple: nouvelles tendances
        1.2. Monoparentalité, homoparentalité, familles recomposées
        1.3. Grands-parents, parents et enfancs: soucis et problèmes
 
    2.  la << cyber-société >> 
        2.1. Comment la technologie facilite la vie quotidienne
        2.2. Quels dangers la cyber-société pose-t-elle?
        2.3. Qui sont les cybernautes?
 
Topic - Autumn Term II

    3. Le rôle de bénévolat
        3.1. Qui sont et que Font les bénévoles?
        3.2. Le bénévolat: quelle valeur pour ceux qui sont aidés?
        3.3. Le bénévolat: quelle valeur pour ceux qui aident?
 
    4. Une culture fière de son patrimoine
        4.1. Le patrimoine sur le plan national, régional et local
        4.2. Le patrimoine et le tourisme
        4.3. comment le patrimoine reflète la culture

        *Le film : La haine
 
Topic - Spring Term I

    5. la musique francophone contemporaine
        5.1.1. La diversité de la musique francophone contemporaine
        5.1.2. Qui écoute et apprécie la musique francophone contemporaine ?
        5.1.3. Comment sauvegarder la musique francophone contemporaine ?
 
    6. Le septième art ?
        6.1. Pourquoi le septième art ?
        6.2. Evolution du cinéma : les grandes lignes
        6.3. Le cinéma : une passion nationale
 
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Focus on grammar and writing skills: Writing an essay about a film
  • Skill based work: mock season + preparing for the exams
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Speaking focus
Topic - Summer Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Reading, listening and writing

A level Spanish:
Topic - Autumn Term I
 
    1. La inmigración
        1.1. Beneficios y aspectos negativos.
        1.2. La inmigración en el mundo hispánico
        1.3. Los indocumentados - problemas
 
    2. Monarquías y dictaduras
       2.1. La dictadura de Franco
       2.2. La evolución de la monarquía en España
       2.3. Dictadores latinoamericanos
 
        *Working with a book: La sombra del viento (The shadow of the wind)

Topic - Autumn Term II
 
    3. Jóvenes de hoy, ciudadanos del mañana
        3.1. Los jóvenes y su actitud hacia la política: activismo o apatía
        3.2. El paro entre los jóvenes
        3.3. Su sociedad ideal
 
    4. El racismo
        4.1. Las actitudes racistas y xenófobas
        4.2. Las medidas contra el racismo
        4.3.  La legislación anti-racista
 
Topic - Spring Term I
 
    5. La convivencia
        5.1. La convivencia de culturas
        5.2. La educación
        5.3. Las religiones
 
    6. Los movimientos populares
        6.1. La efectividad de las maifiestaciones y las huelgas
        6.2.  El poder de los sindicatos
        6.3. Ejemplos de protestas sociales
 
Topic - Spring Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Focus on grammar and writing skills: writing an essay about a book
  • Skill based work: mock season + preparing for the exams
Topic - Summer Term I
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Speaking focus
Topic - Summer Term II
  • Topics revision and consolidation
  • Working on exam skills + preparing for exams: Reading, listening and writing
Extracurricular:
  • Foreign Languages Spelling Bee Club and Competition (Y7)
  • Translation Bee Club And competition (Y8 and Y9)
  • Language Leaders (Y9)
  • The Creative Club (all years)
  • Sixth form voluntary Language Assistant opportunities

In Key Stage 3 our focus in Spanish, through which we encourage students to appreciate and value languages as a practical and fun skill to learn. We aim to spread the necessary basic skills to become an independent language learner, hoping that, despite their path choices being related to languages or not for KS4, they will have enough knowledge to acquire languages in the future if they desire so.
 
Staffing
Virginia Alfaro Subject Coordinator
Will Marks
Irene Hernandez