Modern Languages

S3 French (Faculty): 

Staff: 

  • Lucy Fletcher
  • Jessica Laudi
  • Hannah McBride
  • Kathryn Zhong (Mandarin)

S3 Curriculum

In Modern Languages, the S3 course is designed to give students the opportunity to develop their knowledge of a language through the four key skills: reading, writing, listening, and talking. During lessons, students are introduced to new vocabulary and they complete a variety of skills-based tasks in order to consolidate their learning. Grammar topics are incorporated into lessons in order to begin building a strong foundation in the language. 

Each BGE course includes a range of assessments, which enables students to put their language knowledge into practice. Assessments typically consist of regular vocabulary tests as well as four comprehensive skills tests in reading, writing, listening, and talking. In S3, assessments are structured to prepare students for the demands of the National 4 and National 5 courses. Throughout the year, assessments are used to monitor progress and provide students with feedback on how they can improve their language performance. 

Term 1 (August - October)

French Culture
•    Aubigny-sur-Nère research project
•    Writing a pen pal letter to students in Aubigny, France

Languages for Life Unit
•    Visiting a French speaking country
•    Introducing yourself to someone new
•    Ordering at a restaurant
•    Buying transportation tickets
•    Going to the doctor

Term 2 (October – December)

Languages for Work Unit
•    Talking about jobs and work experience
•    Describing the work day
•    Writing a cover letter and a CV in French

Term 3 (January – April)

Building Employability Skills
•    Practising the skills required to apply for a job in France
•    Reading job adverts
•    Finding out about job opportunities abroad

Daily French Unit
•    Ordering food
•    Shopping at a market
•    Buying clothes
•    Pocket money
•    Earning money and spending money
•    Future travel
•    Reasons for travel

Term 4 (April – June)

French Grammar
•    Pronouns, adjective agreement, Word order
•    Regular verbs and irregular verbs
•    Present tense, future tense, past tense

S3 Spanish (Faculty): 

Staff:

  •  Jessica Laudi

S3 Curriculum

The S3 Spanish course is designed to give students a strong beginning foundation in the language. The course covers a wide range of vocabulary and topics with an ongoing emphasis on grammar in order develop students’ comfort with linguistic structures. During lessons, students complete skills-based tasks with the aim of improving their reading and listening comprehension ability as well as their writing and speaking production skills. Throughout the course, students regularly complete vocabulary tests and each unit includes a larger more challenging unit test, which is intended to consolidate their knowledge. The goal of the course is to prepare students for a possible progression into National 4 Spanish. 

Term 1 (August - October)

Unit 1: The basics
•    Spanish alphabet and pronunciation
•    Greetings
•    Numbers 1-1000
•    Age, months, birthdays
•    Pets
•    Colours

Term 2 (October – December)

Unit 2: Family & friends

•    Family members
•    Describing the age of others
•    Describing eyes and hair
•    Describing personality
•    Physical appearance
•    Countries
•    Nationality

Term 3 (January – April)

Unit 3: Where I live
•    Homes and regions
•    Rooms of the house
•    Describing cities
•    Giving opinions about where you live
•    Places in Town
•    Saying where you are going
•    Positions
•    Making comparisons

Unit 4: My school
•    School stationery
•    School subjects
•    Giving opinions about subjects
•    Telling time
•    School facilities
•    School uniform
•    Daily routine

Term 4 (April – June)

Unit 5: Lifestyle
•    Sports
•    Hobbies and weekend activities
•    Frequency
•    Weather
•    Food and healthy eating

Unit 6: Spanish culture
•    La feria de Sevilla
•    Semana Santa
•    La Tomatina
•    Las fallas de Valencia
•    Las fiestas de San Fermín