Meet the Modern Languages Team
Miss Barrow (Head of Modern Languages Key Stage 4), Mrs Ayling (Head of Modern Languages Key Stage 3) and Mrs Pardey
Why study Modern Languages?
At Seahaven the purpose of studying French is to provide students an opening to other cultures. Languages are part of the cultural richness of our society and the world in which we live and work. We are fortunate to overlook the harbour and see the cross channel ferry to give a ‘real life’ purpose to learning and understanding French.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Information:
We follow the Dynamo course through KS3.
In Year 7 the 4 main genres we look at are:
1) The basics
2) My family
3) School
4) Where I live
These genres will be visited at various stages throughout the year, for example the topic La Rentrée covers 1 & 2 and Ma Vie de Famille covers 2 & 4
In Year 8 & 9 the genres are:
Year 8: 5) Holidays 6) Going out & staying in 7) Daily routine, health & fitness 8) School & future plans
Year 9: 9) Relationships 10) Festivals & traditions 11) City or region in a French speaking country 12) The world around us
There may be some overlap of genres/topics
For further information on the French curriculum please click here.
Enrichment to the curriculum:
We are really pleased to able to resume our very popular day trip to Boulogne for 2022 and we also have a new residential trip to Chateau Baffy in Normandy going ahead in April.
5 Frequently Asked Questions:
- What languages do we teach at Seahaven?
We currently only teach French at Seahaven which means that students get the full quota of languages hours, currently 2 hours a week, to study this subject. Often teaching two languages means that students receive less time in each subject and are less proficient when it comes to choosing options for GCSE. However, we are hoping to introduce Spanish in the future.
- Do we need any equipment or dictionaries?
The school does not require students to bring their own dictionaries and we have sets of resources in each classroom to assist students in their learning.
- Do we run any trips?
We are really pleased to say that as the travel restrictions have changed we can now run our annual day trip to Boulogne in July. We are also excited that, this year, we are also running a residential trip to Normandy in April.
- Do we do any community language examinations for speakers of other languages?
Every year we have students who are proficient in other languages, or who speak a second language at home, who sit community language GCSEs at our school. This year students were entered into a range of languages including Russian, Polish, Spanish, Arabic, German, and Italian.
- Do you have to do languages at GCSE?
Although languages are not currently compulsory in secondary schools, the government schools minister has set a target of 3 out of 4 students studying and taking a foreign language by 2022. At Seahaven we encourage students who are able, to go on to study a language to give them a fully rounded educational secondary school experience.