Curriculum > Departments > Modern Languages
Subject Outline
Salut! Hallo!
We help your child communicate in a foreign language, a particularly important skill for
any present-day student to develop in view of the close links forged within the European
Community.
All students of whatever ability study a foreign language at Thomas Adams. Both French
and German have equal status and each language is taught to half the students in Year 7.
In Year 8 some students are offered the chance to take a second Modern Foreign
Language.
We are firmly committed to a communicative but imaginative language learning approach,
giving students frequent access to authentic and interesting materials to stimulate their
learning. As far as possible, lessons take place in French or German and students are
actively encouraged to communicate with each other in the foreign language.
Students work on the four skill areas: speaking, listening reading and writing. We cover a
range of topics and include a wide variety of activities in our lessons, such as performing
dialogues or playlets, listening to cassette recordings of native speakers of the language,
watching language videos, writing or word-processing letters to be sent to correspondents
abroad, using the Internet and playing language-learning games.
Educational visits to France and Germany are organised for students of Year 7 and above.
These have proved to be valuable and enjoyable opportunities for students to put their
language skills into practice.
From Year 8, students are taught in setted groups based on their performance in end of
unit tests and the end of year examination. At Key Stage 4 we offer both French and
German at GCSE, while in the Sixth Form both languages are offered to AS and A level.
In Years 12 and 13 the importance given to communication in learning the foreign
language is retained but students develop their ability to speak and write with a greater
degree of accuracy.
The course is both challenging and stimulating. Topics range from GM foods and biotechnology
to the ecological processes found in the 21st century. The four language skills
are enhanced and students become competent linguists who possess a broad knowledge
of the culture of either France or Germany.
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